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Well, this game was very special for one of my friend, His name is Tovika, Frankly, he plays Poker like how Tom Dwan plays………Lawn Tennis, someone even quoted once ‘ hey, it’s about to rain, Did Tovika win something tonight ??’ However tonight’s game was going to be a game which Tovika will remember for the rest of his life. The word "run good" was never clearly defined (He claims it was skill), I say it was run good, readers may judge accordingly to his/her own interpretation.

Instead of beating around the bush, I’ll throw light on the result of the night-Tovika won ALL the chips, except Avi’s (Another friend of mine who plays Poker like it was a matter of life and dead) who seemed to have hung on to her measly few chips till the last minute. Reminds me of those scenes during the British rule when those poor farmers held on to their Goats when the Zamindar came to collect taxes.

Tovika ran good or played good remains the question!

Let's see for instance a few hands

Scenario one:

Players: Tovika Vs Avi
Hands: A-10 vs 5-5.

Flops : A-5-7
Avi hits bottom set, plays it very passive bets 1/3rd of Pot, Tovi calls.

Turn: Another Ace.. terrible card for Tovika. Giving Tovika trips while a Boat for Avi. (Community cards: A-5-7-A)

Avi at this point of time is 81.81% to win the pot. She plays it passive again. Tovi smooth calls, suspecting something was fishy here.

River: 10!!! A nightmare for Avi's hand. Tovika hit one of 8 outers. (community cards: A-5-7-A-10. Tovi: A-A-A-10-10, Avi: 5-5-5-A-A, Whew! Talk about cold deck)

Tovika bets out and easily gets a call from Avi.

In my mind, Tovika had no clue what a big underdog he was, his smooth call on the turn suggest that he thought he had the best hand all along.  Even though the turn bet by Avi confused him and raised his suspicion about Avi's hand, He was in no condition to fold 3 Aces. Played well or got Lucky, You be the judge.

Scenario 2:

Players: Tovika and Martin (Me)

Flops: 3-K-3
Martin bets out the Pot, Tovika calls.

Turn is a 7.
Martin Bets out almost the pot, Tovika Calls.

River another K.
Martin bets out 1/2 pot, Tovi comes on top and goes all-in, Martin snap calls, Both turn over Ks for Kings full over 3s. It's a split.

Martin had K-Q, while Tovika had K-8.

Well, In this hand, I really felt Tovika got a HUGE break, Martin played very aggressive with substantial bets on each street. Tovika smooth calling till river with pot size bets is indeed confusing, By his massive re-raised on the River meant he definitely put Martin on the 3s trips and was hoping to draw out on him, which he thought he did. And well, Folding was definitely not in his options with top pair and mediocre kicker. The possibility of him winning the pot on the turn was merely 1% and the chance of splitting was 13%. He hit the possible 5 cards to split. It was a huge pot to get a break at the right time.

Scenario 3:

Last round of session,
Tovika vs Martin vs Martin’s Brother
All-in 3 way.

Huge raises pre-flops.

Flops come: 9-6-8 (2 diamonds)

Martin turns over Q J (Diamonds) for a Queen high flush Draw and a Gut Shot.

Joel Turns over 9-6 for 2 pairs.

Tovika turns over 10-7 for the nut straight.

Well, Tovika was indeed the favorite with the nut straight. however, he had a series of cards which he had to dodge, 7 diamonds, 3 tens, 3 Nines and 3 sixes.

With 2 players with 2 strong drawing hands, the Nut straight suddenly was vulnerable. He dodge all possible bad beats and won the pot with timing 7 (hearts) and 3 (clubs) on the turn and river.

The timing of Last session indeed helped him win the biggest pot of the night. And here's the hand which made it all!

The Biggest Cooler i've ever seen, stay with me closely here.

Tovika raises under the gun, Everyone folds to Small-Blind and Big blind also joins in.

Flops: A-10-Q,
Tovi bets 1/4th of Pot, SB moves all-in (short stack), BB calls and Tovika calls.

Turns: Q
Tovi bets 1/2 pot (Pot is massive now due to the post flop bets), BB calls.

River: 7 (Blank).
BB Bets out the Pot.

Tovika pauses and bets out twice the Pot. (Pot is now massive), BB makes the call after considering a while.
Tovika turns over A-A for the Nut Fullhouse. BB Turns over Q-10 (For Queens full over 10s).
And Poor SB turns over K-J for nut straight (Nuts on the Flops).

Analysis:

The flop gave the nuts to SB, making her 78% favorite to win, Tovika had 11% chances to win and with player on BB was left with a measly 1% chance to win the Pot.

After Q on the turn, Tovika turned 11% into 98% chance to win, leaving BB with 1 out and SB drawing dead.

Tovika played well or ran good still remains a strong debate till this point of time, he has now called himself Tom DUAN, which was timely corrected by Avi regarding the spelling of DWAN before he could post it on his facebook’s status. (What! Another run good!)

Before he leaves, Tovika looks back and says " If there wasn't any luck involved, Even Rajnikanth won't have been legend".

Well said, Tovi, Well said!