"No finer game with 8 random blokes!"
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| I know, there are only 7 here...but it was Vern's deal |
With a newly refurbished man cave and 5 new players to the table, this was not only going to be a great night of poker, but also a completely random night of banter, big bets and beer (most of it 0%).
Keeping in line with current "Government Office Parties" the players were all asked to do a lateral flow test before turning up and infecting others, thankfully this was accepted and the pictures of negative results came flooding in.
Our new players to the mix are Beewell (who travelled over 100 miles to join the game), Cousin James, Steve, Vern and his best mate, "Bestie". Our returning players Rosh, Daavv and Pondo were ready to poker.
First hand win of the night was claimed by Daavv with his pocket Queens, securing him a poker league point. This sparked Cousin James' competitive nature, how could he earn more points and win all the cash...?
It was noted early on that this table was looser than a Wigan girls' knickers, big bets and big pots had the chips sliding up and down the table.
With a flop of King(s), 10(s) and a Jack(d) Pondo put in a 300 bet, this was raised to 1k by Vern and called by all remaining players, a Queen on the turn followed by an Ace on the river made the river boat the best hand available and the first split pot of the night.
Vern pushed a hefty pre-flop raise only to be re-raised by Cousin James, this saw all other players escape leaving these two to battle it out. The flop was a beauty, A, A, 2 with two clubs on board. Vern pushed 400 into the pot only to be re-raised by Cousin James to 800, this was called again. With a 2(h) on the turn, this could not have helped either player, Vern checked, Cousin James threw in a mighty 1k raise, Vern called. The river of dreams produced a third Ace, the Ace of Spades. Without hesitation, Vern pushed 1k into the mix only to be re-raised by Cousin James who pushed all his remaining chips into the stack. After very little deliberation, Vern called. The cards turned, James with the King and Jack of clubs and Vern with pocket fives. Vern took a hefty chip lead with James struggling with a chip and a chair.
A few hands later saw Vern and Pondo clash to the river however, on the turn of the hold cards Pondo missed Vern's winning Queen thinking that his ever winning pocket 8s had won. Quickly grabbing the pot stating "They never let me down!"....reluctantly, the cash pot was pushed back towards Vern...they let Pondo down this time, big style!
Cousin James with his short stack decided it was time to cash in his bounce back to give him a better chance at the table, he was not going to the be only one for too much longer.
The flop of A77 followed by the Queen on the turn saw a big raise from Pondo, a call from Beewell and an All In Raise from Steve. Both Pondo and Beewell were covered by Steve's pot so the plucky two joined by pushing all their chips in. Cards turned, Pondo had hit the Ace with a King kicker and four clubs to boot, Beewell was struggling with K6 and Steve turned the power cards QA matching two pair. The river was an absolute bag of rags pushing a hefty chip stack in Steve's direction and both Pondo and Beewell to cashing in their bounce back.
At the other end of the table, Bestie had been accruing a tasty chip stack as well and began to bully the table with big raises. Rosh was becoming his latest victim. First an All In on the flop after a 2k pre-flop raise saw Bestie with trip two's and a unanimous fold from the rest of the players. A few hand later a 2k raise had Rosh fold his better hand of A5 vs Bestie's revealed 34(s) with a J3A88 river boat.
Then the first big clash of the night, with the table seriously bending in the middle our two massive chip leads went head to head. A pre-flop raise of 5k from Steve saw only one caller, Bestie. A rainbow flop of Jack, 5, 6 saw both combatants check, the turn of a King(c) received another check. The river brought the 2 of hearts and a comment from Pondo ""Well, that helped no one" as is usually the case with such a big finish...how wrong he was! Bestie breathed in and pushed his mighty chip stack to the centre, "All In", Steve was quick to call turning his pocket Queens. However, the ladies had been trumped and the up and down straight draw Bestie had been searching for was claimed by the plucky 2 of hearts. Bestie's hole cards of a 3 and a 4 formed the straight. Told you it was a loose game! Big Stack Steve had to cash in his bounce back - ouch.
Only a few hands later, Vern shoved a 1k raise after seeing the QQ9 flop, Rosh pushed all in. Turning his A9, Rosh looked strong, but a King on the turn matched Vern's king giving him a higher two pair and Rosh a chance to cash in his bounce back token.
All remaining bounce back tokens cashed in at the break meant we were now at the business end of the tourney, all ins would mean Princesses in the pot and players going out. With the eclectic range of music currently playing the Man Cave,Vern decided to declare his love for Harry Styles and how much he was looking forward to screaming at the front of his show in the coming weeks.
The Buffalo Wings Sauce
Now short stacked Steve pushed all in to be called by Daavv. With pocket Jacks for Steve vs Pocket 5s for Daavv the flop, turn and river (8,9,9,10,6) pushed a win in Steve's direction.
Chip leads Vern and Bestie clashed with a 5k pre flop raise, but with a flop of J(c), 3(s) and 4(s) this did not do anything for Bestie and cards were folded.
With all this action, it didn't take too much longer for players to break. James and Beewell's all in calls were matched by the chip leader Bestie. James turned King(s) and Ten(d), Beewell turned K(c) and 10(h) and finally Bestie turned A(c) and 6(d). Pinching each others outs put James and Beewell in a tricky situation. Bestie held a 64% chance of a win. The flop produced 7(s), 7(h), 3(h), James was out of options and hoping for a king to make split pot, Besties win % crept towards 80%. 2 of Diamonds on the turn put the nail in the coffin for our short stacks and left both praying for a final king. The Queen of hearts was delivered on the river and our first two players were out. Bestie claimed his first two princesses. Beewell and James out in joint 8th place
Seriously short stacked in comparison to the rest of the table, Pondo and Rosh pushed all in against the Billy Big Stack Bestie on the flop 55J. Bestie with 67, Pondo with K6(c) and Rosh with QJ(s) it was looking good for Rosh. The turn produced a 6 pairing both Bestie and Pondo with their low card. The river of dreams produced the King for Pondo, Rosh was down to change and Bestie had taken a little hit.
3 hours into the tournament, Bestie finally remembered where he had seen Steve before. It was only 8 weeks prior had Steve served Bestie half a Peroni in his pub and hoped that this strange and unique order would have been remembered by Steve....it wasn't
Steve pushed all in with his remaining 4.2k stack to be called with Rosh's remaining 200 and Big Stack Bestie. Players turned their cards to show Steve's KQ(h) (28%), Rosh's 9(c)2(s) (25%) and Besties Q(d) A(c) (46%). King, 10 and 6 on the flop pushed Steve's hand to a 67% chance, a 7 on the turn made it even stronger and a 6 on the river claimed a decent win for Steve along with Rosh's Princess. Rosh out in 6th place.
Only a few hands later, trying to double up again, Steve was all in. Obviously Bestie was involved. Steve's Jack, Ace off looked strong against Besties 5 and 9 suited but the poker gods decided against this delivering a 5 on the flop and a 5 on the turn matched with 8's to give Bestie a 5's over 8's full house. Another princess for Bestie and Steve out in 5th place.
Time for the bubble!
Daav and Pondo were looking very worried with only 10k shared between them and the other 70k in Vern and Bestie's stacks. Both short stacked players were waiting for the big stacks to fight it out.
Soon, Daavv pushed all in pre flop to be called by Vern. Daavv's pocket Jacks versus Vern's pocket 4s. The Jacks held as the full board delivered a full house with JJ999.
Feeling stronger now with a 8,7,5 on the board, Vern's raise of 1k was defeated by Daavv's all in. Again with Bestie's 5k raise, an all in on the river from Daavv saw a victory with trip 8s, there was no stopping him. Daavv's stack was building up nicely.
It was now Pondo's turn to try, an all in pre flop raise was called by Vern. Pondo revealed pocket 10's and Johnnie Walker was seemingly having a part to play as Vern had called with the 3,7 suited. Pondo claimed a big victory with another full house of the evening with 10, 10, J,J,J.
Daavv claimed another decent pot with pocket Kings, Pondo claimed another pot against Vern, the short stacks were fighting back.
With blinds racking up quickly now Pondo was forced all in on the big blind to be called by Bestie. Both players decided to let the poker gods choose the victor by going blind to the end. With 52 off and a 5 on the flop, this exciting hand didn't turn out too exciting!
A mere 1 hand later, Pondo and Bestie clashed again resulting in a split pot. The next hand saw another clash, however with pocket aces turned from Pondo this time was more exciting. Besties A9 off saw a fellow 9 on the flop but nothing else helped and the rockets stood strong.
Daavv was now feeling the crunch and hoped that a blind all in could work in his favour. The board revealed 5, 5, 6, 10 and Queen. Daavv's Jack 4 suited was defeated by Vern's Jack 10. Daavv was out on the bubble and reluctantly passed his plucky princess to Vern.
Blinds were now on rapid increase and the tourney end was imminent.
Eventually Vern pushed all in for his remaining 19k to be called by both Bestie and Pondo.
With a pair 8s for Bestie ("they never fail") and paired Kings for Pondo on the flop it was game over for Vern. The turn produced a 6 and the river, the last card of the evening was the 4 of clubs ("no help to anyone").
After being the big stack all night, it was revealed that Bestie now did not have enough chips to fight on and Pondo cleared both players out.
Vern out in 3rd, Bestie out in 2nd
Fantastic game, fantastic players, fantastic banter and Coronation Turkey puffs...what more do 8 random blokes need!
Next poker tourney will be in March 2022 - reserve your seat early to avoid disappointment
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