The perfect setup

Or alternately titled.... Any two cards.

    I missed Black Hawk last week due to snow. At 9000 feet it gets slushy by day and icy at night. With no guard rails or street lamps comming down the hill at night you take you life in your hands. So I've been jonesing for a game and tonight I hit the 6:30 tourney here in Fort Collins. We had a decent turnout, 3 tables plus a few alternates. I'd been playing 2.5 hours and won one hand. My 8k starting stack was down to 6k. Blinds were up to 400-800 and I was sick of looking at 6-2o and folding my BB to anyone who raised. I knew I had to make something happen soon.

    I was in MP and peeked down at 77. I figured it was likely the best hand preflop, but I didn't expect it to win at showdown if I limped in and got maybe 1 caller plus the blinds. There was 1200 in the pot and 6000 in my stack. I shoved all in and everyone folded. There hadn't been much shoving at the table, so my action met with a few disgruntled comments especially from the blinds. I was glad to ship my second pot of the night and increase my stack by 20%.

    I'm still the short stack at the table and the very next hand I look down at JKo and in UTG+1 I shove again. More complaintes from the table, but everyone folds. My 6k stack is now 8.4k and I feel like I need to slow down before I get caught and called by a bigger hand or a situation where I'm only marginally ahead.

   Now I'm UTG and peek down at the Hilton sisters. It didn't take long to figure out how to play them, the choice was obvious. Everyone thought I was shoving just to steal the blinds. I could have been bluffing but no one called and I never showed. A third shove would probably get a call from someone who was sick of me shoving every hand. I shoved a third time. As luck would have it everyone folded around to the big blind who was first or second in chips at my table (we were down to 2 tables at this point).  He counted out a call, 7200 which was maybe 1/4 of his stack. He thought about it for a bit. I tried to talk him into a call. It was the perfect setup, it looked a lot like I was bluffing but I actually had a monster hand. I wanted a caller and only one. This was my chance to double up and hurt one of the chip leaders all in one hand.

   With 7200 chips in his hand he reached out and tossed them in the pot like he knew he was giving them away. His call was accompanied by the comment "Oh, what the hell..." and he flipped over 56s. I should do the odds, how far ahead was I really? What are the chances of him hitting a 6 on the flop and a 5 on the turn? What are the odds that the board wouldn't pair one of the other two cards on the river so I could make my own 2 pair? Why would anyone pay 7200 to win 9600?

   Well, I had fun.