Our first poker game of the Jewish New Year started briskly at 20:43, with all our players hopeful that Rosh Hashanah had brought them sweet luck for the year.
Sharon must have thought her time in shul paid off when she was dealt pocket aces in an early hand. She gave it away to Baz when she looked at Dan with a big smile on her face. Showing commendable trust in his instincts, Barry called anyway and lost with top pair, jacks, giving Sharon a fiver of his chips.
The Poker Gods gave Sharon further New Year gifts: With AA338 on the board, Lewis put in a spectacular £2 raise, revealing the absence of an Ace (turned out he had a K). IJ called, figuring his K was good against Lew's K. Jude called, thinking her pocket 6s were in with a chance. But it was Shaz who collected he chips, winning the pot with an 8.
Barry went all in with an intimidating £3.25 raise. Everyone else folded, happy for him to take the £1.50 pot.
Barry then returned to his former favourite past time: hindsight poker. He would have won an awesome pot when the 10 8 he laid down would have become 4 of a kind, which would have seen him get paid handsomely by Jude's actual full house.
Conscious of his lead at the top of the table, Baz was biding his time with fuck all until Dan and Lee went out. Meanwhile, Jude had become a monster, her strong arming of Sharon, re-raising her re-raise, leading to Shaz regretfully folding. It was a hand that stuck with her for a while, evidenced by how many times she told us that she had put it behind her and was moving on.
Everyone relaxed a little when Dan finally knocked table leader Barry out (8th). Now we knew he could not extend his lead and, more importantly, was also very likely to leave the room and go upstairs.
Still reeling from her earlier lay down, the usually aggressive Sharon cost herself another huge pile of chips, after she let Dan turn Q2 into a lucky straight. Two big laydowns from Sharon in one night? What was going on??
In a following hand, she accused Dan of bullying after he made a £3 bet. He denied the charge, reassuring us all "I don't do things like that until I'm short handed."
Sharon's night was put to an end by JJ, who raised £6 pre-flop. Sharon re-raised all in with K10. JJ called with pocket 5s which turned into trips, to double up and knock Shaz out (7th).
Barry popped his head into the room to discover how his rivals were getting on. Raising the stakes, he placed a bounty on Dan's head, offering a cup of tea to the player that knocked him out. Given his much larger chip stack, knocking Lee out would have earned the victor 2 cups of tea, and for the player who managed to knock them both out in one phenomenal hand, cups of tea on demand all night.
Lewis went all in with A10, earning a call from JJ, who had AJ. They held up and Lew was knocked out (6th).
Dan doubled Jude up, after he called her all in, with Qs against her 10s. Jude got lucky and tripped up, decimating Dan and delighting Barry.
Dan went all in on the next hand, a 25p rise. JJ called, and to the irritation of both Borehamwood Boys, Dan hit a club flush and doubled up.
Dan repeated the move, this time going all in with Q10 and a lot more chips. Lee called with Q9, hitting a 9 on the first card, to double up and destroy Dan. Again he was down, but still not out. Baz couldn't sit comfortably yet, but nor was he making any tea.
Lee finally dealt the death blow to Dan, when they went all in again, AQ v KQ, this time Lee holding the better hand. It held up knocking Dan out (5th) who left us with the scintillating analysis that "I was up. I was down. If you live by the sword, you die by it. You can't keep going all in and expect to win it every time...." You get the gist?
Lee was now in with a chance to go second in the table, but only if he won the game.
Jude went all in with A7, which JJ called with K7. Jude's hand held, to double her up, only to go out (4th) to IJ, who called her next all in. His Qs held up against her J10.
IJ continued his late resurgence, knocking JJ out with some awesome cards. Holding A2, the flop gave him the nut flush. He got very excited when JJ raised 2 piles of red. IJ thought for a bit and then called. JJ went all in after the turn, which IJ immediately called, to knock J out (3rd) and start heads up at 23:30.
In the second hand, Lee went all in with a 7 5 straight draw. IJ's 7 8 had hit 2 pair on the flop and he won, securing a rare first game victory at 23:34 and a cup of tea from Barry (yet to be delivered). Well done IJ!
Game 2 – 6 players - (1st Lewis, 2nd Lee, 3rd Dan)
The second game started at 23:40 with the sound of the Beatles ringing in our ears. Absolute Radio seemed to have abdicated all responsibility for choosing tracks and were instead merely playing all their old Beatles albums.
In an early hand, Lewis failed to raise the pot enough to deter Barry, who ended up hitting a nut flush on the river.
Barry was in action again when, with 347 on the flop, he re-raised Lee £8. Lee called and the turn brought a K. Baz raised a further £8 which led to Lee's inevitable all in. Revealing that he was all mouth and no trousers, Baz laid it down, saying he had to give Lee respect. IJ guessed correctly that Baz had 2 pair, but did the K give Lee trips? Baz did his usual post fold fuming about how he can't believe he laid it down etc, etc.
Lee got entangled in another mighty hand. This time AKJ was on the flop and Lee raised £5 which Lew called. A 6 on the turn produced a £10 raise from Lee, also called by Lew. A jack on the river saw Lew's A10 take the pot, ahead of Lee's pocket 8s.
In need of some further action, Baz raised a fiver, which failed to scare anyone, getting a call from Lee, IJ & Dan. His KQ made a pair which was ahead, but both IJ and Lee hit a straight, to relieve him of many chips. Baz was still fuming as he handed his chips over....
Not content with having depleted most of his stack, Barry called JJ's pre-flop raise. With a mighty 6 7 10 on the flop, JJ went all in and Barry called. JJ's Aces were just about good enough to beat Baz's K10 and he was knocked out 6th. Despite his position at the top of the table secure, he was not happy and wished us all a 4 o'clock finish.
The next portion of the game was all about a tussle between JJ & Dan.
First Dan went all in with 9s, which JJ called with his usual 7 5. 9s held up and Dan doubled up.
Then JJ went all in with J10, which Dan called with AQ, which also held up to double up again and further deplete JJ.
Total blind luck then gave JJ a lifeline, as he went all in blind against IJ, and flipped over Ks, to beat IJ's 5s.
Then it was back to the Dan & JJ show, with JJ going all in with 3 4 and Dan calling with KQ. Never one to regret going all in with a shite hand, JJ hit a straight on the flop. As everyone swore loudly at him he told Dan "You were only slightly ahead." Dan was unconvinced.
Dan then went all in with A7 against Lew's KQ and hit a flush to double up and restore his chip stack a little.
IJ made a compulsory all in move with 10 2, which stood no chance against Lew's 10s. IJ out (5th).
In the next hand Dan went all in with Ks, which his nemesis for the night JJ could not resist calling with Q10. JJ hit a flush and began to celebrate, but unfortunately for him, Dan had hit a full house. It couldn't have happened to a flukier guy. Well as Dan said, "There's only so many bad beats I can take in a night."
It had felt like Dan & J were at it all night and with JJ clinging on for life, the end of the duel when it came was mercifully brief. Dan went all in with AJ, which JJ called with J2. Dan hit an Ace on the river to finally knock JJ out (4th).
Dan continues from here:
I finished 3rd (don’t remember the hand but I do remember it was another bad beat)
Lee and Lewis were heads up. After a few forgettable hands Lew drew Lee into an all in bet holding AA which held up.
So well done Lewis on your first result all year!
2008 Poker Rankings Table:
So with no extra points earned this week, Barry is still in pole position, but with 2 second places Lee is now only 7 points away from him. A win from Lee in a 10 person game, with Barry failing to place and we'll have a new table leader...
Dan slips into third, in an continuation of his perpetual flirting with Lee over who is the real no 2 to Barry.
Elsewhere, IJ's win takes him to 60 points, a slight distance away from absentee Dave.
At the bottom, Lewis' win takes him ahead of some of the occasional players and charity cases, but crucially behind the Vic armpit benchmark.
Conversation topics of the week:
Nothing to report really this week, other than a very exciting conversation overheard between Jude & Shaz about buying curtain materials.... I'll spare you the rest...
