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Last week I wrote about a tournament hand. This hand comes from a cash game instead. $5-200 is my normal game.

game: $5-200 spread limit
blinds: 2 button/3 small/5 big
stack: ~$600
position: cut off
hand:



A somewhat loose player raised to $15 and a normal, somewhat tight, caller followed. There was a hand earlier where this loose player called down an aggressive player with Ace high and won. This guy also had a couple of beer and a deep enough stack (~$350). With such a strong hand, I want to play heads up with this guy but not the caller in the middle. I re-raise to $65, a number I think the caller in the middle won't feel comfortable. I can't worry about the button and the two blinds now, or I will be worrying way too much. I have the Kings. Lucky for me is that I had raised 2 of last 5 hands I played. That makes the loose player another reason to play with me. My plan is working. The loose player calls and the other guy mucks. Flop:



Didn't I say I was lucky? Flop a top set. Sweet. I don't have the time to react to the flop yet. My opponent leads out $55. If it were a 3-way or 4-way pot I would probably raise it to protect against some straight draws like QJ or J9, but with this guy, I am willing to gamble a bit because even with that lead out bet, I still couldn't put him on a hand. Since I have position on him, there is no hurry for raising. I smooth called. I think we are going to the river this hand anyway. Next card comes



Now I got a full house. This guy hasn't given up yet. He leads out again $95. I pause and study a hand for a bit, giving him my standard acting job. I raise to $265, leaving him ~$100 on the river, which I think he will commit if he commits on the turn bet. I think I have created enough mystery and he is now curious to see what I have. It is a similar situation as the previous hand he played with the other guy. He just wanted to see. This time, however, I think he has something to call. I think he probably has a 10, like A10 or J10 and he hopes that I am bluffing. He reluctantly calls the turn. And the river comes:



A complete blank. I causally say $200 after he checks. He pushes the rest of the chips (~100) in. I flip over Kings full and I don't really want to see his cards. Although it is always good to get info, I usually don't ask to see my opponent's hand when it is my turn to show first and he mucks, especially in bigger pots. There are two reasons. First is that the guy already lost money to me. I got what I want. There is no need to step on the wound. Also there is a rule at this poker room that if I ask to see his hand, the hand is live. So if he misreads the hand and mucks the winning hand, I would have revived it.

After the hand my opponent left, my neighbor player said that he would have checked the turn. I think my play was good because otherwise I won't get into all his money because he would have more than $200 at the river and committed only ~$150.

Felt pretty good that a good hand gets paid well.