Was that Bill Edler at Poker League last night?

Poker League returned to Brother's Bar & Grill last night. Still enjoying the afterglow of a victory two long weeks ago, I went into last night stull enjoying poker and excited to be at the felt again.

I sat down at table 8. I was really not excited to see that table 8 had no kiddie pool candidates and the competition was going to be tough. I had played with everyone here and while most aren't Tom "Donkey Bomber" Schneider quality, I would still need to play carefully to get any where tonight.

Those of you that know me well, know that I pretty much breathe poker all day. I read a lot about poker and like to read the blogs of other players. I was reading Hoyazo's blog "Hammer Players Poker Blog" and thinking about putting someone on a hand, or putting them on a hand you know you can beat. Thanks for the framework by which I played my first really significant hand.

I raise to 3XBB (25/50) with K♣J♣. Now, this is a significant departure all ready for me in how I usually play poker league. First off, I was in middle position. Secondly, I don't like playing this hand, because I always get in trouble if I just get top pair...that being said...I did it any way. I get one caller, let's call him Eddie Haskel. He's an aggressive player that likes to be in pots. The flop comes KT6. I have top pair. Now, here's the reason I hate playing K♣J♣ in middle position. WHERE AM I? Eddie Haskel raises to 300, or about pot size. I reraise him all in because I convince myself he has A?. Why that, because I can beat that you idiot! He calls me and turns over AK. Who is the idiot now???? Huh???

OK...that one hurt. I was down to 550 chips. I know, because I counted them. It didn't take long. It also meant, that I didn't quite need to be desperate yet. What the heck...we are only in the second level and I'm calculating my M for pushing mode...this ain't good.

I wait for some spots to push..cause like a complete moron...I don't have enough chips to play with just a raise. I stay alive for a while by stealing the blinds and limpers. Jack8Off raises the pot to 3XBB from UTG. I've played with him enough to know that if he's gonna bluff, he will do it UTG...he just likes it here I guess. I squeeze QQ. Jerry is on the button and pushes all in. Jack8Off folds. We turn them over...and it's a classic race situation. AJo vs. QQ...and we're off! As luck would have it...I win! Wow...that doesn't happen often. I went into the coin flip with the pair...and it holds.

That gets me back up to 1600 chips. Bill Edler is in the building! I'm back to a point before break where I have 1600 in chips and the blinds are 75/150. I actually start believing I can play this game.

I keep this stack alive for a while. Chip up occurs. I float a long for a little while, the blinds move up to 200/400. I am now getting officially desperate for chips. I looke down to find A8. There is a limper ahead of me and most of the people at the table have crumby M's now too. You see, we'd only busted on player at our table all night. Our little poker economies GDP has been unchanged since the beginning. One guy had most of the chips (and that's not me). The chip leader was also the limper. He calls my all in. He turns over A♠8♠ and I have A♥8♣. Hmm...he's got the smallest of leads on me...most likely we split, but this poker league. I stand up because I know he'll hit the flush...he has to! In an interesting change of events, the flop contains 2 ♥'s. Can we do this? Yes we can! Runner, runner heart and I almost triple up!

The poker gods suck. This is the point in the post where your comments are REQUIRED! It's been announced that we are now on the bubble. 2 people to go for points. Our table has 5 people on it. 3 are strong players, and the BB is the mother of all donkeys. I look down in an unopened pot to find 88. I have 2300 in chips and the blinds are 300/600. The next hand I'm the BB. I really think hard about this. DonkeyMomma over there could call me, but I should be a coin flip or better to the majority of hands, unless she has an over pair. I would like to have blind money for this turn, but I also don't want to bubble. I really just came to win. So I push all-in. Everyone folds to DonkeyMomma. She jibbers. She jabbers. Finally she says. I'm gonna call, but then tries to question what happens if she doesn't have enough chips. She's obviously intoxicated. She counts out her chips, she's got me covered. This is taking for FRIGGIN EVER! She finally figures it all out and turns over AA. WTF! This huge show just to slow roll me with AA?

My question to you is not whether or not to just tip the table over, but...what would you do? Would limp to the points or make a move to get some chips?