I hadn’t mentioned, but Mr. Steal made it to the final 9 before busting out on a stone-cold bluff to Artillery. The machine gun had a HUGE sbo stack. He’d only been playing poker for about a month, and it wasn’t very good poker. But he had won a little money last time we played and he was doing very well tonight.
Then he started calling people down with A-high and the stack kept dwindling. By the time I got up to T1800, there were 5 left and I was getting close to Artillery’s stack.
The blinds are up to 200/400 when I look down at Rockets. It’s about time I started seeing some premium hands. Thankfully, it was raised in front of me. That’s what I like to see when I’ve got American Airlines. I pushed all-in and my opponent was forced to call just T1000 more. He had it to call… he had a big stack.
When he flipped KTo, I knew I was way ahead. The first card off the flop was the A of spades. Unfortunately, the third card was a Q. Suddenly, he had two chances at 4 outs… the Jacks for the nut straight. It never came, and I was up to T4200. I was in third place out of 5… and I was in line to get my money back. I never would have imagined.
Then it happened. The two shorter stacks found themselves out of the game, and we were down to three. I caught some hands here and there and managed my stack very well. I was never the big stack, but I was never the short stack either. Somehow, the other two guys were going back and forth without me.
Opponent #1 was a young guy who played pretty solid poker. Opponent #2 was an older guy prone to outbursts (he’s the one I sucked out with trip 5’s earlier).
We got down to two when the young guy made an ill-advised all-in from the SB. He had just 76o. The old guy called quickly and showed KJs. The hand held up and I was now up to $30 in winnings. Who woulda thunk?
He got me down to about T2400 with 400/800 blinds when I found QJo. I pushed all-in and he called me with A5o. Hmmm… not what I was hoping for. But when the flop came Q-3-2, I was way ahead. He needed an A or a 4 that never came.
After a few hands, he was leading me T9200 to T5800 when someone suggested a split. I said the old guy had me at 2-to-1 and if I got closer, maybe we’d split. That’s when we took a 5 minute break before blinds jumped to 800/1600.
When we started again, I decided to be a little more aggressive and started pushing him around. It only took a few hands before I had a slight chip advantage. Since he never suggested a split, I decided I wouldn’t either.
Then the hand came.
I called out of the SB with Qd6h. The old guy checked and we saw of flop of Kd-Jd-9c. He checked and I checked behind him. The turn is the 6 of diamonds and suddenly, I’ve got bottom pair, a flush draw and an inside straight draw. I push all-in and he calls me with 9d3c.
I decided to push figuring the 6 could only have helped me. I honestly thought he’d fold. In fact, I was more than a little disappointed because he was a 2-to-1 favorite and if I lost, I’d have less than the BB left in front of me.
The card came, and it was a T. It took me a minute, but that’s when I realized I had the straight and it was over. From the felt to $110. It was hard to believe.
I guess if all stereotypes were true, someone would have been heading to their gun rack to take out this Yankee ringer. Instead, I walked out of there with another notch on my belt.
I hope they invite me back again and again.
