Finally, a great night for me!

Hello again, it's once again time for your nonstop poker fix. Well, where should I begin? I'll begin with the fact that I kicked ass last night!!! In the first game, I did alright and ended up finishing in 6th place. I could've done better, but I made one mistake in not calling a hand and I got sucked out on by George in another. The second I could've won had I not gone card dead when we got three handed. But hey those are the breaks. I'll go a little more in depth...

The first game, I got seated at a very tough table with the likes of Jim, Ryan, Bill, Jack and Scott. Although Jim only lasted one hand, the table was still very tough. I didn't catch any cards during the first round of blinds. When the blinds went up, I got dealt Ah - Jh and raised it to $80 not realizing that the blinds had gone up. Amazingly that minimum raise did the trick and everybody dumped their cards. After that, it was more mediocrity. I think I got dealt 8 - 2 offsuit like a hundred times last night. I made one good read on Ryan and took some chips from him. I had told Bill I had a plan of action against Ryan for last night's games. Now I won't say specifically what that plan was, but it did work out a couple of times in my favor. I didn't start getting good cards until the table merge. I was riding high for a while but when we got to the final table, I played like a little girl. I played conservative at the onset because I wanted to gain a couple of spots before trying to make a move. I do this a lot when it gets to final tables and it always ends up bad for me. There was a hand where I was the big blind and someone moved all in and was called by the small blind. I had enough to call easily and when I looked over at the small blinds' stack, he had about $300 or so left. It would've cost me about $1800 dollars more to possibly knock two players out. I had Qc - 9c and I was getting about 2 and a half on my money. The only problem was I HATE PLAYING Q - 9 suited. I ended up folding like a little bitch and I would've won the pot. A couple of hands later, George and I were in a hand. I had Qc - 8h and I limped in from the small blind. George was in the big blind and he checked. The flop came up Qh - 7c - 4h. I had top pair and I bet $1200 and George called. I pretty much knew what he had, it was obvious, at least to me, that he was on the flush draw. The turn came up Kh and now there were three to a flush and an overcard on the board. I checked and George bet $1500 and I folded. Even if he didn't have the flush he probably had the king and I was beat either way. A few hands later I bet into Greg who picked up KK in the big blind and played a pot with AJ suited for all but $600 of my chips. Of course nothing came up to help and I was short stacked. I ended up going out after George eliminated both Bob and I in the same hand with big slick.

The second tournament started a lot like the first. No cards, decent cards I'd call but miss the flop or hit mid pair and I'd see bet raise re-raise. I ended up taking a couple of decent pots from Karl and Elaine, and I butsed Paul with a set of queens. From then on I steamrolled the table and came into the final table as one of the chip leaders. We got to the final table with 10 people still left. There were a lot of average stacks, three or four big stacks and two short stacks. The only problem was for the longest time, close to an hour, no one dropped. We played ten handed for nearly an hour before someone got eliminated. It stayed eight handed for a while after that. Everyone didn't want to make a move because everyone wanted points. Not a bad idea considering that there is only 2 weeks left this year to get points. Gradually people started dropping and it came down to three people, Kurt, Henry, and myself. From then on, I was pretty much card dead. It was absolutely infuriating. I mean hands like 6 - 3 offsuit, 8 - 2 offsuit, 7 - 2 offsuit, 4 - 2 offsuit. It was all variations of those hands and nothing else. Then I finally picked up a pocket pair in the big blind. I had pocket 10's and I was last to act preflop. Henry who was first to act goes all in for about $1500 and Kurt calls. At that point, what do you do? Do I call and risk all my chips with a decent hand knowing that both have at least an ace and probably another overcard? Do I fold and possibly fold away the best hand I had seen in an hour? Do I fold to only see a 10 on the flop? It was agonizing thinking about it, but I finally ended up folding. I was relieved to see Henry turn over pocket aces. Just as I had suspected, Kurt had an ace, but with a weak kicker. I pretty much read that hand as perfect as I think anyone could've. It's weird how sometimes I just catch a vibe from the body language from a certain player. It's kind of like rainman but not as weird, if that makes any sense. Well Henry won the hand but went out a short time later. When Kurt and I got to heads up, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Kurt was going to win, I pushed all in with two live cards and was promptly trounced when Kurt flopped a set of kings.

I must say last night was a terrific night and it certainly made up for a few weeks ago. I jumped in points as well, leap frogging both Karl and George and tying Jim. I am happy with the points and the money, I only wished I could've won. I came oh so close last night, but I can't complain. Alright that's it for me. Y'all have a happy turkey day!

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