Poker: Home Tournament - April 2007

I always look forward to the monthly game, but this month had the added bonus that Simon was driving and there is no work tommorow! Maybe this new strategy (of drinking more) will work for me :-)

The first hand I got KhTd and four saw the flop which was all hearts with the Ah. With the nut flush draw I put in a bet, with Bill calling but Jon re-raising all-in. I felt committed to the pot and had it been anything but the nut draw would probably have folded..... unfortunately Bill had already made his flush and called, Jon showing 2 pair. No-one improved so Bill took a good sized pot.

Second hand gave me AJ o/s so put in a raise. Steven called but Jon went all in again! Felt that I had a good chance and the pot was giving good odds, so called and Steve also called. Jon showed pocket J and Steve had AQ, no-one improved so Jon took a good size pot !

That set the tone of my night, with my good cards getting turned over (Jon's 55 stuffing my QQ), not connecting with any draws and wild stabs at the pot getting called....I did win one good sized pot which gave me some hope but never really got going.

After rebuys stopped it was only a short time before Alex took out three players in one hand! Jon moved tables to balance them up, but a couple of hands later Roger went out giving us our final table.... I had managed to make the final table !! albeit with only around 1300 in chips.

Alex had a massive chips lead with Jon and Simon W also having decent stacks, but actually the rest of us all had low stacks (mostly below 2000) I had drawn the button so had a few hands to wait for an all-in, but Steve on the big blind had to make a move which didn't pay off, so he went first but got a point... Derek followed suit soon after as the blinds went round... and finally it was my Big Blind. Unfortunately my 6-3 o/s couldn't stand a raise so had to fold and the blinds went up giving me a 500 small blind so was priced in when Jon called the BB. After the flop Jon put Bill all-in who duly called. Jon took the pot and took both of us out.

Of the 4 remaining players, Alex had increased his stack with Jon also a good sized stack, so it was no surprise when we were down to these two heads up. My offer to deal was probably immediately regretted by Jon as they ended up all-in and Alex hit his card to take a quick win

Actually we finished uncommonly early so the remaining 6 of us had a cash game for about an hour..... which was as wild and wacky as the main tournament but great fun

So another fantastic night of poker, little bit more expensive for me than normal, but definitely spent more on beer than the Poker :-)

Roll on next time