Poker: June 2006

Full details at http://www.statsgenie.com/poker/default.aspx?SeasonID=2066

What can I say ! There was drama, passion, tantrums, despair and joy, yes I can only be talking about the June Poker League game played last night

It was a full house (no pun intended) of 16 players, with the No Limit format and a total of 2000 chips there was always going to be a lot of action. We got 1000 chips to start and the 2nd 1000 chips when the first lot has gone. On my table of 8 we had 4 players needing their top up by the middle of the 2nd level (including me!) Vlad and Bill were creaming the rest of the players in the early stages and both had healthy looking stacks of chips very quickly.

I was trying to limp in cheaply in the first couple of levels and hope to hit a flop, but this strategy wasn't really paying off as it was tempting to call any raises once I had put in a Big Blind sized bet as there were normally at least 4 players seeing the flops. I lost a decent amount of chips to Sean when the flop came with an A to match one I had in my hand. Sean knew I had an A when I bet and I knew he had an A when he put me all-in so the decision was about kickers..... Unfortunately mine was a 4 so decided to fold. Sean showed a 3, but we would actually have split the pot.

I was soon down to 225 chips and struggling to survive, and found myself all-in but hit a flop and went to 900 chips. Soon after I was on the BB with 23 o/s, but the flop was 456 ! I was a bit nervous when a third diamond came on the river, but my straight held up and I tripled through again !

By the time we got to the final table, I had a reasonable 3500 chips, which was about 4th. Vlad and Darren both had around 10'000. Jon and Simon both had less than a BB so were looking in bad shape and it looked like it could be Andrews night as he had about 6'000 chips and was looking strong.

With the blinds at 500/1000 and not long until they went up to 1000/2000 the action was thick and fast. I hit an incredible run of good cards just when I needed it and managed to triple up again knocking out Jon in the process, then Sean went all-in against me when I was holding KK. His AQ had a chance to get him out of trouble, but didn't :-)

Down to 4 players and the chip counts were close, and I was praying to not finish in my normal 4th spot !

Luckily for me, Andy's chips were whittled away by Darren, before the killer blow came from Vlad and I was in the money with Darren and Vlad.

The last few hands were frantic with lots of action and the chips moving around the table. My key hand was A7 against Vlad's A9 which held up for Vlad to take a large chip lead and leave me with very few chips.... but then I got dealt an A four times on the trot and managed to pick up chips putting me roughly even with Darren.

The 2nd last hand saw me push in with KT but Darren had AJ which held up to take me out.

Vlad had enough chips to win without having to play the last hand

Fantastic game and very exciting. With the No Limit format and just one rebuy, there was a lot more tension than normal which made for a more thrilling game. Not sure I can stand this pace every month, so luckily we are back to PL with unlimited rebuys as normal next month !