Sometimes the cards play themselves

There are just some situations where both players are bound to end up with all of their money in the middle. When this happens all you can do is hope that the cards will break your way. I was in a $1/$2 no limit game and raised the pot with J-J. I got two callers and the flop came A-J-x. I knew I was in the lead (as I was fairly sure that nobody held A-A) and I also knew that at least one of the callers behind me held an ace. I bet and got one fold and the other player raised. I reraised and we ended up getting it all in. I expected to see a hand like A-K or A-Q, but I saw the one hand I really didn't want to see--A-J. Of course, another ace hit the turn and I was dead to the case jack. I know I made the right play and will take the odds on this time and time again, but sometimes you just go broke.

Technically speaking, I didn't go broke on that hand. I picked up a suited A-10 on the next deal and call a small pre-flop raise. The flop came 10-4-4. Barring an over pair or an unlikely 4, I was most likely ahead. I didn't have a lot of chips left so I pushed all in. I get one caller along with the initial raiser. The turn brought another 10--I was almost certain my hand was good. One of the other players bet out and got raised and finally folded what turned out to be an over pair. I turned up my hand for the main pot and saw the dreaded news. My opponent had flopped quad 4s. I had one out in the deck and it didn't come on the river. Oh well. As they say: "That's poker".

A similar situation happened more recently in a $1/$2 game. I raised in middle position with 10-10. Ironically, I made it $10 to go, but that also happened to be the standard opening raise for that table. The flop came A-10-x with two clubs. This is a similar situation where I held middle set and I was fairly confident that my opponent had an ace. I led out and bet about the size of the pot to protect my hand against the flush draw. My opponent raised and I reraised all in. My opponent had Ac-Kc--top pair; top kicker and the nut flush draw. A club hit the turn and the board didn't pair and I lost a big pot. The lesson of all of these stories is that no matter what happens, you will lose some big pots from time to time. You can play your hand perfectly and get your money in good and still lose. When this happens, you just have to put the bad luck behind you and move on to the next hand.