I’ve always thought of the person who took my chips here as a decent bloggertourney player. But I have to wonder what was going on here. I’m not usually a TPTK donkey, but I was able to figure this hand out, but the end result wasn’t what I hoped.

I don’t advise calling check-raises-all-in on the turn with TPTK, but a little analysis can help you sniff out weaker hands sometimes. This is a case where I did just that, but still lost the hand.

The lesson here is that if you want to play a big hand post-flop, it pays to represent a big hand pre-flop, particularly against vultures who live on pre-flop limps.

Mondays at the Hoy (45101299), Table 11 – 80/160 – No Limit Hold’em – 23:18:48 ET – 2008/04/21
Seat 1: Breeze81 (6,127), is sitting out
Seat 2: dnasty13 (2,670)
Seat 3: PirateLawyer (7,334)
Seat 4: NumbBono (8,885)
Seat 5: lightning36 (4,426)
Seat 6: DaBag (2,885)
PirateLawyer posts the small blind of 80
NumbBono posts the big blind of 160
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to NumbBono [As Kh]
lightning36 calls 160
DaBag folds
Breeze81 folds
dnasty13 folds
PirateLawyer calls 80
NumbBono checks (probably not a good check, but I’m ready to lay this down if it doesn’t hit)
*** FLOP *** [9d Ks 7h] (I hit, now the job is to find out where I’m at in this hand)
PirateLawyer has 15 seconds left to act
PirateLawyer bets 480
NumbBono calls 480 (call and see what develops)
lightning36 folds
*** TURN *** [9d Ks 7h] [6d]
PirateLawyer checks (I’m reading this as weakness)
NumbBono bets 1,150 (pretty sure I’m ahead here, time to get rid of draws)
PirateLawyer raises to 6,694, and is all in

My thoughts on this. I just sat at the table, but I have pretty good idea how PirateLawyer plays these blogger tourneys. I’m ruling out high pocket pairs here based on the preflop limp. That really leaves a set of 6’s, 7’s, or 9’s…or a weird straight or flush draw (maybe a combination of both), or a weaker King.

I’m OK calling here against the draws and the weaker King. I guess there’s always the possibility of two-pair hitting as well. I really should have defined my hand with a pre-flop raise, rather than trying to hide it, but I’m not sure that would have mattered.

In my mind, I’m figuring I’m about a 70-30 favorite to have the better hand. Is that enough of an edge to call? I honestly thought he had K-Q. I was wrong, but my thought process here was pretty close to right.

Of course, all logic says that a check-raise-all-in on the turn is trouble. But I’m funny in that I don’t always follow logic.

NumbBono calls 5,544 (…but I’m not buying it, and I think it’s a weaker King, or an OESD)
PirateLawyer shows [Th Jd] (didn’t expect a double gutter though)
NumbBono shows [As Kh]
*** RIVER *** [9d Ks 7h 6d] [Qd] (Boom)
PirateLawyer shows a straight, King high
NumbBono shows a pair of Kings
PirateLawyer wins the pot (14,828) with a straight, King high
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 14,828 | Rake 0
Board: [9d Ks 7h 6d Qd]
Seat 1: Breeze81 didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 2: dnasty13 (button) didn’t bet (folded)
Seat 3: PirateLawyer (small blind) showed [Th Jd] and won (14,828) with a straight, King high
Seat 4: NumbBono (big blind) showed [As Kh] and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 5: lightning36 folded on the Flop
Seat 6: DaBag didn’t bet (folded)

I realize I didn’t have to go (nearly) broke here, but I made the right play, and got sucked out on. It happens.

I could easily wonder why someone would put a top 10 stack on the line with a merely a double gutter with one card to come, but I guess I put a top ten stack on the line with TPTK, even though I diagnosed the hand pretty well.

I guess I can chalk this one up to a bluff by PirateLawyer gone bad…gone good. Such is poker.