Poker: Home Tournament - May 2007

There are "only" 12 of us playing tonight... seems hard to remember back to when we played with 5 or 6 players in total now !

I had Bill and Simon W on my table so decided to keep my game tight and solid...... calling with medium hands and raising with good hands. Bills game was his normal aggressive style and was the table banker in the first few hands (buying in 4 times in the first 6 hands!) My first move came when I raised with A9d and got two callers. Flop was bad for me, but bet out around 3/4 of the pot and only Bill called. We checked it down to the end and my A high was beaten by Bills pair 4's (or similar) Despite my early feeling of optimism it looked like being one of "those" nights.....

A couple of hands later I got pocket 8's so played in the same way.. ie raised pre-flop (got two callers - including Bill again!) and when checked to me I bet out, despite there being an A on the flop. This time both players folded and took one of the few uncontested pots of the night !

Mick had a great hand when he got pocket 9s and ended up all in on the flop. Two other players battled it out on the turn and river, but Mick had made quad 9's so tripled up !

There were loads of high hands coming out in the first half hour.... we saw straights, several full houses and flushes abound..... Simon hit quad 5's as well... all we didn't see was the Straight Flush tonight. Having said that, we still saw hands where pair of 3's took a pot :-)

My best luck came when I had J9 and flopped the straight. Bill went 200 and Mick called all-in. I flat called hoping Darren would also come in but he made an inspired fold. Bill and I checked the turn but Bill didn't bet the river either. Having around 500 chips left and the pot being around 600 decided to bet 200 as I didn't think Bill would call an all-in. As luck would have it he did call the 200 and I took a great pot which set me up for the night.

My hands didn't hold up after that and my chips dribbled away. I did make a couple of good folds where I felt like being more aggressive, so think I played very disciplined and on form game. At the break I took the add-on and had around 1400 in chips. I think most people had around the same except Simon who had around 3000 and Bill around the same

After the restart Simon W got busted out by Bill on the first hand of the restart which was not unusual, but Simon W had played what seemed to me like a solid game this month, rather than a more loose aggressive style he often seems to play..... but then it was against Bill :-)

I got dealt QQ under the gun, so made my standard raise which prompted Darren to go all-in. Everyone else folded so Darren showed his A-7 suited. The flop gave a flush possibility to Darren, but the A came on the river, leaving me with around 450 chips and on the 200 Big Blind. The poker gods were smiling at me and gave me KK ! Simon and Mick called the blind and I went all-in. Only Simon called and showed A-9, and yes the A came to take me out in a "how did that happen" 11th place. I really felt like I was playing well tonight and two cruel blows had conspired to take me out implausibly early.

Life goes on and so did the game.... there was a lull in the action until Andy and Andy W got taken out and so we were down to the final 8 players

Simon was quickly out in 8th, then Roger seemed to hit a purple patch and took out two players in one hand and had a huge chip lead. He was also very conscious about tournament strategy and was very determined to finish in the money! So much so he busted out Steve not long after as well !!

The last four were very cagey and the blinds were starting to hurt..... it was a tense last round with the chips passing around but everyone lasted to the final hand.

Darren had least chips and was all-in on the blind anyway... Bill put Jon all-in who called. Roger was guaranteed 2nd place anyway so folded. Unfortunately for Roger, Bill had the best hand which held up and Bill took the win. Jon got the third place, which made a change from 2nd :-)

Another great night of poker for all, with many highs and lows...... we'll all be back to play some more so see you then