Three For the Money

"Three cards???" we asked tonight when we tried the latest addition to National League of Poker. "UFC Knockout Hold 'em" is unlike any breed of poker we've seen. You're dealt and bet on three cards, not two. Then the flop comes as usual. Then a turn card. And that's it. No river.

So how did we do in our first try? All we did was ACE the exam! We finished first out of 106 players, to win $25 - our second NLOP cash win in two weeks!

After a slow start, we started winning good pots. (And we hit flushes on the turn to save us from elimination a couple of times.) We reached the final table in eighth place out of nine -- but as we hung around, two players who abandoned the game were forfeited. That left five. Then we were down to three - with only about 3,500 chips compared to two players in the 45,000 range.

Yet careful play allowed us to climb the mountain, despite a couple of stumbles. It took 163 hands for us from semifinal table on, but we grabbed the lead from "karatemonkey" with a run of several big hands while blinds were at 2,000/4,000.

Our camera batteries died at the crucial moment, but here's how the final hand looked. We played 5-Q-6 against our opponent's K-7-7, and made a straight on the flop while he made fatal "trips." His all-in bet was only natural. But so was our call - and an Ace on the river gave us victory!

There were plenty of PTL's on our part along the way. And this is a great example of how no deficit in poker is impossible to overcome. Hmmmm -- overcoming would be a great topic for another post.