The Hand

4 MAR 06

The game is 15/25. It’s a stupid game. The blinds are 10 and 15, which means the small blind is coming into any unraised pot, and there is usually a lot of action. Good luck calculating pot odds. When the big bet isn’t twice the small bet, it makes my head hurt.

I’m on the button with pocket 9’s. Two early callers and I raise to $30. Small blind reraises. Big blind caps and with $300 in the pot, 5 of us see a flop of:

K 9 6 rainbow.

Stay calm.

Small blind bets. 3 callers to me and I raise to $30. Everyone calls and now the pot sits at $450.

Turn blank. Everyone checks to me. There are now two clubs and a weird straight possibility. I bet $25 and get two callers. $525 in the pot and the river is a blank. It checks to me and I bet again. Two callers – both had two pair.

$600.

Biggest. Pot. Ever.

Thanks to Stefan for sweating me in a live game. He was trying to get into the 10/20, but with the bad beat jackpot hovering near $300,000, there was a 4 hour wait. The 15/25 seat was open early because most good players hate that game. I don’t know. I kinda like it.