During my last trip to Vegas, I seemed to be cursed when it came to queens. This time, the king was my death card.
I was in a 1/3 no-limit game where a young, aggressive guy opened to $12 in early position and got 3 callers behind him. I had AhKh in the small blind and reraised to $75. It folded back to the initial raiser, who went all-in for $106 total. Everyone else folded, and I made the automatic call. He said he had QJ, and the flop was QJ with a rag. The turn was a J, and I was drawing dead. So there went one hand with a king.
The second hand was in 2/5 no-limit. We were short-handed, maybe only 5 players, and I opened to $15 in the cutoff with KK, with about $250 behind. The button called, and the small blind made it $50. I 4-bet to $150, the button folded, and the small blind raised me all-in. So of course I called, and the flop had an A, and the case king never came. Not much I could’ve done about that one, getting it in with 50 big blinds with KK is pretty standard, and I was a favorite preflop.
The third hand was again in 2/5 no-limit, and I was down to $192. I raised one limper from middle position with KK, and got 3 callers. The flop was J96 rainbow, and it was checked to me, so I went all-in for $112 into the pot of about $85 or so. The two players after me called, which had me very worried. The turn was a 4, and they both checked, which made me feel better. The river was a 5, and the first player checked. The second player bet $125, getting a fold from the first player, and he turned over 8d7d for a straight. There wasn’t much I could do about this one, since I put all the money in as a favorite. Oh well, that’s gambling for you.
The one time I had aces, it actually did work out. With about $390 in front of me, I opened to $15 with AA in middle position, and one player called in late position. The button reraised to $50, and it was folded around to me, so I 4-bet to $150. The player in the middle folded, and the button called. The flop was QdTd8d. I checked, since I didn’t really have any hope of getting called by worse. The button bet $100 into the over-$300 pot. Since I had the Ad in my hand, I check-raised all-in for $140 more, and the button begrudgingly called with JJ, with the Jd, saying he had a straight flush draw. The turn was a black 9, giving him a straight, but the river 5d saved me, and I doubled up. Sometimes your aces don’t get cracked. And if they do get cracked on the turn, you can resuck on the river.