Vegas or Bust Poker League

We completed our seventh of 12 league tournaments last Friday at Tin Man's home. At stake is two seats to the 2015 WSOP at the Rio in Las Vegas.

I had a third place finish last month, but the previous two hadn't been too kind to me.

In the August tourney I open-raised from the cut off with a medium-strength hand and was called by Tin Man, who was the BB.

Tin Man put out a small feeler bet on a T-5-A rainbow board. His betting pattern is pretty reliable, so I put him on middle pair and raised him. I was surprised when he called, but shot another bullet on the turn when a blank hit. Tin Man check-called. The river was another blank and after he checked, I shoved the remainder of my chips, putting maximum pressure on him.

To my dismay, he said, "I guess I'm gonna have to double you up buddy. I call."

I turned over my king high hand and Tin Man showed me the second pair hand I had put him on.

"Lil' Annie Okie (his wife) told me I needed to stick with my hands longer," he said as I headed for the rail with a ninth-place finish.

Thank Annie.

I finished eighth in the September tournament, but it was just a case of being card dead for two hours. I finally shoved for 7 BB with A-J and ran into Big Daddy's A-Q. Buh-bye.

Obviously, I needed a strong finish to remain in the thick of things and was fortunate to get it.

Bobby Dee was the first to go when his A-K got run down by Ollie the Accountant's Q-J. J-Dawg was next to fall, playing very few hands and finally made a stand with pocket sevens. Ranger Rick called with A-J and paired his ace on the flop and then hit a third one on the river just to show off.

Annie finished eight and Big Daddy seventh. Blinds were getting big ($200-400) with only $15K in chips on the table, so the shoves became commonplace.

Stamps fell on his sword in sixth, and Ollie was toe-tagged in fifth. Tin Man busted in fourth shortly thereafter.

Once we were three-handed, the chips seemed to make a circle around the table as we traded jabs. I finally felted Rick when my A-9 held up over his A-7 shove.

A-7 ended up being a big hand for me on this night as I shoved with it against Philly Fanatic when we were heads-up. Philly quickly called with A-J and I knew I was in trouble.

I had him covered, but only by a few chips, so this one was for the tournament. A seven on the flop turned the tables and the final nail came on the turn when another one showed its face.

Hey, it's better to be lucky than good! Righr?

I was pleased to take this one down. The win puts me in position to make a run at my third consecutive title.

CLICK HERE for the latest standings.

Till next time, win the flips.