There I am, playing in our $20 buy-in biweekly tournament. We’re down to four players and I’m short stacked. The chip leader is sitting on my left and the player on my right is close behind him. The blinds have gotten big enough to hurt and the chip leader has bet 300 pre-flop on the last two hands. The player on my right is the big blind, so I know I’ve only got this hand and the next to make a move.

The deal comes, I’m first to act - looking at my cards, I’ve got pocket fives.

Not exactly the cowboys I’d hoped for but better than the last five or six hands I’ve seen. I decide to make my move, at least take the blinds, and go all-in. The chip leader looks at my stack and calls almost contemptuously. The small blind folds and the big blind calls my all-in as well.

Just lovely, now I’m all in against two hands with a lower-middle pair. We don’t turn our cards up, because the other two players have huge stacks of chips to throw at each other. The dealer prepares the flop and I’m thinking “five, five, five…”, so when the first five comes up I’m too busy being surprised to really see the second five appear on the board. Then it sinks in… I’ve got Quad Fives. On the flop. No doubt that I have the Nuts at this point, I have to admit that I lost my cool - in fact the words “Holy Sh**” may well have come out of my mouth and its probable that I did one small victory lap.

While it wasn’t exactly polite since the other players pretty much could guess that I had the pot, I knew it couldn’t effect me. The chip leader then goes all in, trying to recoup the chips from the big blind he was about to lose to me. I win the pot, triple up, and he wins the side pot, putting the big blind out. Sorry, I don’t recall the turn and river cards - I was just too excited.

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