Bonfire night poker action started at 20:40 minus Dave & Bea, who was terrified of the fireworks and couldn't be trusted not to run around and disturb the game (Bea that is, not Dave).
The first casualty of the night came on the 4th hand after one very bad decision from Dan: where to sit. He had arrived a few moments after play began & so took the seat that had not been a blind, saving himself 1 whole chip.
Pre flop, IJ just called, despite holding pocket Qs figuring that Sharon would inevitably raise. This she did, holding pocket 2s and Dan called with pocket Js.
6 Q J on the flop brought a raise from IJ of £3, a fold from Sharon and a re-raise of £3 from Dan, thinking his trip Js were good. IJ re-raised £3 again, knowing his trip Qs were ahead & Dan took the bait, going all in. IJ duly called and when the turn & the river brought no relief, Dan exited (9th).
Dan blamed his early exit on a false sense of security due to the lack of a pre-flop raise from IJ, but everyone else knew it was his foolish decision to take the seat with 25p more chips that ultimately cost him his whole stack. After threatening to go home, due to having to catch a relaxed mid-morning train to Bolton the next day, Dan went upstairs and watched the football.
It turned out that the seat decision wasn't critical, as the alternative chair was taken by the other latecomer, Mark, who soon joined Dan in the lounge.
With AA74 on the board Baz raised and Mark re-raised all in. Barry eagerly called, turning over A2 to give him trip Aces, destroying Mark's K7. Mark out (8th).
IJ wasted some of Dan's chips, committing the cardinal sin of giving them to Barry. 2 Qs came on the flop after some monster raises, followed by a check from IJ. Baz capitalised on IJ's display of weakness & went all in, despite having nothing but AJ. IJ folded his AK, which would have split the pot, scarred by the memory of what AK had done to him in previous weeks.
A split pot came to our table leader's rescue against Charlie. A47 on the flop produced some serious raises until they both went all in, revealing that they had the same hand, A8.
Unluckily for Charlie, his pocket 6s in a following hand, came up against JJ's pocket rockets, knocking Charlie out (7th).
AK punished IJ yet again, after Jude's pocket 9s tripped up to double up and decimate IJ's stack.
IJ then went all in blind, praying for a couple of hearts when 439 of hearts came on the flop. Baz re-raised Lee, who was not scared of Baz's bravado and went all in. After considering it for a while, he folded saying "His heart says one thing but his head says another."
Turned out it was all about heart: Lee turned over J6 of them, but miraculously, IJ turned over his unseen hand to display Q5 hearts, producing a higher flush out of nowhere. Would you believe it?
Barry had folded an Ace of hearts, but since no 4th heart came, it turned out that his head had been right. (A shechianu was said by all to mark such an auspicious first.) By the way, JJ was holding K of hearts. Unbelievable.
The two top places in our table clashed heads again, when Baz went all in with A8 hearts. Lee, holding deuces, told us that he knew Barry was going to go all in and he had told himself if he did, then he would have to call. So he called and it proved to be the right move. Lee hit a full house, knocking Barry out (6th).
With no points to further his table lead, Barry was consoled by Dean, who took him on a tour of the new house. Barry, amateur boxer and fanatical gym goer, insisted on driving the 200m journey. He was roundly condemned for his disgusting carbon footprint & the fact that he is a total lazy bastard.
Lee consolidated his position as chip leader, winning a monster hand against Jude. 7K2J was on the board and they both hand had been chucking their chips in like there was no tomorrow. Lee took the hand with a J, beating Jude's A2, but if a club had come on the river it would have been a very different story.
Lee didn't have time for hindsight, knocking Jude out on the next hand, when his AK spades hit an Ace to beat her 67 spades. Jude out (5th).
Sharon went all in with J6 and A7Q on the flop. JJ called with 57 and his pair of 7s held up to beat Sharon. She went out (4th) complaining that she had been 4th for about 4 bloody weeks now.
With 3 players left, Lee was the clear chip leader, with JJ second and IJ hanging on for dear life. JJ raised a pile of each pre-flop, which Lee called. IJ saw a chance to sneak 2nd when JJ went all in after KJ4 came on the flop but Lee folded it saying that it was the way JJ had said 'just' when counting out his all in that made him suspicious.
Sharon revealed her desire to reveal rather more of herself asking if anyone else got the urge to shout out what the cards are, when looking at a player's hand, once knocked out. She said it was like when you know you shouldn't do something but you really want to. She gave the example of how she often felt the urge to raise her top and flash her tits when she is out in the street.... Players agreed that it would be better if she flashed at the poker table, rather than calling out people's cards.
IJ claimed his tenner and little else after going all in with 10s. JJ called with Qs which held up knocking IJ out (3rd).
Heads up between 2nd and 4th in the table got going at 23:25, with JJ admitting that he wasn't very confident. In every hand they'd been up against each other so far, Lee had got the better of him and taken him off the pot.
Confounding his own pessimism, JJ turned it around taking the lead and then victory at 23:36 after Lee went all in with J3. JJ called with A10. Lee hit a J on the turn but JJ hit an Ace on the river to win the game. Lee said he'd had enough and so called with his J3, which gave JJ his first first game win in a long while. Well done JJ!
Game 2 – 6 players - (1st JJ, 2nd Charlie, 3rd Barry)
Our second game started at 23:49, with players returning from the Jaysons' almost completed new house full of excitement about the prospect of playing future games there. Acording to Barry, it will be a pleasure to go out early in the 1st game Chez Jayson as there are so many distractions there. Frankly, it is always a pleasure for the rest of us when Barry goes out early in any game.
Shortly after kick off, Dan won his first hand of the entire night at midnight.
Charlie & JJ went up against each other, with JJ gently 'carressing' Charlie's balls, evaluating their size and strength. With 2 3 4 on the flop, JJ re-raised Charlie, who called. When an Ace came on the turn, Charlie bet again but JJ squeezed hard, going all in, producing a squeal & a fold from Charlie. JJ smiled with satisfaction, as Banko d'Charlie was declared open again for business.
Baz got annoyed with Lee, who he accused of talking IJ out of calling his £3.50 raise. Dan pointed out that Lee was merely reminding IJ of the memo.
Charlie & JJ resumed their fondling, with JJ making a Jackson special £7.25 raise. With steam coming out of his ears, Charlie raised all in. His move was widely commended as the only response to JJ, and Charlie sat back and watched JJ squirm.
With 2 6 6 3 7 on the board, JJ had trip 6s and had to call. Charlie flipped over pocket 3s, giving him a full house. Redemption for Charlie, who's style of play and nervous hands combined to fool JJ into calling, although Charlie claimed it was his skillful fake procrastination.
JJ lost more chips, this time to Barry, who was chasing 2 pair and hit them on the river. Idiotic play from Baz, but it paid off.
In a monster hand, Charlie, Dan and Lee all went all in. With the stakes high, Barry raised them still higher, offering Charlie a tenner if he took them both out, as long as Barry won the game. Generous offer though it was, Charlie didn't take it. But he did win the hand, after both he & Dan hit trip Jacks, Dan with a K kicker, Charlie with an Ace. Trip Js fucked Dan for the 2nd time that night, devastating his chip stack and giving Charlie a very healthy pile.
Dan won some chips back off JJ, with 8QQ on the flop, he went all in with 10s, beating JJ's 4s.
JJ then saw action against Lee, who re-raised all in his pre-flop bet. JJ's Qs held up against Lee's AK (the cursed hand) to double JJ up and leave Lee with 3 red chips.
Lee went all in next hand with Q8, as did IJ with AJ. Baz called with J10 but IJ's hand held up, winning the pot and knocking Lee out (6th).
IJ then followed soon after going all in with KQ, only to be called by JJ with AQ, which held up. IJ out (5th).
Baz continues:
dan was all in with AQ (1 big blind raise) - I called with J7 and hit 2 pair - Dan out in 4th
I was out in 3rd with J4 to Charlies J10 after a J on the flop gave us both a pair. Charlie went on to hit a straight. Baz out in 3rd
JJ continues:
Not sure where you left, but three-way it was me, Barry and Charlie. Barry had most of the chips and Charlie and I were fighting it out for 2nd.
Barry got fleeced repeatedly by both of us and ended up finishing 3rd.
Heads up, I won a few early hands to give me a decent lead before disaster (aka Charlie) struck.
I held top pair of Queens and Charlie had hit 2nd pair (6's). I trap checked and Charlie due went all-in. I called and was delighted when it turned out that our other cards were both 7s. I think you know what's coming. Charlie hit one of 2 outs on the river to make trip 6's.
Steaming big time, I still had a few chips and put them to good work surprisingly clawing back the lead with a series of difficult to call all-in bets.
The final hand saw my top pair against Charlie's 2nd pair, but this time it held up, bringing my first double win since President Barry's great idea to pay for my burgers. So it's Borehamwood burgers on me next week!
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So well played JJ - a fantastic double win & a burger size increase to Barry's waistline!
2008 Poker Rankings Table:
JJ's first double win in years rockets him up to 3rd place in the table, steaming past Dan. Only his 2nd place in Game 1 preserves Lee's hold on the second spot, but JJ is challenging hard.Barry is still 12 points clear and at least a week away from a serious challenge, but with less than 2 months to go, his grip on title is getting increasingly sweatier.
Conversation topics of the week:
This being the last ever game to be played at the Jaysons' temporary residence, there was lots of chat about the new house, which has taken a long time & a great deal of stress to finish.
Poker players were disturbed to learn about the antics of Jude's Grandpa who, aged 95, drowns squirrels and then disposes of their bodies in the refuse. 'I love Grandpa, he's very cute' Jude reasssured us. However, she admitted that when they were kids, they never dressed up as any fury animals, just in case...
Sharon and Jude bored us all silly with an inane discussion about some swimming instructor. They defended their right to discuss the matter as they had asked Mark and Charlie (who were sitting in between them) if they minded and they had said they didn't. 25 minutes later they regretted their politeness. To cut a very dull conversation short: the swimming instructor is shit
but he's convenient andthe kids might not learn to swim, but that's a price the working Mums are prepared to pay for their convenience. Maybe you'll understand if your married, cos I certainly don't.
Last week's debate about whether Charlie gets any respect at work was briefly reprised in the second game with Dan challenging Charlie to produce a single email from a person who respected him at work. Charlie politely declined.
Finally there was brief consideration of whether Barry's son was more or less likely to play for England than Barry was to become England's manager?
that's all for this week folks!
ij
