One nice thing about playing poker at Club H2O is that you can learn the names of everyone at your table. The seats are assigned at random by a computer, then posted on a screen. But that could have been a bad thing Wednesday night, because we were put in a seat next to "Killer."
Given the news of the prior 24 hours, we're not sure why anyone would want to take that nickname. Especially not an innocent-looking 20-something guy.
"So you're Killer?" we asked cautiously before play began.
"I'm not Killer. We switched."
The man's name really was David. Killer apparently wanted to play at a non-smoking table. David smoked two cigarettes before he was eliminated -- so some might argue he was killing himself.
David was gone before we were, yet he helped provide the most interesting night of poker ministry we've had so far. It's so interesting that we'll have details in our next post. But as for the game: an ultra-conservative style of play brought us a Top 100 finish out of 140 players. We were booted after a little more than an hour, with ten tables still playing.
We were forced all-in with only 24 chips left, holding a 9 of clubs which paired the board. Three clubs were showing, so we dreamed of a flush on the river -- but a King of spades came instead.
We never won a hand all night, and seldom had good cards to play. Pocket 2's came to us at one point, but face cards on the flop left us unwilling to call opponent's bets. Another hand appeared even more promising....
BLINDS: 2/4
IN THE POCKET: A-Q of hearts.
We decide to limp in, but a desperate player two seats down goes all-in for 27. Two players call, including David to our immediate right. This is too good a hand to fold, so we call as well.
ON THE FLOP: 7h-7s (we think) -5h.
It's a great flush draw for us, but we've invested a good bit in this pot already. We lay low and check, as everyone else does.
ON THE TURN: 9 (not a heart).
Same thinking, same actions.
ON THE RIVER: 7c.
With three 7's showing, David bets 25. Since he called the big bet before, we conclude he must have a full house. We don't dare challenge, so we fold. But another player calls him.
"King high!" David declares -- and that's good enough to beat a Jack high, and take the pot.
"I had an Ace, and you scared me away!" It would have been the top hand, but a good bet on a fair-to-middling hand (we hesitate to call it a bluff) worked -- especially since the cards had not been in our favor all night.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 24 final tables in 61 nights (39.3%) - 7 cashes.
We dared to go to a crowded house, even though we risked falling below the 40% level. We'll try to climb above it, when we play Thursday night at Lil' Kim's Cove (a rare two-tourney week for us). We'll update our Yahoo action then as well.
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