Split Nines With a King

I have some very bad memories when I think of the seven-card stud hand (K-9) 9. Not once, but twice I have lost memorable pots with this hand after hitting a third 9. The first time, I was playing heads up against poker legend Danny Robison - who is known for his stud game - in a $500-$1,000 limit stud game in Atlantic City at the Taj Mahal. Danny had the 6 up and brought it in. I raised, and he reraised me right away. I decided to just call the $500 raise ($1,000 total), in order to trap him. On fourth street, I hit a 9, and he caught the 5, for 6 5. I wanted to check, but I knew that would look too suspicious, so I bet out $500, and Danny called. Fifth street brought me a jack, for (K-9) 9-9-J, and Danny hit the 4, for 6 5 4. I bet out $1,000, and Danny raised! I thought, "This is beautiful; Danny has pocket queens. I better just call him to continue to act like I have only one pair."

On sixth street, Danny paired the 4, for a board of 6 5 4 4, and I checked with the intent of raising him. Indeed, Danny bet, and I raised - but he reraised me! "Uh-oh," I thought, "he may have me beat." I decided that reraising was still the right play for two reasons: First, Danny is very aggressive in stud, and he may well have had merely two pair at that point. Second, I had only $2,000 left. My hand was now (K-9) 9-9-J-10, and Danny showed his hand, since I was all in; he had (5-4) 6-5-4-4, for fours full of fives. I had trapped him, all right - trapped him right into the best hand! When I told Danny my thoughts on check-raising him on sixth street, he said, "Didn't it ever occur to you that I might have made a straight in five?" I said, "No way; you seemed pretty weak when you raised me in five."

Now, the last card was dealt facedown, and as I "squeezed" it, I realized it was a paint card. I announced to Danny, "I'm a 3-to-2 favorite to fill up; it's either a jack, a queen, or a king." Unfortunately for me, it was a queen, which gave me a king-high straight. Danny then said, "It's a good thing I didn't have a straight! You would beat that hand easily." OK, Danny, nice hand, nice needle, and I'll see you at the tables again soon! I still think it looked pretty good for me when I had three nines against your two fives, Danny!

The second encounter I had with (K-9) 9 was when I ran into Scotty Nguyen in a $1,000 buy-in stud tourney in February at Commerce Casino. This hand is a bit more perplexing, though. I had been waiting patiently for a hand with which I could put my last $1,400 into the pot. I was dealt (K-9) 9 and raised, and Scotty reraised me with (A 2) 5 (no, this is not a misprint). At that point, not knowing his hand, I thought, "OK, I'm probably not going to fold this hand, but I'll just smooth-call and see what happens." The limits were $200-$400, and I called Scotty's raise ($400 total). Fourth street brought a jack for me and the 7 for Scotty, and I bet out, because he didn't catch a club or an overcard.

Scotty called me. On fifth street, I hit a 9, and Scotty caught the 8, for a hand of (A 2) 5 7 8. I bet out $400, and Scotty somehow called $400 with no pair and no draw! He was staring at 9-J-9, and called with his hand. Sixth street brought Scotty an ace, so he had a pair of aces. I bet out my last $400, and he called. At that point I said, "I have trip nines." Scotty's head dropped down to the table as he said, "That's good." He didn't say he had any kind of draw like he usually does, so I had the distinct impression that he was drawing dead. So, in my mind, I had the pot counted down and in my stack. Then, all of sudden, Scotty stood up and said, "Three aces."

I stared in disbelief at his hand, trying to reconstruct what his holecards were. Was it possible that he had A-2 in the hole, or the more likely A-A? The player next to him watched Scotty squeeze the last card and swore that A-2 was the case. Also, I've never seen Scotty slow-roll anyone, ever. Plus, Scotty himself admitted his starting hand. All of this convinced me that he did indeed start with A-2. Oh well, runner-runner happens. Scotty, I'll be seeing you at the stud table soon, too!

I hope you enjoyed this Hand of the Week. Good luck playing your hands this week.

Editor's note: Play $4-$8 limit hold'em with Phil Hellmuth at UltimateBet.com, table "philhellmuth." For more info about Phil, or to read more Hand of the Week columns, go to PhilHellmuth.com.

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