I hate suck outs.

So, I'm down at the Excalibur Saturday night with a couple of my poker buddies. We're in a baby No Limit Holdem game with ½ blinds. The buy-in is $100 min/max. There is a guy at our table who is pretty messed up. This guy is obviously piss drunk or he's on some wild new drugs. We will call this player the “fool”. So, the fool plays a lot of hands. Way too many hands. Mostly trash hands. But, remarkably, he is winning with them. The fool drags a few big pots with some trash like 6,7 off-suit where he rivers the nut straight against an opponent with the straight only to the 6. Or, on another hand the fool rivered the nut straight to the queen with J,Q where his opponent only had the straight to the J. The point is, the fool was getting lucky. A lot.

One of my buddies ran into the fool early on. My buddy gets pocket 8's in early position. He throws in a $20 raise. I actually had pocket 9's on this hand and I laid 'em down to my buddy. He gets one caller – yep, you guessed it, the fool. The flop comes down A,J,J. My buddy bets, the fool calls, all the way until the river. Turns out the fool called my buddy's raise with A,6 off-suit, then called him to the river to win the pot with his top pair. Most experienced holdem players do not call $20 raises pre-flop with only A,6 offsuit. Nevertheless, the fool was make'n these calls all night long and clean'n up with 'em.

Well, before it was over, I ran into the fool. As you might guess, it was my final hand of the night. After about two hours of play, I'm up about $80, so I have a total roll of about $180 in front of me. On the button I pick up Q,K suited (hearts). There are a few limpers, so I throw in a $20 raise hoping to either drag the pot right there, or get one caller and use my position to take the pot later. Well, I got my one caller – the fool. This turkey called my $20 raise like it was nothing.

So, me and the fool are heads up. The flop comes down Q,Q,5. Two spades. I just hit trip Queens with a King kicker heads up. This is a pretty damned good flop for me. I feel like I own this pot. The fool obviously liked the flop also, because he bet into me $25. I didn't put him on pocket 5's, but thought he might have a smaller pocket pair (10's or J's), or perhaps he was make'n a semi-bluff at the pot with a flush draw. I figured I was way ahead, and I didn't want to give the fool a chance to draw out on me, so I raised him $50. I wanted to make him pay if he was on a draw. He called my raise without any hesitation, so now we each have about $95 in the pot.

The turn brings an Ace. The fool checks. I don't put this guy on A,Q. I'm still think'n he has a smaller pocket pair or is on a flush draw, so I push all in for my remaining $85 or so. Remember, I wanna make him pay. The fool calls. I flip up my trip Queens with my King kicker. The fool flips up A,3 spades. I was right. He was on a flush draw. The fool called my $20 raise pre-flop with A,3 suited, way out of position. Then he kept calling me, all the way to the river. He called a $50 raise with a paired board. Then he called an $85 all-in. He was clearly wrong to make these calls. But, he did it anyway, and guess what? The river brought the fool a 7 of spades. He hit his flush, and I went home broke. Completely busted.

So, what's the point? Sometimes the fool wins. Sometimes he will suck you dry. That's poker.