A Pretty Good Pair

Just now we arrived near the conclusion of an interesting hand between Todd Terry and Mike Linster. Subsequent table talk revealed the hand had begun with a Terry opening raise from early position and a call from Linster, with another player coming along from the blinds.

By the river only Terry and Linster remained, with the board showing . Terry checked, Linster bet, and Terry called.

"One pair," said Linster before showing his cards. "I have a pair, too," said Terry. "A pretty good one," he added, tabling his . Then Linster flipped over his , and the table laughed in response.

Afterwards Linster joked he'd said "one pair" because he was ready for Terry to show two pair and he could muck without revealing how he'd played the hand.

That hand kept Terry under the 20,000-chip mark, although on the very next one he'd reraise all in to pick up a preflop pot to add a few more to his below-average stack as the players push through Level 9.