POKER HAND #11

TOM MCEVOY PLAYIN' OMAHA: Omaha is second to only hold 'em when it comes to my favorite poker games. But since everybody plays hold 'em, and nobody plays Omaha, I am starting to gravitate towards the latter. I especially enjoy Omaha Eight-or-Better. Here's Tom McEvoy's tournament story:

After battling my way to threehanded play, the limits were $8,000-$16,000 with $263,000 in play. One player had about 60 percent of the chips, and the other two of us were close, although he had me covered. In my final hand, the second-place chip leader raised from the button before the flop and the chip leader folded in the small blind. I looked down at A-K-J-4 in the big blind, a reasonable hand with which to defend my blind threehanded, so I called. The flop came K-Q-4 rainbow, giving me top and bottom pair. I bet, the button raised, and we got it all in. I was hoping that all he had was a straight draw, but alas, he had A-K-Q-X, leaving me with only two fours or one of the four tens for a straight. I didn't catch any of them, but Vince was right: I still felt that it was my day.