Black Deuces – Poker Blog

Flopping quads can be fun, especially when the other player doesn’t have a clue where he’s at in the hand, and decides to pay off his whole stack with a marginal holding.

Few days ago I was playing in a very friendly small-stakes cash game (actually the game is just an excuse to drink and get stoned amongst friends. ) Anyway, during that session a very fun hand came up.

I was playing a VERY agressive game, almost playing any 2 cards, raising and re-raising every pot. We were playing 0,10/0,20c blinds and I was losing about 20$. I picked up KK under the gun and made my standard raise to 1$ (or 5BB’s). I got two callers behind me. Then the miracle flop hit: KK9. I checked and the player next to me made it 2$ into the 3,40$ pot. The other player folds and I casually throw the chips in (just like I’m floating to hit a pair or am drawing to a flush). The pot is now almost 8$ and we both have about 20$ behind. The turn is a perfect blank: 2. I’m thinking how to get his whole stack in by the river and decide to check, hoping he has 9 or bigger pair and he’ll bet out again. And he does, betting 5$ and again I flat call, hoping that the river is a total blank again. The perfect card completes the board: 3.

Now, my opponent’s actions so far suggests he has a 9 or better. I don’t think he would bet out his flushdraw on the flop and he certainly wouldn’t bet out his draw again on the turn. The question is: if I check will he bet with his hand behind me. I was convinced he would, for several reasons: I was playing a very loose game, so the chance his 9 was good was fairly big. He was stuck, so he probably wanted to extract as much value as possible out of this hand. He could easily have an even stronger hand then just 2 pair, he could have for example flopped a full house with 9′s, and a hand that strong he would certainly bet. And in the rare chance he had nothing, I still give him some room to hang himself. So, I checked.

He didn’t even think long to decide his bet amount: 9$ into a 18$ pot, leaving 6$ of his stack behind. I instantly went all-in and that’s when things got funny.

He looked at me and asked: “Do you have a king?” I chuckled, looked at him and said: “Well, maybe I have two?” The others players at the table instantly knew I had flopped quads, but my opponent was still oblivious to what was going on. Still I felt like I needed to say something to push him over the edge. I said: “I would never check trips kings on the river with that board. Would I now?” He agreed with me and called.

When I turned over my hand he said: “Well, I have to admit that I’m not suprised. Nice speech dude.” The table laughed out loud.