Saturday's Poker Loss

So Friday Night's usual Poker Night with the guys kind of flopped. For some strange reason no one came, and for an even stranger reason, no one called to let me know they weren't coming.

So I was left with poker withdrawal and tried to get my fix on AOL Games.
I won a couple of hands on the No-Limit Hold 'em tables but it was late and I was tired.

Saturday, however, we headed up to Elk Grove to hang out with some friends. Inevitably, a poker game broke out amongst the guys. There were only three of us and we played for very low stakes... like $10. (And when I say "like" $10, I really mean just $8. That's all I had in my wallet at that moment.)

All was well and the chip lead was exchanged between the three of us throughout the game.
Near the end, however, I was about 100 chips shy of the tall stack with the short stack holding only 200 of the original 1000 chips.

I drew a pair of nines in my hole cards and figured I'd make a stand.
I bet saw the bet in front of me at 200 chips and raised an additional 300 chips. The next player, Taja, announced he would go all-in.

Now, so far this game, the cards had been crap and people were willing to go deep into the turn card to chase longshot straight draws and stuff so I figured he probably just had a face card or something.

Well, I called the all-in and found myself about at about a 3% advantage facing down a Jack and King.
The flop came out an A, Q, 8 and suits were a non-factor. I now was about a 55% favorite over Taja's 41% because even though he hadn't paired the board, any J, K, or 10 would still beat me.
The next card was another non-factor. Now I was at 76% to win versus his 23%. But still, there were 10 cards in the deck that would lose me my spot at the table.

And sure enough, on the river, a ten shows its ugly face.

If you're interested in calculating Hold 'Em Odds, check out this site HERE.