Poker News

George Epstein

The Poker gods had not been good to me. Playing $4-$8 hold’em at the Normandie Casino in Gardena, Calif., I was losing. Then, in an early position, I was dealt A-10 offsuit. With several players in, the flop brought me what looked like the solution to my problem, [10c] [10h] [4s].

I had trip 10s with the ace kicker! Wow! I bet on the flop and was raised by a late position opponent. I knew he was fairly aggressive and loose, so I was not too worried. Surely, my trips were the best hand. To make a long story short, the turn and river brought blanks. On the river, with three of us still in the pot, my trip tens lost to his tens-full-of-fours. He had 10-4 of diamonds in the hole, and had flopped the full boat at the same time that I thought I was lucky flopping trip tens. I made a conscious effort not to go on tilt. In fact, I took a brisk walk to get some fresh air.

Was my luck about to change? A few hands after returning from my walk, I was dealt pocket sevens. I was in a late position; fortunately there were five callers and no raises. That gave me good implied odds. I waited with baited breath for the flop, hoping to make a set. Then the flop came [Qh] [5h] [7s].

That gave me three sevens! I was pleased to say the least. But, at the same time. I was a bit apprehensive, the way the cards had been going for me, one of my opponents might be sitting there with a set of queens against my set of sevens. I decided to “test the waters” to see what kind of response I would get when I raised on the flop. No one reraised; and now we were down to four players. I assumed my three sevens were in the lead; hopefully they would hold up this time. The turn brought a small spade. Now there were two each spades and hearts on the board - possible flush draws. They all checked to me. I was going to make them pay to draw, so I bet and was called by two opponents. Then the river came: another queen, and it was the queen of spades, putting three spades on the board. I had just made sevens-fullof- queens on the river, so I wouldn’t mind a flush out there. But I would be second-best against queens full. The way my luck had been going that evening, it was a strong possibility, I thought. . . To say the least, I was apprehensive and fearful, but hopeful.

An early-position player bet into us. The next player raised. The thought occurred to me: Was I about to lose to queens full? Of course I called the raise. The early position reraised and then it was capped by the other player. Oh, Oh, I thought, as I called - and watched with baited breath as the last raiser turned up A-Q. He had trip queens. The earlyposition better had made the spade flush on the river. My sevens-full took the pot! And it was a good size pot, putting me ahead for the first time that evening.

Was I just plain lucky??? . . . So readers, what’s YOUR opinion?

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