"Aces Are Wild" Tournament Holdem

The game looked like this when I arrived.


        Unknown Profile

      Lion            Elephant

Elephant                Jackal

      Lion            Jackal

                  Me


As you can see, I was in a tough spot tonight with the Jackals on my right and lions to my left.

- $10 Buy-In -

On the very first hand it was folded around to the Elephant to my right who was in the small blind. He over bet the pot with a raise of $3 to the most aggressive player at our table. Mr. Jackal came over the top for $10 more! (Can’t say I didn’t see that one coming.) Keep in mind, we only have $20 in chips and the blinds are at 25 and 50 cents. Madness! The small blind thought about it and pushed all in and the big blind called immediately. The Elephant turned over K 8 and the Jackal rolled over a monster 10 7. HA HA HA The 10 came on the flop and that was all she wrote for the Elephant.

I can’t even begin to count the mistakes that were made by both players here. First was the over bet by the Elephant. I wouldn’t over bet at this guy unless I had a top 5 hand (AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AK) because this Jackal is going to AT LEAST call you and more often than that re-raise you because he thinks your stealing and with only 75 cents in the pot I would probably think the Elephant was stealing too! On the other hand, you’re only losing 50 cents if he is stealing. I doubt the Elephant even thought about who he was raising. I really DOUBT it a whole lot.

I ended up busting out in 5th place when I moved in against the blinds with A 10 spades and was called by the big blind that picked up JJ.

- $20 Buy-In -

During the next game I was MR. SUCKOUT! I love it. I took a flop with KQ off suit against an Elephant and a Jackal. The flop came K 10 Q. It was checked to me and I bet out $3 and was re-raised by the Elephant to my left to $8 total. Alert! An Elephant has re-raised you! The Jackal folded and I knew that the elephant had a monster or he was on a major bluff. I really thought he was strong but I was short stacked and decided to make my stand so I moved in for $10 more. He called and rolled over J 9, Straight. I thought it was all over but the river brought me a king and I was spared.

It got down to 4 players and shortly after this surprising hand came up. I was up against a Lion and a Jackal. I had 9 4 in the big blind and got a free look at the flop. The flop came 9 A 4. It was checked around. I “thought” I was trapping. The turn came a 7 and the lion checked again. The Jackal had seen enough and moved all in for around $50. I studied him for a while and saw that he wasn’t giving off his “I have a strong hand tell” and I figured that he probably had nothing so I called off my $38 stack knowing that I had this hand wrapped up. To my surprise, the lion literarily “Broke His Arm” to get his chips in the pot while screaming the strange battle cry of “I couldn’t have played it any better!” He had about $20 in chips as he rolled over the NUTS AA! The Jackal flipped over Q 5 nothing. (I was right.) I was drawing dead but I only lost $2 on the pot because of the side pot with the Jackal.

Honestly I never saw it coming so I would like to congratulate the Lion on a brilliantly played hand.

I ended up getting 2nd place for a $10 profit on the night.