Could it be... Satan?

This past Sunday marked my return to the money at my Tustin home game tourney. I'm not really sure I earned it though..

I drew the kitchen table, the smaller of the two. 13 players, top 3 paid, so 7 at the nice table and 6 at the kitchen. Miguel and Albert were at my table, with Albert on my immediate left and a new guy, Kevin, on my right.

I coughed up a rebuy very early when I limped UTG with AJo. I had been doing a lot of raising, so I thought a change of pace was in order. Five of us saw a nice flop: A-A-5. Kevin, the big blind, fired out a smallish bet. I smoothcalled, then wondered why Miguel called.

The turn was a middle card, maybe an 8, and once again Kevin lead into me. I called again. It's early, and he's brand new. I have no read on him, except hearing him say it was his very first time playing live poker.

The river was a ten, and he bet big. I pushed all-in, which startled him a little, but not enough to fold. He had pocket tens, and my passive play (I thought I was trapping) let him fill his boat on the river. Rebuy!

Miguel chased and sucked out a few times against everybody, and took a nice pot from me, to build up a hefty chipstack. Albert was playing fairly wild - he plays a lot of his draws very strongly now - and got busted once by Miggy.

I drew well at the final table, settling into my seat in between Shawn and Adam Senior. A loose bluffer on my right, and a supertight rock on my left? Excellent.

Play continued for a level after the final table consolidation, then I announced a break to remove low denomination chips. Shawn and Mikey went out for a smoke. I announced that the break was over, apparently loud enough for everyone inside to hear, but not loud enough for those outside. Shawn missed only one hand, but it was his small blind, and wasn't happy about it.

The very next hand, Shawn, who was shortstacked but not desperate, pushed all-in preflop with one limper in the pot, and me in the small blind. I announced all-in as well, wanting to get my AK-diamonds heads up against Shawn, who I barely had covered. Adam asked me for a count, and called, having me covered by a few thou.

Shawn had A5-hearts, I've got my Big Slick, and we've just run into Adam's pocket queens. Poor bastard Adam can't buy a break... there's the ace on the flop. Turn and river were no help to them, and I tripled up. $14K with the big blind still at 200 is useful, that. (you'll have to imagine the Scottish voice)

Adam busted out shortly thereafter, followed by Kat and Tree. Miguel exited a while later in 5th place, having dispersed his chips, with Albert and new guy Steven the main benificiaries. His very last hand was an interesting one, with Miggy flopping second pair with J9. He kept calling Albert's bets down to the river, where Albert busted him with a river six, to go with the two in his hand.

Me? I made a steal or two, and made a good fold to keep myself alive, but I was losing chips at a steady rate. Stupid cold deck. Patience, patience.

New guy Steven wasn't a solid, fundamentals type of player. On the bubble, he called Skipper's all-in flop bet, holding QJ to Skip's KJ, when the board read K-T-3. Skipper overbet the pot, thinking he was defending himself. He wasn't pleased to see that river ace. He offered his opponent bad odds, his opponent took it, and beat him anyway.

But it moved me into the money, first time since June 26. Go me. (I did fold K9-suited from my big blind on that hand, giving Skipper a little respect and avoiding danger myself.)

Three-handed, it became obvious that Albert was in the driver's seat. He had the chips to take advantage of Steven's odd play. Steven would not raise preflop. He limped with pocket sevens. He limped in with aces. He'd call a raise if he'd limped.

I didn't have the chips to attack. With 82K on the table, I had 9K (at my high point!), with the remainder split about evenly between the two.

Big blind at 800, I raised to 2K on the button with A7-clubs. Albert announced "all-in".

And Steven called! WTF!!! They were almost identical in chips - the loser would be out, or very desperate.

Oops.. Ace-seven is not a good hand against two opponents, even if it is almost a quarter of my chips already in the pot. Easy fold.

Albert: 66, Steven: 77. Wow.

I was sad when the ace flopped. But there was a helluva shout when Albert's 6 hit the river. And I was happy when they counted the chips out, and Albert had Steven covered by $5K. Bronze-medal money for the new guy.

$7K in chips for me, $74K for Albert. Yeah, this is fair. Albert had wanted another crack at me heads-up... my last two wins saw Albert take second. He felt that I outplayed him then, and that he's much better now. (He is.)

I saw a ray of hope. The cards went my way for the first few hands, allowing me to chip up to about $12K. I was the aggressor, and Albert wasn't happy about it. He toyed with the idea of calling one of my all-ins with 84-hearts.

When I raised it up on the button with pocket fives, Albert pushed, and I figured this would happen. He'd get tired of me being the bully and play back at me. He didn't have the unpaired big cards I was hoping for, and when he flipped those invincable pocket sixes, I knew I was toast. That hand busted Miguel with a river set, Steven with a river set, and me unimproved.

Good game, sir, well played. (And this time I mean it!)

$25 in, $80 out.