HOME TOURNEYS

I ran into my pal Donn yesterday at work and he invited me to join a group of his friends from Epic in a poker tourney. This is at least the third group Donn plays poker with as he's a regular in Lynn's game and beat the WDI guys in their last tournament. The Epic guys were good all-around guys and they come well prepared with a professional Holdem table and 2 cases of chips. Jim, the owner of the house, was the New Jersey hardass always ready with a sharp comment that had me laughing most of the night. He was also a pretty aggressive player.

We wound up playing three tourneys. The first was a $20 buy-in for 2,000 chips and 10 of us sat with blinds at 25/50 with 15 minute levels. That made the first two levels pretty tame, but level 3 got to the point where you had to make due with whatever cards were coming.

After taking it slowly for ten hands or so I looked down at QTo and decided to raise the $50 big blind to $200.

I got one caller and the flop came A57. I made a standard continuation bet of $300 and the caller raised me all-in. I figured he had me read well and I laid it down. He turned over AA for top set and I guess he got a little anxious to double up. Once blinds got into 3 figures, I looked down at my $1100 in chips and heard quack quack man's little voice telling me to get huge on a hand.

My opportunity came when I got all of my money in with a pocket pair (77) that held up against QJ. The hand that made me healthy must have made Donn shake his head for bringing me. Donn was the first one in the pot with a 2x raise. The small blind called and I called with my AT.

The flop came A83. The small blind checked and I decided that the play around the table was so aggressive that I could probably get more money by letting someone play to me so I checked. With about $600 in the pot, Donn went all-in risking his remaning 2500. The small blind folded and I called.

Donn turned over A3 for two pair and I became an underdog. Another baby card hit the turn and an 8 paired the board on the river giving me the winning hand with my T kicker. Donn was down to less than 500 chips.

From there, I kept building my stack as people started to fall away. Donn doubled up a few times and he was soon the chip leader and after I knocked out the third player we were heads up. I've played with Donn the first time 7 or so years ago and we've played 20-30 times since and he's really improved his game. He puts the pressure on with timely raises and takes advantage of his position well in tourneys. After coming back from the dead to being the chip leader, I figured the poker gods were going to let him win. He was playing his hands strongly and with a small chip lead I decided to wait for a hand before getting too entangled.

Finally, I got AA on the button and called his raise. I checked the K high flop all the way to river where he sensed weakness and made a play and with nothing. I called and won the first match.

The second game was a $40 buy-in with a few new players arriving and some having already left. With the blinds $50 and $100, I called $200 with QdTd and flopped Jh9d5d.

I checked. The player to my left bet $300 and another player called. The pot was around $1000 and I had $1200 left and decided to go all-in hoping to chase the other two players but with plenty of outs just in case. The first guy called with his 95o giving him bottom two pair. The turn and river were both diamonds and he fell. As the blinds kept climbing I had to make some noise. With a raise and a call in front of me, I decided to push all-in with 88 and Jim called and turned over Q9 and he hit a Q to knock me out. I stayed around to deal the rest of the way and Donn won the whole thing. I think I finished 5th or 6th.

By this time it was 1:30am and I had a morning meeting, but they implored me to play just one more. Having already won money and not wanting to run out on a game I'd like to be invited back to, I relented and paid $40 for a 7-handed tourney paying only the top 2.

Holding A9s, I called a raise from the guy I knocked out earlier with the diamond flush. The flop came Q95. He made a decent bet and I decided to call. He was the kind of guy capable of betting strong flops, any ace, or any pocket pair. The turn gave me a 3rd nine and he decided to go all-in. I called and he turned over AQ cursing both his luck and my beating him twice. Next, I knocked Donn out when I hit top pair and Donn tried to push his Ace after missing the flop.

I made it to heads up with Jim's wife, Cissy, who might have been the best I saw there. She had a good instinct on when to get aggressive. At first, I thought I could take the chip lead and make her wait for a good hand, but I learned that she was more than willing to come back at me. After making a pre-flop raise and having my continuation bet raised all-in, I decided that I better have something first. My opportunity came when I raised to $1000 with 33 and she called. The flop came 234 and I bet $1200 and just as I hoped, she raised me all-in trying to get me off the hand. My set held up and wound up winning 2 of 3 for the night. Donn had a 1st and a 2nd. So it's possible they won't invite either of us back, but I hope the opposite happens. Playing live tourneys is a nice change of pace from the online game.