Poker Night #69: Freak of the Week

One more hand. If we'd only waited one more hand. We could have reported our third consecutive Thursday night trip to the final table at Lil Kim's Cove. But the director decided to play one more hand before combining two tables into one -- and that led to us finishing tied for eighth, after an all-in bet.

The blinds were at 1,000/2,000, and it was our turn in the big blind with only 3,500 chips left. We hoped the director might bail us out -- but when he said no, we had to go. A-9 was dealt to us, and we dared to push 'em all when a player ahead of us raised. But our opponent had 9-9, and the deck brought no Ace to bail us out. (It was a tie for eighth, because another player was eliminated with us.)

We sat at a table tonight where some strange things happened. It started with the first hand, when the dealer tried to deal the cards backwards around the table -- right to left, instead of left to right. A later hand took about four minutes to play, because of a lengthy discussion at the table with a cable TV employee about HDTV. And then there was this....

BLINDS: 200/400

IN THE POCKET: A-J offsuit

This was almost the best hand we had all night. Our stack had been slowly draining due to chases after flushes that didn't pan out, but we decide to simply call. A few other players join in.

ON THE FLOP: K-K-3.

We check. A player to our immediate left goes all-in, with about 900. Another player calls, and we decide to do the same.

ON THE TURN: A small card (don't remember which one)

The two of us still able to bet check.

"I've got a full house," says the man who went all-in and shows K-3. Oops. He's a little early.

"I thought there were five cards out there," the man says after we correct him. In the meantime....

ON THE RIVER: A.

We wind up with top two pair -- but we think we're beaten anyway, so we simply check. The other player does as well. We would have won a sidepot -- except there is no sidepot.

"You should have bet there," another player at the table says later.

"He freaked me out," we admit -- and the other player in the hunt claims he would have folded, anyway.

MINISTRY MOMENT: No good opportunity came up tonight. We hereby claim the post below this one in its place.

UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 28 final tables in 69 nights (40.6%) -- 7 cashes.

YAHOO POKER TOTAL: $12,215 -- up $205.

NBC SPORTS POKER TOTAL: Five-player games, first through fifth -- 3-9-0-1-1. Cash tournaments -- 1 final table in 3 games (33.3%), 0 cashes.

We made the final table earlier in the day, finishing 10th out of 93 players. But we're even happier with the first cash tournament we tried Tuesday night: 23rd out of 263.