It's Monday, it must be Tuckfard time

The Tuckfard Open saw 12 runners sign up. Early on I announced my advantage. I had not gone to Al's bash and didn't have a hangover! Apparently the gang had a good time there meeting old friends, drinking, pokering and more drinking. I heard there was golf, a Buffalo wings eating contest and lots of hugs.

For the first hour, I had three good hands. I had AA twice (the first time I raised and everyone folded and the second time I got one caller and won a small pot). I also had pocket 10s and raised preflop and flopped a set. My continuation bet won the pot. I also had 22 and no one bet on the flop or turn. On the river another 2 came and I bet and everyone folded. Basically I was able to tread water.

Then, when there were five of us, I was in the small blind. The blinds were 100/200 and I had 2085. In the big blind was shortstack Par_Tee_Ni who only had 560 left. I was dealt ♦J ♦8 and raised to 400. If she called, she was playing for here entire stack. I was hoping my min-raise would look more dangerous than an allin. She wasn't falling for that holding ♠A ♥10 and she moved all in. I called, of course, and the flop came with: ♠K ♦10 ♠6. the turn was the ♦A giving Par_Tee_ni two pair, but I had outs -- a [EDIT]queen would give me a straight. The river was the ♦Q and at first I thought I had a straight. Then I looked again and I had hit runner, runner diamond for a flush.

When we were down to three, BamBamCan had 11,400, Muhctim had 3,755 and I had 2,845. I worked my stack up to ~3600, then fell back. When the blinds were 120/240/25, I was down to 2,250. I was dealt ♠A ♣10 on the button. If I made a three times the BB raise, I would be pot committed, so I moved all in. Bam Bam called and showed me ♦J ♠J. The flop was ♠9 ♣10 ♠4, leaving me behind, but with two more outs. The turn was the ♥5. The river was the ♣A, saving me.

When the blinds were 150/300/25, I had 5,788, Bam had 8,552 and muhctim had 3,660. I held ♣9 ♦9. BamBam raised to 690. He had been aggressive, so I reraised to 2,445, figuring I would win the pot right there. Instead, muhctim moved all in! Bam folded after some thought, and I had to call. It was only 1,190 more to win this huge pot. Muhctim turned over the lol hand: ♥9 ♠9. There could still be a flush, but it didn't happen and we chopped the pot.

I moved into the lead when I had a pair of aces on the flop and BamBam bet into me on all three streets on a missed straight draw.

When the blinds were 200/400/50, I had 9,286 and got involved in another pot with BamBam who had 6,247 chips in his stack. Remember that hand where I hit an ace on the river to survive. BamBam got me back on this hand. I held: ♥A ♠J in the big blind. BamBam raised to 880 and I reraised to 2,790 and he raised yet again to 4700. The flop was ♠9 ♣9 ♣ K, and BamBam moved all in for 1497 more. I called and he turned over ♦A ♥3, SWEET. The turn wasn't what I was looking for, the ♣3, yuck. I bricked out on the river to lose a 12,544 pot (and fail to eliminated a tough player).

BamBam now had 12,544, I had 3,039 and muhctim was at 2,417. I worked my stack back up to 4,639 and muhctim had only 967! But he won some small pots and fought back to 2,434 (I had 2,922) and the blinds were 250/500/50. I looked down to see ♣A ♣Q in the small blind. BamBam folded and I made a min-raise. Muhctim moved all and and my deception had worked. I called like a shot. He had ♥A ♥5! YES ! According to the poker odds calculator, I am a 66.61% favorite, he is a 27.99% favorite and there is a 5.40% chance of a tie.

The flop was ♥2 ♣10 ♠5 giving him a pair. The rest of the board bricked out for me (he actually hit a flush). Two hands later and I was out.

Muchtim went on to take out BamBam, so congratulations to him. I was trying to watch, but also watch Monday night football, so don't have the exact details. You might find them at the tuckfard's blog by clicking here.