Leaving 14 Dimes in the Sand

Date: 2005.10.24 | Category: Hand Of The Week | By: Phil Hellmuth   

After being eliminated from the World Poker Tour event in Aruba, I was contractually committed to stay another five days. Normally, the minute I’m eliminated from a tournament, I’m looking to hop aboard the first flight home. But this was Aruba, and my wife was with me, so I was more than happy to hang out. Meanwhile, I decided to play some poker in the side games for a few hours a day, both at the Holiday Inn and at the Radisson.

Late one night, at about 3 a.m. when my high-limit, lowball game broke up, I hopped into a no-limit Hold ’em side game with $25-$50 blinds. I bought in for $4,000, and the very first hand I was dealt was Kd-Qd, followed by a flop of Qh-Qc-4d. So, of course, I doubled up when someone with Q-J moved all-in. Within 45 minutes I had 23 dimes (a “dime” is a thousand dollars) in front of me, and I was on a rush (which means simply that you’re winning a ton of pots).

In first position in a subsequent hand, I made it $100 to go without looking at my cards — this is called a “straddle” — which gave me the right to raise it up if anyone else called the $100 bet. Everyone folded to player SA (for super-aggressive!) in the big blind, and he raised it up, making it $500 to go. I looked down at 7d-5c, and decided to call the bet with this incredibly weak hand, for four reasons.