April Senior Championship: Flush With Excitement

After missing the March event because of a road trip, we returned to the National League of Poker monthly Senior Championship tonight.  Unlike February, this time the McAfee update was announced before the tournament began.  That meant we could delay it.  Maybe that would be a good sign....

:02 IN: We have 3-J and fold it - only to see a flop of J-2-3.  (The hand is settled without a showdown.)

:13 IN: We have 3-K, both spades.  The flop is Jx-Qs-3x.  But someone bets 240 -- too steep for us to play bottom pair.  (There's no showdown again.)

:18 IN: We have A-K offsuit.  The flop is 8-10-5.  Everyone checks.  The turn is 7.  Everyone checks again.  The turn is J -- and when our turn comes, we bet 120 with two high cards even though "four to a straight" is showing.  Our 80-percent bluff works!  The table folds, and we win $450.

A failed round in the blinds follows, and we reach the half-hour break at $810.  That's tied for 275th place, with 373 players still competing.

:34 IN: We return from the break to J-J.  We double the blind to 200 and get about four callers.  The flop is a somewhat concerning K-10-10.  But the table checks.  The turn is 2.  The lead player bets 100 (minimum), and we call.  The river is 10, giving us a full house.  But we're still wary, and when the lead player bets 100 again we call.  Good decision -- he has K-2, and his full house is better.

:36 IN: The next hand brings us Kh-Jd.  The flop is Q-10-5 - all hearts!  We have big draws, and the table checks.  The turn is 5s.  Everyone checks again. The river is 9s, providing us a straight.  We bet all our remaining 260, get called by two players -- and one of them also has K-J!  We split the pot to win $802, while the third player in the mix is eliminated.

:44 IN: We have 10d-5h.  The flop is Q-9-4 - all diamonds!  The table checks.  The turn is 8s, giving us an added straight draw.  The table checks once more.  But the river is Ks.  We missed it all, and Ace high wins the pot.

:47 IN: We have 8d-8c with 502 chips left.  We're not tempted to push with a mid-range pair, so we simply call the blind of 200.

ON THE FLOP: 2-8-4 - all spades.

It's not a flush draw for us, but with 302 chips left the decision is obvious.  When a player across from us bets 380, we go all-in again.  Another player calls, setting up a sidepot for the remaining two players.

ON THE TURN: Qh

We don't think that helped anyone.  Or at least we hope not.

ON THE RIVER: Js

A fourth spade is absolutely the last thing we want to see -- especially since it didn't pair the board to give us a full house.

The player who bet 360 earlier now goes all in -- and shows the King of spades.  His chase to the river pays off, and our night is finished.

Final result: 226th place out of 935 players.  Our February finish (disrupted by McAfee) actually was more than 100 places higher.