Poker Night at our house: Holiday Style

This past Saturday night was latest installment of our Co-ed Invitationals, but this time it was Holiday Style.

What is holiday style? We decided to experiment with a few twists on some old themes.

First, our 9 year old, OhPrincess1, thought our friends could do more to help those less fortunate. In school, they had a food drive and she thought we could do that too. Hm. How about an Add-on? That's the ticket! Bring 2 food items suitable for the local food shelf and get an extra 500 chips!

The next twist came in the form of something that I called a reverse bounty. Every participant was to bring an wrapped present. Nothing stupid but to be around $10. Instead of some card rack running over the game and taking all the presents, as you busted, you got to chose a gift from under the tree. First out, first pick with the winner getting no choice at all.

My hats off to everyone that came, we had some great gifts! I'm pretty sure, the booze ain't going to waste. We also had games, books and tools.

We had 20 runners start the tournament. PokerFool and his bride. Gentleman Jim made the journey from North Iowa. Bodie25 and his wife returned as well. One notable absence was the debut of Drizz. We were a little bummed to hear about the infestation of pink eye but glad to know he wasn't sharing it with us. The chance to create a foundation for Purple Vegas will just have to wait.

As has been my modus operandi, I perfected many methods of mucking. I was pretty much muck, muck, muck, muck, muck FOREVER. It was getting bad, even for me. The hand assortment I was mucking was the usual suspects. Undoubtedly, I'd get a solid starting hand and look up and realize that 3 people were all-in a head of me. Ace-ten suited...in to the much with you!

I'd write for you the story of some great hand, but frankly, there wasn't any. Just right hand reverse mucks followed by a left forehand twist. Sigh.

Before we got to the end, play was stopped a few times. PokerFool was all in and called by the Mrs. A little husband on wife action. That'll draw a crowd.

As is customary, a side game formed by the losers. Chasing sunk funds is always a fun way to cap the evening. The hand you see being played at right drew much attention.

The cash game is $.25/.50 NLH.

That would appear to be a lot of chips in front of Kathy and Bodie25. I think someone said it was $25. Yikes!

The battle on the TV table, named this evening "Bellagio" was heading towards the bubble. 4 people were going home from this tournament with a shot at having more money then when the left as long as they counted it before they paid the babysitter. Of the final 6, PokerFool and his wife were the last couple standing.

The bubble was burst on a 3 way all in. Ménage à trois can be both exciting and noteworthy...in this incident, we had two guys and girl. Not my favorite combo, but heck...it's a cheap home game. The last two remaining males were jetisoned from the tournament Yep. We were heading into heads up guaranteed to be girl on girl. Yeah baby!

In the end, a first occurred. A chop. We've never chopped before, but as tournament directors, OhCountess and I agreed that any chop needed to end with an official tournament champion. We have a trophy on the line!

Here she is. Amy walked away with not only a trophy and a pile of cash, but the joy of lasting way longer then her husband.

There was no official last hand. Chops suck the drama right out.

All in all, I think a good time was had by everyone. We gathered a pretty healthy pile of food. When my daughter got home from Grandma's she was pretty impressed.

That's about it from the frozen tundra. It's back to work tomorrow and poker league on Tuesday night. The next installment of the Vegas recap should be coming soon. Stay tuned!