I had been sitting for a few hours at a 1-2 NL table with a full buy-in, getting no good starting hands or any action for what must have been a good four hours. Then, an angel smiled upon me, or at least I thought. The biggest known ‘donkey’ walked in the poker room and most of the regulars started looking at this guy with jaws dropping, salivating like a hungry dog in the Sahara desert. Mr. Donkey was the epitome of a poker ‘ATM’ machine.
I informed the nearest poker supervisor my request to be moved to Mr. Donkey’s table ASAP. Within a few minutes my request was granted and I found myself sitting in middle position, four seats to the right of my ‘target.’ There was no way I was going to wait a few hands to post my blind with my new prey at the table. I got dealt two beautiful black cowboys (Kings) right off the bat. I made a standard raise to twelve dollars, only to see the donkey reach for his sunglasses and re-raise me to thirty-five dollars. Could he have Aces I asked myself? I didn’t like the way he reached for his sunglasses before he re-raised me, but I knew this guy could have been re-raising me with a pair of 10’s, Jacks, Queens, and any Ace-King combo which I would have been well ahead of mathematically. With our chip stacks there was no way I could have just three bet my Kings, so I pushed all-in and he snap called and flipped over pocket Aces.
I start laughing out loud because surely the ‘Poker Gods’ were getting a good chuckle over this hand. I knew right away that I was about a 4-1 underdog to win the hand. The flop came out and no red Kings were in sight. I was down to a 10% chance of winning. The turn brought a brick and I dropped to a 5% long-shot to scoop the pot. The river was a blank and Mr. Donkey took down the pot. The odds of me having run Kings into Aces was about 220:1 against. The fact that it happened on the very first hand against the worst player in the room that I ‘targeted’ made it all the more improbable. I had a bad feeling when he put his sun glasses on, but we all know folding pocket Kings (2nd best starting hand after Aces) pre-flop in a No-Limit cash game is considered a no-no by most professionals who have played and written about the game. Nevertheless, I was a good sport and congratulated him on the hand because I knew sooner or later his chips would come back my way.
I informed the nearest poker supervisor my request to be moved to Mr. Donkey’s table ASAP. Within a few minutes my request was granted and I found myself sitting in middle position, four seats to the right of my ‘target.’ There was no way I was going to wait a few hands to post my blind with my new prey at the table. I got dealt two beautiful black cowboys (Kings) right off the bat. I made a standard raise to twelve dollars, only to see the donkey reach for his sunglasses and re-raise me to thirty-five dollars. Could he have Aces I asked myself? I didn’t like the way he reached for his sunglasses before he re-raised me, but I knew this guy could have been re-raising me with a pair of 10’s, Jacks, Queens, and any Ace-King combo which I would have been well ahead of mathematically. With our chip stacks there was no way I could have just three bet my Kings, so I pushed all-in and he snap called and flipped over pocket Aces.
I start laughing out loud because surely the ‘Poker Gods’ were getting a good chuckle over this hand. I knew right away that I was about a 4-1 underdog to win the hand. The flop came out and no red Kings were in sight. I was down to a 10% chance of winning. The turn brought a brick and I dropped to a 5% long-shot to scoop the pot. The river was a blank and Mr. Donkey took down the pot. The odds of me having run Kings into Aces was about 220:1 against. The fact that it happened on the very first hand against the worst player in the room that I ‘targeted’ made it all the more improbable. I had a bad feeling when he put his sun glasses on, but we all know folding pocket Kings (2nd best starting hand after Aces) pre-flop in a No-Limit cash game is considered a no-no by most professionals who have played and written about the game. Nevertheless, I was a good sport and congratulated him on the hand because I knew sooner or later his chips would come back my way.