Pocket pairs are a favorite of anyone who plays no limit Texas Holdem. With a pocket pair starting hand, you are more than likely the favorite to win a hand, as long as the other players don't have a bigger pair or over cards and get lucky. During the Poker After Dark week that boasted having Chris Ferguson, Layne Flack, Erik Seidel, Phil Hellmuth, Doyle Brunson, and T.J. Cloutier at the table, pocket pairs were scarce enough, and many players jumped at the chance to play them.
In this particular hand Doyle was first to bump it up to $900 and he had cowboys, pocket kings. His:
... looked good to him, so he raised it up. Chris was the only taker, but he did not call. Instead he looked at his pocket nines and raised it up to $2,900. His:
... would do him well, he thought.
When Doyle saw the re-raise, he felt good. He moved all in for $14,900, and now the pressure was really on for Chris. Earlier in the game Chris folded in a similar situation when he did not have a pocket pair, and when he heard that TJ had folded pocket fives, Chris said, "I would have played fives." Sure enough, Chris called. Now he needed to catch a nine or he was out of the game.
The flop came:
... The turn was:
... and the river was:
... and just like that the 2000 WSOP champ was out of this game.
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