Saturday, July 15, 2006

Burldog44 Claimed his Second HA Title

It was a good field this week. Thirty-three sat down to contest the Holdem Affair. Burldog44 came out on top this week with some excellent, and very patient, final table maneuvering. He waited for his opportunities and then took advantage of them. Lowe48, a newcomer to our little Saturday night party, was his heads up victim. Very good to have you with us Lowe. I hope you enjoyed it. I was the one Burldog chewed up to take the lead and finished in third place. Papoorboy was fourth and another newcomer, Amkaos, completed the money table. We had several new players this week and it was fun to see the new blood.

We were down to twenty-nine at the first hour break. Only lost four people. No wild play early in the Holdem Affair. Here is your leader board:
  1. slotcrazy45 = 4810

  2. burldog44 = 3630

  3. Annieboom = 3170

  4. Poker 101 = 3030

  5. Papoorboy = 2575

  6. RipleyBP = 2270

  7. lowe48 = 1885

  8. Hemi Henry = 1880

  9. Idblondee = 1755

  10. Medic Chicky = 1745

As you can see from the leader board, I had a tough first hour. Lowe44 wasn’t doing a whole lot better. But our fortunes changed in the second hour and by the time we got to the final table we were both looking good. Two hours and 5 minutes into the Holdem Affair the final table looked like this:
  1. Lowe48 = 10590

  2. Sunbob = 10225

  3. Burldog44 = 8995

  4. Papoorboy = 6810

  5. Amkaos = 3245

  6. Boomstick = 2380

  7. Mellow Yellow = 2310

  8. RipleyBP = 2245

  9. msrinny02 = 1725

  10. Hemi Henry = 975

In the first ten hands, Hemi Henry managed to double up and was in 8th place now. Hand 12 was the first interesting action. Mellow Yellow and Msrinny were both short stacked now and with the antes 50 and the blinds 200/400, they needed to double up. Burldog opened for 800, msrinny went all-in for 900, and Mellow Yellow pushed all of his 1335 into the middle as well. It was 535 for Burldog to call and he figured he was priced in.
burldog44 showed Ad Tc.
msrinny02 showed Kh Js.
Mellow Yellow showed 7h 8h – interesting play.
The flop came Qh 8s 3s and MY looked like a genius. The turn was the Ts and Burldog was looking good. But the river brought the 9h and Msrinny hit the straight. WOW. Mellow Yellow was our first casualty.

The very next hand and the action is getting hot. Five folds to Ripley and he opened for 1650. Two folds and Papoorboy re-raised to 2900, Ripley responded with a push and Papoorboy looked him up. Ripley showed Ah Ts. A good hand to make a stand but Papoorboy turned over As Jc. The Jh on the flop was the deciding card and RipleyBP had to settle for 9th place.

By hand 23, Hemi Henry’s fortunes had changed and he was all-in with his 125 chips. Burldog and Papoorboy both called and the flop came 8h 5c 4h. Burldog bet 600 telling Pa that he had Henry covered. Pa believed him and got out of the way. Henry showed Kc 6c and Burldog showed 6h 4c. Bottom pair puppy? Gutsy play. But that pair of fours held up and Hemi Henry was sent to the rail in 8th place.

Hand 27 and the antes are 75 and blinds 300/600. Three folds to me and I raised from the cut off to 1800. Rinny was in the small blind and pushed all 1850 into the middle. I had to make the call. I held Kc Jh and msrinny had me beat with Ad 8s. I caught the Jc on the flop and msrinny02 was invited to the lounge in 7th place.

Hand 33 and we are moving right along now. Boomstick is down to just 305 when he posted the big blind. I called the 600 OTB holding just Tc 5s. The small blind folded and I was up against Boomstick who showed 6s 5c. Amazing, I have him dominated. The board missed us both and I sent Boomstick off on the bubble.

We were paying five this week so we were all in the money. I was in the chip lead, Lowe48 was second and Amkaos was the short stack. We passed around the blinds until hand 40, when Amkaos was all-in posting the big blind and facing Sunbob, Lowe and Papoorboy. The flop came 3h Ah Qc – Papoorboy bet 3145 pushing Lowe and me out of the pot. Amkaos showed 9h 6s and Papoorboy turned over As Qd. Two pair – yep, pa, you have him covered. Amkaos settled for 5th place money. Not bad for this newcomer. Well done.

Papoorboy won the next hand and with it the chip lead, but gave it to Lowe two hands later when he chased a busted straight draw to the river and then got caught in a bluff.

The blinds where now 600/1200, so even stealing the blinds was a big deal. One busted steal attempt could yield a 10,000 pot. A good example of that occurred on hand 57. I raised UTG to 3000 holding Ac 8c. I had been stealing pots with some success but this time Burldog pushed in all 7880 of his short stack. I made the rather loose call. I knew just how loose when Burldog turned over As Qs. The flop came all diamonds and hit the puppy with the queen. That 16860 pot put Burldog in the chip lead and dropped me to 3rd place.

That was arguably the deciding hand this week. That darn dog is dangerous when he has chips. Two hands later he sent Papoorboy to the rail when he flopped a set of kings.

I mentioned earlier that I was stealing a lot of blinds but now I went at it in earnest. I stole 6 of the next 8 hands. I had been stealing Lowe’s blinds every chance I got through the whole final table and was waiting for him to push back. I was hoping to catch him in a loose call when I actually had a hand. That came on hand 69. I min-raised from the button with Ah Kh and Lowe called. The flop came Ac Ad 7s. Could this be my chance? Lowe bet 6375. Wow, could he have an ace? Could I be that lucky? I pushed all 11850 to the middle and since I had Lowe covered it was decision time. Lowe almost timed out then he typed “gg” in the chat box and called. He turned over 8c 3c. He had made a very good bluff. If I didn’t have an ace there was no way I could make that call. When he got caught he had given up. I had him . . . I thought. But the poker gods sent the 5c on the turn and the 2c on the river to give Lowe the flush. I was a 97% favorite when the money went in. But Lowe took the pot.

I was in deep trouble now and went out on the very next hand when I pushed my pocket fives and Burldog called with Jd 6d. A jack and a six on the flop and the poker gods spit in my face. I was gone in third place.

The heads up match lasted 18 hands. They went into the match almost equal in chips and battled hard. Both were pushing even the slightest advantage but Lowe blinked first. Burldog talked him out of the first big pot and that was the deciding factor.

Burldog44 logged his second Holdem Affair victory. Somehow I don’t think it will be his last.

See you all this Saturday.

Peace.

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