Threepeat!

Have you ever tried taking candy from a baby? I mean, babies have incredibly strong grips, and would probably attract a fair bit of attention with their crying. I imagine it's not so easy as they claim.

Maybe the saying should be "as easy as taking chips in a home game." Oh yah, this is a brag post. Leave now if don't like insufferability over small stakes.

My regular home game has been running as an organized event for two years now. I missed the entire first year (never worked with my schedule), but made it out more for this season. It's a $20 rebuy tournament, and I've won over $1000 in it, while probably spending around $180. Not terrible at all.

Today marked my 3rd win this season out of 7 games (2 of which I missed, and the other two I made being 2nd and 6th finishes), making me the only 3-time champ. There's a ToC leaderboard. I have over 1200 points for 1st, and 2nd has around 550.

This of course means that I'll be first out in the ToC game.

Oh and this last game? Best starting hand was KK, which got creamed on a runner-runner straight by KQ (taking me from chip lead early on to... um... less of a chip lead). No AA. Man, I must be saving those up for Vegas.

Best suckout of the night for me? HU, pocket eights. I raise, button goes all-in, I call. I'm covered by a few thousand chips at least. He flips over AQo.

Me: "I won the last game with this hand. But I needed a 3rd eight to do it."

Board: xAxA8

So dirty. I just had to wait for the right hand from there, and won with flopped 2 pair beating a busted flush draw.

Best hand of the night though?

I have KJo and raise in MP to 3x BB total (trust me when I say this qualifies as a premium hand in this game). The guy I'd been HU with the last two games (and who I really didn't want to face again because his game aggravates the hell out of me with the calling and the minraises) minraises (shock!), everyone folds but me, and I call.

Flop: QTx
Guy checks, I check for the free card.

Turn: A - BINGO!

At this point, one of the more vocal players starts writhing in agony, saying how he's going to regret his fold. Always helpful to the guys still in the hand.

Guy reaches for his chips, stops, and checks instead. I catch this and debate how I want to play this. I decide to put out "you absolutely have to call this" bet, and he obliges me by calling.

River: A

Vocal not-in-this-hand groans, doubles over and bangs the empty chair next to him and swears. It's obvious to everyone and their sister that this guy had an ace, and probably the T or x on the flop. The host comes as close as I've ever seen him to snapping at the guy to shut up when the hand is still going on. Too late. I know my opponent doesn't have an ace, and he knows the same about me. He totally doesn't see the straight either.

Guy puts out a rather dumb-sized bet (small, but big enough to put him near the border of commitment), and I stop, think, and push. He debates, and calls.

I have the straight, he has pocket Jacks (QTAAx board, JJ is good of course), and I've got all his chips, and the knowledge that he's done. Vocal guy lets us know he folded AT, which we already knew of course.

I loved this hand for a few reasons.

1) I played this guy perfectly. I knew exactly how we was going to react after so many confrontations. I KNEW if I hit, he was all mine. I played the part I needed him to believe in, and he fell for it.

2) I adjusted to take advantage of the extra information that came my way during the hand. The moaning of the folded AT and the chip-reach-changed-my-mind move. The hand could only have been easier if the table was tilted towards me so his chips just moved due to gravity.

3) I won.

It also reminds me why I prefer live poker. None of #2 would have been possible online, and the hand would be played differently, possibly without me stacking the guy.

Oh, and one more, although I was only mildly involved in this hand:

Nearly family pot preflop just before the rebuy period ends. I'm among the leaders (and possible chipleader), with decent stacks on either side of me. I look down at 5s6h in the SB and limp. BB minraises and it goes around again with everyone calling. I do the same.

Betting is unimportant until the turn.

Board: Th3s2sAs

I check with the inside straight-flush draw. BB (LAG, but in a good way) overbets the pot, everyone folds to my right. He tanks, folds, and it comes to me. I don't put the BB on the flush, but there's no way a call makes sense with my hand. What am I hoping for other than the 4s? Nothing. I fold.

BB shows J4s (whew) for the flush (and my out), and the guy on my right flips over his mucked... KQs! ????? WHAT? We all ask him what he was thinking and he says "I figured he had the A and something weird". To which we all reply "which somehow beats your NUT flush?" He looks again and slams his head on the table, only now realizing he'd miscounted the spades, never realizing what he had. We went on break, made fun of him some more, and that became the hand of the night.