Wow - where to start - Donkey gets lucky????

I sat down for week 3 of the fall league at Brother's Bar and Grill. Full of all the hopes we poker junkies have each time we sit down. I was calm, rested and feeling at the top of my game. Online play has even turned around the trendline points up again.

On my right this week, were 2 new people. Neither with any experience and surely hadn't been at a table near me before. On my left was one guy I've played before, he has shakier hands than I do. On his left, was another new guy.

The two on my right were definitly calling stations. They were in almost every pot. The guy directly on my left would not laydown anything. I watched him call a huge bet on the river with the sucker straight. The board was 8 7 6 5...he had the 4. Was bummed to find that had put in the big raise had a 9. But like he said..."I can't lay down a straight!"

Well, being an observant player, I like that kind of information.

Not much was going on, the table seemed pretty loose and chips were moving around, so I just played her tight. I cleaned up one pot that had 3 aces on the board. Prof Jens was in the hand, I had the full house when I pair my king on the flop. Not really sure where the table was, I mean there were 4 of us in the pot. Prof Jens raises 50 on the river. Now this bet to me was either fishing for a raise or an attemp to just take it down now. He does both. I pair my king so I just called. The button just calls too. They were both just fishing. Nice little pot.

I folded for about 20 more minutes and then my random number generator went off and I raised from UTG with A♥ 7♥. I know, that's a pretty loose raise, but I also don't want to put myself in the spot where I always play tight. I fully plan on bailing out of this hand if I miss completely.

The flop comes A♣7♦3♣, I hit it, but the clubs are scaring me a little. I bet pot to 500. Todd folds and the LB and BB both call. OK...someone have clubs? Other aces out there (hoping this is true)? The turn comes 2♥ I put out another large bet of 1200 and to my shock...everyone still calls! WTF! I'm really hopping that they have big aces or are dumb enough to chase a draw. The river turns yet another non-scary card, the 2♠. I finish putting all of my chips in. I really believe I have the best hand. Outside of pocket aces, 7s or 3s, which these two rookies would have wet themselves over a while ago, am I really worried about A2, 72 or 32? Could someone have called all the raises hoping to hit a full house?

Yes they could. They did, and the proudly turned over A2. Wow...and he's bragging about it. I had 2 chips left and that happened to be the BB the very next hand. I was done...my 4♠5♣ was no match for whatever the other two had.

Thanks to Prof Jens for reminding me that I played the hand correctly and had donkey boy right where I wanted him. Unfortunately...that's variance.

Filled with all the emotions of a bad suckout, I left the table, looking for Bodie25. I found him and told him the story. He was on his way to making a big splash in the league standings...CONGRATS! I'll let him tell the story...go check out his site for details.

After I busted out, the broke the table and A2 guy moved over to Bodie25's table. Jon and Bodie noticed his large stack and asked how he got it. He proudly told them how he just busted 2 people out with a full house. Jon asks...did you have A2? "Yeah!"...the table laughs. He was gone within the hour. His chips removed by the skills of my friends at his new table....thanks guys!

What did learn from this? Not much, maybe keep the tight motif up longer and be more careful of the blind squirrel finding a nut. I don't think I would ever play that hand differently against a player of limited means. I was never behind him in the hand until the river. In fact, I basically had him right were I want him 95% of the time. Next time, I'll be fat, dumb and happy with chips.

Side Note: Went home and signed into FT of course. Still making regular profits on the $1.25 45 person sng. For the month of September...I've cashed in 4 of 8 with an ROI of 238%. I wish I could get those kinds of returns on a much bigger buy in. Oh well, this the medicine I have to swallow to get my bankroll back up to healthy.