Forty-one sat down this week. That’s a pretty big field for the Holdem Affair. There was a lot of action in the first hour. That isn’t always the norm in this event. I had some success early and when we went into the first break I was leading the field with 29 still battling. Here is your leaderboard.
- Sunbob = 5120
- d o double d = 4620
- Mellow Yellow = 4430
- Hemi Henry = 4155
- Rocknfish = 3430
- TxBullet1961 = 3050
- lowe48 = 2400
- deadmanshand = 2370
- LazerRic = 2225
- BareAce = 2100
As usual it was the second hour where the biggest action occurred. We were in a race to see if we seated the final table before the second hour break. We made it to the break with eleven and it was the first hand back when Mellow Yellow bit the dust to send us to the final table. Here are your chip stacks – 2 hours and 13 minutes into this Holdem Affair.
- Rocknfish = 12895
- Sunbob = 12655
- deadmanshand = 8110
- Papoorboy = 7505
- d o double d = 5230
- gjones = 3830
- Idblondee = 3575
- ArkDiamond = 3170
- Hemi Henry = 2980
- fstbk65 = 1550
By now we were posting 50 antes and 200/400 blinds. I guess fstbk65 decided going in he was short and needed to gamble because the very first hand he pushed UTG holding Kd 8d. Not a bad play and it almost worked until deadmanshand made the call from the small blind holding 5h 5d. Two overs and a clean flush draw for fstbk but it wasn’t going to happen this week. Fstbk65 was gone in the first hand.
The action settled down then until hand 17. Antes 75 and blinds 300/600. All fold to Papoorboy in the small blind who made the aggressive play and pushed holding Qh 2d. How was he supposed to know that ArkDiamond was sitting in the big blind praying to the poker gods that someone would do just that, as she was holding Kh Ks. The Kd on the flop just added insult for Papoorboy and he was gone in 9th place. You could almost hear the collective sigh of relief as this very feared competitor was sent to the rail.
Just two hands later and gjones pushed all 2355 UTG holding Ac Jh. D o double d called from the big blind holding just Ad 6s. Oops, what have you done DODD? The flop came Td 6h Qs and DODD looked psychic. But the Js on the turn brought him out of his reverie. The river came and those chips are going to DODD. What the . . . it’s the 6c smiling at DODD from the river and gjones was gone in 8th place.
By hand 36 Hemi Henry was all-in posting the big blind. Rocknfish raised to 3970 to tell everyone – “Let me take care of this.” And it certainly looked like it when he turned over Kd Kh and Henry only held 6h 8d. But the 6s on the flop and the 6d on the turn said otherwise and chants of “cockroach” filled the chat room.
Hemi Henry survived to hand 43, when his Kh 4s ran into deadmanshand holding Ad 8d. This time it was the Ah on the flop and the 8h on the turn that decided the hand. Henry had to settle for 7th place.
We were down to the bubble paying five this week. Hand 46 and with the antes 100 and the blinds 400/800, Rocknfish raised to 4200. With 1800 in the middle before anyone bets – this is the time to be stealing. Sunbob (yes, that’s me) pushed all 13105 on the re-steal. I would have been happy with the 6000 chips in the pot but I also held pocket queens so I was hoping I hadn’t run into a pair of rockets. It was As Qh that Rocknfish turned over and when the case queen hit the flop, it was all over for Rocknfish and I was in the chip lead going into the money table.
ArkDiamond was the first to fall in the money. Hand 55 with antes 125 and blinds now 600/1200, she was down to 3850 before she posted the big blind. T 9 suited was good enough for a push from the big blind with only d o double d in ahead of her. DODD held Kc Js and the flop looked good for our shortnpretty friend, Qd 4s Ts. The Qh on the turn only made it better but eh Kh on the river gave DOD top two pair and ArkDiamond was sent off to settle for the 5th place money.
That also gave DODD the chip lead. Hand 58 was the killer for me. deadmanshand raised to 2400 and I came over the top for 8300 holding big slick – Ac Ks. Deadmanshand made the call holding Th 9h. This is a good example of why they call the AK the “Anna Kournikova” of hands. At first glance it looks like I am a big favorite but actually I am only a 59/41 favorite over the suited T9. And when the flop came Ts 9d 7d that 41% was good. I was still in second place but this was the mark that my fortunes had turned this evening.
I actually went on a rush on hands 65,66,67 and took back the chip lead but hand 68 I had to lay down my KQ when the flop missed me and DODD took that lead back. But hand 69 saw me with Ad Qd and I hit DODD for a nice pot and grabbed back that lead. We would swap it back and forth three times over the next 10 hands.
During this time Idblondee was catching up to us. By hand 80 I was in third place and by hand 83 Idblondee had the chip lead. This was a war. It was hand 83 that saw deadmanshand down to his last 2055 posting the 150 ante and facing the 1600 big blind in the next hand. As 5c is good enough in that situation but when DODD holds Ad Ks it isn’t good enough to win. Two aces on the flop and a king on the river for good measure – deadmanshand was gone in 4th place.
Hand 86 and I’m down to 13745 posting the 800 small blind. DODD raised to 6050 on the button and I pushed holding As Jd. I was feeling good about that push until DODD showed KK. Oops – what have I done. But wait – look at that miracle flop - Ah Jc Th. A guy could get a concussion from flops like that. All I could think was “no king – no king” and the 2d on the turn looked sweet to me. And there was no king on the river either but it was the Qs - - - bummer. DODD hadn’t hit his set but he had converted that pocket pair of kings into an ace high straight. My visions of doubling up and getting back into this game were gone as I saw the screen pop up congratulating me on third place.
DODD went into the heads up match with a 2:1 chip lead and Idblondee was never able to make any significant gains on that. Twenty-one hands later it was over. D O DD was our winner.
Great game folks. Another fun week of tournament poker with good friends. I will see you all next week and don’t forget Winforlife’s Anniversary tournament Friday night. I want a cap if I can’t get that trophy.
PEACE
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