Can I Make 1 Million: Great Laydown (For me Anyway)

It's not always the hands you play that make you money. More often its about the hands you don't play that save you money! This must be what seperates the pros from the amateurs - the ability to lay a hand down when they know they are beat.

I should start off by letting you know that these hand analysis are usually at least 12 hours after the hand has been dealt. As I write i do not have access to the play-by-play which I usually accompany at the end of a post, so forgive me if the hand description is not particularly accurate, but you can always see below for the exact details.

So I pick up pocket 8's in the BB (big blind). First position (one off the big blind) raises and second position player calls (or re-raises, I can't remember). The point of the hand is that everyone else folded and the action came to me. I'm sitting with pocket 8's and my gut told me to fold (as usual) but my head told me to play. At this point I reviewed the situation as if we were NOT playing at the .02/.05 level.

First position raises and second position shows more aggression, I am either going all in at this point, or I will undoubtedly be forced to go all-in later down the road (I honestly cannot remember if it was quicker than that on this particular hand, but the more I think about it, I'm pretty sure second position went all in). I am pretty sure my 8's are good, HOWEVER do I want to waste my money on a coin flip on what will inevitably be 3 people all-in at the flop? Truthfully, I do not have the best luck in the world, and the odds would be stacked against me vs. three players, especially since they probably both have over cards. if one has AK, AQ or KQ and the other might have KJ, JJ, 10s or even a higher pair than me. There is too much going on for me to call all in at this point with 8's. In the end I lost my big bling and would have lost the hand if I had called.

In a ring game I would have crippled my stack and probably would have played on tilt for the remainder of the time I was at the table. This was by far the best hand I played during that session. I never really go with my gut during these situations; curiousity tends to get the best of me and I lose money. On my last hand strategy post I mentioned my "All-in Strategy" and how I feel that it should only be saved when I know have the nuts, or if Iam in desperate circumstances. Neither of these situations fit, so I passed, and now I am better off for it! I guess writing down these hands has helped me stick to my game.