22 February (S&L's house) £100 profit – “You to bet – you’re a twat”

Game 1 (1st JJ, 2nd Lee, 8 players)

The game started brightly with Vic showing AK in the first hand before Jude had bet – thereby forfeiting the hand. The following hand, Vic displayed the entire flop before Sharon had acted. Have you ever thought of playing professionally Vic?

A key hand early on was Barry flopping a full house 10 10 6 with 66 (Barry) against 10 4? (Dave).

Early on I won a couple of decent pots by out-kickering (interesting word) Sharon and Vic. Motored along expecting to be playing Dan heads-up, but Lee, who has more patience than a Saint, came back from one blind to gate-crash heads-up. The flop came JJ6, and Lee with 65 called an all-in against A6.

Game 2 (1st JJ, 2nd Lee, 8 players)

Dean’s poor run of form continued (despite being there almost from the start of the game), although how he managed to throw away such a mammoth chip lead remains a mystery. On the positive side, as a property magnate things are looking up for Dean with his 5th student property in the bag. Dave noted that he was not looking forward to being regaled with tenant-from-hell (or Leicester, it’s much the same) stories.

Dan had a second game to forget – first laying down AK suited (“it’s an unlucky hand”) against the biggest bluffers in the West (who had AQ and AJ respectively) and then inexplicably (although I’m sure we’ll get to hear the reason) laid down a straight following Ilan’s bet. Did Gaby put something in your tea?

After winning the first game and starting well in the second, I was feeling good until Barry pulled a miracle J on the river to steal lots of my chips. I didn’t let it put me on tilt though as I went all-in three hands in a row. Proceeded smoothly to heads-up with Lee and with the chips going back and forth it was clear one big hand was needed. The board paired 8s and Lee bet cautiously reeling me in with trips. On the river my gut shot straight came off (my best hand of the night) and Lee called an all-in to bring the night to a close at 2am.

Conversation topics

With Yael’s words ringing in my ears (“you’d better win as I’m missing two events so you can go to poker”) I was feeling the pressure – but not as much as Chelsea who had a player sent off after 37 minutes and lost 2-1 at home to Barcelona – nice!. With the early talk focussed on dongles and paresthetica it’s no wonder the conversation was subdued.

The loft extension is progressing nicely although we were all at a loss to explain how Sharon could have spent £300 on glue.

The charity poker tournament at the weekend was at the forefront of people’s minds (see odds section below) now that the trophy has been returned from dwarf city. The Jaysons have kindly donated their slave to wait on us, although Ilan offered to take on the job for half the money.

JJ’s unluckiness rating (10 = most unlucky)

3 (just one shocking bad beat all night from Barry with a jammy Jack – he’s warming up for Sat night)

Odds for Sat night (note: these are not for real)

Dan to fold AK suited – 3 to 1 or is it 5 to 1 or pot odds
Dan to lay down another straight – 1,000 to 1
Dean to throw away a massive chip lead – 10 to 1
Lee to stick around for a really long time – 2 to 1
Vic to cock up dealing – Sorry the book is closed
JJ to get the wooden spoon – 2 to 1
Barry to win – Googol to 1

Addendum

Dan has emailed me his reasons for last night's display. See below.

"The reason for missing the straight was tiredness, lack of concentration, distraction of flat sale issues, Dave's pre-match treat, poor eyesight, your comment about a 6 making a straight (probably misheard due to all aforementioned reasons)."