The frustrating thing about online poker is that you can be physically "at the table," yet be unable to play because of network or connection problems. We faced that a bit Tuesday night, during the monthly Senior Championship at National League of Poker. Let's see if it affected us....
:00 IN: We have 2-A, but a connection glitch makes us fold it when our turn comes. That's good; it wouldn't have won the pot, anyway.
:15 IN: After folding several promising hands which missed the flop, we have 5-4 of spades in the big blind. We choose to defend when a player doubles the bet. The flop is J-5-10, and we call an "insta-bet" of the minimum 40 with bottom pair. The turn is 10, and we call a similar bet. The river is 2, we do it again -- and our stubbornness pays off, as our 10's and 5's win the $540 pot! (Our opponent had K-2.)
:22 IN: We lose the connection again, not regaining it until the half-hour break. (That'll teach us to try to check Facebook during hands we don't play.) We don't lose any money in the meantime, and hit the break with $1,110 -- in 221st place out of 405 still in the field.
:38 IN: We have 9-9 in the big blind. The flop is 5-4-3. A player goes all-in, and we fold. Good thing; a 3-7 straight winds up taking the pot.
:39 IN: Now comes K-A in the small blind. We double the bet, and it leads a player to go all-in for 278. We call with another player. The flop is A-4-2, and we dare to push ourselves -- 532 more with top pair and top kicker. The opponent calls -- but our foes have merely Q-5 and 3-3! The turn is K; the river is 10, and we claim a huge $2,398 pot.
:41 IN: We have 8-A in the next hand as dealer. The flop is A-K-Q, and we call a minimum bet of 150. The turn is 8 -- and when someone "min-bets" again, we raise to 450 with two pair. Two players call. The river is 4, and a player goes all-in for 295. We dare to call it -- and get rewarded, as the opponents have A-J and A-9. Our two pair gains $3,295 more!
:43 IN: We come right back with A-Q of spades. Our doubling of the blind leads to a player going all-in for 1,055, which we call. The flop is 4-3-4. We bet 200 in continuation, which makes the remaining player in the hand fold. The pusher has A-10! The turn and river are J-9, all around his kicker card -- and we win $3,395 more.
:45 IN: Next hand brings 4-A (with no raising this time). The flop is 8-A-J, and we offer 330. A player raises all-in for only 77 more, so we take the offer. He only has K-7. The turn-river are J-10, and we knock someone else out to the tune of $974.
That makes four pots won in five hands (we folded the other early), winning close to $10,000! A quick check of the scoreboard shows we're up to fifth place, at 8,005.
1:01 IN: After trying a few promising hands which missed the flop, we have A-9 on the button. The flop is 2-A-4, and we lead out 500 which gets called. The turn is 2; everyone checks. The river is a potentially dangerous 5, but everyone checks again. Our opponent has 7-7, so our Ace prevails for a gain of $2,575.
At the second break, we have 6,555 -- down to 24th place, but still well up the ladder. Only 112 players remain.
1:20 IN: After more promising hands fall short, we have Q-A of hearts on the button. A man with a huge stack doubles the blind and we're tempted to push in response -- but instead we play it safe and call. The flop is Jx-4h-4x. Players check. The turn is 5 and not a heart -- and we fell forced to fold when a player bets. (Their cards were never shown; maybe we should have pushed in the first place?!)
1:31 IN: With rising blinds and antes, we have 8-A on the button and go for it. We push all-in with 1,555 left. Two players call -- one with J-J, the other an overriding A-9. The flop is 5-A-4, followed by 2-6. Our kicker isn't strong enough, and we're eliminated.
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