Poker League Season 9 Game 1

Player	Week 1	Bounty Bonus	Total Points	Kos	CASHES
Fred	14		14	6
Craig	12		12	0
Terri	11		11	1
Chivers	10		10	2
Jake	9		9	1
Jaime	8	1	9	1
Jon	7		7
Steve	6		6
Shae	5		5
Ashley	4		4
Heck	3		3
Chris	2		2
Sean	0		0

Season 9
has finally started and Game 1 is now in the books.  I'm only writing this blog a few weeks after the game played out, so a few details are probably fuzzy...I'm writing this as 3rd person in an attempt to be unbiased, though I'm only able to write about the hands I either remember or heard about...

I established my presence early and often taking out 6 players on my way to victory.  I'm now 1 up on the finale prop bet with Dejo and currently in the lead of the Poker League standings.

Dejo was the first casualty of the evening after something like 5 levels of poker.  Not sure the specifics of the hand but I think he lost to a 9-2offsuit...gross...Shae was short-stacked early, even prior to anyone being ko'd.  She held on really well and outlasted 3 other players as she was finally busted at the final table bubble-girl. 

I played some of the bigger pots at my table taking quite a few chips away from Jon, Heck and Jake early on.  I had most of the chips at the alternate table after Jake and I (big stacks at that point) got involved in the final hand prior to the first break.  I raised preflop in late position, Jake called in the BB.  flop was Kh, 8s, 5h.  I bet half the pot, Jake called.  Turn brought a 6h and Jake bet out about half the pot, to which I raised, Jake called.  The river was 10h.  Jake made it 4K, slightly less than half the pot but still a big bet for the stacks.  I tanked and finally called, Jake turned his pair into a bluff with 2-6-no-heart and I flipped over my K-J-no heart for the win.  Tough call, Jake wasn't necessarily crippled after that, but it was a large amount of his stack, nonetheless.  I ended up knocking out Heck afterwards with something like 2 pair and the other table had just lost Ashley when Shae's short-stack luck finally ran out. 

Final Table:
The final table saw the likes of Jake, Terri, Jaime, Steve, Chivers, Jon and myself battling it out, with Terri and myself the big stacks, Steve and Jon and Craig the short-stacks.  Steve and Jon tried making moves early to no avail as they went out quickly after each other with Chivers taking the spoils.  Chivers created himself a nice stack and was bullying the shorter stacks successfully with well-timed raises and 3-bets, not sure if he was getting hit with the deck or not.  Craig was the short-stack at this point and he went into shove-or-fold mode.  Jake ended up doubling Craig up twice and cutting his own monster stack in half.  Then blinds and ante's added up and took Jaime's stack from penthouse to shorty.  I raised preflop to 3K and Jaime went all in for 8300K, I called with QJsuited against Jaime's 6s and my hand improved to hit a Jack, sending Jaime to the rail, or the super-fun party that sounded like it was going on upstairs...  Jake mixed up his style and got really aggressive, putting in a bunch of preflop raises when I think he made a slight mis-judgement on his bet-sizing in one preflop raise.  He had about 9K left and raised preflop to 4K, Terri goes all-in for 10K and Jake tank-folded. flipping over a pair of 5s, Terri flipped over her pair of 8s and it's a pretty good fold, but I don't think Jake realized he'd put in almost half his stack on the preflop raise and was now a short-stack.  Next hand or a few hands later Jake puts all his chips in the middle and was knocked out.  Next out was Chivers who 3-bet shoved over my preflop raise, I called with A-Q vs his 3-5 that never improved.  Top 3 played for quite a while, my stack dwindled slightly while the other 2 players were catching up to me.  I doubled Terri up and chipped her down and doubled her up again when finally Aces crippled her stack.  Craig stayed pretty steady with a few 3-bet shove or fold strategy. 

Heads up
was a classic match between Craig and me.  I had the chip lead almost 2 to 1.  I was determined not to let Craig dominate another poker league season and while that's a tough sell and both of us played really well, I think I was slightly more aggressive and came out on top. I can't even remember the final hand... (I think A-6 vs K-5? Craig?)  I remember there was some great poker being played between the 2 of us, just can't remember any specific hands...
The tournament was over with just enough time for Craig and me to get our cars off the street and avoid getting a ticket(1:53am)  Can't wait until next game!!