NLOP Weekly Championship 14: The Jackpot, and Beyond

It doesn't seem to take much to qualify for the National League of Poker Weekly Championship these days. We simply logged on every day, picked up two new "continuation bonuses" -- and a top ten finish Saturday qualified us for our fourth big Sunday night game in five weeks.

:02 IN: We have K-Q of clubs in the small blind. The flop is 6-10-5. Everyone checks. The turn is a J. Checks continue. The river is a Q, and the table folds to our $100 bet. We make a modest $60 gain.

:08 IN: We have Q-A, and call a raise of 215. The flop is Q-8-K, are are forced to call a bet of 225. The turn is a third Q, and we go all-in when an opponent bets. That opponent has Q-9, and we top him for $2,100.

:16 IN: We have K-Q. The flop is 8-K-2, and we call a raise to 120. The turn is another 8, and a player goes all-in. We dare to call - and our opponent has K-10! The river is a 9, and we gain $2,495.

:22 IN: We have A-4 of clubs. The flop is 2c-6c-6. Everyone checks. The turn is Jc, and we offer a wimpy-looking minimum bet of 60 to keep players in. After one call, the river is a 9. We bet 200, get a fold in response and gain $560.

:27 IN: We have 8-8. The flop is 8-9-4. We bet 100, and get callers. The turn is a 3, and we bet 200. An opponent with 9-7 goes all-in, and pays for it. The river is an 8, giving us QUADS worth $1,790!

At the half-hour break we have $3,337 - a comfortable 79th place, with 808 players still in. But then the well of cards ran dry for awhile, and several promising hands fell short.

:57 IN: We have 2-9 in the Big Blind with 997 left. The flop is Q-A-2, and we dare to bet 200 at it. One or two players call. The turn is a 9, and we go all-in with it! We win the comeback hand, for 1,982.

1:01 IN: We have 8-8. The flop is Q-8-10! We bet 1,000, and another player puts us all-in. But he has Q-J, and 7-4 follow. Suddenly we're up to $6,471.

1:02 IN: The very next hand brings us K-K. We raise to 700, and get callers. The flop is 5-2-2. An opponent goes all-in - and through complicated raising, so does someone else. But they have 5-Q and A-9! The turn and river are 6-J, and we hit the jackpot - jumping to $14,897 at the one-hour break!

A three-hand surge moved us from the brink of elimination to fourth place, with 314 players left.

1:21 IN: We have A-5. The flop is 3-K-4. Players check. The turn is a 9, and our bet of 600 gets a caller. The river is a 2, giving us a straight! Our bet of 2,000 is declined, but we gain $3,450.

Then a long dry spell came for us -- and by the third break, we were down to $8,966. We're 59th, with 120 left. The decline continued from there, helped by rising blinds, until....

1:54 IN: We have A-10 on the button. We go all-in, with 1,762 left. The flop is A-4-3 - and our pair of Aces winds up being best! We're suddenly back to $8,310.

1:58 IN: A-10 comes again, and we realize right away it's not likely to win twice in a row. But the flop is 5-6-10, and we dare to go all-in with top pair and 5,560 left. Sure enough -- a player calls with 6-5. J-8 follow up on the board, and we're finally beaten.

But our final place out of 1,497 contestants is #66. It's our best finish in the Sunday night "big game" yet. And if this had been a casino event, we probably would have won three times our buy-in.