NLOP Senior Championship II: Swimming with a Shark

We came head to head tonight with an online example of "power poker." We were joined at the November Senior Championship by a player named "SharkAttck." He lived up to the name -- frequently doubling the blind bet before the flop, then making bets after the flop to scare lingerers away.

With a player like that around, you have to pick your spots. Let's see how we did....

:05 IN: We're dealt K-8. Nothing pairs on the flop, but our King is high card to win $285. (We think this is before SharkAttck showed up.)

:22 IN: We play 9-10. The flop is J-7-8, giving us a straight! We bet big when a King comes on the turn, and an opponent folds. We gain $1,385.

:36 IN: We have 10-10. A player bets all-in, which could potentially put us out. We fold, and other hands appear which would have eliminated us.

:40 IN: We have K-K -- and it's time for a power move of our own. We double the blind to 400, and go all-in with 635 chips left after SharkAttck re-raises. The Shark is bluffing with Q-2! The board only brings a second pair of 3's, boosting us in 1,670.

"Yarrrrr" we say to SharkAttck, who had written in pirate talk minutes before. He declares our word "a bit wimpy."

:46 IN: Holding A-10 of hearts, the flop is 10-K-4. A player goes all-in. We suspect weakness and call -- but the opponent has K-J. He wins big, and we're down to 330. Things don't look good.

:49 IN: We feel forced by rising blinds to go all-in with A-4 of hearts. But the flop is 2-5-3! The 5 is a heart, and running hearts follow to give us a nut flush -- jumping back from 330 to 1,800!

1:01 IN: After missing a flop with A-10 and losing 600 chips to SharkAttck's aggressive betting, we go all-in with A-7 of clubs. The hopeful flop is 6c-Kc-7s. A 3s-10h follow -- but amazingly, our 7's top everyone else! We're back to 2,250.

1:21 IN: With 2,025 chips in our stack, A-A comes! We push all-in, and only get one caller (even SharkAttck bails out). Nothing harmful hits the board, and we jump to 5,100 -- finally feeling some breathing room.

But A-4 and A-3 didn't turn out well after that, and rising blinds and antes reduced that big stack back to the 2,000 level. Then with less than 100 players left out of a starting 959, we were moved away from the "Shark Tank." Would things get better?

1:34 IN: Holding Q-K of hearts and needing 800 to play, we push all-in with 1,950 chips left. The flop is a promising 10-K-9 (the 10 a heart). Then a Jack comes on the turn, giving us a straight!

Other players fold at this point to a man who has the only thing which could kill us -- A-Q. His higher straight knocks us out. But we finish in 84th place -- a "top 10 percent" finish which would have earned money at most live tournaments.