The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

I have a nice big chip stack of 8,000 in chips. It's my first turn at the big blind at 50. The first person to act raises to 150. Four callers follow. I look down at King-7 offsuit. What would you do?

The first thing that comes to mind is "pot odds". For a mere 100 in chips, I can look at flop with a pot of 825 already in it; not a horrible bargain to say the least, and I still have plenty of chips in my stack if I call.

But then the thought: "What am I hoping to flop?" comes to mind. If I pair my King it's likely someone already has one with a better kicker. Pairing my seven would likely be facing overcards. A flush is a long shot, and I can only use one of my two cards for a straight. And with five others in the hand, trying to bluff is out of the question. I ignore the pot odds and fold, fold, fold!

The flop is 7-7-9.

Ugh! I would have made three of a kind. There's a bet and a call. The rest fold. I think to myself (mostly to try to make myself feel better) maybe one of them has pocket 9s and made a full house. Or I bet one of them is playing an ace with a seven and has me outkicked. Then the turn card:

Another 7.

You got to be frickin' kidding me!!! If I stayed in the hand, I would have been looking at four of a kind! In five years I think I made quads perhaps two or three times. And to top it off, there's betting going on with two players. I do my best to hold back my annoyance. I forget how much they were betting, but the river card was a 9. More betting, and the winning hand showed Ace-9 suited. I'm dumbfounded. If I went all-in at that point, I don't see how the Ace-9 could have folded. The only way he could be beat is if someone held quads, and no one would fold thinking their opponent had that, no matter how much they thought it was possible. I would have doubled my stack in the first 20 minutes of the tournament!

It's those big hands that we play for. And I unfortunately I have to tell you I let it slip away. Next time, I'll let pot odds dictate my actions a little more. What doesn't kill me, makes me stronger!