Not Nice Nines

One of the little idiosyncrasies of poker is that it offers up all sorts of apparent patterns to tantalize you.  You know what I mean - the people who observe things like "fours are hitting the board a lot today" or "I've gotten J4os three times this orbit, I must be meant to play that hand."  Now of course thoughts like this are just examples of the Gambler's Fallacy and if you actually choose to make strategic decisions based on these "patterns" well, please let me know where you are playing.  However, if you understand the true nature of these apparent patterns, then they can be a source of entertainment.  I remember one day many years ago playing in a $4-$8 LHE game someone won a hand with Q6.  Then a few hands later, someone again won with Q6 and of course, it became the running joke at the table that Q6 was the nuts.  It even got to the point where in one hand I bet and someone raised.  I folded with the observation that I couldn't beat Q6.  After my cards hit the muck my opponent (who was typically very solid preflop) flipped over Q6.  That was a good laugh for everyone at the table, and to this day whenever I squeeze cards and see Q6 I get a little chuckle.

Of course, sometimes it's not the same hand over and over that helps you, sometimes in a session a certain hand becomes your nemesis, one that you just can't beat.  This video is the story of one such session for me ...