Current Fix

Let The Bad Beats Roll!

Aaaah yes. If there's any constant in poker it's that there'll always be bad beats to look forward to. After a fortnight-and-a-half lull in the home game, seven of us saw fit to punish ourselves with the wrath of the poker gods. Some of us suffered some brutal blows which defied logic altogether while some actually held on with minimal variance.

But one of the most difficult hands came when George trapped Uncle Tex in one of the best possible spots you can ever ask for. On a raggy ten-high flop, George check-raised all-in with his pocket queens and Uncle obliged with a call with a weak second pair and a gut-shot straight draw. But the poker gods were quite swift in dealing Uncle Tex his second pair on the turn. And just for shits-n-giggles, a rivered boat sent George to the rail, leaving the rest of us in disgusted awe.

Not too long afterward, Ron ended up shipping his stack towards Uncle Tex's way which shot him up to uber-chip-leader status. It turned out that trying to bluff Uncle off a medium flush wasn't such a fruitful proposition. A good try, nonetheless, but against the wrong opponent.

I fared no better either. I pretty much waited until racing off my stack with a decent ace, only to be up against live unders and a dominating ace. Needless to say, it wasn't looking good for me. I whiffed out, but Uncle Doming was actually able to scoop up a nice pot by making the only pair with his under cards.

The game didn't last long after that. Seeing as it was rather late, the last three players decided to do an equal chop. LOL at paying off 3 places and dealer in a 7-handed game!!

Anyhow, good game guys as usual. Maybe next time some of the bad-beaten can become the bad-beaters!

Welcome Back!!

Wow! After going through the whole month of September without a game, we finally managed to get together once again to participate in the ole home game. But in addition to welcoming back the home game, we also welcome back some old faces in the form of Darryl, Sneff, and Ros. So welcome back, all of you!!

I can't tell you how nice it was to sit at the green felt once again after such an extended hiatus. I actually caught a broadcast of the WPT right before going to Eric's to see Carlos "The Matador" Mortenson secure his 3rd WPT title. Simply put, I was stoked to watch AND play poker once again.

However, I wasn't so stoked about my results last night. Despite my shortcomings, though, I can't say I was disappointed with my play at all. I gave it a good shot but it just wasn't good enough for the likes of Alina, Noel and Uncle Tex.

After securing a huge 3-way "family" pot, Alina was all but guaranteed a spot in the cash. Noel played well showing good instincts. Uncle Tex simply had alligator blood -- hanging around, hanging around! Jeffrey once again made a strong run at the cash, but fell just short at the bubble.

Ultimately, it was a fun time as usual. Good game guys. Can we start earlier next time, though?

Jello's Big Debut

It looked to be a promising 2-table tournament but unfortunately our numbers ran short when five regulars put in a no-show in last night's game. Subsequently, it went down as an 8-handed battle with a surprising new face at the table in the form of Ron's younger cousin, Jello. Sporadic attendee, E.J., also made it out to claim his birthday buy-in.

Playing with newcomers is always an exciting affair because at our game they usually win or cash on their first try. It's an amazing phenomena that didn't fail to please as Jello utlimately found himself in a heads-up battle with myself. For his first venture out with the sharks I was quite surprised to see some good instincts being shown by Jello. Sure, he made some pretty funky plays, but the fact remains that he extracted huge amounts chips from his opponents. At the mid-game he was a healthy chip-leader that was close to being guaranteed a spot in the cash.

E.J. also put up a nice grind as well. He stayed patient throughout the early and mid-game and chose his spots well. After tripling through me and Eric, he surely became a dangerous threat for the rest of us. Fortunately for the rest of us, he went card dead which kept him in a precarious position.

I was lucky enough to win a string of all-in shoves with my short stack which eventually turned into a healthy stack. However, a crucial hand came up where I ended up on the chopping block when Jello made a very good call with TT on an A33 board versus my QJ bluff. Needless to say, I ended up getting lucky on the river when I paired a queen.

Despite a good effort, E.J. ended up blinding himself off. The heads-up match was an exciting one. Even though I did have a 6-to-1 chip lead, the blinds were high enough to keep it a competitive match. And compete, Jello did. At one point in the match, he was able to grind his way into a small chip lead which meant that it was truly anyone's game. As I mentioned before, Jello showed some good instincts and he put up a decent fight at heads-up. But in the end, his stack eventually dwindled and I was lucky enough to win the last race from behind.