Post date: Sep 26, 2011 12:04:41 PM
Coming into Saturday it was looking like we were going to have three couples playing: Greg and Elizabeth, Dave and Jen, and myself and Shannon. That was going to be an interesting dynamic and I had gotten myself into the mood for "couples night poker," (or whatever). As it turned out, Jen couldn't make it, from out of the blue Shaun contacted me about coming over, and (surprise of all surprises) Jeff and Dawn (and Caleb!) happened to be in the area for a drop-in. What a fun crowd and a great night!
We did get off to a later start, which meant we wrapped up pretty late which meant energy levels at the end of the night were rather low. I doubt we'll continue the trend of starting so late on Saturdays in the future. I also gave out too many starting chips in the $5 early tournament (for eight players, the Structure page shows we should have started with T100 chips, but I gave out twice that number) which really prolongs the game, especially if there are any rebuys. Live and learn, I suppose. Especially on nights when we know a good chunk of folks want to come over and visit and are willing to play cards as well, I need to be more diligent about not extending the poker matches.
As far as the two games went, the quick summary is that Shannon crushed. The only reason that she won two tournaments that evening is that we only played two tournaments — if we'd have played five, dollars to doughnuts she'd have won five that night.
In the early tournament (which was supposed to be "Quick," but ended up lasting about an hour-and-a-half because of my starting chip issue), I was the only person who had to rebuy (compliments of Greg), which boosted the prize pool to $45. It was Elizabeth's first time playing at our place and while she admitted to being a bit nervous, I have to admit that she seemed very comfortable at the table and didn't stand out as a new player in the least. After the rebuy period was over, Shaun began his bust-outey ways with a double KO of Dave and Dawn in a big pot. He then continued to mow down the field, taking out Elizabeth and Jeff for sixth and fifth places, but that was it for him. Shannon then decided to let the rest of us know that she was there. After a few hands of playing "on the bubble," she took out Greg in fourth, me in third, and in eleven minutes of heads-up play put Shaun in his place as runner-up. (Apropos to nobody, I originally thought that my third place prize of $8 meant I only lost $2 in the tournament, but because of some wonky accounting the game clock wanted to award a total of $46 in prizes. In that case in the past, I always skim the "bonus dollar" off the last awarded prize — I'm not handing back more money than we take in! — and in this case it meant I ended up finishing in the money but losing THREE DOLLARS.)
Quick Tournament Summary
$5 Early-Evening Big-Bet Tournament 9/24/11
PL Preflop, NL Postflop and Heads-up
Action Summary
6:59:29 pm 9/24/2011: Neal bought-in
6:59:58 pm 9/24/2011: Shaun bought-in
7:02:00 pm 9/24/2011: Greg bought-in
7:02:00 pm 9/24/2011: Elizabeth bought-in
7:03:02 pm 9/24/2011: Shannon bought-in
7:04:01 pm 9/24/2011: Dave bought-in
7:04:54 pm 9/24/2011: Jeff bought-in
7:04:54 pm 9/24/2011: Dawn bought-in
7:13:28 pm 9/24/2011: Tournament started
7:35:40 pm 9/24/2011: Neal was busted out by Greg
7:35:48 pm 9/24/2011: Neal rebought
7:55:24 pm 9/24/2011: Dave was busted out by Shaun
7:55:24 pm 9/24/2011: Dawn was busted out by Shaun
8:02:33 pm 9/24/2011: Elizabeth was busted out by Shaun
8:10:52 pm 9/24/2011: Jeff was busted out by Shaun
8:17:03 pm 9/24/2011: Greg was busted out by Shannon
8:27:03 pm 9/24/2011: Neal was busted out by Shannon
8:38:49 pm 9/24/2011: Shaun was busted out by Shannon
8:38:49 pm 9/24/2011: Tournament ended
8:38:49 pm 9/24/2011: Total pot: $45.00
8:38:49 pm 9/24/2011: Shannon ranked 1st, received $25.00
8:38:49 pm 9/24/2011: Shaun ranked 2nd, received $13.00
8:38:49 pm 9/24/2011: Neal ranked 3rd, received $7.00
Quick Tournament Results
$5 Early-Evening Big-Bet Tournament 9/24/11
PL Preflop, NL Postflop and Heads-up
The second tournament was a Standard Tournament, and as always it was a bit more difficult to remember. Shannon had gone out and grabbed sushi as the "big snack" to share with everyone. (As you'll recall, at the time of going shopping we thought we only had two other couples showing up to play, so in what I can only refer to as a Poker Night Miracle, we didn't actually end up with way too much food to wrap up as left overs.) Along with the sushi we had many bottles of wine flowing and your humble host managed to find a few bottles (and cans) of beer in the basement fridge.
The Standard Tournament ran a bit long as well (basically going from 9pm to midnight). In looking back at the stats this morning (for both this tournament and the one on 9/14), I'm identifying a "lull" beginning somewhere around the 15th round. I may perform a minor tweak on the structure based on this to ensure no more unexpected marathon poker tournaments in the future...
Anyway, the second tournament did see one rebuy as well as Dave found himself a bit short after a big pot with Greg (its always Greg, isn't it?) and he chipped up while the chipping up was good. Unfortunately for him, the new chips didn't improve the cards and he managed to find himself KOed just before the end of the rebuy period at which point he decided that enough was enough (and that the cards would be better later). And again it was Shaun doing the knockout duties early on in the tournament. Shaun continued his collecting-chips ways by getting Elizabeth's remaining stack during the thirteenth round. Greg put the whamboozle on Dawn a few minutes later, and we were down to five players. When the music stopped Shannon went on a mini-tear knocking out Shaun in fifth followed by Jeff in fourth. Greg celebrated his non-bubble finish by knocking me out in third (I was clearly #3 for the evening), and he and Shannon went heads-up for thirteen minutes before they both managed to get all their chips in the middle for the final hand of the evening. In what can only be described as implausible, on that final hand, the two remaining players' stacks were exactly the same size and when the cards were flipped up, it was Shannon who ended up holding the best hand and taking down the title.
If only I could remember a shred of detail about what those hands actually were...
Anyway, it was a really really fun night of cards (if only a bit longer than most folks would've liked...) and a terrifically fun crowd. Elizabeth played great though found out that playing great doesn't always mean that the cards are going to cooperate. I'm sure Greg may have had a piece of advice or two to share for the next time around. I managed to humbly eke out a couple of nominal in-the-money finishes (I ended up +$2 on the night!) which helps pad my stats (which are up-to-date on the front page) but doesn't give me any cred with my beautiful wife. Speaking of whom, Shannon continued her dominance in the new season, having continued her PERFECT ways finishing in the money six-for-six times. Nicely done, baby. It was great to catch up with Jeff and Dawn and Caleb and Shaun. Glad that fortunes worked out to get to hang out with some old friends again.
Next weekend poker is aligning for the weekend of October 15th. Shannon's Mom and her boyfriend Carl will be here, so I'm guessing that it's going to be a full night of cards around the poker table! Also, if you're reading this in the tight 36-hour window between 9/26 am and Tuesday evening, we are having folks over for a weeknight game on September 27th around 6:30pm. It remains to be seen whether anyone will be able to stop the Shannon juggernaut...
Standard Tournament Summary
Standard Tournament 9/24/11
No Limit Hold Em
Action Summary
8:48:10 pm 9/24/2011: Neal bought-in
8:49:36 pm 9/24/2011: Jeff bought-in
8:49:36 pm 9/24/2011: Dawn bought-in
8:50:31 pm 9/24/2011: Shaun bought-in
8:50:31 pm 9/24/2011: Dave bought-in
8:52:21 pm 9/24/2011: Shannon bought-in
8:54:32 pm 9/24/2011: Greg bought-in
8:54:32 pm 9/24/2011: Elizabeth bought-in
8:59:41 pm 9/24/2011: Tournament started
9:35:48 pm 9/24/2011: Dave rebought
10:38:05 pm 9/24/2011: Dave was busted out by Shaun
10:55:32 pm 9/24/2011: Elizabeth was busted out by Shaun
10:59:06 pm 9/24/2011: Dawn was busted out by Greg
11:20:49 pm 9/24/2011: Shaun was busted out by Shannon
11:37:50 pm 9/24/2011: Jeff was busted out by Shannon
11:46:39 pm 9/24/2011: Neal was busted out by Greg
11:59:47 pm 9/24/2011: Greg was busted out by Shannon
11:59:47 pm 9/24/2011: Tournament ended
11:59:47 pm 9/24/2011: Total pot: $90.00
11:59:47 pm 9/24/2011: Shannon ranked 1st, received $50.00
11:59:47 pm 9/24/2011: Greg ranked 2nd, received $25.00
11:59:47 pm 9/24/2011: Neal ranked 3rd, received $15.00
Standard Tournament Results
Standard Tournament 9/24/11
No Limit Hold Em