Blind Bear poker final table recap

I’d like to thank the Blind Bear for an excellent poker league final table last night. They really went all out for the top 10 point earners in their 16-week poker league that concluded Tuesday. There was a new development at this final table: We got snacks.

Photo Dec 14, 6 44 09 PM

I’d also like to thank poker host Charles for listening to us about the structure of the game. We all started with 30,000 chips, seven and a half times the starting stack of the weekly games. However, he was going to start the blinds at 1000/2000, meaning we would start with only a stack of 15 big blinds – not enough to skillfully play a hand all the way through the flop, turn, and river. After several of us protested, he gave each of us some 100-denomination chips, and started the blinds at 100/200. With a starting stack of 150 big blinds, there was plenty of opportunity to play some solid poker.

The table started with 10 players, but after a couple of hours it dwindled down to eight, then seven, then five, then three… and I was still in. “Do I have a shot at winning this thing?” I thought to myself. I had not won a final table since the first one at the Blind Bear, back in April 2012.

My chip stack was the smallest of the remaining three, but I was able to run a couple of bluff all-ins to win the blinds and improve to second biggest stack. My left-hand opponent correctly figured out that I couldn’t be getting that many good hands in a row, and decided to call one of my all-ins. Unfortunately for him, he chose to call a hand when I wasn’t bluffing. That time I had “pocket rockets,” two Aces, the best starting hand in Hold’em. To add insult to injury, I hit an Ace on the flop, giving me a “set,” three of a kind where two of the three are a pocket pair. My opponent was drawing dead on the turn and river and I eliminated one of the most skilled players who comes to the Blind Bear games.

That left me heads-up with my buddy Dennis. He and his wife Karen are two of the nicest Downtowners you will ever meet, and there is just about no one I would rather have as a final opponent. He had won the last two final tables prior to this one.

We went back and forth for several hands, and in the process my chip stack surpassed Dennis’s. I was being very aggressive, betting when I didn’t have much, representing that I hit flops that I actually completely missed. In the deciding hand, I got dealt Queen-Five and decided to go all-in to try and steal Dennis’ big blind. I definitely didn’t want to get called with a hand that crummy.

Dennis called.

Even worse, he had Queen-Ten, both hearts. That meant I had only one live card in my hand, the Five – if I hit my Queen it would help Dennis more than it would help me. Also, since my cards were unsuited and his were suited, he had a better chance of making a flush.

It was time to deal out the cards. The flop was something like 2-3-8. No help so far for my crummy Q5 and it looked like the vast majority of my chips were on their way to Dennis.

Turn was a 6. Dennis still had the best hand with his Queen-Ten high, but I’d picked up a straight draw. Only a 4 could save me.

River was a 4, giving me the miracle I needed and the final table victory! I definitely can’t chalk up the win to poker-playing skill. I got lucky!

I had my picture taken and then it was time to pick the prizes. There was some really cool stuff that distributors had donated, including a Jagermeister fire pit. I have to admit I was awfully tempted to pick it, but I don’t even have a yard, what would I ever do with it? Dennis and I agreed that we both wanted restaurant gift cards as our prizes. The way it works is, there are five $100 gift cards, to the Blind Bear itself, Local, Majestic Grille, Bluefin, and Kooky Canuck. As the first-place winner, I got to pick the three I wanted, then Dennis would get the remaining two.

Of course I picked the Blind Bear, since I’m in there nearly every day. I’ve been on a sushi kick lately, having stopped in Bluefin two of the past three Sundays before poker. So I picked the Bluefin card.

Since Dennis is my buddy, I asked him if there was one of the remaining three cards that he really wanted. He said it would be nice to have the Majestic card, so he and Karen can take the grandBeauties there when they come visit. With that in mind, I selected Kooky Canuck as my third card, leaving the Majestic and Local for Dennis. You really can’t go wrong with any of those five restaurants.

It was a fun time with good people. The Bear’s new 16-week poker league starts tomorrow night at 8:00, as we begin accumulating points toward the April 2015 final table.

I may do a news post before I go out tonight, so check back.