King-Queen

So King-Queen is a pretty good hand, right?  Well today I had the chance to play it three times within about 10 minutes....

It was at the final table of a tournament at the Palace in Hayward.  I had a below-average chip stack.  A few times before, I had been brave enough to push all in from good position and steel the blinds, so I was holding my own.

On the first K-Q I got, I was ready to push again, but somebody in front of me beat me to it.  Now I had to decide if I wanted to risk my tournament life against another guy who thought he had a winner, with my K-Q off suit.

My gut wasn't in it this time, so I folded.

Then it came again on the very next hand!  K-Q off suit.  Again, a guy ahead of me pushed all-in, and I had the same chicken-shit reaction of folding.  That guy later told me he had pocket 8's, so I would have been staking my life on a coin flip (pocket pair against two over-cards is about 50-50).

Finally, a few minutes later, I get K-Q again, this time suited.  Again, a guy ahead of me (different guy each time) pushed all in.

I thought about it long and hard.  I have to stop laying down these good hands if I'm going to stick around til the end.  This time they are suited.  This might be the time.

Think, hesitate, think, hesitate....I called.

He turns over pocket Aces!  Damn it.

Ok, so let's see the board.....

Two kings on the flop!!!  Huzzah!
Queen on the turn, and I have a full house!

He can still beat me with an Ace on the river, but it doesn't come.  I apologized to the guy for the bad beat.  He was a nice guy.

I went on to chop the tournament purse at six players, doubling my money for the day.