Deux deuce-four stories

1. A reader submitted the above screen shot demonstrating the painful consequence when one is unfortunate enough to run into the almighty 2-4. His two pair was no match for its power. This is a good reminder that as more people learn of the Gospel of the Holy Deuce-Four, we are bound to end up on the receiving end of it more frequently. Basically, any time that a 2-4 in an opponent's hand would beat you, you should just fold.

2. Last night I had 2-4 offsuit in the small blind. The pot was unraised, so I tossed in the extra dollar to play my monster. The flop was K-9-5. I confess that with no pair, no draw, bad position, and several opponents, I lost faith and hope for winning this hand, despite what cards I was holding. Oh, the shame of having to admit that! But nobody bet, so we took a free card: ace. It still doesn't look like much, but at least I have four outs to the nuts. Remarkably, once again the action was checked around. Faith in the 2-4 was vindicated when the river came a 3. With no possible flushes on board, I had the absolute nuts! I bet $10. A player at the other end of the table raised to $25. Whee! I rechecked the board to be sure I wasn't missing something, then reraised another $25. My opponent moved all in, and I called, expecting to double up through somebody who had slowplayed two pairs or a set, or perhaps made of one those hands on the river.

Nope. We both had 2-4 for the wheel, and chopped the pot.

I suppose that this, too, is an inevitable consequence of more people joining our church. I had no idea that one of my converts was at the table!