This week’s game fell on a holiday weekend, with the Prague marathon delaying the arrival of those players that didn’t have other things to do. That meant there were just 5 of us vying for the points, including Tom, who was trying for a hat-trick of victories.
A short while into the game, he claimed that he was being more cautious this week. I think we all knew that meant he hadn’t had many good starting hands at first, but he soon started betting when that changed.
After the break, Tom chose to push all-in (pre-flop) with his big slick. So much for caution. You may well know that AK is also known as Anna Kournikova, because it’s a hand that looks really good but doesn’t often win. Sadly for Tom, he was called by Rusty who had pocket cowboys, and with no ace to save him, Tommy’s dream of the treble died.
Under different circumstances that same losing hand can be great, as Rusty found out soon after when his A9d was out-kicked by Hadley’s AK, leaving three of us to battle it out. Sean was getting a little low in chips and pushed all-in with his pocket 3s, which was fortunate for me because he’d also dealt me a pocket pair – bullets. There was no reprieve, and Hadley and I began our own mini-marathon of a heads-up.
I’m not sure exactly how long we played for, but I think it was around an hour, maybe more. In that time the chip lead passed between us about 5 or 6 times, with neither player able to land a killer blow. There were trips and straights, and even quad 8s for me, but it needed us both to have decent hands at the same time to end it.
Eventually, Hadley pushed with the same losing hand Rusty had had (A9) and I called with pocket 10s. Luckily for me there was no ace to save Hads, and as previously mentioned in numerous reports (especially when Janne played), the result was effectively a coin toss. The result moved Hadley up 2 places into 6th in the league, whilst Tom’s lead at the top of the table has been cut to a single point.
I’d say tune in for next week’s report, but it would be a whole lot better to be at the table and feature in it instead. Lady Luck is a bit of a nomad – maybe she’ll be with you next time around.