My Most Memorable Hand

BuddyDank offered as his question for the winner of next week's Mookie -- what is the most memorable hand of poker you've ever played? Because I've never really come close to winning a Mookie and have a very high probability of continuing that particular record far beyond next week, and because I think it's a great question, I'm going to jump the gun a bit and provide my answer here. Remember, Buddy, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

A few hands come to mind here. I don't know that any of them demonstrate any special skill or cunning on my part, but they definitely were memorable.

Early in my online poker playing I spent most of my time at Pacific Poker. Pacific Poker, particularly back then, was an aquarium. They have a very large online casino operation through the associated 888.com. Lots of regular casino gamblers, who hadn't clue one of how to play proper poker, would wander into the poker room which was shared with Pacific Poker. Some of the worst play in the world occurred at Pacific Poker. If you could get past the bad beats, it was a great place to play.

I was playing 1/2 limit one night when the following happened. I'm in the BB with KTs. There are several limpers and I just check. The flop is 66Q, with two of them in my suit. It checks around to me. Having four cards to the second nut flush, I bet. Several people call. The turn brings a 9 in my suit, filling my flush. I was very happy to get the flush, but given the way my luck typically ran I was fully expecting the river to bring another of that suit and fill the flush for somebody who held just the A. It's been quite a while so I don't recall all the details, but there was some betting and three of us see the river.

The river is turned up and, just as I figured, it was another of my suit. No sooner did I say to myself, "Damn, I knew that was going to happen," than I noticed it was the J of that suit. I just filled a straight flush. Bells are going off in my head and it's all I can do to ponder the best approach to getting as much as I can into the pot. I was so happy that the guy on the button was cooperating by betting and re-raising that I never really stopped to think about what he might be holding. We hit the 3-raise limit and the cards were turned over, revealing his pocket 6's. He'd flopped four sixes. I was both laughing my ass off and feeling sorry for him at the same time.

The poor guy left the table almost immediately. A couple nights later I spot him at a table and take the seat right next to him. He left before the next hand was dealt. I guess he remembered me.

I'd have to call that my second most memorable hand. My most memorable happened in a tournament at Full Tilt. I didn't have all that much tournament experience at the time and entered this one spur of the moment. It must have been one of the regularly scheduled ones because there was a decent sized field.

We were a ways in -- past the first break -- when I get pocket rockets. I put in a small raise and am just hoping somebody will want to play. My dream, of course, is to get all my chips in the pot. Some guy on the other side of the table pushes all-in. I'm thinking, "Yee-hah! I got a fish on the line!" Then some guy after him also pushes all-in. Even better, though I'm starting to get a little concerned about two people having shots at out-drawing me. Of course I call.

The cards come up and both of the other guys are showing KK. KK vs KK vs AA. I've played hundreds of thousands of hands. I've seen tons of cooler hands dealt. But that is the only time I've ever seen KK vs KK vs AA. The flop is rainbow and I've got a lock on a triple up. That was sweet.

That tournament also ended up being one of my biggest cashes.

If you've got a memorable hand story and don't plan on winning the Mookie this week, leave a comment and tell us about it.