I hit my target of $600 in chips and am getting ready to play the button then rack up and leave for the night when I am dealt 8-8 in the small blind. With seven people limping in, I make it $25 to go.
Action folds around to the button, he calls. I have played with this player before. He is a 50-ish Asian gentleman that is known to aggressively play any two cards. We have done battle before with each of us beating the other roughly half the time. That said, I generally stay out of his pots unless I have the nuts.
The flop comes 8-3-10 rainbow. I bet out $50. The button raises me to $100. I put him on pocket 10s, but call anyway. My reads during this session were spot-on. At this point I am confident I was beat on the flop.
Of all the quads I have had, most have been quad 8’s. I want to see the turn card, hoping for the case 8.
Turn card is an ace. I bet $100. The button raises me to $200. I momentarily put him on A-10. Two pair to my set, and two over cards. I still have a nagging feeling he has a set of 10’s. The problem is I am now pot-committed. I call.
The table talk after the hand reveals that this gentleman put me on A-A preflop, so he thinks I have a set of aces on the turn.
The river is another 10. “He has quad 10’s,” I think to myself. Odds are he does not have quads, but anything is possible in a cash game. I check. This confuses the button, but he bets out $100 into a $650 pot. I can’t fold with the pot odds, but I can’t raise him all-in for another $200 if he has quad 10’s or 10’s full of aces.
I was so focused on him having one of those two hands, I thought he was making a small value bet of roughly 15% of the pot instead of pushing all in for what would have been about half the pot. Convinced I am beat and he made a value bet on the river, I call.
I immediately show 8’s full of 10’s. He stands up. Slams the cards face-up on the table with a loud “ahh!”. “He is celebrating taking down the biggest pot of the night,” I think to myself.
My eyes turn to his cards. He had pocket 3’s. Pocket 3’s for $100 on the flop with two over cards? My first bad read of the night basically doubled me up.
Time to leave the game … a winner.