Poker News

Tom ‘Time’ Leonard

Today let’s talk about those long shot hands that make everybody’s tongue wag and create the stories that are told over and over again in the “I can top that” contests. Some time ago, fellow columnist Richard G. Burke wrote about a very unusual hand where both four Kings and four Aces were cracked by a Royal Flush. Impossible? Of course not. These kinds of incredible hands occur all the time. Just maybe not in your game. If you play long enough and see enough flops…..you’ll probably see it all. How many times have you seen trips dealt on the flop? How about flopping quads while holding a pocket pair? Unusual occurrences to be sure but the odds of these hands occurring are not out there in the lottery realm. As regular players, we all know how statistically improbable these kinds of hands are but if you play on a continual basis you’re likely to see your fair share of unusual happenings on the green felt.

I’d like to share one of the unusual hands I’ve experienced in a No-Limit Hold’em tournament. I want to say right up front that I’m not trying to lay a bad beat story on you but rather an unusual happening to prove “It can Happen”. I was heads up at the final table with approximately equal chips with my opponent. The following hand occurred wherein we wound up with all the money in before the flop. I had pocket Queens and my opponent held the Ace-Jack of hearts. At this point, I’m pleased as I’m about a 5 to 2 favorite holding a pair against a hand with one higher card and one lower card. The flop itself is somewhat amazing as it comes King/King/Queen and gives me Queens full of Kings. My opponent didn’t catch a heart at all, so I’m not worried that a miracle Royal Flush will crush me. Theonly winner he appears to have is two running Aces to make Aces full. We’ll see. The turn brings another King and my hand just improved from Queens full of Kings to Kings full of Queens. Well, this apparent improvement in my hand brought with it vulnerability as my opponent could now just spike an Ace on the river and win with Kings full of Aces over my Kings full of Queens. I breathe a sigh of relief as the case King falls on the river…………a sigh of relief!!!!! Wrong!!! We both wind up with quad Kings but my opponent out kicked me with his Ace. I had two different full houses and quads in the same hand only to lose. Oh well, we all know the value of a good kicker!

I’m sure you all could e-mail me your own favorite strange hands that you have witnessed. It can happen and it does happen! What we should take away from this time together is not to let the “It can Happen” syndrome seduce us into playing trash hands in the hope that lightning will strike and make it a monster. Hoping or expecting the miracle to happen is exactly when it doesn’t. Seeing unusual long shot hands unfold is an interesting and enjoyable part of playing poker. Praying to the Poker Gods to make your sow’s ear of a hand into a silk purse is just unrealistic and weak, losing poker! Throw your trash away and sit back and enjoy the show and don’t let that occasional mucked trash that flops a monster rattle you. See you next “TIME”.

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