BigBadBabar is staying with us (my wife and me) for a few days, and we’ve been playing a fair amount of poker. The other day my wife got a phone call while in the middle of a poker session. She asked me to take over for a minute and BigBadBabar joined me. We humorously lost a fair amount in a very short time period (standard spots like having QQ and running into AA on a ragged board), though I still firmly believe that we actually played very well. Shortly into the session, the following hand came up:

Poker Stars $0.50/$1.00 Limit Hold’em – 6 players
The Official DeucesCracked.com Hand History Converter

Pre Flop: (1.5 SB) Hero is SB with K 8
1 fold, MP calls, 2 folds, Hero raises, BB 3-bets, MP calls, Hero calls

Flop: (9 SB) 6 J K (3 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, MP raises, Hero 3-bets, BB calls, MP calls

On the flop we intended to check/raise and decided to follow through with the check/3-bet even though MP’s raise was odd.

Turn: (9 BB) 7 (3 players)
Hero bets, BB calls, MP folds

We agreed on a pretty standard value bet here.

River: (11 BB) T (2 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, Hero…

Here BBB and I differ on what occurred next.

My version:
Me: ‘Terrible card. I think it’s a check/fold.’
BBB: ‘But the pot’s huge! Call – I’ll give you a dollar if we’re wrong.’
I reluctantly click call, we get shown the ace of trump, BBB rolls his eyes, takes out his wallet, and disgustedly throws a single onto the table.

BBB’s version:
Me: ‘I don’t see how we’re ever good here. I say it’s a fold.’
BBB (dangling a $1 in front of me): ‘That’s not what Mr. Washington says!’ (I’m sure the words ’significant balance’ were used at some point in here too)

So we lost that pot too…but just to dispel some rumors that came up from a different blog I would like to clearly state that I played stellar, made a comeback, and booked a 7 big bet win before my wife came back (well, 8 big bets if you count the $1 from BBB).