Joey, have you ever been to a Turkish prison?

I played in my monthly home game last Saturday night. I invited WillWonka and he was able to make it. It was really nice meeting a fellow blogger. We talked about how great a group all of the bloggers are. Here's a bunch of people you have never met, yet you know pretty well. Some of them you know about their families, some hobbies, some work, and some only poker, but everyone is very helpful and supportive of each other. It is an honor that any one person would read my blog, let alone both of you....

So we naturally took 1st and 2nd in the tournament.... Wait. We expected to take 1st and 2nd. We had 21 players (a bit lighter than normal turnout). Will and I were seated at separate tables to start off. At my table, I watched a calling station hit 3 sets and show AK twice in a matter of 10 hands or so. I failed to hurt him when I turned a flush to one of his sets. My flush was low, so I only took about 1/4 of his stack. Afterwards, I realized I could of popped him all in and he wouldn't get away from his set of 9's, but I could wait and get him later.

When we consolidated down to two tables (16 players) I was right at my starting stack of 2500. With blinds at 50/100, I overplayed AKo against a tight player. I raised from UTG to 400 hoping to steal the blinds. The button called me and I missed the flop (267 with 2 spades). I fired out 500 continuation and she smooth called. Turn brought a non-spade J. I checked and she did the same. River brought a 4 of spades. I fired out 500 to represent the flush but she came over me for a min-raise of 500. I knew I was dead and folded, leaving me about 850 behind.

Exactly one orbit later, UTG again, I fire all in with pocket 10's. Everyone folds around to the BB. Now this is the calling station from earlier, who was the chip leader at one point, but now has about 1000 in chips left. He has 100 in the BB and he decides to call me, leaving himself about 150 in chips. He flips over A8 off. Ace on the river sends me home.

Overall, I played poorly, because I wasn't reading my opponents correctly. I could have easily saved 500 in chips on the AK and possibly even 1000 since her preflop call was strong. I don't mind my 1010 shove since my M was at 8 and I had the blinds coming at me fast. Most importantly, I am relearning these players as this was only my 2nd home game with them after a 2 year break for me. And, I am confident I will be back at the final tables soon.

As for Willwonka, I'll let him fill you in. He had built up a huge chip stack early, but ended up not cashing. I am certain he took a bad beat. Surely. "And don't call me Shirley".

I was able to get a cash game going for 25c limit games. I cashed $12. A little bit back from my $50 tournament buy-in never hurts.

I hope the tables are treating you well. I am moving into a new house Saturday, so I don't expect to play much this week. Check out the BBT3. Great prizes and a chance to play with some FTP pros. Thanks again to AL and Riggs for setting it all up.

Stay patient....