The Good & Plenty Championship

When poker players really want to play their game, they will find a way to get it done. When you find yourself outside of Philadelphia wanting to get some action going, you just need to adapt to your surroundings. Of course someone will always have some cards on them or in their luggage. But what do you do when you don't have any chips?

Head to the candy section!


As you can see, Good & Plenty can substitute for chips. The whites soon became ones while the pinks became fives.

Dr. Pauly suggested we have ourselves a quick little SnG before heading over to the Bash at the Boathouse. I guess the room that Pauly and Derek were in had some ventilation problems as their was an odd skunky smell in the room. Didn't matter. We did some re-arranging to the room to make the playing conditions more comfortable. The couch was pushed to the wall, the table pulled out of the corner and the chairs from the bedrooms brought in.

Pauly, Derek, and Bobby Bracelet put down $20 to compete with me for the now to be converted title of winner of the Good & Plenty Championship. It was winner take all. They also could have the candy if they wanted.

I took control early when I saw a flop for cheap with A 7. I was heads up with Pauly where an A hit the flop. He bet out and I just called. I was trying to figure out if he had an ace or not. I was not positive he did, but concerned about my kicker and if it would play. When the turn put a Q out there, I called his bet again. The river paired the board up. Now Pauly applied the screws to me. He pushed all in. At least my concern did not have to be focused on my kicker. It was whether he had A K or A Q. I thought a bit and decided to call. He was running a bluff. The good Dr. was out early.

Next, I would knock out the 860th best poker player as of June 2, 2005. I can't recall how I did it, but Bobby Bracelet was gone. He had some good hands, but none of them held up. Now it was down to me and Derek.

I had roughly a 3-1 lead on him. My thought was to lay back a bit and then bully him later. Blinds had gone up by now and we came to the realization that they Good & Plentys may not be enough. Beside they fact they liked to roll around, blinds were too high (40/80) to keep counting whites to toss out there. Once again, we had to improvised. So we stole an idea from the European casinos. We introduced placards to the game. Ok, they were sugar packets, but they did the job. They were given a value of 10 and play resumed after we ran the whites off.

Derek played some good cards, hitting some gutshots to take down some pots. I thought I would have him gone when we saw a flop of 7 5 6. I was holding 6 4 off while Derek had a powerful 4 2 off. I was in a commanding position. Until the 3 hit. I went from winning to splitting a pot. Soon I would be behind.

Derek finally got a monster hand and played it well. The Hilton Sisters came through for him. I thought my pair may have been good. I put him on an A and just making a move. I went from being a leader to short stacked just like that. Blinds were pretty high and I was desperate. So desperate that I made my next move blind. I pushed all in without looking. It worked. I am back in the game.

Then came the big blow for Derek. With K 2 suited, I pushed again. I hit runner runner for the flush. I now had control again.

On the next hand, the game would end. Not able to even fully call the big blind, Derek was finished off by the powerful 10 7 offsuit. The 10 paired and I was declared the Good & Plenty Championship winner.

There is a lot of pride that goes with winning an event like this. I took out 2 formidable bloggers as well as a WSOP player. I also paid for the beer that I believe helped me attain victory.

Too bad I couldn't carry that over to the cash game. I knew it wouldn't be pretty. NL ring games are not my area of expertise. When Landow bluffed me out of a pot with his 6 6 , forcing me to fold K K when an A hit the flop, I could feel it slipping away. But at least I dropped the Hammer.