Syndicate Event #1 / Oceans 11 babble

So congratulations to me for my first ever royal flush at the Syndicate's first event of the season! Of course it was in the first level of the tournament, so I got about 1000 chips out of it, but hey, I'm just that good. I did well at my first table, but then really slowed down when my table broke. I finally picked up AA and made a 2.5x BB raise to 1000 under the gun. Mark re-raised to 5000, and I went all in for 7400 more than his raise. He called with QQ and windowed a Q to knock me out. I'm told Felix "Luck Box" T. won the event on a runner runner flush hand. Congrats. It was fun to get back and see the group again and welcome some new faces.

So obviously I headed directly to Oceans 11. I end up sitting next to a girl who had an American Idol wrist band on. Turns out she is trying out at Qualcomm Stadium today along with tens of thousands of others. Good luck. She said she is gonna sing "I'm Bringing Sexy Back". I later busted her with KK.

There were some interesting hands / moments last night. I called a raise in the blinds with 33, then check called a $30 bet on the flop. I asked him if he had made a pair yet, and he reflexively smiled -- I just didn't think he had a pair. I turned a 3 for a set after checking dark, then check-raised his $50. He went all in and I immediately called, and he said he was bluffing and mucked. What?!? I just check-raised on the turn and he has 2 high cards??? Thanks.

File this one under WOW: I flopped bottom set of 6s with about 5 players in a mini-raised pot. I bet in middle position and get 2 callers. The early position player goes all in on the turn (board is J-9-8-6 no possible flush), and the next guy calls the all-in bet for about $50. I raise to $120. When he hesitates calling my raise, I tell him I have a good one and just go ahead and lay it down. He's not happy about it, but he lays it down. I river a boat with an 8 and win the hand, but get this: the guy who folded tells me he had 10-7 for a flopped straight! He actually says to me, "You said you had a good one, so I thought you might have a full house." Ummm, buddy, the board wasn't paired on the turn when I raised, and you had and the 2nd nuts.......good fold.

I ran a double barrel bluff with AK high after raising preflop and got called all the way down by 2-3 offsuit = bottom pair / no kicker. He called $50 on the river when the only thing he could possibly beat was a bluff! No re-draw or anything. Wow. Then a few minutes later, that hand became a bit more believable when he called all-in on the flop for over $500 with 1 pair and a straight draw. He led out on the flop, got raised and re-raised on a coordinated board and called all in. The other two guys had both flopped straights, and the pot was close to $2000 for the guy who had the nut straight with Q-10.

Later in the night we had fun 3, 4, and 5 handed. I played in the dark quite a bit and won several pots, betting completely in the dark. We straddled every hand and even called blind raises just to juice up the action a bit. Very gambly, but fun.

It was getting late and I announced that it was my last hand on the button. I pick up 87cc and make the standard min-raise to $6 with 4 players sitting. The new guy in the SB who had tried to run a huge bluff right when he sat down re-raised to $26 as he had been doing quite a bit. The cutoff called, so I called. Great, it's my last hand, I'm up....I don't want to get involved in a huge hand that costs me. But I'll see a flop. The flop is 8 high, giving me top pair and a backdoor straight possibility. The re-raiser leads for $30, the cutoff folds, and I raise to $75 knowing his range is huge in that spot. He could have a hand as bad as A-9 high from what I know about him. He calls my raise. Turn is an 8, giving me trips. He checks, I bet $55, he calls. So he at least has something here. River pairs the board and fills me up, but he didn't call my $75, so I don't know what he had but he said he had a huge hand.

Nice way to end the night. Next Syndicate event next Saturday.