Can you win a big 4 way pot with Aces?

After another brutal day in the financial markets I decided to relieve some stress by playing the 5-150 game at Casino Arizona. My luck was not any better for the first 2 hours as I was card dead and decided to run bluffs against the two biggest calling stations at the casino. To be fair, on one of the bluffs, I happened to run into top two pair and made a bad read. He stared right at me when he bet which I thought was the classic tell of strong means weak. I guess strong means strong in this case. Plus this was early in the session before I realized how bad these players were.



So I had dug myself a $200 hole by 5:15 PM and it was time to go. I had one hand left before the blinds hit me and I picked up pocket Aces. I raised to $20. The high school basketball coach on my left called, one more call, loose hispanic player raises to $65. The other big calling station calls and then the old man goes all in for $140.



I of course try to raise the full $150 again and make it $290 total. Then the player in the 7 seat, who was not in the hand, tells the dealer that I am not allowed to raise. I ask for the floor supervisor to come over and straighten this out, since the basketball coach and the player on his left had folded, and the other caller, had put in more chips to call my raise.



The supervisor came over and explained that there is a 3 raise limit (due to the game technically being a "limit" game). So the dealer gave me back $150 and the other player $150 and we see the flop 4 handed with one all in. $600 in the pot and I am convinced there is no way that my Aces are going to hold up.



The flop is Qs-8s-3s. Oy vey! I'm pretty sure someone probably has pocket Queens. I notice that everyone starts looking at their hole cards again. I say, "why don't we all take a moment to check our hole cards for a spade?" I peek at my cards and lo and behold I have the Ace of spades.



The loose player on my left tries to argue that I checked. Everyone else at the table talks him down after they all confirm that I said, "let's check our hole cards". I bet $150 and loose player calls and other loose player calls. Sheesh I may just have the best hand! If someone hit a set on a monotone board, you have to raise right? $1050 in the pot.



The turn is an Ace. All right! Now this pot is all mine. I am going to value town here. Rats! I only have $27 left in my stack. I bet it and get two callers. $1131 in the pot.



The river is a deuce and the two other players make their small bets for a side pot. The side pot is won by the first loose player on my left with pocket Queens. The main pot is won by me when the old man rolls over pocket Kings.



SHIP IT!


This $1,131 pot was by far the largest I had ever won, breaking my previous $700 record from my trip to Vegas last December. It took me 4 hands to stack and rack all my chips. I apologized for leaving so soon after cleaning everyone out and left with a $606 profit. This definitely cheered me up after a bleh day at work.