In the other's shoes.

I'm the big blind in the Thursday .50/$1 game. There are 8 at the table . The player to my left raises it to $3.50 from under the gun and it folds around to me. I check my cards and have Ace-8, both spades. I could be dominated, but my postflop play is excellent and I think I can outplay this player after the flop, who is tight and fairly straightforward. I make the call.

The flop is about dry as dry can be - 2 2 6, two clubs, one spade. I have nothing. My tight, straightforward opponent leads out. This can be a straight continuation bet, or it could be a pair. Because he raised under the gun, I would put the pair in the 99s and up range (lower pairs might limp and setmine, no?). There are not many prospects for my hand, so I decide on a new course of action - let's see if the turn is something I can bluff at. The old Johnny Chan play (check/call the flop, lead the turn). I call the bet.

The turn is a 4 of spades. This gives 35 the straight, and I could always be representing a deuce, of course. My image is loose-aggressive - there's no guarantee that I don't have small cards here. I'm pretty sure I I could get two unpaired high cards to fold, but get an overpair to fold here with a big bet? Interesting...

One more check at the board gives one other consideration, though - I've got the nut flush draw! So, if I lead out, but get raised by an overpair, I've denied myself odds to chase my flush. I think another check/call is in order. After my check, my opponent leads out for $10 into a $16 pot. Looks like he doesn't want my flush (or the possible club flush) coming. I call anyway, with 9 clean outs, plus maybe 3 more for the ace.

No flush on the river, damn! A red eight. I have actually improved to a pair, but I don't think that it's good the way that tighty-tighterson has been firing. I check the river. He checks behind, and I start to exclaim "I think you're good...." until I see his cards - two sevens! My little inconsequential pair on the river gave me the winner. My opponent looks a little steamy for a lap or two around the table.

A nice little $36 pot to add to my pile.... except for one thing. I was not Mr. A8 suited from the big blind (I'm such a liar, I know...). I was Mr. 77 under the gun and got my pair cracked at the end.

Mr A8s was Mr. Pietzak - a player I have discussed before - a loose aggressive player who is not afraid play low cards and outplay straightforward players postflop. In this hand, he was technically wrong to call a continuation bet with 2 overs and no draw potential, but his goal was to make a move on me on the turn, so his cards didn't matter. When the turn gave him a flush draw and an ace, he felt like his draw was strong enough to call a big bet. (In truth, his draw was even stronger than that, because the three eights were clean outs, as well. 15 outs = 30% to come up with the winning hand, plus some bluff outs on various scary rivers).

We both played the hand well, I think. I raised UTG with 77 - a bit more aggressive than my usual style, but my numerous pairs were not setting up and I felt like the raise would disguise my hand a bit. With the 226 flop, I was pretty sure it didn't hit my big blind caller - even Mr. Pietzak didn't have a deuce unless it was A2 or a pair of deuces for quads now (just my luck). I needed to lead out strong though, here, because over half the deck was overcards that would put me a in goofy situation, plus there were 2 clubs there.

The turn stayed under my sevens. It completed an unlikely straight (even for Pietzak), but now there were 2 flush draws to protect. I bet big into the pot and he called again.

The 8 on the river didn't look like it could have helped any draws, but when he checked, I decided that I had gotten enough value from my 7s, and didn't want to invite a checkraise in case he did have a disguised monster. As he said "I think you're good", I was relieved that my pair had held up, until I saw the eight in his hand. Damn!

Damn! Damn! Damn!