Sweet Evening...

Too bad I didn't have my camera. Last night, me and the gang got together to finally draft our NBA Fantasy League teams at my buddy Scott's house. There were 9 of us this year so it should be a good game. I got LeBron James as my third pick and was able to to get some decent rebounders in Chris Bosh and Al Jefferson. Late in the round I started to gamble. Slim pickings towards the end. Only if Peja Stojakovic can stay healthy. If he does I have a good chance at winning. One of the rules we added this year was Technical Fouls. We have all the major stats but the Technical Foul addition helps if you do not have an overtly aggressive defense to pick up some points. I feel good. Solid picks with some decent scorers. LeBron should hold up well with his 45 he dropped last night.

The fun however started after the draft. All nine of us played a Texas Hold'em cash game. $10 buy in. I won the first hand with some aggressive play getting up a couple of bucks. Then I went for the juggular on someone and he caught a river card knocking me off my game. I got pissed.

Suddenly a string of cards came I had never seen! I proceded to have 6 hands in a row where I knocked another player out. I was landing straights and flushes left and right. I was on fire. I didn't have to play real hard. We got to the end and it was me and two tough players. Guys who can clearly play better than me. I used my stack of chips to just push them around for a while but we were at a stalemate for like an hour. I wasn't gaining and the guy in second place started to gain. The third place guy lost out to me and then bought back in for another $10. I knocked him down.

So at the end, me and the last guy Gary were left. There were exactly one hundred dollars in chips in the game and we had roughly a 70-30 split. It was midnight and I was tired and in good pain. My left arm had been hurting all day. I offered a 70-30 pay out and Gary declined. He countered me to take $20 and he'd take 10 so I was guaranteed at least $20 and then we'd play for the rest. He commented a few times that he was the better player and honestly he really is but I wouldn't relent. It was the fourth time in a tournament that I was in a heads up situation. I had only won once before (and I won like $250) in heads up and Gary is a pretty good challenger to deal with.

He liked to push me around the first few hands. I just paid to see flops for a while and I let him take down a couple because I had nothing. Then the stars lined up again. I got dealt a Queen seven off suit. Not a really good hand but decent in heads up because of the high card. He pushed me into the flop. It came 4-7-4. I had two pair with the queen. Gary commented under his breath that he got a "piece of the flop". I hesitated to bet on my two pair so I checked to see what Gary would do. Gary plays tight and he is a great bluffer but can really fuck with your head too when he has a great hand. He bet strong with a $5 bet. I saw it.

Next card, a low 8 card. A possible straight forming but he'd need a 6 along with a three or five. I assumed he had 4 or a 7 like I did and we'd be playing to the high card. I still checked. He came strong with another $5. I called. Next card was a two. I realized here that he might have been playing for a flush with the three hearts out there or he had the 7 like I did. Still I checked and he came in with 10 bucks now. I was about to fold when I thought, 'If he had a 4 he'd have a full house so he would have gone all in, like wise with a flush. No straight was possible...' So since he only came in with 10 and still had 10 bucks left, I wondered if it was a bluff the whole time. So I said, "Fuck it... All in" The looks on his eyes were like "Shit, Steve actually played a hand!" Having two pair all the way, I just waited for a full house when he turned his cards over. Nope... Nothing. My two pair was good.

If felt good coming home with 100 bucks more in my wallet...