Feburary Senior Championship: Closer and Closer

Our first championship bid of the week was a strong one, with a top-70 finish. Tuesday night’s monthly Senior Championship at National League of Poker was a little less competitive – only 881 players. Only.

:06 IN: We have 10-A, and another player goes all-in for 350 over the blinds. We hold our nose and call. The flop is 9-J-J. But the turn is an Ace, and the river a 10. It leads to a split pot, and we win $600.

:10 IN: We have 4-6 in the Big Blind. The flop is 8-4-K, and our probing bet of 40 (the minimum) gets callers. The turn is 6, so we double the bet with two pair and get a caller. The river is a 9, and we offer 150. Our opponent folds, and we win $570.

:23 IN: We have Q-A of clubs in the small blind, and a player ahead of us doubles. Of course, we call. The flop is 6-Q-4, and our bet of 200 brings a caller. The turn is A, and our opponent bets 1,000. We gulp a little and call. The river is J, and we wind up splitting another pot. Our share is $925.

:27 IN: We have J-J, and call a doubled bet by an opponent. The flop is 8-J-5 – and when a player bets 100, we raise to 500 and get callers. The turn is 2, and we go all-in for about 950. An opponent calls, but only has 8-10! The river is 7, and we strike it rich.

That puts us to $2,960 at the first break – 53rd place, with 407 players left.

:35 IN: We have 9-9, and call a doubled bet. The flop is 6-8-6, and call a bet of 320. The turn is J, and the big bettor pushes with his last 126. That’s small enough for us to call. Then we bet 200 against another player on the river 3. A $400 sidepot is all we win, as the pusher had a third 6.

:45 IN: We have J-10 for the second hand in a row. The flop is 8-10-5. We had top pair in the prior hand as well, but folded after an opponent made an unorthodox-looking push on the turn. (We guessed it was a two-pair bet.) This time the bet is 200, and we call. The turn is a friendly J, and we call when an opponent goes all-in for 350. Then we bet a sidepot 400 on a river 5. The main opponent has J-Q – so our two pair win $3,400.

But then Q-A and 8-8 didn’t work – and we limped to the one-hour break at $2,239. We’re down to 104th, with 162 left.

1:10 IN: We have K-K in the small blind. A player ahead of us doubles the bet, but we respond by going all-in for a remaining 1,794. Two players call, but our kings wind up best – and we jump from the cliff to a comfortable $5,810. But in the process, we knock an opponent out -- and that brings this moment:

Samba:  u dirty flopblogger beetin up on her
Me:  what?!?!!?
Samba:  other tbl
ShortStack:  lol
Samba:  lol
Me:  Just playin' my cards :-)
Samba:  n1
Samba:  i like it

1:16 IN: We have 5-Q. The flop is 9-Q-6, and our bet of 700 chases the table away. With antes now required on every hand, we gain $2,800.

1:25 IN: We have Q-7 of clubs in the small blind. The flop is 8-2c-7, and we call a bet of 500. The turn is 2, and we call another bet of 500. The river is 6, both of us check – and our opponent has J-7. The Queen takes almost $2,000.

We reach the 90-minute break at $7,650. We’re down to 58 players, and we’re 35th. The top ten win money. But then 10-Q and A-8 fall short in the blinds, costing us a lot of money.

1:53 IN: We have 10-7 of spades in the big blind. That’s not much, and our chip stack isn't much, either – but the table folds! The walk wins us $3,600 in antes and blinds.

1:57 IN: We have Q-A with $3,625 left and blinds at 1,000/2,000. Translation: it’s time to go for it. We push – but the board comes small: 9-3-5-4-5. A player with A-2 of diamonds actually makes a straight flush on the river, to knock us out.

We finished the night in 33rd place – even closer to victory than Sunday night! Put the two tournaments together at a real casino, and a buy-in of $1,000 per game would have ended with about $6,000 in our wallet.