Victory is Mine!

Ahh, the Christmas season is upon us. And as much as I love the stress of it all, there are some things I don't really look forward to. One of those things is my wife's office party. Sometimes it's bad enough going to my own. Most of the time they're just so awkward. You hang around with people you work with and try to make small talk. It's still a work function, so you can't really relax. You put in your hour or so and then get out of there. With my wife's, you get the added bonus of not really knowing anybody. Getting reintroduced to people you somewhat recognize, having to listen to a little small talk, trying to be on your best behavior so not everybody will know Katie's husband is a complete idiot. Like I said, just not my idea of a good time.

This year was different, though. They scheduled a bunch of activities; one of which was a poker tournament. Realizing I could save myself lots of small talk and awkwardness, I signed up for the poker tournament. So we show up and after some walking around to tour the place the party was at, we get in line to get some food. Pleasantries, introductions, and other mind numbing social niceties went on until the poker tournament started. And then it was all down to business.
There were only 16 of us, including an 11 year old kid and one guy who was asking a lot of questions about how to play and what hands beat what. All in all, I liked my chances. Up for grabs were prizes for the top 3. 3rd place was a $25 American Express gift card, 2nd place was a nice hoodie with the logo of the company, and 1st place was a portable fire pit. As we got started, there were 2 tables of 8. Each table was to play down to 4 and then combine. From there, we'd play until there was a winner.

For the first 30 or so hands, I didn't see a single playable hand. In fact, I think I saw one face card and one ace. I thought about playing the ace-five offsuit because I was so desperate to see some action. With a raise and a re-raise to me, though, I thought better of it and let the hand go. A few hands later I picked up pocket queens in early position. I threw a raise out, and despite not having played a single hand up to this point, I got 3 callers. The flop came down Q-x-x rainbow. I had top set. A powerful hand. I bet a smallish amount and got 2 callers to the turn. My bet on the turn saw everyone fold. My first pot! And it was my last for a while. Slowly people started being eliminated and my chip stack was average at best. When we combined tables, I was below average. I was going to need to make a move fast if I was to survive. When I looked down at AK suited, I knew it was my time. I threw a normal preflop raise out and got two callers. One was the 11 year old. The flop came down and was a queen high rainbow - no help. I figured there was enough in the pot, that I would just as soon take it down. So I pushed all in and prayed. The first guy to act after me had a few less chips than me, but he wasted no time in calling. The ll year old though for a second and called me as well. I knew I was dead. The first guy turned up ... A-6 ? No pair, ace high. I actually had this guy beat. The 11 year old turned up his Q-9, though, so I had two chances to catch a king, an ace, or running straight cards. The turn was a blank, so I had 1 more chance to catch any of the 2 remaining aces or three remaining kings. For you math whizzes out there, I was about a 8.4-1 underdog. Lo and behold, though, the river came the beautiful king of hearts and I was back in it.

From there, I started getting cards all over the place. I started being able to afford to see cheap flops with no real hand. Out of the big blind, I looked down at 6-8 offsuit. There were 2 callers and I checked my option. The flop came down j - 8 -6. The first guy checked, the 11 year old pushed all in, and I somewhat apologetically called his bet. The first guy got out of the way and 11 year old showed j - 7. The turn and river were no help and he was out in 5th. When the short stack finally made a stand, his small pocket pair came up short and we were down to 3. I had made the money (so to speak). Here is a picture of the final 3 and the dealer. Notice everybody is watching the guys hands to see how much he is going to bet. I'm watching his eyes to see what he was thinking.
Eventually the lady to my right and I got heads up. She was the reigning CompHealth poker champion, having won the 40 person United Way tournament they had earlier this year. She played really well, and I was nervous. She had mentioned wanting the second place prize, so I made a deal with her. We would agree that I would take the fire pit and she would take the hoodie. We could still play it out for the winner, but at least we'd each get the prize we wanted. She agreed. I played really aggressively heads up and had taken a slight chip lead when I looked down at A-K of spades. I was first to act, and I decided to just call the big blind. I was going to be sneaky. She raised the pot a really small amount. It seemed like a pretty weak bet to me, so I raised her about 3 times the size of her bet. She pushed all in on me, and I figured she had a hand like A-Q or maybe pocket tens. I called her bet and she turned up pocket queens. I was in trouble. The flop was no help. The turn was a blank, and once again I found myself looking for one of 6 cards. (about an 8-1 underdog). When a king fell on the river, I let out an involuntary cheer. Even though my win included knocking an 11 year old out of the tournament and I had to suck out to get there, it still felt good!