I hope they got something

The charity game at work was somewhat of a disappointment. Where we had 11 people signed up, only 9 played. The sidebets didn't come through much either. It was rather sad showing. In fact, the big bowls of pretzels, chips and salsa is still out in the atrium area this morning.

Still, the 9 that showed up were determined to win. After noticing that the people in charge were mostly winging it, I stepped up to smooth out the process. We started with T155 and blinds of 1/2. Blinds would double every 15 minutes. I figured that there would still be some action and give people some time to play.

The crew was a motley one. In the one seat was a guy from the review team. He liked to play a lot of hands. Seat 2 had the Advisor rep. He runs a home game now and then which I have yet to attend. Seat 3 is your humble blogger. Seat 4 had Smartwick, a phone rep I have played against before. Seat 5 had a techie who looked like he was ready to go out to a club. Seat 6 was one of the managers who was also one of the game's organizers. Seat 7 housed another web guy as did seat 9. Seat 8 had the one guy I thought might be the wildcard. He works as a trader so I thought I would keep an eye on him.

I am wondering how this game might flow. In my head, I keep thinking "Paaaaaaaaaaarty Poker!" Little did I expect how passive things would be.

With the side bets that were place, the trader and review guy got some extra chips. They would put those chips to battle early and often. Review guy gets an early straight to inflict some damage on the trader. For some reason, the trader thought his pair of 6s would be good. Trader would go out soon after club man dumped some chips with his A 4o to a higher kicker.

I sat there folding hand after hand. I was intent on winning this thing. Afterall, I have a rep to live up to as the Good & Plenty Championship winner! I finally do enter a pot with A Ko. I raise it up and get 2 callers. With a K on the board I follow up with another bet just to have everyone fold. That is pretty much how this game would go. I would make a bet preflop, have players see a flop and maybe a turn just to fold. Little did they know what I was playing.

We were down to 6 people when I opened my game up. I knew the group was rather passive so I went on the warpath, especially against the big stack. I used position on him a couple of times to pull off some successful bluffs. I caught his tell right away and put it to use.

I dropped the line about being the current Good & Plenty Championship Champion to intimidate my opponents. I think it worked.

It was with 4 left that I pulled in line with the big stack and passed him up. With 6 4 in the BB, a small stack on the button just called. The SB folded and I check. With a flop of Q 8 6, we both checked. When a second Q hit on the turn, I bet out. He re-raised. For only 50 more, I had to call. I was pretty sure he wasn't slow playing a Q. In fact, no one had done anything tricky in this game, something I had noted. Sure enough, he had an overcard. No help and we are down to 3.

I have the lead now. The Advisor guy is on the short stack with the webbie at a slight disadvantage to me. Once again, I would hit the slot machine in the BB. Button folds, SB completes and I check with 10 7. The flop is a blogger table's nightmare or dream depending on whether you hold the Hammer or Pocket Rockets. 7 7 2. But knowing this wasn't a blogger table, I breathed a sigh of relief. I flop trips and slowly check. Advisor checks. Turn is a Q. There is a chance for a flush now but not much else. I check again hoping he will bet. He comes out firing. Bingo, the Q must have helped him. I push. He calls with his Q and has the river waive bye bye to him.

We are now heads up. I have what may be either a 4 or 3 to 1 chip lead. I am feeling very confident at this time. Maybe too confident. In the SB, I just call with K 8o. My opponent pushes. I gave it only a quick thought. Though he hadn't raised too often, I was thinking he didn't have much of a hand. Of course, I should have thought this out a bit longer but I was willing to roll the dice to end the game quickly. I called his all in and told him that I was willing to take a chance with my K. He looked at me like I was crazy, even asking me in a shocked tone if I did call. He turned over A A. Oops! Yeah, should have thought it out. Flop comes 10 4 8. Hey, I have something on the board! That is a start! Turn is a beautiful 8. River is a rag.

I cracked aces to win! My prize is chip set to be delivered to me at a later time. Overall it was a good time. We raised some money for charity and got to play poker at work. And I thought it was only those FTP guys who got to do that! The only disappointing part was not getting to drop the Hammer on someone.