By the skin of his teeth

It's pretty rare that I relate a poker hand just because I took a bad beat or otherwise had an unlucky, undesirable outcome. But once in a great while, what happened is just so... WRONG that it deserves a bit of public scolding of the poker gods for their sick sense of humor. I think this one from the Rio yesterday qualifies.

Playing $1-3 NLHE, I was in middle position with the two black eights. I limped in, as did two others behind me. The small blind raised to $10. This was a tight, mostly passive, completely straightforward, not particularly strong player, making his range here pretty narrow and predictable: big pair, maybe A-K, not much else. I was fairly confident that the other two would come along for the ride after me without reraising (three-bets at this table were scarce), so I called.

The set-mining worked. Flop was 8h-7h-5c. Top set. Nice! However, that board is a little draw-heavy for comfort, especially since the button is a young, tricky Scandi. Small blind bet out $30. I don't think he would do this with A-K on a board like this against three opponents from out of position, unless maybe it was Ah-Kh, so he's pretty much nailed as the overpair here. No way did this guy raise pre-flop from the blind with one of the only two hands that has me beat (4-6 or 6-9 for a straight).

Much as I might like to milk this situation, I decide it's just too dangerous to let the others stay in cheaply, and instead I'll go for the isolation. I raise to $90. Third player folds quickly. Scandi dude takes a long time to muck--most likely a non-nut flush draw, I think. Small blind thinks for maybe ten seconds, then moves all-in for something like an extra $50 on top of my bet--but he has the look of doom and defeat on his face, and does this with a big sigh of resignation.

As predicted, when I call he shows me the two red aces. He winces when he sees my cards, but it's a look that says, "That's what I was afraid of." He's drawing to two outs, or some runner-runner miracle.

Turn was an offsuit 9. Nice, as that kills his backdoor flush possibility.

River: 6 of spades, putting a 9-high straight on the board. Chop it up. We each make about $7 on the hand, after rake and tip.

Gaaaaaaaaaaaa! Who invented this stupid game, anyway?