KK: The underdog wins and the favorite loses

The Sunday tourney at Dave & Kida's was an odd one. Similar cast of characters: Guitar Dave, Forty Ounce Dave, Kida, Tabletalk Tommy, Oklahoma Jeff, Esther, and Manny. The rebuy phase was an odd one for me. One hour long, and I won a grand total of zero hands. That's right, none. No blind steals (which are next to impossible with the small blinds and loose players knowing they can rebuy for half price), nothing.

My most annoying hand in the first hour was AJ offsuit. I called a small all-in preflop from Manny I think, who had gotten his chipstack decimated in the previous hand. I called, as did Kida. Flop was AA4 with two diamonds. I had this crafty gleam in my eye, figuring I was going to take Kida's chips too, as he'll play any ace. I bet about 200 into a dry side pot, with the main pot sitting at about 600. Kida called. The turn was another diamond. I threw out a test bet of 500. Kida responded just like you think he would - he pushed all-in. I knew I was beat, but I was too damn stubborn to throw away my set of aces with one card to come. Sure enough, he showed QJ-diamonds, and the river didn't help. I did pick up on the fact that Kida loves flush draws in the rebuy phase. He chased flush draws at least 4 more times that I saw.

I said a silent word of praise to the Poker Gods when I saw a flop of all hearts. Kida, who was the preflop raiser with AQ of hearts, took all of Guitar Dave's chips when Dave decided to call a raise with J2 of hearts. I love it when people call raises with trash, hit a hand, and still get destroyed. I think this makes me a bad person, wishing for bad things to happen, but I can't help it.

With 2500 as the buy-in amount of chips, I ended the rebuy phase with 2050. After my first and only rebuy, I saw very few flops, but won nothing, and lost little. I added on for another 2500, putting me at the low stack at the table starting the knockout phase. I believe Kida, with more than a little bit of swagger, was the chip leader with more than 14K.

After the rebuy phase, my cards started getting hot, and starting holding up. I also played some pretty good poker, though nothing stands out. Everybody was doing their best Paul Bunyon imitation, hacking chunk after chunk out of Kida's chip forest. He busted out on the bubble in 4th. (Cue the Nelson Muntz laugh. Ha ha!!)

Into the money and down to three, it was me, Tabletalk Tommy, and wild and unpredictable Manny. I think the blinds were at 300/600 by this time, and I had a hair over 2k. First hand, I'm dealt Dead Man's Hand. And I'm in the big blind, and so far behind Tommy and Manny that it seems like a brilliant move to push all-in after Tommy folds on the button and Manny just calls from the small blind. Oops, it doesn't look so smart after Manny calls and flips pocket 8's. I'm dominated, and not even suited.

The Poker Gods smiled on the turn. I'm usually on the bad end of suckouts, but this was my time to catch a three-outer with a beautiful ace. It is a wonderful thing to double up and get some breathing room. I stole a few blinds, and even made a move I almost never do when I went all-in against somebody that had me covered on a stonecold bluff. I felt like a chip magnet. Then it was Manny in trouble. He pushed with a blackjack hand into AQ, and the ace held up.

Down to Tommy and me. Tommy has never won the Dave & Kida tourney, despite having played in it, sporadically, for months. One of my two wins was against Tommy, and I felt confident going up against him, despite my 2:1 chip disadvantage. The first time we faced off, I outplayed Tommy - I had a feeling that I was making more moves and taking more pots than my cards would have on their own.

This time started in a very similar fashion. Chip, chip, chip as I slowly pull even with Tom. Then, the big hand. I'm dealt KK with the button. Kings look like a bazooka in heads up play. I min-raise (and with the blinds, that's enough to mean business), and Tommy calls. The flop is J, 6, 5, with two spades. I don't recall how the money got into the pot, but we were all-in. The stacks were very even - we don't know who has who covered, but the loser will be severely crippled if not finished.

I flip my kings, and Tommy proudly tosses his suited connectors, 65 of diamonds. Two pair. Henry the Fifth and Louis the Fourteenth are getting assassinated by two underlings. L'etat, c'est moi? Not this time, Louis. I remark, not calmly, that I need a king, a jack or the board to pair.

The turn is a 3, eliciting a shout of "Gimme a three!". And the river. Is. A. 3.

I bolt from my chair, and run a victory lap around the dining room. In hindsight, I believe I should've offered a small prayer of thanks to the Poker Gods, and behaved in a more gentlemanly manner. The Poker Gods weren't done with Henry and Louis.

The aftermath to this suckout carnage is that Tommy had me covered. Barely. He has 3x the BB, 6K. I put him all in, with my mountain of chips, 100K+ easy. This would be a recurring theme for the next few hands.

J9 offsuit (vs 85 suited). Q9 suited (vs 77). AJ suited (vs AK). None of these hands could put Tommy away. A comeback of epic proportions had begun. In the middle of this, Kida remarked, "Hey Mike, if you lose, this will be the worst loss ever." Thanks, Kida, that does wonders for my confidence.

The back-breaker, the hand when I knew I was once again in for a fight, I held pocket kings and a 2:1 chip lead on Tommy. Ah, nice. A big hand. Maybe I can end this. Tommy was the preflop raiser this time, and I didn't want to blow him off the hand, so I called. The flop was a pretty little T, 7, 3 rainbow. I bet into him, and he raised all-in. That's it man, game over, man, game over. He couldn't possibly have me beat again, could he? On the outside, I was stonefaced. But my insides were breathing a huge sigh of relief.

He flipped over Q7 of spades, drawing to running spades, three queens and two sevens. Not wanting any suspense to build, the Poker Gods saw fit to put Tommy's seven on the turn rather than the river. Thanks. Now I'm down 2:1.

And the cards rained hammer blows down on me. Tommy had me dominated several times, and I managed not to bust out. I'm considering calling him Big Slick Tommy, so many times did he get AK heads up against me. I fought back, nearly to even, then fell back.

With a large pile of chips in the middle and an ace on the river, I bet one last time into Tommy, holding nothing but jack-high. The last time I played a hand in similar fashion, the river-ace-bluff on the end got Tommy to fold. This time, Tommy had the ace, the pot, and a huge advantage.

The next hand was AJ of spades for me, and another AK for Tommy. Game over, indeed. Epic comeback completed. Tommy, welcome to your first tourney victory.