Poker: Home Tournament : January 2008

I am getting a bit lax in my updates after the poker, but I guess I must still be dazed and shocked by the experience :-)

The turnout of 8 players was a little down on normal, but this at least meant that (a) we all get at least 1 point for the championship :-) and (b) the dynamic was very different to normal, making a different experience for us

Having said that, it all started out as normal, with Bill and Simon W playing the normal loose game and Andy getting an early chip lead (subsequently squandered against Bill)

For me, I was getting some good pre-flop cards early on, so was raising (and being called by about 4 people!) then missing the flop completely. This meant I had around 6 rebuys in the early stages, but eventually I won a decent pot and got some chips I could sit on for a while.

After the rebuys ended I was probably around average chips, but got dealt A-9 in late position so just called the big blind, along with 2 others. When my A hit I was happy to bet out and only get Simon W call me. The chips ended up in the middle and Simon showed pocket Kings, so I took a large amount of chips and Simon was first out. I seemed to enter a purple patch and when Andy went in as a short stack when I was Big Blind, it was an automatic call with any 2 cards, which was fortunate as I had 6-3 o/s against Andy's AJ ! As it turned out, a 6 hit and I took Andy out as well!!

Eventually we got to three players, myself, Sean and Derek with me as chip leader. I took it easy for a while to see how the others would play... luckily for me as Sean raised me on the BB when I had pocket 4's Sometimes I would re-raise back, but decided to fold and Sean showed AA so was happy to dodge those bullets !

Sean went out next, leaving myself and Derek, with me the chip lead by about 2-1 and around 20 minutes to play. It was a tough heads up match and went to the last 3 hands. Both of us played cagey and tight, so inevitably it would come down to the classic race. The first race Derek won, but luckily for me I had more chips so still had a chance. Couple of hands later, I won a race and was back in the lead. The final hand we played was another race... my pocket Tens against Derek's A-Q but my pair held up and I won !!

So it was a small turnout, but actually a very interesting game (especially for me I guess :-) ) Hopefully I can continue my run and continue to cash in but I guess it will be in the lap of the poker gods as normal......