You could'a chopped!

Palace Hayward - Saturday Tournament

Somewhere in the middle of the tournament, when the blinds were 100-200 or 200-400, I forget...

I'm in the BB and I get an A-7os.  Everyone folds except the small blind who limps in.

The flop comes A-9-9.  He checks, so I bet 500 with my pair of aces, and he flat calls.

Now I figure he's got an ace, because with a 9 he would have raised, and with anything else he would have folded.  So we both have two pair and its gonna come down to the kicker.

The turn comes Jack, so my 7 kicker is no good, and its looking like we might chop, each with AA99 and a J kicker.

He checks and I bet another 500, which he flat calls again, with a sad look on his face.

The river comes with a King.  He checks again!

So with all this checking I'm pretty sure I was right, he only has an ace, and we're gonna chop.

But just in case, I bet 1000....maybe I can scare him off.

He looks disappointed and contemplative.  This last 1000 bet would put him all in....tournament life at stake!

He asks "if I fold, will you show?"

I'm pretty sure if he calls, we're gonna chop and that I don't have him beat outright.  So I'd rather that he folds. I say "ya, sure, I'll show".

That's enough...he folds and I show my A-7.  He frowns and say's "ya, I had an Ace too."

I don't know what the poor guy was afraid of.  A-K?  Set of 9's?  I would have been betting a lot more with those hands.

I went on to finish the tournament on the bubble.