Kermit's Invitational

No Fishhook home game this week, but Kermit put together a game on Friday in honour of his birthday.

The Fish and myself were there, and it was always going to be lively with Tony Two Cards also in attendance.

The first game was going okay, although there were no re-buys, so we were playing for a £60 pot.

I got myself into a situation in the last hand of re-buys against Tony, and it was a dilemna as I could take Tony out, allowing him to re-buy but if I lost, I would be left with only 6000 chips and no re-buys.

Anyway, I called with King, Queen and Tony turns over Ace, 2. He flops two pair and my worst fears are realised. I'm sat on the short stack with 7 big blinds left to my name.

I grind it out and get back to a decent chip stack with about 40,000 chips. I look down at pocket 10s and push all-in. Tony calls me with Queen, 10 and the first card to hit is a Queen. I'm out of the first game and I'm pissed-off as I spent so long grinding back the chips.

The Fish is out soon after, leaving the Birthday Frog heads-up against Tony.

Tony takes it down.

In the second game, we have 7 players.

There is an insane amount of re-buys. I double up and take down a few pots giving me just under 90,000 chips.

Tony, The Fish, Kermit and one of the other players find themselves all-in pre-flop. I throw away Ace, Queen. Tony has the same hand as I had so it might be tough for him to improve. Kermit has pocket Jacks. The Fish has King, Jack and the other player has nothing and is gambling. The Jacks hold, so Kermit is sitting on a nice chip stack.

The beeper goes after the cards have been dealt, so players have to go bust in this hand in order to re-buy. The Fish has already re-loaded once and only has about 9000 chips so I am expecting him to push all-in. I look down at my cards and am very happy to see pocket 8s.

The Fish pushes all-in as expected and Tony calls, I call, Kermit calls and the other two fold.

The flop brings an Ace, rag and my trip 8. Beautiful! I am first to act so I push my remaining 80,000 into the middle. Kermit calls, The Fish is all-in anyway and Tony calls... I am delighted, although only Tony has anywhere near the same number of chips as me. I flip over my cards, showing the trips and both Kermit and Tony show their Ace, rag. Only one Ace left in the deck so I am confident. The Fish only has a King, rag so I am looking good.

The 8s hold and I scoop in just under 300,000 chips, a ridiculous stack. Kermit, Tony and The Fish re-buy and I am VERY happy with my chip position, especially considering we are now playing for the largest home game pot ever - £140.

Despite my stack, I don't play too loose, I am more than happy to let the others fight it out for the remaining 100,000 chips.

Kermit finds himself in a big pot with Tony and by the turn card, a MASSIVE pot. Tony pushes all-in and Kermit finds himself with a real dilemma. I am out of the hand and Kermit shows me he is sitting on two pair. There is so much on the board, straights, flushes and I would probably throw it away for my tournament life. Kermit folds and let's Tony showdown with another player. Both have absolutely nothing! On the turn, Tony had King high and his rag hits on the river and he takes down a massive collection of chips. Kermit is furious and walks it off, grabbing some KFC and pizza on his way back... good man. This is by far the bluff of the night.

A few hands later, The Fish and Tony are all-in against Kermit and the frog takes them all out with a straight. Kermit is heads-up against me with enough chips to keep me sensible. One double up and we would be even.

Kermit plays a good game, applying plenty of pressure, and he grinds away at my monster stack. We both know I am being patient and we both know I like to trap.

I stick to my usual heads-up strategy of calling any two cards in the small blind and sure enough, I flop two pair with some ugly rags. Unfortunately for the frog, he flops top pair with a great kicker, so when I push all-in, he insta-calls and I take down the second game and a pot that is going to look GREAT on the stats tomorrow!

The third game is only three-handed with surprise, surprise, Kermit, myself and The Fish.

With my big win in the second game, I'm keen to apply pressure and take risks during the re-buy period. The other two have already made it clear that they wouldn't be re-buying so I take advantage. I push all-in with King, 10 and The Fish calls me with Ace, rag. He takes it.

A few hands later, I push again with Ace, Jack and The Fish calls again, this time with pocket Jacks... they hold.

Now I'm pissed-off! I've got £30 invested in the pot and The Fish is sitting on 120,000 chips against Kermit on 40,000 and me on 40,000.

Kermit applies the pressure with a horrible board that has two Aces with the flop and the turn out there. He pushes all-in and after thinking for a while, The Fish calls. Not surprisingly, Kermit shows his Ace. The Fish paired a 3 but has a draw too. The river throws out another 3, giving them both a full house. Kermit doubles through The Fish, spreading the chips out a bit.

I grind away and build up a nice stack myself and we're almost all even again.

The Fish is put under pressure when Kermit pushes all-in after the turn card. I think Kermit had two-pair, including an Ace. After a while, The Fish can't help himself and he calls, chasing a 10 high flush. The Fish misses and Kermit is heads-up for a third time!

I don't count my stack by I have more than I think when I double-up, leaving Kermit with about 30,000.

I stick to my game and again, Kermit grinds away some chips, slowly building them back. I flop a full house, but Kermit never catches up and on the river, I make a better full house! I bet the minimum 6000 and am happy when he calls.

Kermit grinds away, and I wait. I flop a crappy flush with 8, 3 suited (the board has a 10, 7 and 2 of spades) and I figure I'm going to check through to take down the blinds again. An Ace comes on the turn and I hope Kermit hit. I check... Kermit checks. The turn brings a Jack and I bet 6000. Kermit pushes all-in and I sit bolt upright and insta-call!

Poor frog was holding King, Queen and hit the nut straight, so he is gutted when I show my 8 high flush.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KERMIT!!!

I'm £120 up on the night, Kermit is down £20 and The Fish is down £50.

I'd say that's one of the best birthdays I've ever been too, heh heh heh.

jT

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Kermit is the Man! - Well... the Frog!

Still buzzing from the great game on Wednesday and the ultra hot deck that night, at 4pm yesterday I emailed Pokerbrat with the following:

"Dunno if I can wait until Wednesday for another game!"

The brat came back with:

"Alriiiight... get two more players, jT and we've got a game."

Within minutes, Mountain, Scrooge McDuck and Renzo were onboard with Kermit keeping his options open... we had a game!

At Pokerbrat's place, Renzo arrived, and shortly after - Kermit! Mountain was gonna show at midnight but there was no sign of Scrooge... we shuffled up and took McDuck's blinds.

Kermit's losing streak has been going on so long, we were almost starting to feel sorry for him, and true to form, he re-loaded in the re-buy period.

With the re-buy period over, I needed a double-up and I was more than happy to look down at pocket 10s. I moved all-in and only Renzo called.

He flipped over Queen, King and we had a classic race on our hands. The flop was good for me, but ultimately, Renzo managed to catch a runner, runner, runner straight... my trips were what killed me when the 10 on the turn was followed by a Jack and then a 9.

I think Renzo was busted by the brat, when the brat flopped a straight, and so we had Kermit heads-up against Pokerbrat.

What followed can only be described as the Muppet Show. Sure, the brat wasn't catching any cards, but Kermit totally dominated. Every time the brat made a move, Kermit came over the top. Every time the brat called, Kermit had the best hand. It wasn't long before Kermit took the chip lead and shortly after, he took the brat out. On a couple of occasions, Kermit pushed the brat out of the hand with absolutely nothing... the name has stuck but Kermit has found his game and has mixed his style up, no longer super tight. It was the best poker any of us have seen from the frog.

Just before we started the second game, Mountain let us know he wouldn't be making it, but we were joined by Scrooge McDuck and The Professor, so we had a big pot, a steaming brat and Kermit full of confidence.

Renzo got busted early and decided to call it a night, and the brat had to re-load shortly after - not once but TWICE!

Kermit took the brat and The Professor out, and I found myself in a hand with top pair (King) and a crap kicker on the flop. Kermit moved all-in. I put him on Ace, King or even King, 1o and despite being sure, I called and sure enough, Kermit flips over Ace, King. I need to hit my 2 but it doesn't come and Kermit finds himself heads-up against Scrooge McDuck.

Kermit laid on the pressure until Scrooge was forced to call against a stronger hand and the second game was all over, with Kermit taking down two out of two!

I'm looking forward to checking out the leaderboard tomorrow, as the brat has slipped behind again and of course Kermit has eaten into his losing streak.

In the third game there were no re-loads. I took the brat out with a flopped two pair against his top pair and managed to avoid his better kicker.

I took Kermit out shortly after and then eroded away at Scrooge McDuck until he was forced to make a bluff into the nuts.

Great night for Kermit, and I'm back at the top of the leaderboard with £185 V the brat's £140.

Wednesday should be competitive as the brat is only one win away from knocking me off the top spot again and BT is back and no doubt hungry for a win.

jT

Incredible Hands...

... just kept coming... and coming at Wednesday's home game. Pocket Aces hit ten times, and that's no exaggeration - we started counting after they hit for the third time!

We also had numerous pocket Kings, Jacks, Queens and Tens.

Renzo is definitely back, he was on top form in the first game, aggressively building his chip stack with dogged determination.

The fish was also in fine form, sucking out flushes to beat pocket pairs and flopped pairs, much to the chagrin of the brat.

The brat had to re-load three times in the re-buy period making him more determined to win.

Lethal took me out by sucking out a flush, fish-style and Kermit and Fish were out soon after.

The brat was out third, leaving Renzo and Lethal in the heads-up. I thought we were up for another long session of Renzo's luck, as Lethal kept jamming straights with one card or pairing low cards.

In the end though, after a bad call from Lethal, Renzo took it down, really clawing back his cash stats.

The second game saw me re-buying twice in quick succession when my pocket pair was beaten by an overcard and then again when Renzo's 10s held against my Ace, Queen.

I was almost out completely after the re-buy period, again to Renzo, but clawed back some chips when my Pocket Aces converted into a full house (Aces and Kings no less).

Kermit nearly took me out with, yes, pocket Aces, but my flopped pair turned into two pair on the turn and I doubled-up.

Pokerbrat was on top form after re-loading during the re-buy period and just seemed to suck up chips. He took Renzo out with a better kicker when they both flopped a King and then Kermit, calling his two paint cards with 8, 2 and pairing his 8!

The Fish and I had less than 100,000 chips between us, putting the brat on more than 170,000 chips. The last thing we needed was for the brat to put either of us out.

I took a slug of chips off the Fish before the Brat took him out completely, leaving me with 30,000 chips to the brat's 200,000+!

I doubled-up, putting me back in contention, but the brat's aggressive play and the 4000/8000 blinds had me bleeding chips back down to 50,000. I needed to double-up and quick.

I'm dealt King, Queen in the big blind and the brat moves all-in. I take my time and I hate being in this position. Any Ace and I'm in big trouble.

I call and the brat turns over Ace, 8. The dead man's hand.

The Fish stayed to deal and he lays out the cards.

The first card is a Queen - Good times.

Second card is an Ace - Bad times.

Third card is another Queen - Hard on!

The turn is another Ace, giving the brat Aces Full and me an inferior Queens Full... BASTARD!!!

To be fair, the brat went in with the strongest hand and the best hand won.

AMAZING poker tonight and amazing run of cards.

In the grand scheme of things, the Brat is now in first place on the leaderboard and is the man to catch.

Quickest heads-up, Longest heads-up and a Straight Flush...

That's pretty much how the home game went on Tuesday.

Bad night for me, I was out third in both games, and had to re-buy in both games too!

Pokerbrat and Renzo were the heroes this week.

GREAT to see Renzo back in the game and on his game for that matter.

Lethal called me down on a couple of big bluffs in the first game and took most of my chips.

I had to re-buy shortly after, but doubled-up with the first Straight Flush ever at the home game. Pokerbrat re-loaded and didn't look back from then on.

I think Lethal was out first, then Renzo and with me crashing third, Kermit was the man to take on Pokerbrat heads-up... it lasted one hand! Pokerbrat taking down the win.

In the second game, the Brat re-loaded and then went out for a second time. He cut his losses and went home.

I went down to 3000 chips and brought it back to over 100,000.

The chips moved back and forth for a while but I chased too many straights. I did have one good hand, doubling through Renzo with my pocket Kings. He had 7s in the hole but the cowboys held.

The heads-up between Renzo and Kermit lasted a monstrous 2 hours!

Every time Renzo went in with the best hand, Kermit would hit and double-up. Renzo would then grind himself back to even, take the lead, then lose to a bad beat... over and over again. It was incredible.

In the end, a big hand held for Renzo and he won the second game.

Pomme

I'm really pissed-off with my game on Thursday night at the Pomme. I started off really well, making a call that could have sent me home £200 down in the first hour. I was dealt Ace, King and hit a King on the flop.

Pikey Chris makes a £51 bet and I re-raise another £51. He moves all-in and I'm already commited to calling so push all my chips in. He's chasing a straight and a flush but he misses and I river trip Kings. Phew!

So now I'm sat on over £400 in chips and I'm looking forward to grinding out another big win at the Pomme.

30 minutes later and I'm dealt pocket Aces, one of which is a heart. Eddie bets the pot so I re-raise the new pot. He calls reluctantly and when the flop hits he pushes all-in. I insta-call and find he is chasing a heart flush. It hits the turn so I need another heart to give me the nut flush. It's a rag, so I lose over £100 with pocket rockets to Queen fuckin rag.

I tighten up but every time I think I am making the right play, I'm beaten. For example, the Gay Blade who usually plays tighter than Kermit, is heads-up against my pocket 8s. The flop is 7, 5, 5 and I figure the guy only plays Aces and Kings so bet out. He calls me down all the way to the river and turns over 5, 6 - he flopped trips and was flat calling me all the way.

I'm starting to tilt a bit as I know I'm not playing my usual game. I pair a 7 on the flop against a regular who has been away (and I've never played against). He seems tight, in fact he folded a low flush when I had the King flush in an earlier hand, which is an amazing lay down! Anyway, I river another 7 and bet out £50 (there's well over £100 in the pot) and he calls, showing a straight I didn't even see on the board.

I'm now completely tilting and I'm left with £75.

I pair a Queen on my final hand and move in. I get two callers and watch them play against each other and ultimately one of them turns over a full house.

I leave really pissed off.

Tomorrow is a £75 freezeout at the Pomme so I'm going down to play in that and later on the cash game... this time I'll down a couple of Relentless and keep my head in the game.

AVjT

Extra Pic...

Of me re-raising a 5000 bet all-in... I'm sat on trips at the time and about to turn quads mwoah ha ha haaaa.

Mourant Charity Poker Series - HEAT ONE

The inaugural heat for the Mourant Charity Poker Series, was a resounding success. Over 40 players registered and the poker lasted a solid 4 hours.

By the time the re-buy period ended, we had well over 300,000 chips in play!

I started back from the break with a miserable 3000 chips, which was the starting point for all players anyway, so I was looking forward to crashing out so I could start up a cash game.

I doubled-up when someone didn't believe that I'd paired an ace, then came the first of two hands which would make me a contender to get to the final table.

I was dealt suited Ace, 8 and two more hearts came out on the flop. A guy bet out, so I called hoping to see another heart on the turn... another player also calls.

Rag.

The guy basically puts me all-in and to my suprise, the other guy calls. It's now or never and here is my opportunity to treble-up to 20,000 chips.

I call and a Jack of hearts hits on the river, giving me my nut flush! Woohoo! I take two players out and now have plenty of chips with the blinds at 600/1200.

We split-up my table and are down to the final two tables of 16 players. I sit next to Poker Princess and the Pokerbrat is opposite me.

I look down at pocket 9s, so raise it up when it gets to me. I get two callers. The flop is beautiful, giving me trips, but there's two spades on the board. Stuart Rowsell, a guy I've know for years but haven't seen for years, bets out at me and I'm pretty sure he's chasing the flush. I move all-in and he calls quickly. I ask him if he's chasing the nut flush and indeed he turns over Ace,7 of spades.

Shit.

I stand-up and tell the dealer to pair the board. The turn is another 9, giving me QUADS!!! Beautiful card and I'm now sitting on close to 50,000 chips and must be one of the chip leaders.

The other table loses two players, and as I was last to my table, I grab my chips and move again.

First hand, I'm dealt Ace, King so raise it up. I take down the blinds and one limper folds - an easy 3000 chips added to my stack.

After about ten minutes, one table has six players left and the other five, so we need one more person to go out on the bubble to have our final table. Unfortunately, it's BT who becomes the bubble boy.

It's great to see three Fishhookpoker players make the final table - the last ten looked like this:

Poker Princess
Tom Cope
Rob Sanford

Chris the Fish

Garett O'Brien

AnteVirusjT

James Dixon

Tim Le Cornu
John Pendergast
Tony Reed

Poker Princess is really unlucky when she calls an all-in move with her full house. The guy turns over quad Kings! So the Princess in sent to the rail, but tenth in a field of over 40 is solid.

Two guys are clear chip leaders, James Dixon and John Pendergast, so I know I need to double-up as soon as possible.

Two more guys are busted and I'm staying tight to let the field thin out a bit more.

Chris the Fish puts his tournament life on the line when he moves all-in with an open ended straight... and of course, he gets the card he needs on the turn, boosting his chip stack.

Tony Reed is the short stack and he's making moves whenever he gets half a hand. I pair a King on the flop and move Tony all-in and he calls with Ace, rag. He hits an Ace on the river, which doubles him up and takes a third of my chips.

We have a massive show-down between the chip leaders in one hand, and they both move all-in, which shows to me their inexperience. This is a totally unnecessary move, as they could have made the final two by sitting tight and only playing optimum hands - not surprisingly, neither of them has a monster. James Dixon wins and takes John Pendergast out 7th, and is now a MASSIVE chip leader with close to 200,000 (or two thirds) of the chips in play!

The guy has so many chips, we have to stack them on the window ledge behind him!

Dixon sucks-up Rob Sanford's chips too, by making a suspect call only to flop two pair. He's running hot!

I'm down to the final 5, but I'm one of the short stacks along with Tony Reed. I could sit tight and hope to dodge my way into the points, or try and win it. My decision is made when I look down at pocket 10s. Now 10s are a bastard, because you know if you get a caller you're either behind or in a coin flip against two over cards. Sure enough, I get one caller to my all-in move and I'm praying for a lower pair in his hand or Ace, rag. He's got pocket Jacks, and I'm busted out 5th by Tom Cope.

Dixon simply calls every all-in move, with hands like Jack,7 or worse and just hits every time! He puts out Tom Cope and Tony Reed and eventually takes down the Fish when he flops two pair!

James Dixon is the Heat One winner and chalks up 2o points on the leaderboard!

2nd place - Chris the Fish - 10 points

3rd place - Tony Reed - 5 points

Mr Dixon also won a limited edition Hendon Mob Chip Set, which is numbered and signed - a very nice prize.

The Fish, ever the gentleman, donates his 2nd place prize of a Royal Twist Chip Set, back into the prize pool for future heats, as the bragging rights of being the only Fishhookpoker crew member on the leaderboard is more than enough... prick!

It was a fantastic night, and I can't wait for Heat Two on Friday, 2nd May!

There were some incredible hands, and I found out later that my quad 9s was only the second quad 9s of the night! Of course we also had the quad Kings, and I'm told there was also a Straight Flush on one of the tables!

A huge stack of thanks to the fishhook crew, to Relentless for sponsoring the series, and to Andy and the staff at the Tipsy Toad for being such excellent hosts.

Check out the photos below...

jT

Above - Chris the Fish and BT help set-up - we've sold our souls to Relentless!




Above - Scooge McDuck (Centre) looks greedily across at The Fish's chips!



Above - The action heats up just before the end of the re-buy period.

Above - my chip stack is looking healthier after my nut flush!

Above - I move tables and find myself next to Poker Princess and opposite Pokerbrat. I'm thinking the final table is going to end up looking like our home game!







Above - A golden moment captured forever! Renzo brings my camera over and says, "jT let me take a photo of your hole cards!" So I oblige. I tell him to take a look at the flop, as another 9 drops. I forget Renzo is even standing there when I'm all-in against someone chasing the nut flush, and I turn my Quads!!!