Vegas Or Bust Poker Tournament

Although Big Daddy and I were both a little late to the party, we had all 10 players seated at the ob round felt, ready to do battle in the third of sixteen league tournaments.

I had sacrificed a couple of blinds due to my late arrival, but I made it up on my first hand, plus a little, when I rivered a straight and took a few chips from J-Dawg.

After the opening hand I went card dead for quite a while, but managed to pick up a few pots without a battle. The table seemed to be playing tighter in this tourney than in the previous two and we still had eight of the ten players left when the blinds reached $50-100, which is the sixth level.

As the blinds grew, my hands started improving and I was able to win back to back pots with A-9, when everyone folded to my 2.2X BB open raises. With blinds now at $150-300 the extra $900 really helped my stack. I could tell Philly Phanatic, who was seated on my immediate left, was getting suspicious. My next hand was K-K and I raised again, with Philly coming along for the ride this time. I bet a little over half pot after a 9 high flop. Philly slid his entire stack in and after I called tabled A-9. He didn't improve and was crippled. A couple hands later I flopped two pair with my A-5. I checked, and Philly shoved. I turned another ace and Philly was gone in fourth place.

That left J-Dawg, Ollie the Accountant and myself. J-Dawg was short stacked and I had a small lead over Ollie. Figuring Ollie would have to fold all but his premium hands, because he wouldn't want to be eliminiated before J-Dawg, I started attacking his blinds, and by the time I busted J-Dawg, I had a 2-1 chip lead.

With blinds at $500-1000, we traded chips for a few rounds, when I peeked down at pocket eights. I raised to $2,200 and Ollie called. A well connected flop of J-T-8 caused a betting frenzy which ended with all the chips in the middle. Ollie put a 9 and a 10 on their backs, showing middle pair, plus an OESD versus my set of eights. I was ahead, but a seven or Q would sink my battleship.

The turn?

Queen. Damn.

The river? Jack, pairing the board.

Full house! WHEEEE!

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good : )

So, that's two tourney wins in a row. It's a long way from being over, but it's nice to be off to a good start!

Click here for the updated league standings.

Till next time, win the flips