The Magnificent Seventh

And that’s where my poker pal Gary and I found ourselves this February to take part in our first organised land based tournament. Sure, I’d taken part in hundreds of tournaments prior to this but my part was always the dealer so I was looking forward to sitting on the other side for a change.

Being the typical enthusiasts however, we decided to get there early to check out any pre-tournament action. Unfortunately, the club had only just opened and there were no games in progress. Consequently, by the time the tournament got under way, I’d had about 4 coffees and a dozen cigarettes and that combined with my anticipation meant that my heart rate was hitting 200 (double the amount of our starting chips).

I wouldn’t say I’m a bad player but neither would I class myself as a good player… too often I let my heart rule my head and hold too firm a belief in a fair chance. On this occasion however I’d promised myself that I wouldn’t let this happen and would only get involved when I was certain of victory.

My first opportunity came only 5 hands into the tournament. No sooner in fact had my heart calmed down a little than it was racing again as I turned up the corners of cards and sat staring face to face with The Big Slick in a suit (doesn’t that just sound good?). Not only that but I was on the button to boot!

When the action came round to me, there were still 5 players involved, with the small blind still to go, so I put in a raise. If there’s one thing I hate, it’s being outdrawn on AK suited, even more so than with AA, and so I wanted to force at least a couple of players into folding pre-flop. Sure enough, my raise had the desired effect and all but 2 of my opponents folded. That was soon reduced to 1 when the first of the 2 went all in. The other promptly folded leaving me the decision of whether to call.

If I called and were to lose, it would not damage my chip stack beyond repair, my opponent only having about 40 chips remaining. If, on the other hand, I called and were to win, it would certainly put me in a favourable position early on in the game. My decision was made, I called.

Glory of glories, we turned over our cards and my AK of hearts fell down next to his A3 off suit. A collective “oooh” escaped from the other players; a solitary groan came from my right. The dealer quickly dealt “ze flop”(we’re in France remember) and I had “ze nutz” with 3 hearts showing me their love. Fortunately none of them helped my opponent in any way and the turn and the river were just a formality. The table erupted into conversation as my opponent shook my hand and left.

Over the next hour I gradually increased my chip stack, knocking out 4 other players in the process until I had about 900 in chips (we started with 100 for those who missed it earlier, so yes, I’m doing OK). Our table was then closed and we were moved to other tables.

Unfortunately, the players on the table to which I was moved all had similar size chip stacks to me and so I could no longer rely upon that advantage. I had to very careful now if I wanted to stay in the game. So of course, the very next hand I go all in.

I peeked at my cards and was rewarded with the sparkle of diamonds, the Jack and the 9 to be precise. Now I know diamonds are a girl’s best friend but I have to say, I’m rather partial to them myself. By the time the action got round to me however (I was on the small blind), there was only the big blind and one other caller left in and, although I was fond of these diamonds, I wasn’t fond enough to pay too much money for them just yet so I merely called, the big blind checking in turn.

So there’s 3 of us left in and I’m first to act after the flop which, believe it or not came Kd Qd 8d. Immediately my heart skipped a beat, I’d hit the flush, although I was acutely aware that the Ace wasn’t present. I decided to test the water and put in a small bet. With but a moments hesitation, the big blind went all in which to call would put me nearly all in also. The other remaining player folded and once again I had to make a critical decision. Did this guy have the Ace flush, did he just have the Ace, did he have a lower flush or even no flush at all.

I figured he had at least a flush draw if not a flush already and that if he was drawing he was holding the Ace. If however he had made the flush I reasoned it was a lower flush than mine else he would have just called my bet and allowed me to feed the pot. I called and knew the moment I saw his cards that I had won. 10 7 of diamonds couldn’t quite cut the Dijon and so I soon found myself as the new chip leader.

For the next 2 hours I bluffed, bet and blinded my way through to the semi final at which point, thankfully, there was a break.

I caught up with Gary who had been on a different table the whole time but who had unfortunately been knocked out going all in with AQ against AK. Still, he was the last player to be knocked out before the semi final and was well chuffed with his performance.

After the break, I was sitting pretty with about 1,500 (10,000 issued in all) and so was quite happy to sit back a little and let the others do the fighting for a while. In fact, I only got involved in 2 hands the whole time I was at that table.
Finally, after about 5 hours of play, a voice hollered the words I was longing to hear and I breathed a sigh of relief. I’d made the final table and the least I would leave with was the money I came in with. Everyone was now in the money. I did a quick count of my chips and soon discovered that I was chip leader going into the final with just short of 2,000 chips.

What can I say? I was ecstatic. I was tired and my eyes were drooping but I had a grin stretched from ear to ear and I was buzzing more than a pair of sheep shears.

That excitement however soon turned to boredom as hand after hand I was dealt rags. My chip stack ebbed away as quickly as my resolve. Added to that, 2 players were knocked out in quick succession and the remaining players were starting to build on their stacks. The big blind came my way and when I saw the Queen and Jack of clubs in my hand I gave thanks for some decent cards at last. They happened though to be my downfall.

The action had come round to me and feeling protective toward my dwindling chip stack, I checked. The flop was horrendous. Ac Qd 10c. I knew I had a good hand here with draws to both the top straight and top flush as well as the royal flush (not to mention a pair of Queens), but that’s all I did have and there was a straight out there somewhere just waiting to pounce.

The small blind checked, I decided to bet, and put in 500. One by one the remaining players folded except for the small blind who not only called me but raised me another 500 all in. To call would have left me severely short stacked and I was seriously considering having to pass my hand when my heart popped up and said “call”.

The chips went in, the cards came over and my eyes screwed up at the sight of his Ace-3. All of a sudden everyone was out of their seats as the dealer dealt the turn. A rag, no help either way. The table fell silent as the river rolled out and there it was, the 3 of diamonds, giving my opponent 2 pair and me that horrible sinking feeling.

When I saw my next hand however, I saw a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. It isn’t a great hand I know but A-10 off suit is something at least and so when my nemesis raised enough pre-flop to put me all in, I called.

The other players had already folded and so once again my nemesis and I turned over our cards to the sound of scraping chairs.

At first I thought I was seeing things but I blinked a couple of times and when I looked again, it was still there, J 4 off suit. My opponent had tried a steal but was now the underdog. I was already thinking revenge is sweet as the flop came down 7 5 6 rainbow. Suddenly things didn’t look too good. I’ve gone from being the firm favourite to less than evens and that glimmer of light was starting to waver. The turn came with no help to either of us and as the river was dealt my eyes latched onto the little squiggle that is the number 3.

My nemesis saw it at the same time and with a whoop of delight, jumped up and punched the air, which I thought was very unsporting of him considering he didn’t deserve to win that hand – it was, after all, my turn!