Home Game Woes

I don't think I have talked about it but I frequent a home game. We have roughly about 15 or so guys who get together on the 2nd Saturday of each month and play poker. We have a thing called the Grand Prix. Grand Prix is a leaderboard type setup where you get points based on your finish and number of players in the tourney. We run this for 6 months where we play 12 games and you take the best 8 finishes so that if you miss a month it won't hurt you that bad. The buy in for each tourney is $25 and 10% of the prize pool is pulled out of all 12 games and then divided out to the top 3 point leaders at the end of the 6 months. Then we start all over. This past Saturday was games 11 and 12 of this Grand Prix. I went into game 11 about 12 points behind the leader and about 4 points ahead of 3rd place. Only 8 people showed up for game 1 so it was known that Mark had solidified his spot at number one for this season. Now it was a race for 2nd and 3rd between myself, Kevin (3rd) and John (4th). So let the games begin.

Game 1 started well for me. I was hitting some good cards and slowly building my stack. I was dealt T8 of clubs and limped from MP. There were a couple of callers and we went to the flop. 5s 8s 3d. Okay flopped top pair on an ugly board. So I bet out and Matt next to me raises all in. Now Matt is good but Matt is a maniac. When he does this early he has one of two thing, the nuts or nothing at all. It's folded back to me and I start thinking this out. Against Kevin or Mark I fold and move on. Against Matt I am willing to think long and hard about it. His all in will cost me about 600 on chips and if I call and lose I am still left with 1000 which is what we started out with and it is early, 2nd round I believe. If I win I take him out and be sitting good. I eventually put him on a draw and decided to take the plunge. I call and flip over my T8 and he flips over AQ no spades. Turn and River both miss him and I win.

Shortly after I get into a pot with Kevin. 2nd place vs. 3rd place. I limp in MP with Jc8c. It gets to him in the sb or bb, can't remember and he raises it up. I call hoping to hit that miracle flop and he likes to push me around a lot. He knows I think he is good and when we get heads up he knows how to push me into submission. I admit it, he has my number. But tonight I wasn't going to be pushed around. Anyway, the flop comes Qc 9c Xh( I can't remember). So I am looking good. He bets out the pot and I call immediately. Turn is a Xc. Didn't the straight flush but had a Q high flush. He checks and I bet half the pot. He thinks for awhile and eventually calls. River is a Q. He checks and I bet close to half the pot. He folds. Yay. Now I am looking really good. But a couple hands later Kevin goes all in vs Danny for a 2000+ chip pot and wins and he now has me covered.

From there is goes all down hill. I start trying to attack the small blinds and get it all in with AJ vs. A6 and TT vs. QQ. Soon I am shortstacked and end up pushing with KJ of diamonds and run into the BB's AA. Out in 6th. Kevin goes on to finish 1st and now holds a 1.07 point lead on me for 2nd going into the final game.

I lost composure in this one. I was still steaming over the last game and couldn't get my head into it. I tried something I have never done and that was flat out bluff. I was dealt 43o in MP and raised. 4 of us went to the flop which was AK. Checked around to me I and bet out. 1 folded, 2 called. 5 on the turn. Checked to me so I bet out. 1 called. 6 on the river, checked to me, I bet out and he called flipping over AQ. BAH! At that point I was down to about 300 in chips. I tried, I failed and I didn't care. I liked being short anyway, big stack in the previous game didn't work so maybe being short early would be good. So I tightened up and waiting for monsters. I can't remember but I got back up to 650 by stealing blinds and got it all in and lost and was down to 150. I was in the small blind with 75 of that and it was folded to me and I put my 75 in and flipped over 96o. BB showed AdJd. Flop hit 78T and I went on to double up to 300. Got 99 in the BB and reraised the SB and he folded and was now sitting on 750.

Blinds are 75/150. UTG raises to 450. I look down in UTG+1 and see two Kings. I go all in for 675 total. Folded around to the SB(Matt) who takes a long time and calls putting himself all in for 675 as well. UTG calls the 225 and we flip the cards over. Matt has Ad 3d. I have KK and Mark shows AQ. John and James both say they folded an Ace so Aces are no longer a worry card. I can get back in this and be sitting on stack of 2175 in chips and back in it. But of course two diamonds hit the flop and the river completes it. I go out in 8th out of 9.

Matt goes on to win game 2 and we are done. I end up 3rd in the Grand Prix and take home an extra $60. Oh well. We start over again next month.