Sunday, October 10, 2010

One for Three

We qualified for two weekly championships at National League of Poker tonight -- not to mention the $20,000 Poker Stars TV freeroll.

The weekly NLOP game didn't turn out so well: 992nd out of 1,457. The freeroll was a bit better: 14,464th out of 33,894 (top half of the standings, at least). But the NLOP weekly video poker championship was a blessing from God -- a top-level money-winning finish!



This was a 100-hand game where you're dealt five cards, and decide which ones to hold for three more deals. Our breakthrough came on the third hand, when we were dealt three Aces. Quad Aces came at the end, for 2,000 points! Another set of quads came later, for 800 more points.





When our 100 hands ended, the standings looked like this -- as we held a 490-point lead. Could we hold on, to win $50? Seven minutes of somewhat anxious waiting followed, as other players wrapped things up and the 13-minute clock wound down....





Alas, we had to settle for second place. Another player jumped ahead of us, by earning 4,000 points for a royal flush. But second place wins us $25 -- our first money at online video poker, in a championship with more than 225 players.



We know what some of you are saying -- video poker is simply dumb luck. And we agree with that. The only "skill" involves knowing the right cards to hold. Thank God we knew!

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