Another PKR Weekend...

Well, it was another weekend at Donkeyville (us farm animals have to stick together). I’ve been on a nice little run lately in the Saturday tourneys, finishing in the top two 5 out of the last 6 weeks. This week most of my good hands actually held up, and I somehow managed to tiptoe unscathed through the minefield of major suckouts. That is, until the last hand.

Joe Bob and I have just been dealt our second heads-up hand, and I have him barely outchipped - about $75K to $70K. Since we were close to even in chips, I was just about to offer a 50/50 chop. The cards were in front of us, however, so I figured I’d play the hand out and make the offer afterwards, assuming there’s no big swing.

Blinds are $3K/6K. I’m on the button, and look down at Jd-9d. I limp, Joe Bob checks, and the flops comes J-7-4 rainbow. JB checks, and I bet $20K, figuring I’d take it down right there, then we can chop and go home. JB calls, however. Hmmm… The turn brings a 3x, and JB pushes all-in for his last $45K or so! Double hmmm…

I take a few moments to try and figure if there is any hand he could have that’s both better than mine, and that he would bet this way. Try as I might, I couldn’t think of any, so I called. He turns over 7-5, for second pair and a gutshot. Of course, in typical PKR fashion, the river brings a 5 to give him two-pair, crippling me in the process. I’m all-in in the big blind next hand, where JB’s K-K somehow holds up against my K-3. That’s what I get for waiting to offer the chop! LOL

Now Sunday was another day altogether – a true all-in, suckout-laden donkeyfest. I had A-A once, K-K three times, and Q-Q once, and I won exactly one time with these five hands. That one time was a doozey, however. We’re maybe six-handed, with blinds at $300/600 when I get K-K in the big blind. It folds to the button, who calls. Small blind calls, and I make a healthy raise to $3K. They both call (remember, we’re at PKR), and the flop comes 10-8-7 rainbow.

The flop’s a bit too coordinated for me to get excited about, but Scott in the small blind checks to me, and I make a bet of $5,500. The button calls, and Scott goes over the top for his last $3K or so. Crap. Even though I suspect he’s got me beat, it’s not much more to me, so it’s an easy call. The problem here is the button, however. He obviously has something, since he just called a large bet on the flop. I’ve never played with this guy before, but he didn’t get involved in too many pots, and seemed pretty solid. He didn’t raise, so my best guess is he has some kind of hand with a draw (J-10, 10-9, 9-8, etc.). Both he and I have large chip stacks, so after debating for a few seconds, I decide to push all-in to attempt to isolate Scott. The button immediately calls and turns over J-9os - the nuts!

Oops.

We are at PKR, remember, so you know what’s coming. The turn pairs the board with a 7, and river brings a sweet little K, boating me up. I scoop a huge pot and knock out two opponents in the process. The nice thing about hitting your card on the river is that you can’t get sucked out on! By the way, Scott had 10-8 and flopped top two-pair, so I was in third after the flop. If you ask me, they both got what they deserved for calling my pre-flop raise with those rags… LOL

Sadly, the additional chips are not enough to keep me afloat once I get outdrawn several times with large pocket pairs (yes, the luck really does even out, regardless of what we might think), and I end up in third place. At least I made a little money, although I’m not sure it was worth the roller-coaster ride. The Sunday tournament is definitely not for the faint of heart!

See ya at the tables…
Rick