NLOP Weekly Championship 24: The Long Hard Climb

Maybe the way to play National League of Poker tournaments without annoying disconnects is to leave our computer on all day.  With a day off from work, we were able to do that today.  And thanks to a top-20 finish in a 454-player tournament last Sunday, we qualified for tonight's NLOP weekly championship again.  We wound up lasting longer than we expected:

:01 IN: We have 10-9.  The flop is 10-5-5, and we call a bet of 50.  The turn is 4, and we call a bet of 100.  The river is 2, and our opponent bets 325.  We sense he's bluffing, dare to call -- and in a way, he was.  He shows 2-2, and hit it big on the river.

"That 2 [on the river] looked so innocent," we write.  But it cost us half our starting chip stack of 1,000.

:05 IN: We have 8-7 and fold.  Too bad -- the flop is 5-Q-9, and 6 on the turn would have given us a straight.

:15 IN: We have Q-J of clubs.  The flop is 7c-3s-9c.  It's a big flush draw with 275 left, and we call a bet of 60.  The turn is 9d, and we (perhaps stubbornly) call another bet of 60.  The river is 2c -- and when our opponent bets 80, we go all-in for our remaining 75.  Our opponent has 4-9, and our flush tops three of a kind!  We recover to 670.

:26 IN: We have 6-A.  The flop is A-K-8, with the last two being hearts.  We don't have any, but we bet 200 with top pair and get called.  The turn is 3h.  Everyone checks.  The river is 10 (NOT a heart), and all check again.  Our opponent had K-Q, so our pair of Aces captures $800.

We reach the half-hour break about where we started: 1,010 chips.  That puts us in 426th place, with 675 still in the running.

:45 IN: After a chase with clubs fails, we have Q-Q "under the gun."  With 510 chips left, we dare to go all-in.  A player calls, with only 9-Q.  The board brings A-9-K 7-8, and our pair claims a $1,000 pot.

:48 IN: We have K-A of hearts as the dealer.  We double the blind, and put one player all-in while another calls.  The flop is 3-9-K -- and we're admittedly so busy scribbling notes for this blog that we forget to bet.  Everyone checks.  The turn is 10, and now we bet a minimum 200.  The river is 10, and everyone checks.  The best opposing hand shown is 7-7, so our two pair wins $1,310.

:53 IN: We have 6-5 of clubs, and call when a player goes all-in for 40 over the blind.  The flop is 5h-3c-9c.  Everyone checks.  The turn is Qc, and we bet 600 with a flush.  The river is 7s, and our opponent's A-10 doesn't have enough clubs.  We win another $1,510.

:55 IN: The very next hand brings us 2-10 of diamonds.  We know the odds, but play them anyway -- and happily see a flop of 9d-8d-7s.  The table checks.  The turn is 9.  Everyone checks.  The river is 3d, so we bet 1,200.  A caller has A-Q, but we have back-to-back flushes and win $2,245.

A couple of losses follow, to bring us to the second break at $1,941.  We're now in 210th place, with 296 still competing.

1:15 IN: After folding a couple of promising hands to pushy (as in all-in) betters, we have Q-Q for the second time tonight.  We go all-in with 716 left.  A big stack calls, but with 10-10.  The board doesn't match for either of us, and we more than triple up (thanks to blinds and antes) to $2,432.

1:21 IN: Now we have 10-10.  We failed to connect in the blinds, and now have $1,487.  With the blinds at 300/600, we apply the "ten-blind" rule and push again.  A player calls with 10-Q.  The board brings 3-4-J 8-6 -- and just like that, we're up to $4,614.  That's top-100 level in the tournament.

1:25 IN: We have J-J, but this time choose to limp.  Trouble is, another player raises to 5,300.  We smell a rat, so we go all-in again by calling with our remaining 3,789.  Our opponent has Q-A.  The flop is 3h-8h-7h.  The turn is 5.  The river   is 5h -- and the real trouble is that our opponent's Ace is a heart.  A flush on the river lets him escape with the pot, and sends us out the door.

We were due to lose with one of those pocket pairs sooner or later.  It wound up happening later -- yet we had a good run, finishing #168 out of 1,247 entries.