Them pesky Ace Tens!

zOMG! What a week... I'll never look at A10's in the same light again!

Feeling pretty flush, I played in four tournaments this week: JP's Monday night game in the Kestrel, the Poker Room's €65 FO and their Christmas night special plus the Bell's €60 and gained another €410 for the books.

Got off to a great start in JP's game, after winning two pots including one with A10 for straight, I got Ac10c again in hijack position, called and got two clubs on a Q,10,X flop facing 2 'all-ins' from UTG and MP - I called after a dwell leaving myself with 4k behind and hit my flush on river to oust JJ and AQ to make me chipleader on 32k until the break. Dropping back to 23k by break (had the luckbox Bomber Nolan on the table too - need I say more?) Another player kept raising a lot, winning the chips pre-flop. I found my 3rd A10 in UTG+2 and raised 3xBB (900) hoping I would get paid off big with a lot of shorties on the table, got 5 callers(!) Flop came 10 2 5. The player made his standard post-flop raise to 3.5k, I wasn't going to let him take this pot on me and shoved with top pair hoping I get credited with trips. He hummed for a moment then called with JJ leaving himself with less than 2k. No 10 or Ace for me and I'm gone. Was talking to JP on the way out he asked if it was Bomber that put me out "no, but I wish he had, then I wouldn't feel so annoyed with myself for making that shove!" LOL!

The Poker Room's €65 (+€5 reg,free for ladies) on Tuesday night was an excellent game. I played my best hands hard and aggressive, amassed myself as table chipleader from 1st level until after the break... then was gone in 2 hands: re-raised As5s (in BB) on a Ks10sAx got called by button who called all bets to River, I put him on a QK/JK/J10/Q10/K10 etc missing the straight, I shoved with the A on river hoping he didn't have an ace himself. But no, he called showing A10 for house... meh! Couple of hands later I got 77 in CO and raised to 70% of my stack, got 2 callers (both had limped in) flop came 5 6 10, chipleader pushed all in, other player folded, I had to call... Didn't he show A10(!) Loved the 4 on turn but sadly no lucky suck out for me on river and I was gone.

Had just about enough cash hours to wrangle a free ticket for the Poker Room's Christmas tournament "Pineapple Poker" with table quiz and 'Deal or No Deal' game... it was great fun! The craic was good, Ross and his staff put on a terrific night, would have loved to have got a shot at the Deal or No Deal game but it was just as enjoyable to watch. In the Pineapple tournament I got a nice triple up in the first hand then went down, down, down, til I bombed holding AA1010 (I kid you not...) As I went over to the cash game, where Denis (card room manager) was dealing, he looked at me in disgust "what happened to your big stack?!"

It wasn't all doom and gloom - I went on the cash table from 11:30pm til 4am put €150 down and got up with €650... and nearly got lynched in the process too! After taking €200 off one player in the previous hands, he is still tilting and ranting at me as he limps in pre-flop and called my €16 raise (I had A8) with a string of choice words... flop comes A83, he bets €25, I raised to €75 and he insta-shoves for 400. I knew he didn't have a pair for a set (he would have raised big) and called to see him holding A3 and after a 50 second rant, he calms down and asks quietly: "Hey, can we make a deal?" feeling sorry for the bloke I agreed and offered him €200 back from the pot. He was my best friend after that, and the rest of the table were full of praise, but Denis looked at me in disgust "Pfffft! You too soft! He would have been happy with just €25!" he tutted at me, LOL! Ah I was more happy to get out in one piece! I announced that I was playing one more hand then heading home, bet out blind just to donate to the pot, looked down and saw A10 (eeeek!!!!) and folded to a re-raise! LOL! Left a decent tip for the dealers and put a €25 chip on the table told the players 'that's for the next pot' and left... I may be a marshmallow but hey, it's Christmas and a €500 profit is good enough for me!

Played the DPN's deepstack Bell game last night, was chipleader from the very first hand thanks to Drunk Eamonn (LOL! How could you play that hand Eamonn?!!!) until the Final Table. Susie Woosie was there too as one of the short stacks, and ran an amazing game hitting no less than 3 set of quads to end up heads up with me! Looking at her massive 4-1 chiplead, I offered to deal 50-50 but she wasn't accepting it (Rightly so!!! Susie's no marshmallow!) I pointed out that we have never done heads-up together... shall we play? I lasted all of 5 mins, pushed with K6 called by A7... 77 on board and that's all she wrote!

The game was finished at 11pm but I didn't want to go home (making the most of the babysitter - bad mammy!) persuaded Susie Woosie to come with me to the Fitz and brought Drunk Eamonn along for the craic. €200 on cash tables, and 30 mins later I was gone(!) QQ - split side pot, AK and AQ but not one decent pot did I win! My AQ got hammered on a Ace high board against Susie's 66 and Drunk Eamonn's all-in with KKs, dealer dealt the turn without allowing another round of betting put the card back, shuffled and re-dealt a 6 to give Susie her set. I just laughed knowing Susie the luck-box had the poker gods in her pocket already! But poor Eamonn... that really put him off cards! He moaned about those kings all the way home... says he's now sworn off poker 'for good'! Famous last words!?

As for me: after that hand I was down to €50 shoved with JJ few hands later and got called by A10... need I say more?!

Them pesky feckers... Meh!