[bloggerbane1]

I headed over to the game early and had to wait about an hour for everyone to show up. There were eight of us all together; just the regulars. The tournament was our usual $10 buy in with $20 in chips. Blinds started at 25 and 50 cents and doubled every thirty minutes.

The table was pretty loose because a certain player had the table busted open after “running through” the earlier cash game in just 3 hands.

Anyways, one player was eliminated early, before I even played a pot. I can’t complain about that because this particular “jackal” is dangerous and I was happy to see him go. I finally picked up a pair of nines and raised $2 before the flop with blinds still at 25 and 50 cents. I got four callers. I guess everyone wanted to “splash around” with their junk cards. The flop was 7 5 2. I was first to act and bet $5. That was enough to scare everyone out. Honestly, I couldn’t believe nobody called the $5 bet on the flop because that couldn’t have been a real bad flop for the cards my callers must have been holding.
I made about $9 off of that pot and was 3rd in chips at this point.

I was up to about 40 in chips when I got involved in a hand with a “raising mouse”. I had jack 10 off in the big blind and it was folded around to the mouse in the small blind who RAISED $2. (That’s weird) I decided to splash around (figuring he had AA, KK, or QQ) because this guy doesn’t stop betting when he has a monster, and if I could out-flop him I would have all of his chips. I called with J 10.

The flop was K Q 3; not bad for me since I flopped the nut straight draw. J 10 is the only hand that gives you the nut straight no matter how you hit it. A-K-Q-J-10, K-Q-J-10-9, Q-J-10-9-8, J-10-9-8-7 are all nut straights if you hold jack 10. (This is assuming that there isn’t a four card straight on the board.)

The timid mouse just bet $2 more so I called. He bet $2 on the turn and I called. The river brought me no help as the mouse made a MOUSEY $3 bet on the river, so I had to fold. He didn’t even have to show those 2 red aces but he did anyway. I called him down for one reason. If I had hit a 9 on the turn or river I am %100 sure that I bust him out on that hand because this mouse is not cagey enough to get away from those pretty aces. A solid player would have probably realized that I was drawing after the flop and ran over me with a hefty bet on the turn. I would have done the same thing to the other mouse at the table.

Another interesting hand involved a mouse and our resident elephant. Blinds were at $1 and $2 and the mouse only had about $9 left in the big blind. The elephant called the blind of course and the mouse checked. The flop cam out A 4 3 and the elephant bet $2 the mouse reraised all in and the good ole elephant called. The mouse turned over A 3 giving him 2 pair and a big lead to the J 4 of his opponent. Turn J ; River J ! And the mouse was gone. I had to mention that horrible beat.
So we’re down to 3 and I am the short stack, very short. Blinds were at $3 and $6. I was in the small blind with only about $15.25 left. I looked down at pocket 10s and moved in. I was called by the chip leader. A crafty animal; Hmmm we’ll call him “The Aardvark.” He had a suited A 7 clubs. I could have had junk in this spot just as easy as 10-10 and would have probably HAD to do the same thing. Long story short, the 10s held up and I had new life, but still short.

I kept the heat on for a few hands moving in 2 or 3 more times with no callers until …
The blinds were at $4 and $8 and I was on the button with K 10 off. I pushed in the rest of my chips against the aardvark who reluctantly called with his Ad Q off. So, I’m in trouble, 2 live though. The flop came Jd 6c Kd. I got lucky! Just when I thought I was in the clear the turn brought the 10 of diamonds, giving “The Aardvark” the nut straight with the nut flush draw. Well I am in intensive care now with only 4 outs left. The river came 10! Wow, what a hand. I filled my 2 pair on the river to “resuckout” on that slimy Aardvark. I can’t say I didn’t enjoy it. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

The last key hand I want to mention was when I was chip leader. I was in the small blind and limped in with Q 5 the big blind checked. The flop came A-Q-9 I checked and the big blind moved in for his last $17 in chips. I figured he had a Q because there was no raise before the flop but how could I call with a 5 kicker? I had about $50 in chips so if I made this call and lost then I am not out. I also have a chance to knock out the last good player in the tournament. He is also short stacked which makes me think that he almost has to move in here, yet he is too solid to move in with nothing at all. I finally called and he turned over Q 2. Well it looked like a split pot was on the way but the river brought me a 5 sending him to the rail.

I beat Mr. Elephant in 2 hands and claimed $50 for W.