The New Champ

OH SNAP! There's a new Champ in town!!
So the class had a big Texas Holdem poker tournament yesterday evening. 15 people, $20 a head, $155 to the winner, $100 for 2nd place, $50 for 3rd. (in case you did the math, there was an extra 5 bucks in the pot for some reason).

Anyway... I started off on the "stacked" table, including such heavy hitters as Phil Ryan, PWall, Naiem, Jeremy & Bri. Things did not go well off the mark. I was 2.5 hours into the game without winning a hand... and my stacks were dwindling. But I caught a break around 5:30pm and ended up taking two big hands in a row, which put me above the break-even point. I sat quietly by as my friends dropped out of the game one by one, and I made it to the final table of 8.

Now I was with the big boys.. but I didn't let it rattle me too much. This time, as apposed to the last tournament, I had learned that you really do have to know when to holdem' and when to foldem'. And foldem' I did. Seriously. Whole hours would go by where I would do little more than sit back in my chair and let my competitors have at each other. This worked surprisingly well, because when the time came to go in on a hand, I generally was able to get a few biters. Anyway, things were going ok, but I was still somewhere in the middle of the pack.. but nonetheless gaining steady ground.

In my mind, there were 2 key hands which tipped the balance for me. The first was during the Top-6. I was delt poket Queens, and got 3 10's off the flop. Raymond went all in (~$45) and I called. Another Q came up on the turn, so I had myself an even better Full House. I was praying that he didn't have the last 10... but he ended up having a smaller Full House. I took it.

Later, when it was down to the final 3: I was delt Ace Jack, off suit. The flop gave Queen, 10, 4. The turn came, it was a King. PLiddy went all in (~$80 I believe). I called. The river came... PLiddy proudly procliams "Two Pair". I dropped my cards, and his face hit the table. Straight to the Ace.

The final battle between Little Phil and I was hard fought, but truth be told, I had the chip advantage, and blinds were getting huge ($8/$16) . He went all in on his last blind, I called, and took the hand with 2 pair. There's a new champ in town!!! Man... what a day!!!!!