May Senior Championship: Pairs Competition

We came home from an out-of-town trip in the nick of time for tonight's National League of Poker monthly Senior Championship. And it's a good thing we weren't late....

:03 IN: We have 5-A of hearts in the big blind, and call a doubled bet. The flop is Q-Q-4 with one Queen a heart. Someone bets 30, and we call. The turn is 5, and we bet 30 with two pair. Two players call. The river is 3h. Someone bets 30. We ponder it, reluctantly call -- and win the pot! A quick gain of $465.

:10 IN: We have 10-Q, with the 10 a diamond. The flop is all-diamonds, 3-4-Q. Someone bets 120, and we call with top pair and a flush draw. The turn is Jh, bringing checks. The river is Ah. Our opponent bets 80, we call in hope -- but he has A-K.

:19 IN: We have 10-5 of hearts in the big blind. The flop is 3-9-2, with the 9 a heart. The turn is Kh, with mass checking underway. The river is 5d. We call a bet of 60 -- and are pleasantly surprised to find a pair of 5's wins us $380.

Cautious play (which tends to dominate a senior tournament) brought us to the half-hour break at 1,125 -- tied for 247th, out of 442 still in the running.

:39 IN: We have A-3. The flop is 6-3-6, and we bet 250. Someone calls. The turn is A, and the opponent bets 150. We call, with an improved two pair. The river is 6, and we go all-in for 400. The opponent calls -- with a mere 8-Q! Our full house jumps us to 1,975.

:43 IN: We have 10-J. The flop is 6-3-10, and we bet 300. Someone calls. The turn is 9, and we slow down to 200. The call is made. The river is A -- and when the opponent bets 200 after we check, we fear the worst. We call, and he has A-Q. That's a serious setback.

:50 IN: We have Q-Q with 925 left. The player ahead of us goes all-in for 835. We're skeptical about it, and call. Then another player goes all-in for even more! Since we're committed, we push in our last 90.

Then comes the shocker: the first player to push has K-K, while the other has A-A! We need a Queen -- but the flop is 9-K-5, followed by A-J. Three Aces win it all, knocking two players with big pairs out of the game.

Final score: 253rd out of 1,029 players. Painfully bad timing probably cost us an even better finish.