This is what went down in Wednesday’s home game:  I call in early-mid position with 10, 7 offsuit.  A below-average player 4 seats to my left raises 5x the BB.  A good player a two seats to her left calls the raise, and I call, as well as one other person on my left.  The flop came out Js,9s,7c, with two spades out there.  I check to the raiser and she bets out small (around $3) and the player to her left calls. I call.  On the turn, puts out 6 of clubs, so two possible flush draws out there plus straight possibilities. 

Some background info:  A week earlier, I had watched footage of Stu Ungar drawing to an inside straight to win his 1997 WSOP title (he did this at another tournament that he won).  Earlier, on the drive there, I had mentioned to someone that I was going to draw to an inside straight tonight.

I figured the raiser had a hand like AK and I could probably take the pot down by going all-in–representing the straight (because there were two possible flush draws out there, a player with a made straight would try to protect his hand by making it very expensive to see the next card).  My chip count was over 6-7 times the size of the pot and I thought only someone with at least two pair here would call me (i didn’t think my opponents had that good of a hand there to call, based on how they played the hand).  So I pushed all my chips in.  The good player few seats to my right asked for a chip count and as I counted out the chip, the raiser calls….and the good player thinks for awhile and then folds.  The raiser shows AA and celebrates (prematurely).  Another player remarks, “He’s got the straight….Show the straight.”.  Of course I didn’t have the straight and as I turned my 10,7o over, it drew some ‘wtf?’ reactions at the table.  I was kind of surprised that someone with AA would call my all-in there, but then again, this player is notorious for overplaying her hands.  I needed either an 8 or a 7 to win the hand (6 outs).  I was way behind in the hand.  River card = 8.  I take down the pot as if I had expected to win it as everyone’s in disbelief.    Some might think that was a horrible play.  But in my defense, I had reasons to take a stab at it.  There was a good chance that everyone would fold to my all-in.  And even if I get called, I still had outs and potentially put a bad beat on someone.  I’m usually on the losing end of bad-beat stories (which is actually a good thing because that means I get my money in when I’m ahead).  But I wanted to be able to tell a good bad beat story–that I put on someone else! And I figured, even if I lost the hand, the fact that I played it the way I did will throw people off or make people second-guess themselves when they play against me.  This was the first time I made that kind of all-in bluff (drawing to inside straight).  But more importantly, it was the best hand I’ve ever played.      

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