My reputation is sealed

Last night, we had eight people playing poker, just like last year, at the annual UPA board meeting. We had a mini game on Friday night, but I can't say I was particularly interested in that game, as I had to leave. I'm noticing that when I care and can stay in a game, I do fairly well. If I have to leave, or am distracted, man, I might as well hand $20 to the person to my left.

Joshua, David Raflo (who moved to National Masters Director), Ricky (new board member), Tommy, Paige, Jeff Dunbar, and Adam (new National Open director) were there playing, too. Mike Payne, the biggest advocate for nightly poker, was absent, trying to catch up on his sleep (averaging all of 4 hours a night for the last 4 months -/+). When I walked in, I made some comment to someone that he didn't want to sit to the left of Joshua, because that put him in a powerful position, so we drew cards to specify what order we'd sit in. I drew to sit third, but switched to sit fourth to sit left of Joshua. He commented that I just put him in a powerseat, but well, entertainment is more important than the $20 I'd be gambling.

Besides, I hadn't lost to him yet when I've cared.

After four hands, David was excited he was still in the game. Last year, he was out in four hands, so five was an accomplishment.

Ricky spent the evening writing entertaining Notes-to-Self about everyone's game style. Jeff received a "Jeff is chicken" early in the evening, only to have a post-script of "which isn't always bad." later appended after he had a brilliant fold.

I can't say I've figured out the style of these guys. I went down to very few chips fairly quickly, and hovered as the short stack for more than half the game. I wasn't the first out, as Joshua called a hand that probability screamed he should fold, and went out first. David was second, followed a while later by Paige.

Just as Paige left for the night, Adam pushed all in with a pair of twos. He had a short stack (yet more than I), but hadn't played a hand in two hours. Jeff called, and turned over an ace and three. As Joshua, who was now dealing to keep himself entertained and engaged in the game, threw the burn card after the flop, we all jumped at the color of the back of the card: red. We were playing with the blue deck.

Joshua grabbed the red card, handed it to David to shuffle, burned another card, and turned over the next card. Lots of discussion ensued, but it was nothing compared to the uproar when the last card turned matched threes for Jeff, and Adam was out.

Loud voices, discussions, what do to? Jeff initially offered to split the pot with Adam, since he lost on the last card. I immediately shut that offer down, because I had not only put in the big blind (and as the short stack, that was a painful amount), but I had also bet in the first round, so I was losing out. And as short stack, that would have been the difference between going out in fifth, and being in the money.

After Adam pushed all the chips in a huff and stood up to leave (also in a huff), we decided that a redo was the correct solution, and everyone removed the chips and we played on.

The ironic part of the whole situation was that the last burn card was also a three. So, Adam would have lost even if we had kept the red card.

Adam went out shortly after that. I missed a chance to take Ricky out later, but did double up on Tommy a few hands later with an A-2 diamond hand that flushed on the turn. Ricky went out a bit later, and with three of us left, the hands were quick.

I adopted the strategy of pushing all in after the flop if I had anything remotely good. After few all-ins, Jeff went all in, expecting me to call. At that point, I had an 3-8 hand, I folded, but Tommy called. Jeff exclaimed, "Kitt! You were supposed to call and Tommy was supposed to fold!" Tommy won with a flush on the river, putting me into a payoff position, and Jeff out.

We played a few hands, with my worst being calling Tommy when I had a pair of twos. I didn't have enough chips to bully him, and I lost a good deal of chips before I bailed.

I went all in for the final hand with an A-something hand (4?). Tommy called and turned over a 10-K. The flop was an 8, 10 and A, but I knew better than to be excited. Sure, I had top pair, but two cards were coming. The river was a K and I was out.

Out, but still up. I was up $30 for the night (after my $20 buy-in was returned), $25 for the weekend, and around $80 total for my board games.

Heh.