At least I had the discipline to lay it down..

I had an intersting hand on Tuesday at Tommy's in which I laid down the best hand, but I'm still proud of the lay down given the circumstances. I had pocket fives in early poisiton and got to see a 7 way limped pot ($21 in the pot). The flop came K 9 5 rainbow. With little danger on the board I slow played but got no bettors. The turn was a 3 with still no flush draw. "Brent" who was on the big blind to start led out for $20, (Brent likes to inflate pots so pot sized bets were very common for him.) I called and then "Shawn" raises to $75, about half of his stack. Brent immediately goes all-in for $320 total. Wow! This got active in a hurry.

I was certain that one of these guys had to have had a set the way it played out, if not both. So that means that the two hands that could beat me 99 or KK were extremely likely. I didn't think Shawn, who was on the button had KK, but he could've limped with 99. But if he had the goods and Brent didn't, I would come out about even on the hand. Brent however, had displayed in a couple of times playing with him an occasional willingness to limp with AA or KK in unusual positions (a strategy I have seen quite a bit from pot inflators that does make some sense if they're willing to take the risk). If Brent has the goods, I lose all of my money.

So I go into a painfully grinding 5 minute think in which I flash my fives to Tommy and another player. I finally decided to lay my set down. And Shawn turns up 33. Brent then disgustedly showed 53. I then got a big grin on my face and rationalized "Well I knew I was in set v set." However given that I only lost $23 on the hand and that two of the three available sets beat me I believe this to be a great laydown if only because of the discipline involved. I think the fact that I was thinking "trap" as soon as the flop hit might have contributed to this laydown since it was just as easy for others to trap as well.

Later in the night I did have a huge CORRECT laydown against Shawn. I had 8 6 and saw a five-way limped pot. the flop was 8 6 2. I bet $12 and Shawn called. the turn was a 9. I bet out $18, Shawn then popped it up to $78. This seemed like an ecitement bet to me and I didn't think too long before pitching an exposed 8 6 into the muck. Shawn was curteous enough to show his 9 8.