Poker games can seem like a marathon more so than a sprint most of the time. You could play for a long time without anything significant happening at the table. Then all of a sudden, BAM! A hand gets so crazy that it captures the attention and imagination of everyone at the table. This was precisely the case with a hand that occurred during my local game and is this week’s Hand of the Week.

The game was $1-$2 no limit hold em, the game of choice of most of the players in our room. The game started slowly with most pots uncontested for the first hour or so. This was pretty surprised considering that the maximum buy in had been raised to $500 the night before. Sure enough, this did lead to some interesting confrontations and huge pots, one of which I’m about to tell you about.

I was the Small Blind for this particular hand. I looked down at my rag’s and decided I wouldn’t even call the Big Blind of $1. A middle position player called and a late position player made it $20 to go. The button called, I folded and the Big Blind re-raised, making it $75 straight. The middle position caller thought for a while and finally called. The late position player frowned slightly and also called. The button player mumbled something and mucked his hand. There was $246 in the pot and 3 players.

The flop was 10c-4d-2s. Completely uncoordinated rainbow flop. The Big Blind came out firing and he bet $150 into the pot. The middle position player paused for a minute and he finally called. The late position player, seemingly struggling with his decision also calls. There was now $694 in the pot with the same 3 players.

The Turn card was the 9h. The Big Blind, looking frustrated, checks as does the middle position player. This is where the hand gets interesting. The late position player suddenly springs to life and announces that he’s all-in for his remaining $600. The Big Blind stands up and looks really pained. This call would leave him with $100 left from his once impressive stack. At this point, I think he is beaten and by judging his body language, he thinks he’s beaten as well. Incredibly, he calls. Then it’s the middle position player’s turn and he too stands up. But relatively quickly, he calls. The table is in absolute shock. There is over $2,400 in the pot with one card to come. The River is the 2h and its time for everyone to turn over their cards.

Big Blind – Pocket Queens Middle position player – Pocket 4’s, meaning he flopped a set of 4’s and has a full house, 4’s over 2’s Late position player – Pocket 9’s. He hit his set on the Turn and now also has a full house, his is higher, 9’s over 2’s.

A simply stunning turn of events, especially when you look at just how many mistakes were made in this hand. Firstly, the preflop action, Mr. Pocket 4’s and Mr. Pocket 9’s made terrible calls with their pairs. They had to have known they were dominated. Secondly, after the flop when the middle position player smooth called after flopping a set of 4’s turned out to be costly. He basically priced the late position player in to see another card which allowed him to hit his set. Also, the late position player’s flop call was terrible. He was drawing to 2 outs and if someone happened to have a set of 10’s would have been drawing virtually dead. Then, the all in call by the Pocket Queens was terrible as well. I’m not sure what he was thinking there. But I guess that’s the nature of the game.

So many obvious mistakes were made in this hand and this time it was rewarded by one player while 2 others took a wallet pounding. But these things happen. As the great one says, “That’s poker.”

Until next time, may the chips fall your way.

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