A Professor and The Mountain becomes a Volcano!

It was short-handed this week at Pokerbrat's, as BT and Poker Princess broke down with a flat tyre... a likely story!

Anyway, it was down to Pokerbrat, Kermit, myself and Pokerbrat's girlfriend, who've I've nicknamed The Professor... as she's a teacher and a solid player.

Mountain turned up an hour into the game, missing three re-buys!

Kermit busted-out, and I lost all my chips twice in the space of ten minutes! First time, my pocket 8s were cracked when Pokerbrat's Ace, Queen caught two aces on the board, then when my own suited Ace, Queen failed to improve against the Professor's pocket Kings. It was looking like the first pot was staying in Casa Pokerbrat one way or the other as I doubled up both of them early on!

My game was shithouse from then on, even with a re-load to 30,000 chips. I was out first when I gambled as the short-stack with Queen, Jack only for Professor to catch an Ace on the flop.

Kermit got VERY lucky when he pushed all-in with Ace, rag, got a call from Pokerbrat, who turned over pocket Queens. The board gave Kermit four clubs and he doubled-up with the nut flush.

Mountain was slowly but surely building chips and Professor was making some moves but not getting any callers.

Pokerbrat pushed all-in after a raise from Kermit and after thinking about it for a year and a half, Kermit called with another Ace, rag. The brat turned over pocket Jacks and this time they held, crippling Kermit until he eventually lost to Mountain's outside straight.

The brat had come back from nothing to almost even chips with Mountain, and after taking out the Professor, was dominant again.

It has to be said, Mountain was blinding away, and often folded his small blind. Eventually he was forced to move with an average hand and the brat took down the first game and an £80 pot.

Fairplay to Mountain, he turned up an hour into the game, played solid and made it to heads-up in only his third game with the Fishhook crew! The Professor was also solid in her debut and it will be interesting in future games if we get Lethal, Poker Princess and the Professor at the table... Probably Kermit's worst nightmare!

Second Game

Pokerbrat was busted early when he pushed with his top pair and walked straight into Mountain's trip 7s... the Mountain was now chip leader!

The brat came back strong, gradually stealing chips and winning showdowns with some solid play. It has to be said, he was on form and every time his chips were in the middle and in jeopardy, he always had the strongest hand. Of course his luck didn't always hold out, but his decisions were bang on.

The re-buy period ended and I was chip leader with the brat only 9000 or 10,000 behind me. The blinds were 1000/2000 and I was dealt Ace, Queen off-suit. A nice starting hand. I tried to limp-in but the brat raised it up to 4000. I was the only caller and the flop brought a couple of clubs, in 10, Jack, rag. I was looking good with the straight draw, so called the brat's bet of 12,000. The turn was another club and I was surprised when the brat pushed all his chips in the middle.

I turned my cards over, showing my Ace, Queen and of course the Ace was a club so I had straight draws and flush opportunities. I worked out quickly that I had at least 12 outs, any King, any club or and maybe even pairing my ace should do it, unless the brat already had the flush of course.

I counted my chips and if I lost this one, I'd be left with 9000 chips and of course, Pokerbrat would be almost certainly unstoppable with over two-thirds of the chips in play.

I took my time, or as we like to call it... I took a 'Kermit Pause'.

Eventually I pushed my chips in and as it was my deal, I stood-up, burnt a card and then flipped over a King of clubs... YES!!! The nut flush!

The brat turned over his pocket Queens, gutted.

What's incredible here, is the odds of the Pokerbrat having pocket Queens again, only to have them cracked by a club nut flush again, that needed four clubs on the board, AGAIN!!! I'd love to know the odds of that!

Once again though, the brat had his chips in the middle when he was ahead.

Kermit didn't last too much longer, so Mountain was down to the heads-up two out of two!

With my chip lead, I didn't think it would be long, which was a big mistake because the Mountain was a 'move' machine, pushing all-in nearly every hand and really putting pressure on me. Before I knew it, he was ahead of me in chips, so I knew if I made a stand, and it went wrong, I'd be out the game!

He made some amazing moves, in one hand for example, I'd flopped top-pair (Jacks) but had a shitty kicker. I threw it away when Mountain pushed all-in, convinced he was on Ace, Jack or King, Jack and the bastard turns over pocket 2s!

We called him 'Mountain' because of his Rocky debut and yet here he was throwing his chips in with any face card.

Eventually I dropped about 10,000 chips behind and I had to make a stand. I was dealt Ace, Ten and when Mountain pushed, I called. He flipped over Ace, 8 so at least I was ahead. To my relief, they held and a few hands later, my paired 7, took Mountain out... Phew!!! I thought it was going to be an expensive night as far as the home game goes, but the £50 pot left me £10 up.

Fairplay Mountain, heads-up twice and almost nailed me in the second game.

jT