[imthatguy]

Bear with me here, I just got back from the casino and am only running on a few hours sleep so the typing might be a little wacky.

I was playing 1/2NL $100 Max buy-in and was into my fifth hour up a little over $300 (it was a good night, lots of people dying to give away money). I wasn't in this hand, but like I said easy to remember.

Guy on the button is a very good player (one of the three of us with a healthy stack) but because there hasn't been a raise on the table in what seems like forever, there's a lot of limping, and this time he elects to limp with (Let's pretend that we're playing his hand, for sake of discussion). A few others limp, guy to his right raises to $10. This guy who we'll call Blue, just got burned by me a few hands earlier when I held Aces full of Queens. Very Good Player, or VGP for short calls, because at this table it's pretty much any two cards!

Flop:

Blue raises to $15, VGP smooth calls.

Turn:

Blue raises again to $35, VGP thinks for a minute and re-raises to $70. Blue calls.

River:

Blue raises all-in. VGP cheerfully calls. Pot's around $300 or so (I guess).

Blue turns over and is physically broken. He sits there speechless for 2 or 3 minutes then gets up, screams an expletive and storms away forgetting his sweater. Oddly enough, he never came back for it...

Now, I've played this over and over again in my head and although it's a horribly bad beat, to have your FH cracked by a river four, I'm not sure that either player made any bad plays (except calling a $10 raise with KingJunk). Anybody want to chime in with an opinion?

The good news is, I got home this morning with an extra $450 big ones!

[jojobinks]

vgp played it like a donk. smooth-calling the flop is okay...but only if he can put some pressure on on the turn.

the minraise on the turn guarantees a call, and if the guy's got a K (he's got to believe that's true) then, obviously, he has some outs.

if you're gonna be broken physically by a suckout, then i recommend not slowplaying underboats.

[_GUN_]

I don't like any play on any street of this hand, personally.

I don't call 5x BB raise with K4o. I don't raise 5x BB with 22 in a $1/2 game.
I try to lead as much as possible after the flop, I try to avoid check-raise, because it doesn't get paid as well as a check-raise generally. However, this is probably not the best spot for that play. Not knowing the opponent's cards, how many of us are going to lead with a weak full house? I may lead here, in the heat of the moment, because I'm trying to make sure I play my good and bad hands the same way. I hate minimum raising more than anything. It should only be used to confuse people, your opponent needs to be either very good or very weak for a minimum raise to get paid off. $35 bet into me, if he's shown that much strength twice, I'm raising in the $90-110 range.

When I saw the flop and the lead, I already knew where this was going to end up. 22 vs K4. If it wasn't going to be something like that, you wouldn't have posted this with a title like 'a hand I'll never forget'. Personally, if I'm holding K4 I would fear hands like bigger kings or a flopped full house. Have I ever folded a set with a bad kicker? No, but I've cold-called instead of raising because I thought it was highly likely that's where I stood. I was in a hand the other week, where I just knew I was behind to a set with a better kicker, I had something like Q2 from blind position and I pushed all-in on the turn after I had been smooth-called on the flop. Everything about his insta-call on the flop screamed set of queens with a kicker better than a deuce, but I went into auto-pilot upstairs and pushed knowing I was beat. I pushed hoping not to be called, and then I was disgusted when I saw Q6.

[shanghai_sparky]

VGP got lucky when the board paired, that happens.
That's why there are seven cards not five.
Blue screwed up by not pushing harder after the turn. He wanted to milk out more, and got caught getting greedy. Seeing the kings on the board would scare me. Most players that I see will play any ace or king no matter what is with it.
When you (Blue in this instance) get busted slow-playing a hand, don't blame the dealer or your opponent, blame yourself.

[imthatguy]

Thing is, after Blue left the table, VGP and I had a little chuckle. He knew that he played it like a donk and sucked out BIG TIME. The table image was so loose, that nobody had any $1 chips left there was SO MUCH CALLING. I literally saw one raise in an hour, completely rediculous.

[jojobinks]

Originally Posted by imthatguy

Thing is, after Blue left the table, VGP and I had a little chuckle. He knew that he played it like a donk and sucked out BIG TIME. The table image was so loose, that nobody had any $1 chips left there was SO MUCH CALLING. I literally saw one raise in an hour, completely rediculous.

oops...i messed up my post up there. i think the guy with the K played it just fine after the flop...dude with the 22 made the substantial mistakes here.

whether or not K4 is a good hand preflop (it's not), the mistake he made preflop is a tiny one compared to the way blue messed up his small flopped boat.

[geewhiz41]

The "underboat" as someone called it, is a very dangerous hand to play. I once slowplayed 77 against a board of AA7 and got scolded for it by my more experienced poker buddy. It looks pretty, but it is vulnerable on anyone holding A-x, and is a loser, of course, to A7. Blue should have tried to end the hand sooner.

Once K4 guy was in the hand, I'm not sure he didn't anything wrong. You have to like 3 K's, but given Blue's obvious interest in the hand, however, you can't be too crazy about your kicker. I would have tried raising at the flop to see where I stood. This is one of those hands that I am happy to be on the sidelines for, quite honestly.

[imthatguy]

It was a lot of fun to watch, especially the blow-up afterwards. He was on such a delayed response, it was almost like watching someone crumble in slow motion. Given that VGP knew he was playing donk cards, and happen to hit, I'm a little surprised that he re-raised so much. I guess it did give him a lot of information into what hand he was looking at.

Course, anybody that's betting deuces 5xBB is looking to get burned.

[AceOnRiver]

first the guy shouldnt have even been in the pot with k4 offsuit but thats another story.second the guy with the 22 should have made a reraise on the turn. but most people on limits that small wont be folding there trip kings very often.so really i dont think it would have mattered if he did reraise i think the VGP would have called anyway and hit his 7 outer to win as a 5.5 to 1 dog.thats poker baby