Home game last night

Fifteen players. $100 buy in. 1500 tournament chips. We paid $700 to first place and paid top 4 finishers. 2 tables (8 and 7). I sat at the 7 player table. At my table we had C -super loose, will call/bet with anything; J- Tight aggressive (TAG), good player; Q -2nd time playing ever and announced it at the start; M-TAG player, considered best player of the 15; BE - TAG, very good player; BH -Loose Aggressive (LAG), good player; and me.

My table is super Loose, very aggressive pre-flop and post. On 10/20 blinds, bettor usually makes it 125 to see the flop. And a lot of times got several callers. About three hands in, Q called down to the river with second pair and lost about 1/3 of his chips, but this would turn out to be a very profitable hand for how it set him up. He announced again: "this is only my second time playing", like he was hustling. Sure enough, two hands later he was betting the same amounts, when M put him all in. He insta called and showed a flush, beating the "top pair only" that M had.

A few hands later, Q raises pre-flop and M calls. Flop comes K84rainbow. Q raises, M reraises and Q calls. Turn is a K. Q goes all in. . . M thinks for awhile and mucks face up pocket A's. Q laughs and refuses to tell what he had.

I was card dead. Saw one pocket pair (KK) and won it pre-flop with 3x BB raise. Also flopped a boat from the big blind with 104off, and it checked around. I bet on the turn and took a small pot with no action behind me.

Q was winning a lot of pots now because he was betting aggressively after the flop and people were believing he had the cards. M was also winning a lot of pots at showdown, because he was getting the cards. He had trip 7's twice in a row. The first hand flopped two 7's and the second he had pocket 7's with a seven coming on the flop. C was giving a lot of money away. With M now the chip leader he was reraising any bet, especially after the flop. I tried to steal a couple of pots but he used his chip stack effectively. A lot of times Q played him heads up and it was funny to watch as Q would lose with 2nd pair or Ahigh, but M would play Q to the river with any pair and lost a lot of hands to Q.

Then this hand came: C raises 4xBB to 130 from middle position (a normal raise at this table), M calls behind him, I consider calling from the BB with 8s6s, but decided to fold leaving them heads up. Flop comes Js2s5c. C bets 200, M calls. Turn is 7s (aaarrrgggh. I would have flushed). C bets 200 again, M calls. River is 10d. C bets 200 and M re-raises to 500. C has about 800 in front of him, so he stops to think. And he thinks and thinks and finally shoves all his chips in. M has him covered and insta calls and flips over As10s for Ace high flush (glad I folded my flush). C mucked but later said he was playing QQ. So Q and M were the chip leaders at our table at the first break. C was first player out.

A key hand for me was when I was in the big blind with Ad3d. 5 limpers were ahead of me, so I checked my BB of 30. The flop comes 245rainbow with no diamonds. I'm first to act and check. Everyone checks behind me. I am short stacked now, with 600 in chips and thought I could check raise or slow play it. Turn is a 3h. Now I have no flush draw, and any A is tied with me. By not betting on the flop, I have no idea where I am at. Everyone limped into the pot so a 6 is definitely possible in someone's hand. I lead out for 50. Everyone folds around to M (chip leader now) who instantly raises me to 300. I have been watching M catch hands all night and bully people around. He could do it though, because he was winning the showdowns. I wait a good 3+ minutes and finally fold. He shows A6 for higher straight. Any other player and I probably would have put them on the straight tied with me, but I just had a feeling he had me. It was such an overbet. He said he put me on the 5 high straight and figured any bet and I'd call.


Then with blinds at 50/100 I get 3c4c on the button. Q, who is UTG calls the BB, M calls while saying "this is a trouble hand for me", BH calls, I call, SB folds and J in the BB checks. Flop comes Kc7c3h. Everyone checks around to me. I have 450 in front of me, so I am short stacked. This is a super loose table still, so either no one has a pair or someone is slow playing. I think I could be in the lead with 3's, but worst case I have all the clubs and two 3's for outs if I am behind. I shove quickly (which is about a pot sized bet) to represent a hand, and everyone folds, except for M. He has me covered 5x and quickly calls. I'm hoping "trouble hand" means 22, 44, 55. He flips over KcQd. The K's hold up and I finish the tournament in 12th place.

Dissapointing finish, but I don't feel I played bad.

M finished first, BE finsihed 2nd and my brother finished 3rd. N from the other table finished 4th. Congrats to the money winners. Q ended up finishing 6th. Congrats to Q on a good finish for 2nd time playing.

I set up a cash table after I went out and played 5 hours of Omaha, Omahi Hi/low, 7 card stud, Holdem, and 7 card no peek, all with .25/.50 blinds. I cashed out one dollar ($1) down. Not bad entertainment.