11 January (J&D’s house) £50 profit

Game 1 (1st Lee, 2nd Ilan, 9 players)
Started this game like a dream but fizzled out disappointingly. In the first two rounds I had AA, KK twice and JJ and won with each hand, but only decent money with the AA (didn’t even get to show either KK) – memorably knocking Vic out with AAA99 versus 999. Should have continued aggressive play as would have hit two consecutive straights and been a massive favourite. Barry was very unlucky to lose with trip 7s (on the flop) versus a miracle diamond flush from Scott (runner runner to win). My chips were whittled by getting a series of low pocket pairs and calling each time only to run into trouble on the flop. Lee won two weeks in a row with AA – this time against JJ and Q2 knocking out both Scott and Mark to set himself up nicely for the win. Ilan – who’d thrown away a decent chip lead early on was catapulted from 4th to 2nd and put up a good fight heads-up before losing with a straight flush draw.

Game 2 (1st JJ, 2nd Mark, 9 players)
Kept my good run going with another win. Knocked Vic out early (twice on the night!) and built up a decent early chip lead. Had AJ and flopped top pair but walked into trip 7s from Mark to lose a large amount of chips – daft all-in by me. With a straight flush draw, called an all-in from Barry (trips again!) and hit a spade to hit the nut flush. Barry not pleased. A run of reasonable cards took me to heads-up with Mark. Patiently waited for a decent hand as you can’t rush Mark and Mark went all in with KJ. I called with A8 and hit an A to win. Incredibly I have won 4 out of my last 6 games. Home at 2am. Still awake at 2.41am.

Conversation topics
It’s Mark’s penultimate week – would he show a card? (no chance). Dave called off sick as he’d been puking all night and had called an ambulance out (discussion around whether we’d call out our parents at 2am). Respect for photo on the web. Lots of discussion around extensions as Lee’s loft conversion has kicked off, Dan is getting architect’s plans drawn up and Dean was over-excited to show off his plans for his 8 bedroom student house in Leicester. Shame on Scott for showing interest. Sky disappeared for Lee on the eve of the final episodes of Lost, but thankfully service was resumed just in time by moving the dish. Discussions moved onto why cheese / cheesy puffs aren’t kosher, the merits of Chalav Yisroel and what to do if the au pair mixes up meat / milk. Pesach in Israel price still at £899.

BJ rating
7