Easter Home Game

Ahhhh Easter. Visions of ham dinner, chocolate eggs, and enough candy to keep all the dentists employed for yet another year.

And - if you are from my family - it means yet another NLHE poker home game.

We finished dinner at 5:00 so we could start early. Drinks were poured, and the seating was as follows:
Seat 1. JBear
Seat 2. DoubleL
Seat 3. Tactix (I hope if I keep linking him up, he might actually post again)
Seat 4. The lovely Mufata (a.k.a. the S.A.Slammer)
Seat 5. Joanne1111
Seat 6. OJ
(noticably missing were Revmod and Billink, who couldn't be with us)

Here are the highlights:
Game 1.
In level 1, I took down a nice pot which gave me an early lead. I had AK in the hole, and we had a family pot when everyone called my pre-flop raise.
Flop comes AAA. Could you ask for anything more? I believe that four of us were in the pot until the end, when I check-raised the river and everyone called with made boats. Needless to say, I was not the most popular person at the table after that!

In level 2, JBear took down a huge pot by slow playing trip Aces against Mufata's trip queens. However, her luck began to dwindle, and by level 6 she was down to $20 in checks and looked to be the first one out. A true fighter though, she managed to quadruple her $20, and then quadruple it again, putting her right back in the running.

I, on the other hand, was not so lucky and ended up being first one out. Ahhh the shame.

A few rounds later though, JBear was down to her last few chips again, and we made a deal. She decided she wanted to dye Tactix's hair blue if I would play out the remainder of her chips. It turned out to be a good decision on her part, as I ended up turning her short-stack into a monster and won the game. Mufata ended up taking 3rd, and Tactix took down 2nd place. After taking a cut of the winnings, I was even money as we began the second game.

Game 2, Level 1.
I don't have too many notes on either game (a.k.a. too much wine) but all I can say is they were certainly picking on me!

Tactix and I were alone in one of the first hands when I was dealt pocket Hellmuth's and he called my pre-flop raise. He called my fairly-significant bets all the way down to the river, and sucked out a runner runner flush to my hand that didn't improve. Laughing all the way, I might add.

He continued this brutal onslaught calling my three-bet with the hammer on the deal and the flop. Sure that he had a made hand, I checked the turn and so did he. Making a valiant effort to win one hand with the hammer, I bet out on the river, and after pondering for a time, he called. Yes, his Q-high dominated my meager little hand.

That all said, DoubleL was the one that I was forced to lay down the most hands too. I couldn't win a single hand against him for the longest time. Maybe it is because he kept winning with hands like this:

straightflush

Can't do much against a straight flush.

WIth that, he took Mufata out of the game, and on the very next hand I took out Mr. Blue Hair with the nut flush. Since there were just five of us in this round, only the top two places paid, so DoubleL, OJ, and I were battling it out.

I must say this was the best game that OJ has played to date. She played her short stack like a pro, but we eventually took it over. DoubleL and I battled back and forth, but I emerged the winner and took first place again.

Now if only I could convince them all to come over five nights a week....