A Giant amoung Men...

I played in a home game Friday night, which sort of borke down to a very aggressive player host who is used to rolling over people, and his victims, mainly family and friends (at least in this case).

Little small buy-in two table MTT and I go out FIRST when I flop a straight and I get RAISED. Ok, let me guess... Flush draw? Well, I cant fold with 1/3 of my stack in there and the best hand, so I shove my chips in and watch the diamond fall on the river.

Normally, I would leave at this point, but if this was the play, I figured I would stick around and play the "bust-out cash game", which often is short-handed. Smart decision. I won four times my buy-in in just 90 minutes. Here was the absolute best hand:

I already have double my buy-in in front of me, and since its short handed, I am playing almost ATC. I call a min-raise from the BB with J5o. (I think we are 5 handed). The UtG made the min-raise, the player to his left calls, two folds and then my call...

Flop is the miracle JJ5. And now the best part. UtG makes a bet of about 1/2 the pot, maybe more. The second player RAISES! And me with the immortal nuts. I smooth call and so does UtG. I am sure that the UtG has an overpair of QQ, KK or AA and that the other player has a Jack. And in this rare instance, I am going to walk TWO dogs and try to break them both!

Turn is the 8 and maybe, just maybe the other player has J8. I mean, its possible right? HA! I am not looking for monsters lurking in the closet. I am in fully-engaged extraction mode. UtG now makes a BIG bet and the other players now CALLS. It's time to slam the door. I raise enough that the UtG will have to go all in, but I dont want to push in case the other Jack wants to call. Now, I know if the board pairs the 8 I have to split, but its just too much of an off chance.

UtG goes all in and I am SURE he has aces. the other player folds. I say, "I call. I have a boat". And the guy with Aces says "Already?". (and much to my credit, I did not crack a smile). But he was upset as the J5o I played registered in his brain. I think the play by him with the min-raise with AA short-handed was ok, but how are you NOT scared of two raisers post-flop on a paired board. The AA folding was an easy escape in my book.

The most amazing part was the the other guy? What do you think he had? JT maybe? AJ maybe? Nope, he was BLUFFING. OMG. He couldn't even beat a the board. I must be a good actor. He thought I was making a play at the pot.

So, now a second chance SnG starts and its same thing all over again. Only this time the flush does not crack my made straight. With 4 left, I am second in chips but determined to wait out the short stack who is tired, tipsy, and not as good as his believes he is at this moment in time. He finally goes out and with 3 left its so late I propose a terrible chop for the 3rd place player just to see if they will bite. They dont. Good for her. So, we play it out. I just call with an Ace in the SB vs. the BB giant stack and the flop is 6A6. I check. Nor the reason I check is that the last time we played a hand, I checked, he bet, I meekly folded. So, I figure he is primed to bet here. But, he suspects something and checks. Ugh.
The turn is a 9 and I bet. He RAISES all-in?! And Since I put him on 9s and 6s now, I call. He had 99 in the hole and made a miracle boat on the turn. I cash third and drive home, with a total of over 150% profit. Not bad.