Six Shooter Fires A Blank

We had all 10 league members seated for the seventh tournament of the Vegas Or Bust Poker League. Seated from left to right on your radio dial were Philly Phanatic, Stamps, Tin Man, Lil' Annie Okie, Ollie the Accountant, J-Dawg, Big Daddy, Bobby Dee, Dealer Larry, and Lucki Duck.

The tournaments occur monthly, always of the second Friday, with a total of 16 tourneys. The top two players at the end of league play, which is next April, will win a seat in the 2013 WSOP in Vegas. Airfare and hotel is also included for the winners.

I've started quickly by winning five of the first six tournaments. After finishing third in the inaugural tourney, I had reeled off five wins in a row going into last Fridays contest. I was shooting for number six and knew winning six in a row was a stretch, but so was winning five!

Big Daddy was off and running early, winning several pots with either the best cards or aggressive betting and was the chip leader after the first hour. His aggressive play backfired as the blinds increased and he was the first player eliminated when he ran into two big hands, both held by Ollie.

I was pretty much card dead for the first two hours, only getting one premium hand, which was A-K. I opened raised and got two customers. The flop was all low cards, with two of them suited and all of them connected. I c-bet, trying to sell an overpair and was called by Stamps, who is a very tight player. I checked a blank turn card and folded to Stamps bet. After two hours I had not won a single hand and had lost over a third of my starting stack.

Now into the third hour of play and down to seven BB, I raised 2.5X from the button with K-J and got a call from J-Dawg, who had limped. I whiffed the flop, but had already decided to push any flop that J-Dawg checked to me. He did check and I pushed, causing him to fold his bottom pair. It was only the second hand I won and turned out to be my last.

Lil' Annie Okie and Tin Man were both eliminated, thinning the field to seven. I peeked at my K-T hole cards and open pushed for four BB from the button, getting a call from Bobby Dee who tabled pocket nines. I was actually pleased to be in a coin flip situation, but another nine on the flop left me hoping for a runner-runner straight draw to save me. I was drawing dead after a blank on the turn, but Bobby rubbed salt in the wound by hitting the fourth nine on the river.

Now that's just showing off!

My seventh place finish is by far my worst to date, but it was mainly a lack of cards. I felt like I played pretty solid, but still left the table disappointed.

Stamps won the tournament, with Bobby taking second and Philly third. You can click here if you are interested in the complete standings.

Even though I didn't do well this time, I still have a nice lead through seven months. I'll be looking forward to redeeming myself in August.

I was able to get a few cards in the $2 buy in cash game and walked away $9 to the good, most of it from Big Daddy. Everytime he had a decent hand, mine was a little better. I was also able to win a nice pot from Tin Man when my A-K held over his A-J.

My next night of poker will be our Tuesday night Pokerpalooza. Hopefully I'll have a profitable report for you!

I hope you enjoyed reading my 700th post. I never realized there were so many words floating around in my cranium!

Till next time, win the flips.