The Hold 'em Blues

On writing this I have just lost heads up in an online sit and go poker game.  I had the other player outchipped at the time and I was sitting with pocket kings on the big blind.  Nice i hear you say. The second best hand pre-flop in No Limit Texas Holdem and I was praying for a raise. The opponent didn't disappoint and he raised my big blind with two thirds of his stack remaining.

Now, he had already twice sucked out on me with an inferior hand when we moved all the chips in, so I was certainly not going to slow play. I re-raised him and pushed my chips in and he obligingly called. To be fair he revealed a pair of jacks, but my delight was obvious as i had a marginal chip lead and I knew that four times out of five my kings would stand up and win the game. The flop produced ace seven seven.

All good so far. The turn card then revealed a jack and suddenly i was in disarray. From being an overwhelming favourite I had suddenly found myself in prayer for one of the two remaining kings on the river. I now held less than a five percent chance to win (a one in twenty chance) and I was on the floor. The river brought about a ten  and I had just a chip and a chair left. Two more hands later he won and I pocketed the runners up position which brought about a small profit.

I have a very patient approach to poker and I do not tilt easily, but three times I had my chips in comprehensively ahead and he got lucky. Sour grapes... maybe a little, but the golden rule of poker was applied. I always got my chips in ahead and that is one of the fundimentals of the no limit game and as hard as it is to take you must adopt a long term stance. The kings would have beaten the jacks eighty percent of the time. The stats don't lie, but in a way that is the beauty of this game. Anyone can do well with lady luck, but apply those additional skills and patience to your game and the poker world could be your oyster.