The Polish Pride Poker Party

Last night, I had the opportunity to play in a new game hosted by my friend, Sebastian, and his buddy, Brian. Don't mind the goofy name for the event as nothing better came to mind. The guys had a great turn out for the first of what I hope is many tournaments they host. The game was a $30 NL Hold'em with one re-buy during the first four levels (you had to be knocked out in order to re-buy...only 4 people used their re-buy option). We started with 22 players on three tables and paid the top four finishers.

Here are some quick notes from the final table.

Our bubble boy was the host, Sebastian. I believe the blinds were 800/1600 with a 100 ante. Sebastian was in the BB with less than twice the big blind left. Action folded around to John in the SB who, before looking at his hand, said "I guess I have to, right?" referring to putting Sebastian all-in. Sebastian calls with K3o. John shows Q4o. Sebastian hit a 3 on the flop only to see John catch a 4 on the turn. Sebastian couldn't return the favor on the river and bowed out in 5th place.

Several hands later during the same level, our new short stack, Mike, found himself with less than 2x the BB. Mike pushes all-in from outside the blinds and Ed called (small blind??? didn’t mark that down in my notes). The cards are shown and Mike’s in bad shape as his 9d8s is in a world of hurt against Ed’s Ad8d. Mike goes from three outs to four on a flop of Jh As 7d as he goes into prayer mode hoping to catch a 10 for a nut straight. Ed’s top pair improves to a set when the Ac peels off the turn. The 6c floats down the river ending Mike’s tournament who took down $75 for his fourth place finish.

A side note, Mike was also responsible for taking me out in 7th when I made a button move with Ad4d and Mike woke up with AQo. He flopped a set and diamonds weren’t my best friend as I couldn’t catch a runner-runner flush which left me crippled. A couple hands later, I was UTG and moved blind with slightly more than 2x the BB. Mike, trying to offer some help, makes a huge raise that goes uncalled so we go head’s up. He shows QQ and I’m stuck with Jc10c (could’ve been worse). The flop offers no help and Mike “earns the checkmark” when the turn leaves me drawing dead. Nice playing Mike!

Our third place hand was a classic case of the big stack playing big stack poker and winning with it. The blinds are now 1,000/2,000 with a 200 ante. Ryan who has been the dominant force at the table thus far makes it 7,000 straight on the button. John makes the call in the BB. The flop comes 4h 10h 2s. John bets out 5,000 and Ryan immediately pushes back all in. John count up his remaining stack and finds that he has about 17,000 left before making the call. John flips up Kc10d for top pair with a strong kicker and Ryan show the all-powerful 2d4c for bottom two pair. The turn brings a 5d giving John a couple more outs but Ryan fills up with the 2c on the river. John earns $110 for his 3rd place finish. Nice work!

Our head’s up combatants are Ryan and Ed. At the start, Ryan has almost a 3:1 chip lead on Eddie. They play about a dozen hands before the blinds grow to 1,200/2,400 with 200 antes. Ryan’s lead has grown to almost 4:1 over Ed when we get to our final hand. Ryan limps in from the SB and Ed raises to 7,400. Ryan pushes Ed back and goes all in. Ed makes the call and finds that he fell into the trap set by Ryan. Ryan shows AcKc and Ed, sensing defeat, shows his KsJh. The flop begins construction with three bricks in the form of 5s 2h 5h. The turn shows paint, but the Qd hits nobody. The As comes on the river giving Ryan a pair and Ed is knocked out in 2nd place which earns him $160. Ryan wins $300 for his victory. Congrats to you both!

On behalf of Sebastian and Brian, thanks to everyone who came out. I hope that many of you can make it out to our charity game on the 14th!