A Suckout Story

I played in my fifth $1 + .20 MTT on Pokerstars tonight. I was in the groove, playing the cards right, and being agressive when I needed to be. I made the final table. There were still 9 of us left when I was dealt A4c. I called a small raise in late position and the flop had two clubs. A smaller stack pushed in ahead of me and a larger stack did the same. I thought about it a bit. Two cards to come and about a 1 in 3 chance to draw the nut flush. I called.

Small stack had nothing. Bigger stack had 3 nines.

The turn was the club I needed.

Yes! I pumped my fist in the air.

The river paired one of the other cards on the board, giving the bigger stack a full house.

Out in 8th place.

Yes, one position out of the money.

I told myself when I made the final table night that I'd play really tight until I made the money. I'd still make the same call given the same chance, though. I knew the bigger hand liked to bet big with dubious cards. I had already put a note on him about it. Not a lot you can do when your nut flush gets busted on the river by a boat except swim to shore and wait for the next tournament.