September 2005 Game Report

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17.09.05

Thanks to The Sheriff for writing up this months report, I am sure you will enjoy it as much as I did.............

At some point between the first and second games yesterday Ali, in her infinite wisdom, decided that being the ‘most regular of regulars’, the current WSOC champ, the defending Cheesey League winner and the judge of the caption competitions wasn’t enough interaction for the poor, overworked Sheriff so she ‘nominated’ (i.e. = ordered) me to write the game report for the game. Perhaps the events of the first game (see below) were the reason. However, its more than likely she was just being mean!

The £20 NLHE game got a decent turnout and started as a 2-table event for the first time in quite a while. The runners included a newcomer to the game (Nigel), a long-lost soul returning for the first time in a while (Barry) plus the usual assortment of regulars, from which Old King Cole and Dazza were the predictable late arrivals! Traditionally, only Dazza has regularly worn shades at the table on a regular basis during the Cheesey games. However, several others are now considering it following the unveiling of Derek’s new jumper!

The game got off to a quiet start (clearly some hangovers were in the air, or perhaps everyone had their heads down to avoid the Yves St Laurent glare!) and poor Nigel, who was experiencing his first live poker game, was soon knocked out on the other table and relegated to the role of TV viewing. Over on Sheriff’s table, however, strange happenings were occurring...

Things had started reasonably well from a personal point of view. After building up an early chip lead, despite much nagging from Ali about her blinds being stolen, a seemingly innocuous hand occurred between Sheriff and Richard Yeeles (Gooner) in a battle of the blinds. After a limp/check pre-flop, and no bet on the flop, the turn brought the 4 of clubs, putting 3 clubs out on the board. Sheriff, holding T4 of spades, made a small bet from the big blind to see if the pair of 4’s was good. The call from Richard suggested it wasn’t and the river brought a 4^th club on board. Richard checked, Sheriff checked behind and showed his pair of 4’s, only for Richard to flip over the King of Clubs for a king-high flush. Ali pointed out that he had to show both cards and Richard flipped over the 6 of clubs showing that he had made a flush on 4^th street . However, as he is likely to be reminded for the rest of his Cheesey days, the 6 of clubs also gave him a straight flush on the river, causing much hilarity at the fact he’d flipped over his weaker card!!! Sheriff, after obtaining a ruling that a straight flush did indeed beat a pair of 4’s, started to wonder whether forgetting his ‘lucky cap’ would indeed proved to be a fatal mistake. However, the loss had not proved too expensive.

Dazza, who still appeared to be half asleep, was next to depart, which signalled the start of the final table. The first significant action began with a blinds at 150/300 and an UTG limp from Derek. The action was folded around to Ali in mid-position who made it 1,000 to go, causing the rest of the table to scarper. Derek called the extra 700 and it was heads up to a turn of A-5-6. Derek checked, Ali checked behind and the turn brought a 7. Derek bet out, Ali re-raised all-in and Derek called. Ali flipped over pocket Aces for a set, Derek showed 9-8 of hearts for a straight. Ali failed to fill up on the river and departed in 8^th place to an eery silence!

Barry was next to go before Sheriff once again got involved in a small blind-big blind confrontation, this time with Buzz, who had limped in from the small blind. Sheriff, holding Ac8c, opted not to raise from the big blind and the flop brought Qs-Js-T. Buzz bet 400, Sheriff who had picked up a ‘double belly-buster gutshot’ as Mr Brunson likes to call them, called. The turn brought the Ks, giving Sheriff a straight but putting 3 spades on the board. Buzz checked, Sheriff bet 1000, Buzz contemplated for a bit then called. The river brought the sickening As, putting the straight on the board but also 4 spades. Buzz checked, Sheriff checked behind thinking that there was no way Buzz would have called the turn bet without at least one spade in his hand. Buzz then flipped over JTo, which included the T of spades, giving him Cheeseypoker’s 2^nd ever Royal Flush! Sheriff was now short-stacked but at least was spared losing all his chips on the river. However, a 6^th place exit proved inevitable.

I’m not sure of the details of the game from that point onwards as I was too busy pointing out that it takes straight flushes and royal flushes to get rid of the Sheriff to anyone who would listen (and several who wouldn’t). Suffice it to say that Buzz continued to accumulate chips, at one point ‘gambling’ against Tight End’s all-in bet. Buzz had 88, Tight End had QQ. Needless to say Buzz won the hand (hence my hearing about the hand through gritted teeth from Tight End!) and went on to win the first game with Gooner finishing 2^nd and John A picking up 3^rd.

After the fireworks of Game 1, the £50 double chance proved equally remarkable for its complete lack of activity in the early & middle stages. Having been joined by Jeff, Priscilla, Dave W and another newcomer, Chris, the game started with 13 players. Dazza had opted not to play this game and perhaps this was an ominous sign that he is the catalyst for action at the tables. The game proved to be a tight affair and after the first 3 levels up to the rebuy we were still 13 handed. Indeed, there had only been one early rebuy during this period. As the game recommenced in a similar fashion after the break and the blinds edged ever upwards it became clear that this was likely to end up being decided by a fast and furious series of short-stacked all-ins at some point.

After what seemed like an age, the first casualty finally stood up on the other table to which I was playing, and we gradually lost (in no particular order as I can’t remember it!) Gooner, Tight End, Ali, John A, Chris and Jeff (who made the final table but never actually got to play a hand there as he went out trying to double up on the hand-in-progress when the other table had lost the 9^th place player). Starting blinds for the final table of 8 were, if memory serves correctly, 1000/2000 and with average stack sizes of <15,000 this was always likely to be a lightning affair.

Surprisingly, the game lasted much longer than anticipated, due to the fact that each player seemed be getting his/her fair share of luck at all-in showdowns. Chip leads were won and lost, short-stacks were ground back into contention, and the blinds just kept on rising! Perhaps the most remarkable story was that of newcomer Nigel, who had apparently learnt how to hang onto his chips after game 1 and was putting in much more spirited effort, albeit with his inexperience showing from time to time. Things had looked bleak early on when he’d gotten involved in a big pot with Old King Cole. Nigel called Derek’s pre-flop raise and, on a relatively harmless looking flop Derek announced all-in and was quickly called. Considering the action, everyone was surprised to see Derek roll over AJ for Ace-High only to be followed by Nigel showing KT for King-High. Derek’s hand held up and Nigel was down to the felt.

Soon afterwards, Sheriff (who by now was chip leader) made a pre-flop raise which would put Nigel, in the Big Blind, all-in. He called and flipped over QJ. Yours truly had AJs and things were looking good. However, the first card revealed on the flop was the dreaded Queen and there had been no redraw by the river giving Nigel a much-needed double through. On the very next hand he did it again against someone else with the result that in 2 hands Nigel had gone from short-stack to chip leader with over 30k in chips!

By the time we got to the traditional break for Chinese take-away the game was still 4-handed, with Sheriff holding a slight chip lead over Dave W, Barry and Nigel. However, chip leads count for nothing in this game and I was the first one out after the game resumed after losing most of my chips with a push from the button with KQ being called by Nigel in the BB with A9 and failing to improve. It was all over soon afterwards. Again, details are sketchy from this point onwards but the final result was a debut win for Nigel, with Dave W in 2^nd and Barry in 3^rd. Congrats to Nigel on a great result!!!

Finally, we all wearily congregated for game 3 at around 11.15pm. Dazza had returned in time for food and was playing but one or two others decided that it was too late for them to go on. My report on the game is remarkably brief as I was the first one of 11 to be knocked out (much to the shock of Tight End) after an action hand on the kitchen table. With blinds still at 50/100 Derek had limped from UTG, Jeff completed from the SB and I made it 400 to go from the BB with AsKs and both Derek and Jeff called. The flop brought 2 spades on it, Jeff checked, I bet 1000, Derek called, Jeff went all-in, I called for my remaining 2,000 or so, and Derek also called for all his chips (Jeff had us covered). Jeff lamented the fact he had been making a move and turned over Qs2s giving him a flush draw lower than mine, Derek showed 33, giving him trips with the 3 that had come on the flop. The turn card brought a 2, giving Jeff the lead in the side pot with me. The non-pairing spade I needed to win the whole pot didn’t come on the river, nor did an Ace or King to win the side pot and I was out!

Gradually, as people started to be knocked out of the final game, a cash game developed among the casualties. The Cheesey cash games have been getting wilder and wilder in recent months (in terms of the games being played) but this one developed into the stuff of legends! In fact, its fair to say that those left in the tournament missed out in a big way!!! The turning point came when it was suggested that each game selected in the Dealers Choice have a ‘twist’ (wild cards, etc). Consequently, we were soon learning new games left, right and centre, normally being preceded by a ‘dummy run’ without betting before we tried it for real. Pretty soon we were playing 6 card Omaha with wild deuces, Super Stud, Padooki (which a few of us had never played before), and a selection of even crazier games. I had been struggling to come up with any ideas for games, as my card playing history is much less extensive than the bunch of reprobates sat around the table with me so I opted to play a game from the book ‘Big Deal’ which was conveniently at my feet, having been returned by Tight End during the day. This game, Levy’s game, is a variant of 5 card draw, with 6 betting rounds, 2 redraw options and a final declaration round (as its naturally played high-low!!!!) which, it turns out, brings a whole host of opportunities for strategy, bluffing and general craziness. Its fair to say that this game proved to be the undoubted star and, despite the fact I lost all my money on the last hand to a HORRENDOUS suckout by Tight End (who was anything but tight by this point!) there is no doubt that it will return to future Cheesey games! In fact, some people have gone so far as to say that they never want to play Hold’em again!!!

We finally wrapped things up at 5am! For some of us, this meant we had been there for 16 hours but the game is so bloody addictive, and the people who attend it are great fun, so in reality the time just flies by! Alas, Ali in her wisdom has decided to give everyone a chance next month by arranging it during my holiday so someone else will have to type the report for that one!!!

See you all in November.

Sheriff

PS: Not that anyone cares after experiencing Levy’s game, but Buzz won game 3 to make it 2 out of 3 on the day and take an early lead in the new league. It won’t last as he surely can’t hit Royal Flushes every month!!!