Poker : Annual Satellite 2008 : Heat 3

As the first hand started you could cut the tension in the air with a knife ! Having said that, everyone was eager to get into the action straight away and the first hand was a family pot to the flop. Karen bet out from the small blind (SB) and everyone called except Sean (!!) Only Alex and Karen saw the showdown with Karen's flush beating Alex's top pair to take down a reasonable first pot.

It had to come sooner rather than later, and sure enough we saw the first husband/wife battle on the next hand, with Darren pressuring Viki who very reluctantly folded on after seeing the turn.....

It was all action early on with the next hand seeing Alex check/calling Sean on a 9-9-x flop, but re-raising Sean's large bet on the River but Sean showed A-9 which had Alex's K-K well beaten so Alex's stack was already looking depressingly low.... but hope came the next hand when Alex hit flush on the River to overturn Darren's trip A's

Already into the second level, no-one stopped for breath as Karen bet out against Sean in another domestic.... despite thinking she had two pair a very scared looking bet on the River was called by Sean, who folded when Karen said she had two pair.... pointing out she actually had a flush was just an added bonus.....

There were a couple of hands of relative calm, before Sean and Alex started laying into each other on a K-Q-9 flop. Alex check calling Sean's bets on the flop and turn. When the river came down with a 9 to pair the board, Sean went all-in which was insta-called by Alex who shows K-9 for the full house, leaving Sean with 300 chips !!

The blinds went up and Sean immediately got done for a BB (which was folded to a raise) Lady Luck was obviously with the ladies, as Sean went all-in on the SB but was called by the two ladies..... the flop was J-7-2, another 2 on the turn and T on the river saw Karen take both pots down with her 4-2 off suit, busting Viki's 9-9 and taking Sean out in last place !

Viki was looking short stacked. With the blinds now 125/75 Alex raised to 500 from the button. Viki told Alex off for raising but called and Karen also called. To teach the big bully a lesson Viki bet out another 500, called by Karen but Alex took the hint and folded his A-Q on a flop 4-4-x Viki kept it friendly after that and led out with min bet on turn and checked River, showing A-4 against Karen's A-J, so all had a good hand but Viki made a monster and doubled up

At the break the chip counts were Alex 7000, Karen 6000, Viki 5000 and Darren 2000

Blinds are now 200/100 so Darren needed to get busy... so he raised with K-Q and Karen called with J-7 suited. With Flop of J-T-7 Karen called Darren's all-in bet and the J on the river was not needed and Karen had claimed another victim !

Viki's chips were dwindling again and Karen was getting aggressive with her chip lead and was hammering Viki. Karen picked up big pot by making a straight on the Turn, and a couple of hands later her pair 4's beat Viki's 2's With short stack, no luck and the blinds going up again, Viki was all-in against Alex who had pocket 5's. With no improvement on the board Viki went out a respectable 3rd place.... but she had the satisfaction of doing better than hubby !

The chips were exactly level for the heads up, and both players were being very cagey. Lots of calling and checking (and folding) It needed two good hands to get action going, and it soon came when the flop showed A-8-x all diamonds. karen was betting out but Alex called it down to the showdown, taking it with A against Karen's 8

With the blinds going up to 1000/500 Karen went all-in. Despite feeling he was behind Alex called with T-9 and sure enough was behind to J-3 Karen didn't need the 3 on the river as was ahead all the way to the showdown and took her back to 9'000 chips to Alex 11'000

After a few more hands of calling, check /folding, Karen was down to around 6000 chips and went all in. Alex said he was behind, but again called anyway (why can't you do that when playing me !) Karen was ahead (again) with her A-2 to Alex K-7 but the flop of K-8-3 put Alex ahead and the K on the turn killed it and gave Alex a bravely won victory. We'll see you in the final !