Monday 5/18/10 Dino's game

Another glorious Monday night (re: "Cold and rainy") for poker at Dino's in Ferndale...need a big push to get to the Top 10 in the point race for the final in a couple of weeks.

Start out with Eric, Volcano Ron, "Kid", and Jay on my table. Win a few hands early, go card dead for a little bit, but still have 2200 (just under original stack of 2400) when our table breaks. Get seated with Pat and Dan on my left, and Brother Bob on my right - oh boy, not my best arraingment.

Have to jam all-in a few times at 150/300 and steal the blinds and A-rag or small pair, but no bites in action. Finally, Table 3 breaks up, and Nicole, Bunnie, and Rachel come to the table. I win a hand out of big blind from Rachel after bluffing her out with merely a 4-3 flush draw in my hand after the turn. Next hand I get a much needed double up from Nicole when my A-J holds up against her K-J.

Nicole is knocked out soon after by Rachel, then Bob cripples Rachel when he flops top 2 pair and watches Rachel overbet the pot on a badly-timed semi-bluff (A-J vs. Ks and Qs). After this hand, Bob knocks out Rachel to set up our final table.

With 3600 chips to start the final table, I go into action quickly, as I re-pop over Pat's initial raise to 1200 with all of my remaining 3600 with A-10...whoops, Pat has A-J, and I'm way behind. Hit my 10 on the flop, and dodge the J to double up. Nothing remarkable for a few hands except for losing a couple grand in chips, until we go to 7-handed.

The hand (or at least, quote of the night) happens later on in 200/400 level action. I raise in MP to 1200 with 6-6....folded around to Farmer Tim, who limped UTG, and he calls (thinking 2 overs here...I never give him credit for much of a hand). Dream flop of 6-J-6 gives me quads, and I check the flop trying to figure out how to get all the chips in the middle. Farmers bets out 3000, and since I only have 3500 left at this point, I give the "Well, shucks, if I call I might as well go all-in here", and put them in the middle. Farmer calls, and the understatement of the year comes out of my mouth:

"Tim, hate to tell you this, but you're a little bit behind here", and flip over my 6-6 to show him quads. A couple players give out the loud "WHOOOOA!!!", and a few of the cash, errrr, "side game" players come for a peek and a chuckle. Good thing Tim doesn't get offended by much, and he takes it well.

I bust Tim a couple hands later, then Brother Bob proceeds to take out Eric and Slow Joe to get down to final 4 of Brother Bob, Me, Bunnie, and Sharon. Looking at Brother Bob's monster stack compared to the rest of us, I mentally give him first place...and try to play my way into second, and get max points, in the process.

After a couple of double-ups, Brother Bob finally busts Sharon, and we're down to 3. Steal a few blinds to keep alive, but run A-Q into BB's 10-10, and when 10 hits the flop, I'm pretty much dead...but I get a bottle of wine.

So far, because of 3 missed weeks on the season, I'm on the outside looking in - but only by a couple of points. Another top 5 finish, and I should be good.

Friday Night Charity Poker report - 5/14/10

After being out of the game, both live and online, for a couple of weeks because of work, I took advantage of a night out last night to hit the Charity poker room at Pampa lanes here in Warren. $30 buy-in for "deep stack" tourney, except it was only 75 BBs (15K chips)...and felt more like a Turbo.

Played at Pampa a few weeks prior and bubbled (although chop from earlier allowed me to get my buy-in back, at least), and liked the room, so hit it again last night. If you get the chance to play there, do it - a few solid players, but the kids are more than willing to bluff off their chips, and the older players are loose-passive...the easiest to win off of.

Only 19 runners, but paid 3. First few levels were pretty uneventful...stole a few blinds, lost one hand on a 2-2-Q flop with JJ when one kid called my UTG raise with Q-3....idiot. Went to the first break with 14K in chips, and was looking to make a move. Too bad it didn't get to happen before we got down to 10 players, and I'm at about 12K at this point (blinds 1K/2K).

Folded around to me in MP, and jam it all in with 9-9. Shortie to left of me calls with A-6, button pushes with A-Q. Luckily, 9s hold up and not only do I get a double-up, but knock out another player. Down to 8 at this point. Couple of hands later, I see A-A under the gun, and jam my last 26K into the pot (2K/4K blinds). BB thinks about it for a minute, and folds A-2 face-up...errr, not that great of a laydown.

Take out another player when my J-3 in the big blind hits on a J-3-2 board, and BB jams with J-2. Proceed to watch a couple of shorties bust out, including the guy with the big stack to start the final table. Guy was rather unluckly, as his K-K and A-A were cracked early in the final table.

Get down to 4-handed to this point, and at this point 2 players suggest that we take $10 off every payout, and 4th gets money back. As shortie at this point, I'm cool with it. Blinds now at 4K/8K, and after seeing garbage for a bit decide to jam A-8 from the small blind after button and other player have already limped in for 8K each...both limpers call for 22K more or so. Not what I want to see, really.

Until the flop hits 8-8-A, at least! Both players check down, and my hand holds up to triple up at a great time! Take out 4th place player with 2-2 against 6-6 when I spike a 2 on the turn, and we're down to 3...and I have the big stack now.

Double up a player a few hands later, and at this point the other 2 players suggest a 3-way chop - $130 for 2 of us, $110 for the other. I don't want to be the dick who turns it down, since in 2 minutes the blinds double to 5K/10K(!)...and going to be pretty much an all-in fest. On top of that, the remaining players were decent enough people that it made for an easy decision.

$100 profit for 3 hours or less of work - not bad at all!