Life and Times of a Poker Addict

Thursday night tournaments at the Warehouse got even more interesting this past week. Still haven't drummed up a solid crowd but there's enough of us to keep it going till it catches on. Well, Sparky bought in for two tournaments that he wasn't even going to be at. His instructions are as follows:

Tournament #1, NLH: All-in every third hand.

Tournament #2, PLH and PL Omaha Hi/Lo rotation: Every third hand I will raise pot, reraise pot every time I'm raised, and open every round of betting on those hands with a pot sized bet.

On his first all-in, Sparky stole the blinds. On his second all-in, I looked down at pocket deuces. I considered for a long while but didn't like the fact that all his chances were pretty live and folded it. Naturally, I would have won if I had called but, oh well. "Sparky" went on this way for a while before JB finally called his all-in with pocket Jacks. We turned over Sparky's hand and he had pocket fours. Unbelievable. The Jacks held up and Sparky was out of the tournament in ninth place.

I won't even bother with the details of how I bubbled yet again here.

In tournament #2 we start off with Pot-limit Hold'em. On the third hand Uncle Rob decides what the hell and gets into it with Sparky with AJ spades. I "play" his hand and give Rob the bad news that he has two live cards, 10 4 offsuit. The flop comes with a 4 and everyone starts going nuts. Then a Jack comes on the turn putting Rob back in the lead, but it also puts three diamonds on the board and Sparky has a diamond. As we wait shaking our heads and laughing, the two of diamonds comes on the river and knocks Rob out. Sparky has doubled up. On the sixth hand I got A10 offsuit and Sparky and I were in the blinds. I called to limit his pot size raise, and then called the raise. Flop came A94, all diamonds. DIAMONDS! What ever loving curse has befallen me with Diamonds and my hands at the Warehouse?! I have no red cards and I just have a horrible feeling about this situation but I check to get Sparky's pot bet out there and flat call knowing that if a diamond comes on the turn I'm folding. Turn is a 10 making my top two pair. I decide what the hell and get all-in with Sparky. They turn over his hand and he has pocket fives, one of which is the five of diamonds. Sparky has 10 outs on the river, 3-1 odds. Unreal. Luckily a black three falls and I double up through him.

We get into the Omaha part of the rotation and Sparky takes out JB on his first pot-bet play. Three hands after that I get stuck in a hand with BillyKGB and Sparky. I make top and bottom pair on the flop and have a 2-low draw. Sparky leads out, Bill and I call and I know disaster is looming. The turn is a diamond, giving me a King high diamond draw as well as the two pair and the 2-low draw. Sparky leads out which puts him all-in, Bill calls putting him all-in, and it's another 400 to me. After the money that's been put in there already, I have no choice but to call. An eight of hearts comes on the river. We turn over the cards and Bill takes the high with Kings and Sixes to my Kings and Threes, and Sparky takes the low with an Ace to my Deuce. Sparky is back up and I'm back to about even. Three hands later I get into the same situation when I flop trip Jacks for a high lead and draw to a 2-3 low. Bill is leading out, and I get all my chips in on the flop. Bill makes the straight on the turn, I get no help on the river to boat up, and Sparky once again makes the low with an Ace to my deuce.

So now Sparky has had a hand in eliminating the first three people in the second tournament. He has about triple his starting chips and only has to outlast two more people to make the money. I left at that point but I'll find out this weekend if he ended up pulling off the blind victory and report back...