Friday was “Hack day” at work and many ideas were worked on. At the conclusion of the day, we gathered for some entertainment at the poker table. We had 8 players, Mike(?), Senthil, Manish, Shawn, Gaurav, Vivek, Mike M., and Huey.
The action started fast as pot contentions got heated. Manish and Shawn built up quick leads as their stacks grew. My hands were all rags and grew steadily worse until a moment when an AK off suit landed in my hands. That being the best hand I’d seen all night, I pushed all in to be called by Gaurav’s pocket TT. The board came rags and I was forced to concentrate on dealing. After a few hands of dealing, I was able to convince the others to allow me to rebuy since I was dealer.
First bust outs came from Mike, followed by me. After my rebuy, my hands improved and I was able to participate in a few hands. I won a few small pots and started getting mediocre hands like A8 quite a lot. On one such hand, the flop came 7A7, Gaurav bet and I called (Anyone else still in at this point?). After the turn of K, Gaurav bet again and after thinking it thru, I figured he didn’t have the 7 and pushed all in. We turned over our cards, and Gaurav showed KJ (I think it was a J), so my A8 was in solid command. After a river of 4, I took the pot. Another tense hand was Manish’s early all-in followed by folds around the table to Senthil. He thought for quite a while and finally decided to call. (Ok, I actually forgot what happend here. I think they both had AQs but that was Manish and Shawn. Manish had a flush possibility but it didn’t pan out. I think Senthil’s hand held up and he lightened up Manish’s monster stack a bit). On another hand, the flop came xxA and everyone checked. On the turn, a Q came and I was holding QJ off suit. Not thinking too much of my kicker (well it was ok here since the only other one possible was the K [else whoever had the A's would be betting]), I checked and everyone else followed suit. The river showed a 7. I made a bet and Vivek called with 78 having made his pair on the river (or he bet and I pushed all in with him calling). I think at this point, we were down to 5 players, Senthil, Manish, Shawn, Vivek, and myself. Senthil pushed all-in on a KQ?? (my memory is really foggy on this hand, so if you remember what cards we had, please leave it in a comment and I will update this piece), Shawn and I both called with chips to spare. After the flop, Shawn checked and I pushed my remaining chips in. There was an A on the board, but by now Shawn was pretty much pot commited and he made the crying call. I turned over my Ax and knocked out Senthil and Shawn simultaneously. After Vivek got knocked out, Manish and I decided to split the 1st and 2nd spots because I was late for a date with my wife. Although I had a huge chip lead (19k to 5k?), I have never done well in heads up matches so it saved me the embarrassment of seeing Manish come back and take 1st.
Thanks to Manish, Vivek and a spectator? for helping to clean up the table and chips.
If anyone remembers it differently or know parts I left out, please add a comment so we can look back on it in the future.
There are some good books on poker on my Hold’em poker page. I will put up some more helpful hints for poker soon.
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