Busted at the Borgata
Tuesday, June 10th, 2008
                                                                                                          The Borgata - Atlantic City, NJ
    Today I took a so-called “Personal Day” from work and headed down to Atlantic City to play in The Borgata Summer Poker Open Event #2. The event was a $340 No-Limit Hold’em Tournament that had, I think 547 entries. I saw this as a good opportunity to tune up before I head out to Vegas for the World Serie of Poker. We started with 6000 in chips, 40 minute levels and beginning blinds at 25 - 50. Shuffle up and Deal!
    I played pretty tight early and didn’t get involved in many hands. It didn’t help that I was getting “good” blackjack hands like 7 4 off suit or 9 2 offsuit. When I did play a hand I’d usually have something like A 9 suited or J 10 suited, only to see my cards totally miss the flop, and when I did take a stab at the pot with nothing I had the pleasure of being reraised by the oldest and tighest player at the table, so I’d have to left the hand go. This all lead up to my defining moment.
    With the blinds at 50 - 100 and a chip stack of 4100 in front of me, I was in the big blind and looked down to see Ks Kh. Pocket Kings Baby! One guy in early position called 100, everyone else folded, the small blind limped in for another 50 and I raised with my big blind option another 400. The guy in early postion calls and the small blind folds.
    The Flop: Qd Qc 5d
    I bet out 700 and my opponent thinks for maybe a second and decides to put me “all-in”. OK, now I have a decision. Of course the question is: does he have a queen? Now, if I had a queen in this situation why would he reraise so much? I had bet 700 and he came over the top for 3000 more into a pot that’s only 1800, does that make sense for someone with three of a kind? Maybe this is a semi-bluff and he’s on a diamond flush draw? Before the hand I had characterized this player as a loose aggressive type of player. A level earlier he had hit a 4 outer for a straight against another guy’s two pair. Thinking that he’s either on a flush draw or maybe he’s trying to make a move on me because I had been laying a lot of hands down to reraises, or honestly I just didn’t think someone would play three of a kind that way, I decided to put my tournament life on the line and call.
    He flips over Qs10d and I’m facing a 2 outer to save my life. One of the last remaining Kings doesn’t come and I’m pulling out of The Borgata parking garage after only playing for about an hour and a half. I really didn’t think he had a queen and went with my decision. Looking back maybe I should have just tossed my Kings into the muck. I still would of had 3000 in chips, plenty to still make an impact with. I’ve folded hands a lot stonger than that before in the past. Maybe I’ve been reading too many poker books and overanalyzed the hand. The books would never tell you to bet trips like that, and I guess that’s probably one of the reasons why I didn’t give him credit for three of a kind. When maybe, since my tournament life was on the line I should have just looked at his huge overbet and given him the benefit of the doubt that he had a queen and moved onto the next hand.
    Maybe I would still be playing if I had?    Â