Luck, a Two-Way Street

Tonight two things happen to me in back to back games, I experienced luck both ways. The first was in a $20+2 SNG, I was low chip stack with less then 500 chips remaining after paying off a higher full house. I was delt Q♠Q♦ with only one person limped in, I push all-in and get called by the cut-off and the original limper. These two guys not only called my all-in but pushed all-in themselves. The cut-off pushed with A♣8♣ and the original limper has slick, A♥K♦. The "catch" is the cut-off originally just called my all-in, the limper raised all-in which put the cut-off in the decision of all his chips... he had the minerals to call his tournament with A♣8♣.

The Flop: 5♣4♦4♥
Turn: 7♠
River: 6♦

The cut-off with the minerals nailed a straight on the river and took down my Q♠Q♦ and left "big slick" with 120 chips. What seemed to be a good flop for me ended up turning to a dead end. I can't justify the guys call with just A♣8♣ after two players push all-in, but it paid off for him.

I take my loss and move to another $20+2 SNG, this time action came fast in the first hand. I was delt A♠Q♣ and raised 4x the BB. The cut-off calls.

The Flop: A♥A♦6♥

Action to me I bet 3/4 the pot, the cut-off raises all-in. Thinking about this action and with the way people play in these lower limits I put in on a small pocket pair, maybe an Ax (small Ace), or a hand like KQ, KJ. The move to all-in also made me feel he was chasing a flush and wanted to buy it. People do crazy things when they are in the lower limits and you see a lot of all-ins on the first hand. But with three Aces and in low limits, I am calling the bet. If I am beat, then so be it... there are only three hands that have me: AK, A6 or 66.

I reveal my A♠Q♣ and he shows his 6♠6♣. Incase you missed it, he has sixes-full of aces. The only way I can win is to hit two runners or an Ace with only 23% to win the hand.

The Turn: 4♣

Not a good card for me, I have four outs (Ace or one of three 4s) outs giving me 15% chance to win the hand. I start typing "GG, NH" in the chat window as the River is delt.

River: 4♠

I win the hand with Aces-full of fours, a complete underdog and complete suck-out. I ended up placing second and getting my money back from my previous entry. I lost to an Ace high flush to a boat in heads up when the chips where almost tied (he had me covered).

The lesson to be learned from both of these hands is that no matter what happens you can never count a person out of the hand if they have any percentage to win. You're never "out" until your drawing dead.