Poker: Home Tourney : Feb 07

I was feeling relax and confident this month, right up until the first hand anyway :-)

I was on BB with 9-3o and saw a cheap flop, which brought a 3 but two overcards. Checked but a pot sized bet scared me off and only three players got to the showdown. Sean won with one pair and I was slightly sickened as the river would have won me a huge pot, but thats Poker.... The second hand I had something like T-2o and a pot sized pre-flop raise saw me muck the hand. The flop brought aT but would have looked scarey. Sean and Roger saw the showdown, and Seans pair of tens took it down (I would have split the pot with him!) Few hands later I got AKo and decided to raise the pot.... and five people called me ! I just got a draw to a straight so checked but Simon W put in a bet and ended up with 5 of us all in. Simon W had pocket kings, but Sean hit another 7 for trips on the river (so far as I remember) putting Sean into a massive chip lead and the rest of the table on around 500 chips ! That kind of set the tone for my game and for our table.... Sean kept putting in small raises and mainly winning , I was seeing a lot of middling cards and feeling obliged to see flops as there were so many callers but hit nothing. If I raised pre-flop ( I think I did once more at least) then I was getting lots of callers...

At the break, I had the minimum (double buy in) plus 100, i.e. 1100 chips which was the low stack, but not by much to most of the others. Sean had a huge chip lead with only Andy and Mick (I think) having a few thousand each

Bill the birthday boy was the first to take someone out from our table, but then his new lucky ring let him down and was the 2nd out on our table..... the pool table beckened

Surprisingly, I managed to hold on to my chips well. When all-in on the BB I didnt bother to look at my cards and Roger and Sean called. Sean put in a big bet to scare off Roger, and shows Q-3 (two pair) I flipped over Q-T (also two pair!!) so got about 2500 in chips. Bit of luck at last !

After a lot of cagey play and other peoples all-in's I survived until the 1000-500 blinds levels. Seeing A-8s and being BB next hand, decided to stick in my last few chips (about 1800) Only Sean called being BB and showed Q-3o The flop came with a 3 and so Sean took me out in 9th place ! Just to make it more annoying, Andy W was out on the other table a few seconds later, so had I hung on a couple more minutes would have made the final table.... oh well, when it isnt your night..... :-)

The final table started out tight, but with only about 20 minutes play left, the short stacks had to start playing... and they did ! Alex and Darren got taken out in quick sucession, but left 5 players to play the last four hands.... Sean on the button called, Jon called, but Steve went all-in. Sean then went all-in and Jon had a think Jon had around 6000 in chips so could have folded but put Sean on two overcards to the raggidy flop. Jon called, showing 2nd pair which was leading. The turn came down a Q to give Sean the top pair and with a blank on the river took out two players with three hands to play

Sean had about half the chips, but Andy and Roger both had about quarter each. On the second last hand, Andy and Roger went all-in with Andy taking out Roger and having a tiny chip lead over Sean. Whoever won the blinds on the last hand was the winner, so both players went all-in. Seans 3-4o looked in poor shape against two higher cards, but the turn gave Sean a straight and the win. When it's your night, it's your night :-)

For me it was a terrible night of poker, but did have a few chances so can't complain. I will have to re-think my strategy :-) Next month is our first No Limit, No rebuy of the season so is a different style of play anyway... giving me an extra month to think about how to cope if I get Sean on my table again ;-)