We were down to 8 players this week after a last minute cold kept JJ on the bench, or was it Arsenal's humiliating 5-1 defeat at White Hart Lane on Tuesday?
After an exciting comparison of trouser size (during which Dean began to take his off) the poker kicked off at quadruple speed when IJ's pocket Jacks, which were seemed tasty over pair, cost him very dearly as Lee had hit 9999.
IJ made a bit back at Sharon's expense, when she went all in with A10 & he called with AJ and hit a straight. Sharon exited (8th) shortly after Dan hit two pair on the turn.
In the first of the game's 5 pairs of pocket aces, Dan got paid by an AK, but then doubled Baz up who had AA a few hands later and beat Dan's A9.
IJ went out (7th) after hitting a middle pair with his 10 8, which wasn't enough to beat Dan's Q2.
In a mini battle of Essex, Dave knocked Lee & Dean out. He raised two piles of red, which Dean and Lee called - Lee all in.
Dave JQ
Lee J9
Dean A10.
The flop came Q95, all diamonds and so Dave raised and Dean, who was on a nut flush draw called.
The turn was 6, river was 10, which unfortunately for Dean, gave him 2nd pair and he went all in, only to be knocked out (5th) by Dave's top pair. Lee's pair of 9s also saw him exit (6th).
Dan was knocked out (4th) by Jude, who also dismissed Baz (3rd). Despite going into heads up chip leader, Dave was too strong for Jude & took the 6 points.
Well done Dave!
Game 2 – 6 players - (1st Lee, 2nd Dan, 3rd IJ)
Second game kicked off at 23.43, after the arrival of Paul, true to his word of last week, who declared early that he had a 1.15am curfew.
He spent most of the early part of the game making £2 raises, until he got fed up with their identification by everyone as a bluff, and so started raising by £4. Broadly speaking, he played like a man with a curfew - at one point in his 'non-bluffing' his hands began to shake. He insisted that he is going to try and play more often this year, saying he only managed 3 games last year (a quick check on the table reveals it to be 4 times but near enough).
Eventually, amidst active speculation as to when he would get reckless, he made a £5 pre-flop raise, at 12.56. IJ, who was holding A6, called. An ace came on the flop, which inspired Paul, who was holding KQ, to raise all in. IJ called and knocked Paul out (6th), although he insisted it had nothing to do with his curfew and that it was a good bluff.
Lee & Dan played a hand with flop K33, followed by another 33 on turn and river, so only an Ace could beat the board. Dan had raised a pile of each both before and after flop, but Lee had the balls of steel (or an Ace) & went all in on the river. Dan folded.
Dan recovered his nerves to double up when his A3 turned into a straight, beating Baz's top pair K3. Baz then exited (5th) after going all in with K10, which couldn't beat Dan's 33.
Dan raised all in with AQ, which Dave called with 88. Dan hit a Q and decimated Dave 'on the flip of a coin.' Dave quickly got his revenge, when his 66 came up against Dan's AQ. Dan's ended up with trip Qs, but couldn't overcome Dave's full house.
Lee lost his bottle when he hit a high straight, but only called Dan's meagre raise. Lee then landed the fatal blow on Dave, going all in with a straight, which quickly turned into a flush, beating Dave's top pair and leaving him needing a miracle.
Dave finally went out (4th) when he went all in with 10 2, and got called by Dan A2.
With 2am past, IJ, Lee & Dan slugged it out, with IJ & Lee having to work twice as hard shuffling, dealing & being Dan's chip bitch, while Dan fed Noah.
IJ had two attempts to kill off Dan, calling Dan's 8 10 all in, with pocket 9s, only to see Dan hit a 10. Then IJ went out (3rd) after going all in with pocket 10s, which got unlucky against Dan's A5, which hit an Ace.
At 2.15 (I think?) Lee won & Dan came second, but to be honest I was so tired, it could have been Dan won & Lee came second. I'm sure that if I'm wrong, one of them will correct me. All I know is that Thursday was a total write off for me & I didn't even get a place.
So well done to both Lee & Dan - whichever of you won, sleep was definitely the loser.
2008 Poker Rankings table:
Dave's win propels him into the number 2 spot, splitting the Young's in their matrimonial domination of the table.
Meanwhile, Jude finally gets on the scoreboard, and JJ's no show ensures that he remains bottom of the regular players.
Conversation topics:
With Dean on time and awake, conversation flowed freely throughout the early evening. From one fascinating topic ('what size ski jacket should Lee get?') to the next ('Should Dean dump his personal trainer?') it really was a night to remember, and one that JJ will surely regret having missed.
For me, the highlight was probably 'Where should Dean & Jude put their two Sky + boxes?', surely one of the great philosophical and moral debates of our time. When you truly think about it (and we certainly did) there are so many elements of this problem to consider:
should they go in the bedroom and the basement?
what about the playroom? do the kids need sky+ in there?
what about the lounge?
is it maltreatment to only give the au pair freeview, or should she have Sky+ too?
Which tvs should be linked with which?
Regretfuly, the conversation had to end: when Dean complained about how many rude comments we were making, Barry summed up our pain by saying:
"We're rude. You're boring. That's it."
Once the ladies exited, the second game's conversation reached all new low with speculation about whether Moist Barry's would shoot to victory (see below).
Congratulations of the week:
to Dave for completing on his new house -we wish you much health, happiness and poker success there.
Special Feature: Favourite Words
Dan - perfunctory; soporific
Paul - egregious
Dave - ebullient; denouement
Lee - Malfeasance
News of the week
Barry - (rather sheepishly) 'I like the word 'moist''
News of the week
and a crime wave hits Borehamwood...
Worlds cheapest car - £1300 !
Pretty basic, but pretty good for the price !!<http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7180396.stm>
Sub Prime Crisis
Following the problems in the sub-prime lending market in America and the run on Northern Rock in the UK, uncertainty has now hit Japan. In the last 7 days Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches. Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will likely go for a song while today shares in Kamikaze Bank were suspended after they nose-dived. Furthermore, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and analysts report that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where it is feared that staff may get a raw deal.
Thanks to Barry for all of those
Website of the week
Website of the week
Some of you might call this a shameless corporate plug, but I think it is quite good fun...
and this one from JJ:
and that's all for this week folks!
ij
