Busting out Season 6

Last night was the final night of Season 6 of Wall Street Poker. With all the drama that's been going on in the markets lately (Banks failing! Dow falling!), you'd think that all of the luck had run out. But it was all coming my way last night. I took a bunch of shots and only missed once. Here's the breakdown:

First tournament, I hit a set of 10's vs. Lee's AA to bust him. In my defense, I had a decent stack at the time and he was a shortie. I also hit a set of 9's vs. Liezl to double up early. My stack dwindled on a few raise-reraise situations where I had to give up my hand and I was down to $1900. I had Th8h and I had a limper to my right (Kearns). Blinds were 150-300 and I decided to limp, thinking I might have two live cards vs. any caller. But someone to my left raised to $1000 and 4 people called! By the time it got to me, I was getting more than 6 to 1 on my money! I said, "I've got the pot odds" and with waht Christine described as a 'pained look on my face', I made the call. Flop was AKJ with two hearts. I wasn't worried about the made straight although I was sure the draw was out, but my flush draw was pretty good. Kearns bet out and I went all in for less. I think two more people called. With this many high cards, I knew I was gonna see some action. The turn was the prettiest Queen of Hearts you ever saw, making me the flush. At this point, everyone who was in the hand was all in. I turned over the hand that was in the lead, but someone had an Ace of Hearts, I believe, and someone else had KJ for two pair. The river bricked and I scooped the majority of the pot. Kearns said, "Ooooh, you're running so bad today". Ha!

A lot of lucky hands came out last night though. Liezel, with AA in her hand, limps for 200 after someone min-raised. Art came in for another 100 on the BB. The flop was A88. Liezl checked her monster and Art bet out. Liezl raised, Art re-raised all in and Liezl snap called. Art showed K8 (dirty flop!) and Liezl stunned the crowd by showing the nuts. Ummm...the second nuts. I was dealing and I said, "Liezl wins! Probably..." No sooner had I said it than my magic powers turned an 8 on the turn to give Art the Quads! Even now, stunned into silence, Liezl had an out in the deck, but that kind of lightning only strikes once and the case Ace did not materialize.

As the tourney wore on and my lucky powers became evident, Darko starting counting my suckouts. "That's 4!", came the cry. I made it into the money with the shortish stack at the table, but still healthy, after a string of bad starting hands. I looked down to see A9 with about 5500 behind in the BB. Darko, acting first, went all in. He had me covered barely but I called and he showed down Ad5d. My A9 was ahead and the flop was 983! W00t! Top pair! Visions of a first place finish were swimming in my head. Turn was a 2 and I said, "Ship it!". No sooner had I shouted out prematurely than the ghost of Dawn Summers entered the room. In haunting fashion, she cackled with glee like that Fruma Sarah scene in Fiddler on the Roof and sang, "Only Assholes say Ship It! Only Assholes say Ship It! I doom you to a river of insufferable pain!".

4 on the river.

Damn you Ghost of Dawn Summers! Damn you to hell!

I was out of the tourney and my only response was, "That's 1 John. That's 1."

Viet and Darko chopped for 1st and second and we started up the second tourney quickly. Kevin had come by and met Christine for the first time....in 10 years. Yes, it turns out that Kevin and Christine (who knows EVERYBODY!) had gone to Junior High together right here in Manhattan. Wall Street Poker - ~Where everybody knows your naaaame~.

Ahem...

AJ had also come. AJ is a guy from Andy R.'s game in midtown and he's a solid, aggressive player. He also likes to talk smack. I raised in round 2 with Ah-Kc and got calls from AJ and three others. The flop was Ad-8c-3c. That's as good a flop as I can expect from AK, so I bet out 2/3 the pot. AJ called and everyone else folded. Turn was a very very dirty Ac. I know had the nut flush draw and trip Aces with the best kicker. Was there any doubt as to what I was doing?

"All In," I said. A millisecond later, "Call" from AJ. He has 2c6c for the flush. Like I said, Dirty. If ANY other club comes on the board, I can get away from this hand, but the Ace of Clubs got me too emotionally charged. I have 17(!) outs on the river to win here. The case Ace (1), any remaining club (7), any remaining King (3), any remaining 8 (3) and any remaining 3 (3) = 17 outs. I was fully expecting Darko to say, "That's 5!", but my luck had run dry and I doubled up AJ when the river bricked.

I was steaming. A hand later, AJ was trash talking how his 2c6c was goooot! I folded and AJ called the hand.
"How about a last longer side bet," I asked.
"Sure," he said. And why not? He outchipped me 2-1.
"You have to give me odds," I said, "you have me way outchipped. $20 to my $10".
He said yes and then I realized, when he raised while saying this, that I should have waited until the hand was over. AJ showed a pair of Aces to take down another 2000 in chips and outdistance me even more. We pooled our money together and he smiled broadly. Bastard.

A few hands later, I have AK again. I raise and Art, to my left, goes all in for $1400. Cheryl calls and I only have $1600 total. I guess this is it then. I kissed the money, shipped it to AJ and went all in for $200 more. Cheryl called and we all showed down. I had AK, Art had AQ and Cheryl had Ace-Jack! I was ahead! Even more miraculously, a King flopped. I won the pot, knocked out Art and managed to triple up. AJ and I were now on equal footing.

I played tight from that point on, winning a few pots but nothing major. AJ managed to spew his whole stack on two hands, neither of which was his fault. First was A-high card where he flopped top pair and someone else flopped two pair, I believe. And the next hand, he was all in with QQ vs. KJ and a King flopped. Just like that, I won $20 on the prop bet and, immesaurably better, complete satisfaction. I went on to win the tourney when, in the money round, I raced my AK vs. Kearn's TT and flopped a King to take him out. I outchipped Cheryl nearly 2-1 at this point and offered a chop with her to take down the last tourney of the season! {smiles}

The 'losers' tourney is this Sunday, with $627 going to the winner. Should be lots of fun and an update will be presented shortly afterwards. I'm postponing the next season of official WSP tourneys until I can get my apartment set up with 2 tables. Should be the beginning of November.