8 March (S&L's house) £10 loss – “Danger: chuckling may damage your health!”
Game 1 (1st Lee, 2nd Barry, 9 players)
The first game continued Lee’s impressive run of form with Barry doing well to avoid a hat trick of third places.
Barry hit trip 3s on the flop against Jude’s Ace. Two more Aces gave Barry a full house to decimate Jude’s chips.
Dave (QQ) and Sharon (44) clashed, with Sharon hitting a very lucky straight to put Dave massively on tilt. Dave quickly departed (KQ versus Dan’s AQ) to concentrate on the far more important business of raiding Lee’s CD collection.
In a rather bizarre hand, I lost a lot of chips to Dan who as good as said he had 62 when 62 came out on the flop. Despite holding the Ace (Ace on the flop too), I sensibly laid it down.
Barry came off badly when Lee flopped a straight (with 45) on the flop. Why does this never happen to me?
Dave was keen to note at this point that he had no interest in who won.
I knocked Sharon (K8) out with two pairs (Kings and Fours) with Dan sensibly folding top pair (KJ).
DING DONG – It’s the doorbell! (Maisy Mouse scene). It’s Dean. What a pleasant surprise! He’s just been raised £3.50 into his big blind. Still standing up, Dean goes all in with 33. Lee calls with AK and hits a King on the flop to send Dean into the Guinness Book of Records for the shortest ever performance. 15 seconds tops. Cue Maisy Mouse music.
Vic then pulled off a backdoor flush all-in with 10 7 suited against my A 10. The ‘dirty bastard’. I got my own back later with J9 versus Vic’s AJ hitting a straight on the turn. The end was close though as I attempted to triple up against Vic (AQ) and Lee (77). Vic tripled up and Lee took my remaining chips.
Barry battled back hitting trip Qs against Lee’s cowboys and then knocked out Dan with AK versus A 10.
Heads up Barry paired 7s on the river and tried a sneaky all-in bet only for Lee to call as he’d hit a flush on the river. Game over red rover.
Game 2 (1st Barry, 2nd JJ, 7 players)
Barry made good on this threat to hunt down Lee as he’d promised the previous week in what was an entertaining game. Dean was full of talk following his premature exit in the first game, but was desperately unlucky (although he should have raised more aggressively) to lose with pocket rockets to Lee’s flush on the river. Earlier Dan had again saved Barry (AA 33) by spotting a pot he won but thought he’d lost to Lee (KK QQ). Dan then doubled up with pocket rockets. I put myself in a strong position with two pairs (Ks and Qs) versus Barry’s Qs – Barry generously calling my £5 raise.
Dave (top pair) then lost out to Dan’s pocket Qs. Dean went all-in against me with a pair, only to say “what came first the A or the 3”. Both as it happened came on the flop. Vic then inexplicably went all-in against Lee with nothing, despite it being perfectly obvious to everyone that he had something.
Dan then lost two marginal hands. First with JJ (Dan) he lost to AJ (Barry). Then with AJ Dan lost to JJ (JJ – well it is my hand).
Heads up against Barry I was quite short stacked but pulled back strongly in the early hands. On the swing hand I pretended to have an A and went all-in with a straight draw. Barry made a good call with a better straight draw to take the prize.
Conversation topics
Barry picked up the first poker injury since June 2003 with one chuckle too many causing him to pull a muscle in his side. The Special One was not feeling so special as Chelsea went out of Europe to Barcelona. David spent most of the evening obsessively downloading tracks he will never listen to on his new ipod Nano. Excitement rose at the first preview of the newly plastered poker suite – may we all get plastered in it. Dan provided yet more insight by commenting “it’s not the chips you make, it’s the ones you take from other people” and then comparing it to a “six-pointer”. Dean is due to meet Accenture’s CEO this week, but seemed more concerned whether twice a year is biannual or semi-annual. It turns out the latter is US English and not what our good Queen would say. Dean also wrongly admitted to his parents that he eats non-kosher meat, but is having trouble convincing them that he really doesn’t. Nargis’s presentation on The Apprentice was ridiculed - “Did you know that there are 6 million cats in the UK and most of them live in London?”. Yes I do as it happens.
Simcha announcements (new feature)
Mazel tov to Sharon & Lee on their 10th wedding anniversary – an exciting UK trip awaits.
Mazel tov to Ilan Halberstadt and extended family on Ilan becoming a Rabbi.
Mazel tov to Dan and Gaby on their forthcoming birthdays.
Dan’s AK fortunes (like we care!)
Only hit AK once and won the small blind (14 chips).
