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We played poker on Thursday night. A very, very strange hand came late in the night. To set this up you have to understand that it was the usual crew plus the host had invited his brother in law. He fit the stereotype to a tee of the invited brother in law – nice guy, bad at poker. Actually he was very nice and very bad at poker.

The gambling gods smiled upon him everytime the cards were dealt. As a matter of fact, given the cards he was dealt, he should have taken all of our money. Take the example of the hand where he had AQ to a board of AQQxx. I lead out w KK thinking he is going to fold or perhaps maybe call with junk (he did it plenty) and he called. Hmmmm. He showed the boat and I thought in my head the same question that 6 other guys were thinking, “Why wouldnt you raise me with that?”

So the funniest hand of the night came when he was heads up with KTL.

KTL picks up 9d9c. He raises ~5-6 times the BB and chases all but 1 caller (Chris). Time will tell that he called w/ Js4c.

Flop comes something like Qd, 10d, 9x. Chris checks. KTL thinks to himself – bet it b/c you don’t want this poker Special Olympian to back door a straight and beat the set. KTL is also thinking that Chris probably called the first bet w/ some combination of face cards and may have a pair. KTl bets it strong (~75% of the pot) and Chris calls.

Turn comes 2d. Check again from Chris. KTL is now a little scared that Chris may have picked up the flush. KTL bets again (~75% of pot). Olympian calls again.

River card comes 8d. Worst card possible for KTL; it gives him a flush but not a great flush.

Here comes the funny part:

Chris exclaims “OMIGOG…BOOM” when he sees the river. Nice poker face.

Then – w/o hesitation he bets $27 – which was ~ a pot sized bet – and puts himself all in. The only possible thought is that Chris hit a big flush (count 3 better flushes – A, K, J). Keep in mind that Chris had only called or folded to every bet to this point but just popped in $27, so it seemed pretty obvious to the entire table that he just hit a huge hand.

KTL therefore folds. He flips over his cards over in frustration and show the 9d flush. Chris flips his cards (J4) and says – “I had you beat anyway b/c I had the straight.”

Yes, his excitement was because he thought a straight beat a flush and figured he just sucked out on Kyle.

Wow. That, my friends, is home poker at its finest