Set over set is unlucky right?

Well I know I haven't been doing much blogging lately but just grinding it out at the tables for hard earned cash is not exactly that exciting ...

Early March gave me the upswing I wanted after a stagnant February .. only to be snatched back from me by unfortunate circumstances. My hard earned dollars went to the wind as my pocket KK went up against pocket AA no less than 3 times in 2 weeks. Who ever said "never fold KK pre flop for a 100 Big Blinds". I know! ... a whole host of players on 2 plus 2 forums ... and they are right!!! Anyways I still made a marginal profit taking my non losing streak to 10 months (but the bubble is close to bursting).

So just as I had had my 3rd KK dominated and had reloaded I get the following hand ... QQ in Cut Off position.

Now normally I am excited at getting such a big pocket pair (especially as it was to get folded to me) but following my recent form the QQ fills me with dread. Remembering what the books and statistics tell me, and ignoring past result orientated thinking, I give it a raise .. to 4 big blinds. Now I've noticed at the $0.50/$1 and $1/$2 levels more 3 - 4 x BB raises are being called with hands that are a 40% underdog or worse. With more people calling there is a tendency to increase your raises and push them out, but I think that is wrong! You need these people in the pot when you have a premium hand so a standard raise is fine.

But .. oh no! I get a call from the button and the big blind.

No A or K! No A or K! No A or K!

The flop comes Q,9,7 rainbow and I go into the evil villain mode!!! He .. He .. He.

A weak continuation bet I think ... half the pot.

This was called by the button then raised by the big blind.

"Wow" I think "No flushes no immediate straights" ... I didn't want an open ender drawing, the button being him as he just called, so I re raised.

The button called for his last chips and the big blind (who had me covered) went all in. Now i knew I had the big blind set over set, and was dodging the buttons draw, but I called.

So what did we all have?

Well I had QQ for QQQ as you all know.
The button had 99 for 999
and the big blind had 77 for 777

Well dodging the quads made up for my last loss with KK and left me astounded to what had just happened, SET over SET over SET and nearly a triple up in unbelievable circumstances.

Just to note .. if I needed to rely on my poker winnings for a living I would currently have to be playing at the $25/$50 level just to cover my outgoings. As it happens I am still content with just loving this game at the level I play at.

Still to come is my impending trip to Newcastle for the Virgin Poker Festival.

I will take lots of photos and ....... first prize!

Until then.

Keep it tight!