Wow. Tonight we played our usual home game. It’s been almost 2 months since we last played, so I was pretty excited to see all the fellas. We had 12 runners tonight, so the price pool was nice. As usual the final 6 would compile the final table and I sure hoped to be one of them. One thing was different tonight though: I was there to play cards, have a drink or two or three and to enjoy the game, period. No intention to win it, play my best game or whatever. Just sit there, chat with the guys and play the cards I’m dealt – if I win, dandy, if not…no hard feelings.

I started out at table nr. 2 with two loose players and three other conservative players. The first bustout came pretty quickly (OESD vs trip Kings) and so we were down to five handed. I played tight, really tight. One of the loose players pushes all in and it’s “only” 20% of my stack to call him…so I call with QJo as I read him for being in the desperate mode. He confirmed my read as he showed J7 s00ted. D00minated he was…didn’t matter though…board: 892…turn blank…river 10…thank you very much (Edit: Errm, yup…found the error yet? I sure did, just after writing this post…I don’t even know why I didn’t see it at the table, or any of the other 5 players for that matter…7-8-9-10-J…sure…a straight…but doesn’t the 8-9-10-2-x board give me a straight also and a higher straight at that?! 😉 Well, well…8-9-10-J-Q…hmm…Queen High Straight beats Jack High Straight…or not?! Homer Simpsons says: D’oh!!! Oh well…I still can’t figure out why I didn’t see it, I guess it was due to the fact that someone “sucked out on me” yet again, which is basically a normal occurance at our game and so my brain crapped out for a few seconds or something…too bad I didn’t realize it at the table. For one, I would have been in much better shape with only two eliminations to go till the final table. Secondly, we wouldn’t have seen the first royal flush ever (see below)…so I guess this mistake was for a good cause :)). Some hands later, with the blinds increasing I push my measly stack in the middle and get three callers. Wow. I think I’m pretty much done with my pocket treys as overcard after overcard keeps hitting the board, but to my surprise I win the pot, eliminating one player in the process and I’m back. A few hands later I pickup A7 s00ted and as it’s four-handed, I’m pretty sure I can raise here in the SB…BB calls…hmm…flop is 10-high…I check…he pushes…well…I muck and he shows pocket Kings…nice shuffle. Some hands later I’m desperate again, but my AJo is not match to the powerful 94o (or something) and I exit in 7th place (6 at the final table)….oh well…got in with the best of it most of the time, couldn’t do much about the hands…and…I enjoyed the game…

As the final 6 are heading for the final table we start our sidegame and after 5 minutes all hell breaks loose on the other table (the final table of the main tourney). The first ever royal flush has just been dealt. A10o vs Qsxc…board read As-10s-x…turn Ks…river Js…wow! That was one to remember. We’re playing our home game pretty regularly and for over a year now the “best hand record” was sitting at the flopped straight flush my mate flopped against me….now we got a new record…Spade Royal Flush…wow!

But back to our sidegame…it was pretty wild….once we were down to three-handed (ITM) it was pretty much push or be pushed…and push I did on some hands…in the end I took it down after my Qc10s sucked out a four flush over my mates A7 s00ted (lucky for me, no spade)….so I ended the night with some money in my pocket…nice!

Alrighty…that’s the quick recap of the night….I’m outta here…