NLH

Too much action to give any real depth on the hands. All numbers are in thousands and, candidly, estimates.

Early in we raise to 34 with KT in seat 8 and get calls from the button and the blinds. Flop comes 59K. Great. We bet 76 and the BB calls. The turn is a rag. We bet 150 and he folds. We are just over a million in chips.

Everyone folds to the SB who raises to 36. We have Q8 in BB. Exact average hand we call to see the flop. He will push all in post flop no matter what as he has a short stack of about 100. We will only call if we hit. Flop comes TQK with two clubs and he pushes. We call and he shows TJ. The turn comes Ac he makes a Royal Flush!

Seat 5 raises to 34 and we re-raise from the BB to 84 with TT. He calls and the flop comes two rags and a K. We out 75 and three calls. What does he have that he wpuld bet and then call a raise on the clock and call here. There is a good chance that he has a big king and is playing with his position on me. The turn comes nine and we check. Keep that's 70 and we call. The river is another rag and he pushes all in for approximately 200. It is just too early to lose two all in hands in a row. We fold and he shows AJ. That hand is going to haunt me for a long time. We should have called.

We are now down to about 400,000 chips. The same guy raises to 38 and we push all in from the big blind with, appropriately, AJ. He calls and shows 66. I don't remember the first four cards, but the river is an ace and we double up. Chips are flying huge stacks everywhere, and we are happily back to 800,000.

An early seat raises to 34 and we call from the small blind with A6h. The flop comes 589 with two hearts. We have a gut shot straight draw and a nut flush draw. We check and he bets 60. We call and the turn comes 3h. Giddey up. We check hoping he will bet but he checks. The river is a rag Family at 1:10. He thinks for a minute and then calls showing KK in frustration as he mucks to our flush.

In seat seven, the royal flush guy raises to 34. We call from the button with KQc and see the flop come two rags and a K with 2 hearts. Great! He bets 75 and we just call. The turn Is another rag and he pushes all in for approximately 200. Now we are scared, but we hit our hand and are only afraid of AA or AK. He could very well have two hearts and he trying to scare us. He could also have a weak king and be afraid to let us draw another heart. We think about it for a minute and then call. He turns over AA. Terrible. The river doesn't help us and he takes it down.

I'm not sure that we could ever play that hand differently than we did, but I will always remember that we folded when we should have called and called when we should have folded, and that is a bad recipe for poker. We are down to 500 chips.

We are now at the final two tables. If we survive for a couple hours we will make the final table where the real money is and where the bracelet lives

An early seat raises to 38 and we raise to 88 with AK. The big blind pushes all for about 400. The early seat folds and we call, hoping to see AQ. He shows JJ. It's a race. Unfortunately the race goes poorly for us and he takes all but about 35 of our chips.

We can't wait for the big blind, so we push as soon as we have an ace in our hand. We wind up behind with an A2 against TT. No ace comes and that is where our story ends.

While taking 18th place is certainly something I will look back on happily, right now it is nothing but a stinking burn.

Thanks for coming.

Depressed Donkey

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