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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 4th 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
4th 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 8th 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 2nd ever Royal Flush! Sheriff was now short-stacked
but at least was spared losing all his chips on the river. However, a 6th 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 2nd and John A picking up 3rd.
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 9th 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 2nd and Barry in
3rd. 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!!!
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