WOW, That was fun!

I decided to try a little shorthanded action for the first time at a NL table (I usually play full table NL). I played two tables for 22 minutes and made a quick $47.41. I couldn't believe what folks were calling! Look at the hand below:

(Sorry, I tried to use a hand converter, but it didn't work. I will try to edit this with a better hand history display later this evening.)

***** Hand History for Game 4305617400 *****
0/0 Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) - Thu May 18 23:00:26 EDT 2006
Table Table 107961 (Real Money) -- Seat 4 is the button
Total number of players : 5
Seat 1: Coryan ( $20.03)
Seat 2: maizenblue66 ( $15)
Seat 3: youngil ( $9.99)
Seat 4: ducegst ( $26.49)
Seat 6: K_Dubya ( $32.19)
K_Dubya posts small blind (0.10)
Coryan posts big blind (0.25)
maizenblue66 posts big blind (0.25)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to Coryan [ Ah, 5d ]
maizenblue66 checks.
youngil calls (0.25)
ducegst calls (0.25)
K_Dubya folds.
Coryan checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 8s, 9d, As ]
Coryan bets (1)
maizenblue66 folds.
youngil calls (1)
ducegst raises (3) to 3
Coryan raises (4) to 5
youngil calls (4)
ducegst calls (2)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ 5h ]
Coryan bets (14.78)
Coryan is all-In.
youngil calls (4.74)
youngil is all-In.
ducegst calls (14.78)
** Dealing River ** : [ Kc ]
Creating Main Pot with $28.82 with youngil
Creating Side Pot 1 with $19.58 with Coryan
** Summary **
Main Pot: $28.82 | Side Pot 1: $19.58 | | Rake: $2
Board: [ 8s 9d As 5h Kc ]

Coryan balance $48.40, bet $20.03, collected $48.40, net +$28.37 [ Ah 5d ] [ two pairs, aces and fives -- Ah,As,Kc,5d,5h ]
maizenblue66 balance $14.75, lost $0.25 (folded)
youngil balance $0, lost $9.99 [ Jh Ad ] [ a pair of aces -- Ad,As,Kc,Jh,9d ]

ducegst balance $6.46, lost $20.03 [ 2s Ts ] [ high card ace -- As,Kc,Ts,9d,8s ]
K_Dubya balance $32.09, lost $0.10 (folded)


I'm gonna have to play shorthanded more often.

Sounds like you had a good run... nice going!

And your avatar is totally cute.

You got lucky on that hand - you were the outsider of 3 post flop. Anyone can win hands if they make 2 pair, but I dont think this hand is anything to brag about. Nice pot though!

Agree with rob, that wasn't a well-played hand, but a lucky one. On the flop you were badly behind, with only 2 outs to improve, and you raised. 5-handed there was a fair chance of you being the only one with an Ace, but when you raised the pot, and got a call and a big re-raise, then you should have known you had kicker trouble and a draw in all likelihood. At best you should have called that raise, hoping for a card and looking at implied odds (because your pot odds at that point were terrible), but most of the time you should be folding something like A5 when you flop a pair of Aces and get raised, even fairly short-handed. Even if you somehow put them both on a flush draw, then your raise had no chance of pushing them off, because it was nowhere near large enough to be able to do that.
As if happens, you had 2 outs to improve, as you not only had to catch a 5 but you also needed to dodge a flush. The only particularly bad call from the 2 opponents in the showdown with you is ducegst calling your all-in on the turn, but that's easy enough to understand, as he had a reasonable kicker, so unless you'd raised a bet with a specific poor kicker, he wasn't likely to be in trouble.

Congrats on the win, but please do make a note that A5 is not a hand to play most of your chips for when you just just a pair of Aces and get raised, as you'll normally be behind, and more often than not will lose all your money rather than have a big win.

Thanks for the feedback. I knew my ace could be in trouble, which is actually why I RRed on the flop. I was ready to drop the hand if called. It had been a long time since I played short and knew that some players would raise second pair. My play may have made more sense if headsup, so I would agree that it was quite a gamble here. Not a great play for me, but I got lucky because my opponents didn't play the hand any better.

I really was not posting this to brag...I was just commenting on a very pleasant return to playing short for a while.

Unfortunately, my after dinner attempt didn't go so well. I was up $20 and decided to play one last hand. I had K8s and raised PF. The flop came K-8-3 and two-suited. I lead out with a 4/5 pot bet and then slightly overbet the pot (120%)on the turn as I suspected opponent to be on a flush draw. Well, he was chasing the flush with T4s and it hit on the river. I bet the river as I knew I would be calling his bet anyway (he only had $7 remaining w/ a $36 pot). I was down $4 for the session and decided to get back to even. (WARNING SIRENS)

So, I finally stopped playing 3 hours and another $89 later. My third worse session ever! I was down $130 at one time but got some action on my second ever Royal Flush...the only good news of the evening.