Curse of the Queens

As in my last entry, Queens were not a very good hand for me, well today they were not very good to go up against. I was playing in the Venetian noon tournament and I was so lucky to get the table draw I had. As we played through the first round I realized I had all amateurs at my table and were not very good players. I picked my spots and with a starting stack of 10,000 after one hour of play I was up over 15,000 with the average chip stack only at 10,400. There was approximately 310 players in this event so a good field as it was the largest no-limit holdem (NLH) event going on today as the WSOP has a Pot-limit event today. So back to the event,

Everything was smooth sailing until this hand came up. I was on the button and there was one caller around to me. I looked down and had KK, the 2nd best starting hand in NLH. The blinds were at 50/100 and I raised to 600 so someone with Ace rag (low card) would not see the flop cheap. The small blind called (a crazy players, played lots of hands) the flop came 25Q, what a wonderful flop for me. He bet out 600 and I raised to 2600, here is where it got interesting. He pondered the play for a while and then announced he was all in for an additional 3300. Now this is only 1/3 my stack and I am sure I have the best hand but I wanted to replay it in my head.

I raise pre-flop and he just calls, with AK or AQ he would probably re-raise or with a high pair like AA,KK,QQ. So now I had to determine the hands he would just smooth call my pre-flop raise out of position. Usually that would be any middle pair 66,77,88,99 or a hand like J10 suited or KQ. So I went into the tank (thinking) and finally decided he either has the middle pair or a hand like KQ. But that is risking all his chips on a semi- bluff. So I call. And he turns over KQ so I am a huge favorite to his hand. He only has 2 outs, the 2 Queens left in the deck. Any other card and I win so on the turn he has less then a 8% chance to win. But due to the curse of the Queens, the turn card comes a Q and now I only have a 4% chance to win with the remaining 2 Kings. BAD BEAT.

That was a crazy hand, but part of poker and why you cannot cash in every tournament. About 30 minutes later the queen sealed my fate. I again raised in position with Pocket 7s and had 2 callers. The flop was perfect 237 with no flush draw. The guy first to act bets out 1000 into a 1900 pot, and the second player calls, I move all in for my remaining 4700 in chips to take the large pot down right there and allow me to get close to the starting amount in chips, the original better folds and the second player calls immediately and turns over pocket QQ again I am a huge favorite he has to hit one of the two remaining Queens in the deck, or so I thought, the first guy that folds declares he had KQ so there is one remaining Queen in the deck and again on the turn hits the remaining Queen to knock me out of the tournament.

For the trip we are 2 for 4 and a lot more tournaments to go we should hit a big one soon.

Until next time.