'Twas the night before.... naaaah. We won't annoy you with hackneyed lines about the night of the year when we're posting this. We'll simply say that we picked a good night to play poker at Jack Casino. And we picked some good moments to get tough....
BLINDS: 300/600
IN THE POCKET: A-K offsuit
One reason the night was good for us was because only eight people showed up for tournament poker. (As we told a man in the cashier line: "Don't people realize you're supposed to go to the casino on December 24th?") We've won a few small pots, but with no big breakthroughs.
Now we have "big slick" in the Big Blind. A woman around from us raises to 1,500. We've taken her on in the Big Blind before tonight and won. So we announce, "I will defend the Big Blind" - and call. We're heads-up.
ON THE FLOP: 5c-8s-Ks (suits may not be precise)
With top pair and top kicker, we decide to turn defense into offense. "Two-thousand," we bet. Our opponent nonchalantly calls.
ON THE TURN: 10c
This puts two of each black suit on the board. We don't think our opponent is pursuing a flush. But we also don't think she's suddenly sandbagging pocket Aces. So we maintain the attack until we're proven wrong, and bet 2,000 again. She calls again.
ON THE RIVER: 2h
We doubt this card would help anyone - especially someone chasing a flush. So we offer 2,000 once more. This time, she gives it some thought. But after a moment, she calls.
"King with an Ace," we say and show.
The woman.... folds! She never shows what she had. (We're guessing something like pocket Queens or Jacks.) It's a big win for us, and a devastating blow to her; she's eliminated by someone else on the next hand.
We scored another huge win a short time later, when A-10 turned into a full house on the river to beat a man with a straight. With no one in a mood to rebuy, the field quickly fell to three - and even with the small turnout, Jack decided to pay three players. That meant money for us! But how much?
Our stack stood at 24,275 at the first break, then grew to 33,000 after that. One man admitted he was trying to maximize monthly poker points, and was in no mood to chop the prize money. So we pressed on, and called his all-in bet when our K-Q made two pair on the river. BUT.... we didn't notice three diamonds on the board. He had two more.
His flush knocked us out in third place. We won $96 - only $16 more than our buy-in. The Tournament Director said he wouldn't blame us if we didn't tip the dealer. So we didn't - and hopefully will remember that next time. In the meantime, we're happy to have our sixth cash of the year!
MINISTRY MOMENT: It didn't happen tonight. On purpose. Regular blog readers probably know the reason why. If you don't, check an upcoming post which will explain.
UPDATED POKER SCOREBOARD: 212 final tables in 563 games (37.7%) - 45 cashes. Since moving to our new home, we've made the money five times in 30 tournaments, or one out of every six!
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