NLOP Weekly Championship 21: The November 15

Our final table appearance online Thursday provided enough points to qualify for the National League of Poker weekly championship tonight.  While the "November Nine" battled in Las Vegas, we took on 1,409 others in cyberspace.  And we wound up with a "personality" at the table we normally don't have....

:00 IN: We open in the small blind with 6-J offsuit; we call when someone doubles the blind to 60.  The flop is 10-6-7, and the big blind bets 30.  We call with a pair.  The turn is Q.  We call a bet of 30 again, suspecting the big blind is trying to run us off.  The river is 9, and we make the same assumption when our opponent bets 30 more.  Trouble is, he has Q-J; the turn gives him a winning higher pair, and we lose 150.

:01 IN: We have K-A offsuit and the button in the next hand.  We raise to 90 and gain callers.  The flop is 3-K-9, all clubs.  We don't have a club, and make our own continuation "go-away" bet of 120.  A player calls.  The turn is 7h.  We both check.  The river is 2d, making us say: "He missed his flush."  Trouble is, our opponent bets 350.  We smell a bluff again, and call with top pair.  He shows 4-A of clubs!  He hit the nuts on the flop, and drops our starting stack of 1,000 down to 290.

:03 IN: Next hand, J-J!  Undaunted, we raise to 90 and get two callers.  The flop is Kx-7c-3c.  Everyone checks.  The turn is 6c; more checking, even with three clubs showing.  The river is 4.  Play checks to us -- but this time we hold our fire and check.  Shame on us; the Jacks win the $480 pot!  We recover to 610.

:05 IN: We have 2-7, and quickly fold.  Too bad -- two 7's show on the flop.

:06 IN: We have 9-9 and limp in middle position.  The flop is 3-8-A.  We make a probing bet of 50, and three players fold to give us $170 pot.  We've now recovered to 710.

:12 IN: We have 4-5 in the big blind, with no one raising.  The flop is 3-4-5, providing two pair!  We bet 100, and are stunned to see an opponent go all-in with much more.  We dare to call our remaining 530 -- and face an opposing hand of 2-5, for an open-ended straight draw.  The turn is an Ace!  The river is 3 -- and his straight sends us packing in only 15 minutes.

We don't know our exact final position as we write this (that's a flaw with the NLOP leader pages right now).  Suffice to say it was well down the ladder -- and it was an evening amazingly similar to our last  Sunday night championship a month ago.  We had strong hands, and tried to play them strongly in response. But when you're outgunned by a foolish-looking pusher holding 2-5, all you can do is shake your hand and hope the "law of averages" eventually turns around.