Bea got all excited by Charlie's playful antics, as the first game kicked off at 20:47. Dave warned that Bea may look like she was enjoying the game but Charlie may not appreciate it should she bite him. Charlie desisted, since his attempt to arm Bea and then fire her at JJ was not having the desired effect.
Julian vanquished some of his early exit ghosts, winning a huge early pot from Scott. With 4 9 9 Q on the table, Jules re-raised Scott all in. Despite several earlier aggressive raises, Scott laid it down which was proved a wise move as Jules revealed he was holding A9.
Jules' early good fortune continued, getting paid with Aces by Dave's Js.
Jules then ensured he was not out first this week, calling Scott's all in, with J87 on the flop. Scott was holding A6, but needed to get lucky against Jules' lucky 9s, which held up.
Scott exited (10th) sparking a debate about what he should do next. He was considering going home and getting his laptop and then returning to do some work, while waiting for the 2nd game. Other suggestions included making Sharon's chicken for yom tov and hanging around to amuse the remaining players. Baz summed it up: "Enjoy the banter and stick around so we can take the piss out of you." Rather surprisingly, Scott declined this kind invitation and went to play Golf on the Wii instead.
One of only 2 challengers that could threaten Baz's domination of the table, Lee was down on his luck, with only a small chip stack to play with. Scott ruefully observed that he'd write off any other player in Lee's position, but Lee is far from dead. Lee confirmed what we had all long suspected "I got myself into this strategic position and now I'm ready to play."
But it wasn't to be for Lee: 7 10 2 on the flop brought a £6 all in from him, with 10 6, top pair. Sharon called with AJ and hit an Ace, to kick a thoroughly pissed off Lee out (9th). As he left, Lee declared that he was fed up with being knocked out by Shaz getting lucky and hitting cards. Dave helpfully informed us that he had a hand before the flop and still had one afterwards, but it couldn't beat certain hands. Not sure why this was relevant but he had 6s.
Dave then showed he was not all talk, going all in with J7, with QJ9 on the flop. JJ called with top pair, QK, but a lucky 3 of clubs on the turn gave Dave a flush, doubling him up.
Charlie was on aggressive form, raising £2 pre-flop, which JJ & Baz called. The flop was 2 6 J and Baz took the pot with a pathetic 3s, depleting JJ and leaving us wondering what on earth Charlie was doing?
JJ's game came to an end when he went all in with 10s, a raise of £6. Jules called with A9, hitting trip 9s. Nines were golden for Jules again, kicking J out (8th).
Charlie followed soon after, going all in with A7, which Dave called with JK, which hit 2 pair. Charlie left (7th) to join the Wii golf experience, passionately exclaiming "How slightly irritating."
Dan, who was moonlighting from Accenture as Debbie McGee, our gorgeous dealing assistant, hit a straight on the flop and tactically slow played it, allowing Baz to hit a diamond flush on the river and get paid nicely. The tactical error was to come back to haunt Dan a few times that evening but as he said "Poorly played, but them's are the chances you take."
IJ went all in blind (although this was not straddling, Dave helpfully informed us) with K7. Dan called with A7, which held up, kicking IJ out (6th).
In the very next hand, Dan went all in with A9, which Dave called blind (see earlier straddling point) with 6 4. Dan hit an Ace to knock Dave out (5th).
At this point, Sharon, Julian and Dan all went to the toilet together, leaving Barry to contemplate how he could beat Dan. While a win would be great, coming ahead of Dan was vital to maintaining his lead....
K 5 A 3 on the board, Jules went all in with A9. He looked in good shape when Sharon called with K6, but she hit a club flush on the river to deny Jules any points. Julian out (4th).
Sharon then helped Barry breath easier, dismissing Dan after her pockets 4s tripped up, beating his A8 all in. Dan's exit (3rd) gave Barry a chance to extend his lead as heads up started at 23:25.
However, with Sharon a two to one chip leader, Barry had a mountain to climb. 3 hands later, it was clear that he had left his climbing boots in Borehamwood. In the final hand he went all in with A4, which Sharon hurriedly called with AK. Her hand held up to take victory at 23:27, restricting table leader Baz to only 2 precious extra points.
Well done Sharon!
Game 2 – 8 players - (1st JJ, 2nd IJ, 3rd Baz)
The second game kicked off at 23:45 & IJ won big, while he was making the tea. Someone showed him his hand (AQ) and then called out the flop to him, K 10 J. With a straight on the flop he won a big hand off Charlie (pair of Kings) before he even sat down at the table.
Jules returned to earlier form, calling Dan's all in with Qs, despite 10 A 3 7 on the board. Dan had hit 2 pair (A10) and Julian was first to go home (8th).
IJ continued his earlier success against Charlie, who went all in with Qs, with 3 7 A on the flop. IJ called with A6 and sent Charlie home (7th).
Scott followed soon after, re-raising Dan all in with AJ. Dan called with deuces, which held up. Scott out (6th).
Lee was decimated by 2 hands. He called Barry's all in with A6, the best hand he'd seen in a while but Baz's A8 held up. JJ finished him off after his 3 4 hit 2 pair (only JJ!) beating Lee's Q9. With Lee out (5th), Barry only had to worry about Dan...
...but not for too long as shortly after Dan went all in with A6, which JJ called with K8. JJ hit an 8 and knocked Dan out (4th).
With both his rivals out, Barry had a fantastic opportunity to further extend his lead at the top of the table.
He went all in with AQ, which J called with 6s. Baz hit a Q on the river to double up, creating outrage in J who claimed this has has happened to him 3 weeks in a row now: he does really well at the start of the game and then ends up 3rd.
3 8 K A on the board, a still steaming JJ went all in, having hit a sweet 2 pair (A 3). Baz called with top pair (Ks) but JJ went on to hit the nut flush and double up nicely. Suddenly, it looked like this week might break JJ's curse...
Baz then helpfully went out 3rd. His all in with K9, ran into IJ's Aces.
At 01:53, IJ went into heads up with about a 2:1 chip lead over JJ, who should have been swiftly defeated. However, some tough hands and some sneaky slow playing from the Jackson overwhelmed IJ. In the 2 hands that swung it, JJ doubled up with Ks against IJ's 9s, and then claimed victory at 02:07 with Qs against A5.
Well done JJ - no third place for you this week...
2008 Poker Rankings Table:
So Barry's 2nd is enough to keep him at the top, 1 point away from the hundred. Lee is now 9 points away, but still within one week of replacing Baz.
Dan remains in third place, continuing his perpetual flirting with Lee, while JJ's 2nd game win takes him 8 points from Dan.
IJ extends his lead on Dave to 9 points, but he is now a massive 19 points away from JJ.
Another successful week for Sharon sees her move within 12 points of Dave, a move that would bridge the gap between the top and bottom halves of the table.
Conversation topics of the week:
The lowered tone of the 2nd game arrived early this week, as conversation about Barry's mother led to Dave informing us all about a girl on Jerry Springer who had all her teeth removed so that she could give her man a better blow job. Now that is dedication.
Sharon started to read Lee's text messages from his phone that he had carelessly left on the poker suite after he went out. She reassured us all that it was only from Paul and that she wouldn't read any messages from his mistress. The question was then asked as to how she knew Paul was not Lee's mistress. While she couldn't be sure, Sharon pointed out that if Lee was going to have an affair it would not chose Paul. Sharon would be fucking insulted if he did.
Dave suggested that if either Young were to have an affair, it was much more likely to be Sharon. Before she could deny the accusation, Sharon split all her chips all over the table and turned red in the clearest tell we've seen around the poker table for a long time.
Finally, there was an attempt to identify the following poker players:
Most aggressive - Sharon
Easiest player to read - Barry (when he protested and asked how come he was top of the table if he was so easy to read, he was informed that he outdrew everyone more)
Luckiest player - Baz
Most obvious tell - JJ (he used to have a vein in the side of his head that throbbed when he had a big hand, but he had it surgically removed because it was costing him too much.)
Jokes & news of the week:
Thanks to Barry for this transcript of a great example of media management:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2008/oct/03/newcastleunited.premierleague
and on that note, this video is very funny:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7vRWOZpkdE
thanks to JJ for these Monkeys working in a Japanese restaurant.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7654267.stm
that's all for this week,
ij
