February Poker Studs Championship: Mas Macho?

For the first time since last summer, we tried to qualify for the monthly "Poker Studs" Championship at National League of Poker.  We made it on the first try -- and on "Leap Day," we hoped to jump ahead early....

:00 IN: We begin in the small blind, holding Q-10.  No one raises pre-flop, which actually goes against the NLOP norm.

ON THE FLOP: Ah-2c-3h

We don't have a heart, and a straight is a longshot.  But everyone checks.  OK by us.

ON THE TURN: Js

Now the straight chance is better.  Everyone checks again.

ON THE RIVER: Kh

Woo-hoo!  The running men came, to give us a Broadway straight!  Yeah, three hearts are out there -- but leading off, we think a bet of 300 is good.

Trouble is, the man to our left calls.  He shows 2-9 of hearts!  "Ouch," we write - as his river dream came true, too.  His flush beats our straight.

:03 IN: We have 7-9 offsuit, and fold.  Too bad: the flop is 9-9-7.

:12 IN: We have A-7 in the big blind.  The flop is 10-8-J, giving us a straight draw.  We call a minimum bet of 40.  The turn is 3.  We call another bet of 40.  The river is 3 -- and since we missed, we check.  Our opponent checks as well, but he wins with 8-7 for a pair.

:29 IN: With our stack down to 290, we have 10-K of spades and decide to play it.  The flop is K-5-2.  There aren't any spades, but it's top pair -- so we go all-in for our last 190.  An opponent calls, and shows K-2 for two pair.  The board brings J-Q, and we're gone in 30 minutes.

Final total: 374th place out of 1,149 players.  But at least McAfee wasn't the one who did us in.