Another big finish at Dino's Poker

Looking to improve my 2nd place finish from last week, I get assigned to a table with (from my left) Andy, Nicole, Wendy, Dan, and Fred. Well, at least we had 4 out of 6 strong players at the table...go big or go home.

Start out winning a nice pot early when I hit my flush on the river - Dan reluctantly pays me off on the river with his 2 pair, then curses himself for not pushing me off my draws. Chipped down back to 2000, but then won 1200 when I jammed post-flop with QQ on a 7-9-4 board again some lady who I had never played with (Nicole was moved to another table early).

Lost a big pot back to Dan, then doubled up through Andy when I hit a set of 10s on the flop, and his 9-9 paid me off on the river when he assumed I missed a draw. Not sure why he felt like giving me 3000 chips here, but whatever.

Knocked out Wendy when my A-K made the nut boat on the river versus her A-4. Fred called pre-flop with 9-9, and wished he had put me all-in pre-flop. I told him that it was a good thing he didn't, because I was willing to race with him...I had put him on 8s through 10s based on how long he took to call my UTG raise.

Moved to another table (3 tables left), and played very aggressive pre-flop, and keeping myself out of trouble for a couple of levels until we hit the final table. Had about 10K at this point, much more than I usually have.

Nothing playable for the first few hands, then picked up 4 pots in a row (including a knockout of Nicole), and we get down to the final 6, with me having about half the chips.

At this point, I'm pretty much open-raising every hand I'm entering, and while I double a couple of shorties up with questionable calls (including 9-6 off against AA one hand), I figured I was stealing enough pots pre-and post-flop to make it pay for itself. Knocked both Cheryl and Slow Joe out in 4th and 5th (respectively) when my 10s made quads, while dodging a straight flush draw, in the process.

Doubled up a new lady first hand while 3-handed with A-Q versus her 8-8 - not winning a race seemed to be my thing here. Dan eventually knocked new girl out to get us to HU, and at this point it's about 3-1, Dan's advantage.

In a hand that I'll discuss in next post, double up on a 3-spade with AA (called pre-flop...hoping Dan would raise to induce action) when Dan hit middle pair post-flop. A few minutes of discussion outside with Dan and a couple of other players on why that play was made the way it was (Dan understood the logic and agreed...the other 3, ahhhh, not so much).

Critical hand of the tourney was a couple of hands later, when Dan comes over the top of my initial raise to go all-in, only to find my A-J dominating his A-7. Horrible flop for me gives Dan a flush draw...and while the Jack on the turn gave him less outs, his flush hits for him on river, and I'm down to 1 BB here.

Double up next hand, but my J-10 is no match for his K-J the very next hand, and Dan gets a win that was a long time coming. Another gift cert to the bar doesn't suck too bad, however.

Playing at a real high level right now in this game, and it's nice to hear other players tell you the same thing, as well.