The evening was looking like it could prove an expensive one for Dave even before play started at 20:32. Frustrated by her protective neck funnel, Bea managed to steal a £20 note, escaping into the lounge to munch on it at her leisure. Luckily for us, Dave rescued it before it was no longer legal tender.
Shaz was in her usual aggressive form, getting her chips in the mix early on in a hand against Dave. His 2 3 had given him 2 pair on the flop, but Sharon's A7 hit a better 2 pair on the turn. Somehow the 2 of them avoided chucking all their chips in the middle, which was lucky for Shaz as Dave had hit a full house on the river.
Sharon won some chips back, doubling up at Charlie's expense, who went all in on the river representing a flush. It was poorly timed performance from Charles, as Sharon had hit the nut flush.
Charlie was comforted by Bea, who seemed to have taken a real liking to him. She jumped onto Dan's empty seat, next to Charlie, whenever she could & played with him until Dave shooed her off the table. She was very excitable all evening and kept on interrupting the game, leading Dave to speculate as to whether he could still come to poker in future. This could be a hasty conclusion, as she should be better behaved once her stitches are gone and she can get a bit more exercise. If not, she'll just have to learn how to deal...
Dave got a hand going with a £2 pre-flop raise, which Charlie re-raised all in, an extra £4.25. Sharon called and Dave folded. It looked close, with Chaz holding A10 and Shaz holding AJ, but Sharon hit another nut flush, to knock Charlie out (10th).
IJ swiftly followed, re-raising JJ's £6 raise all in with trip 6s. JJ called with top pair and a flush draw and the jammy bastard hit the flush, to knock IJ out (9th).
Dan got revenge for IJ, doubling up against JJ in an incredible lucky escape, his 2 10s hitting one of only 2 possible cards to beat JJ's pocket Aces.
Dave exited next (8th) when his 5s fell victim to Sharon's AQ, which hit an Ace.
Sharon took Mark out next, her AK holding up against his A9. Mark out (7th).
Barry didn't last much longer, his compulsory all in with 6 7, losing to K9. Unfortunately, he hasn't recorded who beat him, but he was out (6th).
Lee trap checked Dan, his 5 6 hitting 2 pair to Dan's A6, 1 pair. The move backfired for Lee though, as Dan remained in the hand and hit an Ace, knocking Lee out (5th) with a higher 2 pair.
Jude quietly became a monster chip leader, doubling up against Sharon when her A9 hearts hit a nut flush to beat Shaz's 5s.
In a monster hand, Dan propelled himself into a heads up race against Jude.
Sharon went all in (8s).
JJ went all in with A10 (£2.50 raise).
Dan considered it for a while until calling with J9 ("It's a value bet.")
J9K2K arrived on the board, giving Dan 2 pair and knocking both Shaz & JJ out. It was quickly established that Sharon was 4th and JJ 3rd, but this didn't stop Sharon protesting, as she had a better hand than JJ. it was pointed out to her that this was irrelevant, as she had less chips than J and could not have knocked him out. Sharon was still not happy about the fact that JJ's £2.50 of chips won him a tenner. JJ was philosophical: "I suppose I should be pleased with third."
Dan, who had the worst hand, went into heads up at 22:52 well behind Jude.
The action only lasted 8 mins, Jude winning the final hand with A6 against Dan's loose K4, all in. Jude hit trip Aces to take a well deserved victory at 23:00.
Well done Jude!
Game 2 – 7 players - (1st Charlie, 2nd Dan, 3rd Lee)
Barry got Charlie's second game off to a great start when the second game kicked off at 23:05. He couldn't lay down his trips, despite being sure Charlie had him beat. Charlie had hit a straight and collected a large chip stack, declaring that he no longer needed to play any more hands for a while and would sit back and wait for the other players to knock each other out.
He didn't keep his promise for long, betting big against JJ, to increase his chip lead.
An unstoppable whirlwind, Charlie put his first pair of Aces of the game to good use, going all in against JJ, who called with KQ. Chaz's Aces tripped up, knocking JJ out (7th).
There was some discussion about how Lee copes with his wife's constant moaning. She had spent most of the first game complaining about when was he going to take the succah down. "Welcome to my life" was all Lee could say to the other boys. Charlie sympathised saying that it was hard for him too coming home to get told what to do, after getting respect all day at work. Dan observed "I find it hard to believe that you get respect at work."
This led to some conversation about how great Barry's job would be if he was a Durex Analyst, instead of a lowly Murex Analyst. Baz shared his fantasy with us all, involving him testing out condoms on nubile young virgins (women not men, apparently). He could even provide reassurance that he would never take a sicky...
Having told us all that, Barry went all in with KJ (£3) which Mark called with A3. Mark hit an Ace to send Barry and his fantasies home (6th) without a single point from the evening, keeping the door ajar on the title race. Sitting behind an enormous chip mountain, Charlie cruelly thanked Barry for sparing him a big blind. Baz was gracious, saying Charlie was welcome, as long as he won, preventing Dan or Lee from closing the gap.
With both Borehamwood boys gone, the remaining players settled in to enjoy the game.
Charlie consolidated his chip lead, putting his second pair of Aces to good use. IJ went all in with 8s. Mark called with J8 suited but Charlie's Aces held up, knocking Mark out (5th) and IJ (4th).
Backup blogger Dan continues:
Lee 3rd when his low pair was beaten by the 4th club on the board to hit on the river flushing up Charlie’s lonely King.
Heads up lasted about 10 minutes
Charlie was a massive leader going in and although Dan clawed his way back to about 40% of the chips a couple of key hands almost saw him off before he was forced to go all in with 45 off suit which got what it deserved.
Well done Charlie – game over by 1am.
2008 Poker Rankings Table:
With no points for Barry or Lee this week, there is no movement in our top 2 spots. Dan's 2 second places drags him back into the race, only 4 points behind Lee, but Barry is still sitting pretty on a 14 point lead.
Elsewhere, Jude and Charlie's wins take them above Dean, but still some way from Mark and Sharon.
Conversation topics of the week:
Most of the attention for the early part of the evening was not on the conversation or the poker but on the spectacular North London derby which Spurs won, thrashing Arsenal 4 all.
There was some early chat about the week's surprise snowfall, which stopped Charlie from getting out of his drive, IJ getting into his car and Jude opening her dustbin.
Dave raised the Russell Brand/Jonathan Ross controversy, stridently stating his disgust at how they cold upset a 78 year old grandfather. Everyone else felt that the whole thing was overblown, but the best remark came from Sharon who suspected that it was all a publicity stunt by the Satanic Sluts.
Jayson family update: Jude informed us that in a move worthy of the great Judas himself, Sol Campbell, Jonah has decided to dump Spurs and support Arsenal. Meanwhile, Asher dresses up as a girl....
Jokes & news of the week:
Thanks to Dave for this:
The RSPCA have acted swiftly after last night. If you see any Arsenal fans walking a dog please call the RSPCA hotline immediately on 4-2 4-3 4-4 as they are not very good at holding on to leads!
These are the 2 you tube videos I was going on about last week - well worth viewing, especially the Ben Afleck one:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=j_pFTAY7MF8&feature=related
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=YXI5IMcy2eE&feature=related
that's all folks!
ij
