Home Game

Well the streak had to come to an end sometime and I knew it would probably be sooner rather than later.

AK goes down to TT.

That's all I'll say about that.

Jeff, whom I chopped with the last time, took it down this time. Well played, sir. Scoot, ever the master at short stack play, managed to squeak into 2nd place that lucky SOB. Tucker would take 3rd going out at the same time as Pat whom he had barely outchipped giving Pat 4th place.

I expected a small turnout last night since the weather was crappy and people are very busy in December but luckily Tim and Jeff brought along the T Boys (Toby and Tucker) and Jack brought his coworker Pat. Jack wins the booby prize but he probably already regrets it since Pat felted him in the cash game so we won't rub it in too hard. The T Boys made a very impressive showing for themselves and I hope we'll see more of them.

Pat on the other hand... j/k he can come back, too. I'm sure he'll have a big target on him after the way he played. In the tournament he folded AK to two short stacks all ins when he had a considerable chip lead and could have easily survived the hit to his stack. He would have taken both of them out with that hand but instead let Scoot double up and eventually go on to take 2nd placed while Pat squeaked out 4th when he pushed his meager stack behind Tucker who had him covered by 200 chips and they both lost Jeff. Pat would eventually turn into a maniac at the cash game after playing a solid game (that one fold of AK the exception) in the tournament.

Some Memorable Hands:

Tournament

Mrs. Scoot goes down to Friar Tuck's AJ when he calls her all in on the flop with nothing but two overs and sucks out a win on the river. We went on to call him a name that rhymes with Tucker and alluded to some donkeys in his family tree. It was all very lighthearted ribbing but if only he'd known about Mrs. Scoot easily being the tightest player we have at the home game he would have laid down his A and a J without hesitation. (I can hear Blaz in my head saying: All the way with an A and J, LOL) (P.S. Blaz is a donk!) (P.P.S You'll have to visit the Ante Up Forum at CardClubs.net for more background on that.)

I limped into a pot before the end of the rebuy period with 56c alone with about 5 other players. The flop came down KT8 two clubs. Not bad. I call a bet from Pat - maybe one other player sticks around with us. The turn was an offsuit 7 giving me an oesd and a flush draw. Pat bets into the pot and I push all in (if there was another player he went away at this point). Pat hems and haws and makes a big deal out of trying to put me on a hand. Even Scoot got into the hand reading. J9 seems to be the favorite holding. Pat eventually folds his KT for top two. We rabbit hunt and the river was the 2c giving me the flush. Needless to say everybody was wrong about my hand!

Cash Game

I pick up AK in late position and raise get two callers (Pat and Friar Tuck). Flop A high with 2 diamonds. Checked to me and I bet they both fold.

I raise in early middle position with JJ, Pat reraises me and I call. This was early on so I really had no feel for how he played. Had this happened after the first few rounds I would have played this entirely differently. The flop comes out 7 high and I bet 2$ at it and Pat raises me to $5. I don't want to give up this pot yet so I call his raise. Turn another low card. I check and Pat checks. D'oh. The river is an A and I check and Pat fires 3$ into the pot. Had I stopped long enough to figure out how big the pot was I might have called just for the information but instead I folded accusing Pat of chasing his A to the river. Instead he showed KQh for jack shit. I played this horribly. Now I know how Ivey felt when Brad Booth ran over his KK during the High Stakes Poker Show. Steve even had the nerve to ask me why I check the turn. I wanted to bitch slap him. Hard.

OK, I see how this is going to be.

Later I pick up AA on the button and flat call Friar Tuck's raise. I considered reraising to get Pat out of the hand since the man rarely saw a raise he couldn't call but decided this might be a time to get some of my chips back. The flop was AQT with two to a flush. Not the worst flop for my hand but not the greatest either but I've gotta go with it. Friar Tuck checks and I check and Pat - in true Pat form - bets. I think Friar Tuck goes away now but maybe he calls and I call. The turn is an 8. Checked to Pat, who bets out and I say "all in". If he's got any kind of draw here I really really really want him to go away. Luckily I had enough behind that he wasn't willing to chase his double gutter draw with J4soooooooooted. Turns out he would have caught a 9 on the river to make his straight.

Pat went on to run over the table playing in a Gus Hansen any-two-cards style. He made large opening raises and called large bets with air only to draw out on his opponent. That boy could not miss.

The last hand of the night Steve raised with not much behind and Pat (who had 4x his buy in at this point) said he had to play the last hand. Flop Qx6. Steve pushes and pat says he's gotta call as he turns over 36o. The turn is a 3! OMGWTF is he going to suck out again?!?!? But, no, he was denied when the river brought a 3rd club giving Steve a flush with his KQc.

I managed to break almost even at the cash game. With Pat on my left the whole time I consider that a definite victory.