Hella Hold'em

Yeah, fine, so I couldn't come up with a clever title. The name of the game is just begging for one, though. How about: Trojan Wars: I Sucked

The strangest thing about that game was that I did not go to showdown with a losing hand - not one single time - except of course for the hand that knocked me out. Not one bad showdown! If you asked me if that was possible, I'd probably have laughed and deemed it an impossibility. I saw a decent number of flops, and either connected with them and won, or missed and folded.

With that in mind, I can't think of anything I'd change about the way I played. Scott had early criticisms for me with regards to not getting enough value from a good hand (I had something like 10-2 in the big blind and flopped trip deuces). I check-called all the way down with a kid at the other end of the table betting 3/4 of the pot at me the whole way. He was betting enough that I figured, I was happy to win it, while simultaneously cutting my losses if he had my 10 outkicked or worse, flopped a bigger set. It was early in the game, and I had no clue how this kid played, so I had no choice but to play the cards. I wouldn't do it any differently today - unless maybe I had unlimited rebuys in my bankroll, which was not the case last week.

I went out bubble + 1 - made the final table of 10, and 5 places paid. I went out 7th out of 30. There's no dramatic story to tell of a stack-crippling hand or anything like that. The blind structure of this game increased EXTREMELY quickly (much more quickly than I prefer), and by the time we were down to 10 players, literally 3/4 of the final table sat down with fewer than 8 big blinds. At that point, it's a crap shoot, and the game disintegrates into a luck fest.

I'd love to see a game with a more conservative blind structure hosted by Ryan. Playing at his house is like walking into someplace off of Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. The house is gorgeous (which, yes, is totally unrelated to poker - but I will never complain when surrounded by marble and fine woods and to-die-for floor plans!), and the food and open bar are always fantastic (though I tend to stick to diet cokes). The best thing, though, is the comfort level of the chairs at the "final table" table. Nothing - and I mean nothing - makes for a more miserable poker experience than an uncomfortable chair. I am a girl that really appreciates a comfortable chair.

Thanks to Ryan for hosting another great game (now titled, The Trojan Wars). Sorry I couldn't stick around for the cash game. Funds are kinda tight around here. It looked like one wild night, though!

I hear Scott's next Diamond game will be in March, and I have yet to host my "housewarming poker game." (Let's just pretend I haven't been living here for a year and a half already). Pencil in a weekend after Tax Day. I'll host a spring poker game.