How would YOU play it?

[Madison]

but my question then was why didn't he raise preflop if he really had big slick.

I've actually been toying with limping in with A/K and A/Q in my live games lately, after having a run for about a month where I couldn't flop an ace or a king to save my life. The results so far have been great, and someone's almost always willing to pay me off. Something to remember is that while big slick looks nice in your hand (even better suited), it's still only an ace high, and we all know how often ace high wins a hand.

EDIT: By the way, don't go the route of saying big slick versus a pocket pair is a coinflip either. That only counts if you go all 5 cards and are willing to call for all your money on the flop with nothing but an ace high (and only a 6 out draw).

But...I had such a hard time calling that bet right there. He had so many outs if I was ahead and he was drawing to the flush,

Why? He didn't have nearly as many outs as you think, and was on a very bad draw. Reason? Because you said the duece and the 6 were spades. With 4 spades out (two on the board, and two in his hand) that only leaves 9 spades to draw to, which sounds like a lot, but when you factor in that the 5 of spades is out of play (since it gives you a boat), that drops him to 8 outs. 2 cards in each of your hands, 4 cards on the board is 8 cards. 52 cards in the deck minus the 8 in play leaves 44 unknowns. He was less than 1 in 5 to fill that flush. I take that bet all day long and smile.

[pokerplaya]

Yeah, I realize that he was only about 20% to steal the hand from me, but believe me, I was scared to death before I saw that river. But once I saw that he didn't have the overset, I knew I had made the right play.

[Madison]

Yeah, I realize that he was only about 20% to steal the hand from me, but believe me, I was scared to death before I saw that river. But once I saw that he didn't have the overset, I knew I had made the right play.

True. It's always a bit sticky to watch as someone tries to suck out on you. Had one myself a couple of weeks ago in a live game. Pocket kings, flop a set with a board of K/10/dink. King and 10 were spades, he was holding A/J of spades. All the money wound up in the pot on the flop (roughly $750 pot) and he was on a royal draw, plus any spade, plus any queen. Turn was a red dink, river was a second 10 to fill up my boat. Talk about sweating those two cards . Whew!

[pokerplaya]

Yeah, I realize that he was only about 20% to steal the hand from me, but believe me, I was scared to death before I saw that river. But once I saw that he didn't have the overset, I knew I had made the right play.

True. It's always a bit sticky to watch as someone tries to suck out on you. Had one myself a couple of weeks ago in a live game. Pocket kings, flop a set with a board of K/10/dink. King and 10 were spades, he was holding A/J of spades. All the money wound up in the pot on the flop (roughly $750 pot) and he was on a royal draw, plus any spade, plus any queen. Turn was a red dink, river was a second 10 to fill up my boat. Talk about sweating those two cards . Whew!

Wow...that's one nice sized pot. What stakes do you guys play? 2-5?

[Madison]

Yeah, I realize that he was only about 20% to steal the hand from me, but believe me, I was scared to death before I saw that river. But once I saw that he didn't have the overset, I knew I had made the right play.

True. It's always a bit sticky to watch as someone tries to suck out on you. Had one myself a couple of weeks ago in a live game. Pocket kings, flop a set with a board of K/10/dink. King and 10 were spades, he was holding A/J of spades. All the money wound up in the pot on the flop (roughly $750 pot) and he was on a royal draw, plus any spade, plus any queen. Turn was a red dink, river was a second 10 to fill up my boat. Talk about sweating those two cards . Whew!

Wow...that's one nice sized pot. What stakes do you guys play? 2-5?

Anything from $1/$2 to $5/$10, but I try to stick to $1/$2 or $2/$5. That hand was actually at a $1/$2 game . Yes, I've got a nice juicy underground club in Dallas that I play at.