Hank, the "vacuum" comment was made in reference to Tubes and Greg "sucking out" on hand after hand after hand after hand last night. Meaning they were way behind and drew out to win.
A shining example of the Nils/Steve suckouts happened on the final hand of the night. Let's see if I've got it straight (Tubes, Nils, jump in if you see an error or omission).
Greg in small blind, me in big blind, Nils first to act, and Tubes is dealing. Blinds are (in real money) .25/.50 cents. Nils raises to $2.50 preflop, Tubes calls, Greg folds, I call.
Flop comes 4, 9, J with two diamonds. I check, Nils bets $2.50, Tubes calls, I raise all-in (a raise of $6.50, so $9 total). Nils calls, as does Tubes.
Turn is a black Q (not a diamond, so no flush yet). Nils immediately goes all in for about $15 more and Tubes calls. So now there's $35 in the main pot (which is all I can win) and $30 in the side pot between Nils and Tubes.
Time to turn over the cards. Tubes has two pair (Q9 in his hand...just the Q is a diamond, so no flush for him). Nils has pocket 4s, so a set of 4s on the flop. I've got pocket 9s, so a set of 9s on the flop.
So I win the $35 main pot as long as the last 4 or one of the last two Queens in the deck doesn't hit on the river. Nils wins all $65 with his last 4 or the $30 side pot as long as there's no Queen. Tubes is all or nothing. He can only win against either me or Nils with a Queen, so it's $65 or zip for Tubes.
As you may have already surmised, the river is a Queen, costing me $35 and Nils $30 and giving the whole $65 enchilada to Tubes.
Courtesy of
this site I checked the odds on that particular hand.
Preflop percentages (of winning the hand outright...Tubes is obviously a coin flip against Nils preflop with the two overcards):
Tubes' Q9 off suit - 28.9%
My Pocket 9s - 51.7%
Nils' Pocket 4s - 19.5%
After the flop of 4d, 9h, Jd:
The Q9 - 07.8%
The 99 - 87.5%
The 44 - 04.7%
After the turn which brings 4d, 9h, Jd, Qs:
The Q9 - 04.8%
The 99 - 92.9%
The 44 - 02.4%
After the river:
Q9 - 100%
99 - 0%
44 - 0%
What a night...
