An amazing rail and the bridesmaid - Co-ed Invitiation V Recap

Last night, we hosted the fifth installment of our home game. In the spirit of Halloween, costumes were "Preferred". And we had some great ones! 20 people anted up the entry fee. The second largest game we've hosted. We started with 2 full tables of 10.

Yes, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson was playing in our game! We had hockey pros, referees, walking dead, a judge, a headless man, Chewbacca, and a professional paint ball player.


Your blogging host, OhCaptain, was shooting for Sammy Farha, but it might have been more of Tony G. I quit smoking almost 4 years ago, so we borrowed one from a guest. Anyone want a soggy cig? Sucking on those all night leaves them...never mind.

I never really played like either of those two players. I stayed tight and rock like for most of the tournament. I played 4 hands before the bubble broke and we were in the money...but more about that later.

How about some history, back story and table observations to get things going.

The game started out a bit slow at my table. Lots of people feeling it out.

Here's Bodie25, I think that's a mask, or he's flopped a monster...it's hard to tell. The way his cards went, I'd be guessing a mask.

Some pots were splashed around, but no one was willing to put them all in. The first hand I was in, probably the 5th hand of the night. I'm dealt A♣10♠. The clubs in the flop. I have position on the other 2 guys in the hand. I check. I've played these two guys before and I'm pretty sure I'm gonna see the turn for free. Cam does raise, but it's only to 200. We had called a raise pre-flop to 150, so there was 475 in the pot. I know I'm not quite getting pot odds to call, but I think John will call, and he does. The turn is no club. Now Cam raises to 300. Still , not quite pot odds, but I call, I get the feeling that one of them has made a flush or just a pair. The river is a forth club. I raise to 300. I'm hoping someone has a big club and wants to dance. John just calls and Cam folds. I show him the nuts. I got some chips.

That was the last hand I played for a LONG time. After the break, we finally lost our first player. Cam, was the first to go. Table 2 had lots of commotion but no one busting. Every time I turned around, someone was busting on our table and we were moving someone from table 2.
One trend that was becoming painfully obvious, the usual experienced rounders were taking huge hits. OhCountess busted before the final table...OhCaptian was sad.

This trend was causing me to really think strategy. My cards were really sucking, but entering these pots was getting dangerous. Experienced players were getting called and the new players were getting lucky. I chose the route of safest travel, and really focused on being tight. Most of the pots on my tables started with 2 raises...and those were from people out of position.

When we got down to the final table, we started shorter than 10. 2 people busted when we were at 11 people, the starting table started with 9 people. Now, I have yet to really play any hands. I was getting some really marginal hands, and these pots just kept getting wilder.

The next hand I really played pitted me against the tournament leader. A new guy to our home game. He'd taken out a great many of the people already. He also seemed to be doing it by getting in bad and getting lucky. He took Bonnie out by calling all of his chips with second pair. He catches 2 pair on the turn, after the money went in.

He's played poker before in some home games. So he had some experience, but I'm not sure he's ever wielded a big stack. He let me see a free flop from the BB. I only had 9 3o and the shorted stack of the 4 of us left. On the flop, I watched Mike. He didn't seem to see the flop with any excitement. He min raises the flop, and I really think that was just a continuation bet. The flop had come 2 3 K, and all night, he really bet it hard when he hit top pair...especially, paint cards. I really thought that second pair was good, so I pushed them in. He insta-calls and turns of Q 10! He missed! Now to dodge his over cards...and I did! I doubled up.

Just staying out of the way, got me into the money. I coasted. I was also worried that Bodie25 was going to be right and I'd never flip the switch from tight to loose and take down some pots.

I didn't play another hand until we got down to 4 handed. Danny seemed to be ready to rumble. If I could out last him, I'd be against the 2 chip leaders, Mike and his wife, Katie.

When we got to 3 people, the husband and wife duo had most of the chips. I figured if I didn't try something soon, I'd be out in third. I flipped the switch and started putting the pressure on. Mike doubled me up a few times and I collected enough chips to move up the stack leader board.

I noticed that Mike started making more mistakes when I was taunting him and talking confidently to him. It wasn't until then that I saw him consider folding to my pressure.

These hands were basically unmemorable. I'd push, Katie would fold and Mike would call, only to loose to a better hand when his didn't improve. Since I could put the ultimate pressure on Katie, I turned my attention to getting her chips. We didn't play many hands in this configuration before I found myself in the BB. Katie was on the button and limped. Mike just called the LB. I squeeze, AKo. I decided then and there to put them to the ultimate test. I pushed them all in. Katie thinks for a while and eventually she mumbles how tired she is and calls. Mike then tells me he willing to make this interesting. It was a few more people than I wanted, but I can't tell him to fold.

Katie turns over K♠ 7♠ and much to my surprise, mike turns over A5o. Hmm...I'm ahead, but only by a coin flip. According to Card Player's Hand Calculator, I'm in the lead (45.75%), Katie's got a 30.08% chance and Mike's got the worst chance at 19.35%.

He spikes the 5. OhCaptain again is the bridesmaid! But, at least I had more chips when the hand started. Again...I'm 2nd! I just can't win one of these!

I'm really tired and will probably re-read this in the morning and find it doesn't make sense. I'll fix those AFTER I soak up some Zzz's.