June Senior Championship: Raiser's Edge

While U.S. college football fans marveled tonight at the thought of a four-team playoff, we had a tournament which was somewhat more challenging.  All we had to do was outlast 933 other players, to win the National League of Poker monthly Senior title -- and we had no "selection committee" to help us.

:00 IN: We begin the evening with 9-8 offsuit.  A player doubles the blind to 60, and we call.  The flop is 5-9-4, giving us top pair.  The raiser bets 150, and we call.  The turn is Q, and now the raiser bets 250.  This smells like serious trouble, so we fold.  Good idea -- he had Q-9 for two pair.

:03 IN: We have K-9 of clubs, and again call a doubling of the blind.  The flop is Q-6-9, and the raiser throws out 190.  Not with middle pair, thank you.  We fold; this time we don't see the winning hand.

:04 IN: We have A-6 under the gun.  The flop is 10-A-5, so we have top pair again.  This time someone bets the minimum 30; we play it safe and call.  The turn is 6 -- and when the opponent bets 30, we raise to 230 with two pair.  That brings a call.  The river is J.  Everyone checks -- and we discover our opponent was simply playing the board!  We need a pot, and happily take $655.

:08 IN: We have 2-A in the Small Blind.  The flop is 3-5-3.  A player bets 140 -- and with a straight draw, we call.  The turn is 8.  Everyone checks.  The river is 9.  A player goes all-in.  Of course, we fold -- and he shows a third 3.

:10 IN: We're dealing with 7-A; again someone doubles the blind pre-flop.  The flop is 5-7-Q.  We call a minimum bet of 40, holding middle pair.  The turn is 2.  Now the bet is 120; we call again.  The river is 6.  We neglected to record what happened from there -- but apparently we folded; we know we didn't win the pot.

:24 IN: After a series of weak hands which we folded, we have 5-A and 635 chips to begin.  The flop is A-9-8.  We bet the minimum 100, and a player doubles it to 200.  We call.  The turn is J.  Our opponent bets 340, which would put us all-in minus 5 chips.  We suspect this is merely a bluff, so we call -- only to find our opponent has A-9 for two pair.  The river is 6, and our evening is through.

We finished in the top half of the field -- but position #411 won't even gain much respect from telephone information operators. (Assuming there are any left.)