Season 6 Big Pot

Season 6 Big Pot! Well, it was an exciting game to say the least!

The day started with a pretty serious pot luck. Spaghetti, meatballs, salad, and cake! No better way to start a day of cards.

Todd had graciously come over to deal, so, with a dedicated dealer, we saw a lot of hands! Players sat down with their drinks and we were on our way!
 

      Players' drinks of choice | First hand being played out

Ron was off to a big start! He took down 2 of the first 3 pots, and that was pretty much the tone for the first hour; Ron taking down a bunch of small pots.
 

Here are the players of season 6 checking out their first hands

There wasn't very much action for the first few hours. Players were playing small pot poker, which was my personal plan of action - it would appear that most people had the same idea.

I'm not 100% sure of the time, I think it was around 4ish - 3 hours into the tournament - we had our first casualty: Mike! Mike was 2nd in chips going into the tournament and I don't recall him losing any large pots (maybe somebody can correct me here). I think it was just losing a lot of little pots. In either case, unfortunately, there needs to be somebody out first, and Mike was that person this time around. As a consolation prize, Mike won a PokerStars.com prize package.
 

The first casualty, Mike LeBlanc, sporting his consolation prize

After the first bust out, play didn't get any looser. We went a few more hours before the second player busted out. And this one, was the topic of a little bit of controversy.

It was between myself and Christine.

I had   and on the button. It was folds to me and I put out a standard raise, just trying to pick up the blinds. Ron in the small blind folds and Christine calls.

The flop comes (I'm making up the suits, I don't really remember - they're irrelevant anyway).

I think the flop went check, check. I don't really remember... there may have been a min bet in there - somebody, feel free to leave a comment to correct me.

The turn was . I bet out, Christine raises, I push.

Christine thinks about it for a little while and shows (again, making up the suits). Not sure what was to think about... she said she thought I may have had pocket Jacks - I guess she just wanted to think it through. But , inevitably, Christine calls. In my frustrations, I push my cards and chips in the middle, and start walking over to the dealer chair to deal. I mean, come on, I had one out.

This is when things got messy; by the time I made it to the dealer chair, I saw Christine's cards face down and towards the muck... and I was like, YOU MUCKED?!?!? That's where the confusion started. She may have thought the hand was over, but technically, I had one out. So, I thought I was still alive because she mucked her hand.

I mean, the cards clearly didn't hit the muck, but they were defintiely face down and towards the muck. There was a lot of back and forth and it was apparent that we were never going to agree on a ruling. Other players had their own opinion as to what the ruling should be, but that didn't help much either.

However, this next part was odd. Angela suggested that the players involved work it out and Christine offered to give me back the money I had prior to the turn; so, like $2100 in chips. But then, play just returned to normal and I didn't h? Anyway, I was done debating, so I just let it go...

In hindsight, the hand didn't touch the muck, and I believe we made the correct ruling by giving all the chips to Christine. I've seen tournament directors pull cards out of the muck as long as they could clearly identify which cards belonged to the player.

Maybe it was all the beer I drank, maybe it was just my love for debate... but either way, I probably shouldn't have pushed it so far. So, this is my official apology for being a douche. I will, however, just say that the douchebaggery was not limited to myself. That's all I'm saying!

Oh, and in the end, the river was a king... I suppose if it was an eight, this whole thing could have been avoided... but I never hit one outters!

Moving on...

After I busted out, things moved pretty quickly. Angela busted shortly thereafter, followed by Marcel, and then Ron. There were no hands that really stood out for me...

So, now, down to heads up!
 

Heads up! Jim Blaquiere and Christine Lewis

Christine definitely had most of the chips at this point. Until... this next hand!

With little action pre-flop, the flop comes .

I don't recall the exact bets on the flop, but it wasn't very substantial.

The turn comes .

This is where it got interesting. Raise, re-raise, re-raise, ALL IN, CALL! All the money got in the middle with this card.

Jim flips over . Giving him a flush draw, an open ended straight draw, and a gut-shot straight flush draw.

Christine flips over ! Wow! Her King of hearts voids Jim's flush draw and reduces the number of outs he has to hit his straight.

Jim, for his tournament life, is now drawing to 7 outs:

Any seven or deuce for a straight, and the case 7 of hearts for the straight flush.

The will give Jim the flush, but Christine the better flush.

I dealt the river, face down. I then squeezed a peek... it was a HEART, but I didn't look at the number. This meant Jim had 1 out; the 7 of hearts for a straight flush.

BAM! on the river. Amazing! Here's the actual hand (I know it's a bit small, sorry)

 

Jim hitting his 7 outter

This means, the last 2 games, Christine got beat with runner/runner quads and a straight flush. Ouch!


This pretty much cripples Christine and sets up the last hand of the day.

Jim's on the button and calls pre-flop. Christine checks.

The flop comes

Christine checks, Jim checks behind her.

The turn comes

Christine checks, Jim bets out 2000, Christine pushes all-in and Jim calls!

Jim flips over and Christine shows

This gives Jim top pair and Christine a pair of fours and a gut-shot straight draw.

Fifth street comes

... and that's it! Jim wins with a pair of kings over Christine's pair of fours.
 

                Last Hand | Trophy and Winnings

Jim Blaquiere - Season 6 Champ!

And that wraps up season 6 of the Moncton Poker Club. We were a small, but mighty group. Thanks to everybody who played and I hope to see you all next season! Cheers!