NLOP Championship 5: Behind the Times

Fourth place on Friday afternoon, then 16th out of 656 players Saturday night. If we had bet real money in those two National League of Poker online tournaments instead of points, our $1,250 investment would have returned almost $10,000. But it only earned us a spot in tonight's weekly championship, hoping to win $500 -- where one hand could change everything:

BLINDS: 15/30

IN THE POCKET: 4-9 of clubs

Blinds are small and the table is playing tight early, so we get in with suited cards. Three players call.

ON THE FLOP: 3c-Qc-Ac

Almost a dream flop come true! But players bet ahead of us, and we're concerned someone might have one of the three higher clubs which can top us. The betting reaches as high as 180, and we call throughout.

ON THE TURN: 10d

A player ahead of us bets 150. We hold our breath a bit and call, still fearing a higher flush.

ON THE RIVER: As

Now the bet is 170. We're committed this far, so we call -- and our opponent has A-3. He bet with two pair, and gained a full house on the river to give us a big loss.

Looking back, we should have bet a lot on the flop to put the pressure on our opponents. After all, we were a bit aggressive playing our pocket cards in the first place -- so why become defensive after hitting the flop?

We were fighting from behind after that, and survived a couple of all-in moments. But a push with 5-5 and 275 chips left finally failed us, as an opponent hit a diamond flush. Out of 1,512 players, we did well to finish 534th.