Poker Night Recap

It was poker night at Nikita and Robbie Robb's house again last night. There were ten of us in total. Mostly the regulars, but there were a couple new players. Denise was able to come down from Windsor and she brought a friend. And Rob invited someone from work that also plays poker online. There were a few regulars missing, making for a different game last night. Mooney and Liz both couldn't make it. The are donkeys when it comes to poker. Well, with neither of them playing, the tournament moved a little... slower. Slower is not a bad thing. Mooney likes to go all in. This means he usually gets himself or someone eles eliminated very quickly, usually during the first bling. Last night, I think it was something like 3 or 4 blind increases before anyone was eliminated. And bets and raises definitely received a little more respect.

Rob ended up being eliminated in 8th? He can correct this if I'm wrong. His pocket tens ended up getting in against pocket Kings. My stack was up and down. Early in the game, I start out short. I was dealt KJ in the BB and when I catch a King on the flop, I play it aggressively. I raise the SBs bets on both the flop and the turn when he bets into it. On the river we both check. I have TP middle kicker. I know if he has a King, I could have a better kicker, but he is also capable of betting out on middle or bottom pair and that's why I was raising to hopefully get him out of the hand. But at showdown, it turns out he has hit his set on the flop. He had 66 and a 6 had flopped. My hand is no good.

I don't play too many hands after that. I was at best getting limpable cards. I was still in the game for final table. I did end up building up a decent stack once at final table though. I completed in the SB when I had 55. I get an amazing flop 757. I just pray one of my opponents has a seven. I check and there is a bet into the pot. I'm pretty sure he's got that seven, this works for me. I call and the turn comes a Q. I check again and when my opponents bets again, I go all-in. He calls and turns over that seven.

I doubled up again after that, but it was as exciting, it was just an all-in push pre-flop that held up against a caller. Finally, I have a decent stack. It doesn't last long though. The blinds have increased to a point where they are starting to hurt even the chip leader. My chips start getting whittled down again. There are five of us left and it there are two of us who are fairly short. Based on the blinds, I'm in push or fold mode again. Finally in the BB I have Q2s. It folds to the SB who just calls. Well, here is my chance to steal, so I push. No good, the SB calls and flips QTo. Ouch, that is not good for me at all. And I am out in 5th. Mike soon goes out after that. The final three are Adam (Rob's friend from work), Tim and Jason. Adam is the next to go out, after taking two bad beats. He gets all in with the best hand and he's out drawn by a flush both times. Then Tim and Jason are heads-up. I didn't end up seeing any of this. Alex had woken up and was screaming. We had Rob's mom taking care of him, but she was struggling to get him calmed down. So I head upstairs and help her. When I finally get Alex back to bed, the game is over. Jason takes down the tourney!