So while we finished the first turney, some of the people that had busted decided to start up a little side action. Not sure what they were playing or how it turned out but thats them here on the right. Cat on the end, Cliff to his left and the neighbor Tom to his right.

The second turney was a few people shy from the first. A few suckers couldnt take the heat and had to go home (or they were sleepy but the first part sounded better). This time Bill drew a different table than Roger and I and go figure we were right next to each other! I think it was getting late and the beer was starting to affect people because for entertainment we were listening in the other room to Bills tables ALL INS every few minutes!!
The first hand I played here was my KQo hand. I was in the SB when the cutoff min raised. I looked down and saw KQ. Most of the time I would have re raised here just to figure out what was going on with that min raise, but it was Todd who did the min raise and he had done this earlier with a multitude of hands, from AA and KK to QJ and K9. I decided to just call, since it wasnt much and try to hit a monster flop. The BB called as well and the flop came Qd Jd Th. I was pretty happy with this flop with my top pair and OESD so I bet out 75 chips, the pot was 120 chips. The BB called and Todd decided to raise for 200 more. I folded... and I KNOW why did I fold? Well I figured Todd had QJ honestly or had hit the straight. It was so early, I had so little invested I decided not to fight about it and fold. He said he had the same draw as me for the straight and two diamonds (his words were a K and two diamonds). Which meant I was drawing to a split pot at best. But who knows.
As we moved on and heard Don yelling "ALL IN!!!" again and the oooohs and ahhhhs that followed I got to find out how funny Cliff was. Cliff at first glance looks like a totally geeky engineer guy, but man o man if you think thats what he is you are way off!!! And Cliff, Im still not fallin for your "We got online to check to see what hands beat what" line either!! His wife is Charlotte, who was the first out of the first turney. EVERYONE was super shocked that she was first out, and when I went out for a potty break and saw her chip stack at Bills table in the second turney, I understood why. I had gotten a feel for the players at this table, Cliff was smarter than he let on and tried to trick you with ANTI tells. Tom, didnt pay attn much to his table image and talked too much when he had a good hand. Matt who was on the end was a solid player and played live enough to know how to handle his chips. He was agressive pre flop and from what he had shown down was agressive with reason. Jason said he plays on Full Tilt but not for real money yet. He seemed like he knew what he was doing but I did notice he had re raised with about any Ace which I found a little strange. Todd was playing ALOT looser in this second game, he had a $10 bounty on his head and he was ready to hand it over!! Of course I play with Rog online all the time so I already knew his playing style.
The next big hand at this table was when Matt raised it up UTG and Jason came over the top of him and went all in. Surprisingly Jason had A2o and too bad for him Matt had AKh. Jason was out. The next to go was Todd, he got a little too wild with his starting hands and got caught. After he was out I got a couple big hands, AA when Cat had raised UTG to 150, I re raised to 500 cause I knew if I just called the 3 ppl left to act would call too. My re raise scared everyone off tho. I had JJ with no action as well. Next to leave us was Cliff when Tom sucked a straight out of the river to beat him. I was sorry to see Cliff go, and Tom wasnt. This is when Tom started to have NIC fits waiting for the other table to widdle down enough that we could merge. It didnt take long, we heard they were ready then when we finally did merge they were another person short!!! Bill explained why on his blog if you havent read it yet.
Soon we were joined by Bill, Charlotte and Ralph. I hadnt played with Ralph or Charlotte yet, but I had gotten the impression from other players that Charlotte was tough to beat. I had found out during the little break while we merged tables that Ralph was Bills friend that Bill had told me won a big tournament up here in Dayton. I was asking Matt where he usually plays (Cause I could tell he played live from his demeanor) and Ralph chimed in, turned out Matt had come with him and Matt had taken second place in the same tournament. We chatted for a bit because the tournament they won was played at my Legion where I play regularly, so I was telling them about the games there and such. Small world isnt it?!? We drew again for seats and I had drunk neighbor Tom on my right and Ralph on my left. I was soon happy that Ralph was on my left, he was a very aggressive player.

I was quickly the short stack, because Im so good at that, when Ralph who was UTG raised it up to 3x the BB which was 400. It folded around to Cat who was in the cut off and also short stacked. Cat pushed all in which was only my BB. So I had 900 chips left after my BB was in and I look down at TT. Go figure!! Normally with a raise and an all in I would lay this hand down, but I took some time to think it out and realized...Altho I dont want my TT against TWO other hands, its only against two other hands in the main pot. The side pot would be 1800 chips and since Ralph raised with alot of hands I was prolly good for the side pot. So I pushed in, which was only 100 more for Ralph to call. Ralph had raised UTG with QJ and Cat had AQ. The turn brought a J OH NOOOOO but REDEMPTION I hit my T on the river and took down both pots AND got an ENVELOPE!! Sorry Rog, but woooooooooooooooot!! But the bright side was, since Roger was out I had someone to take pics for me!! So thanks to him we have most of these lovely photos... nicely done photographer!! I think Matt was the next out, he had taken a hit to his stack with TT when Ralph had AA, and I think (could be wrong on this) he went out with TT as well. We saw lots of big PPs at this table. The next big hand was when Bill pushed in with a SS, Charlotte called and it folded around to the BB which was Ralph. He had 83o but it was very little for him to call. Bill and Charlotte both turned up 9To!! Amazingly enough, Ralph hit TWO PAIR on the FLOP!! And both Charlotte and Bill went out but In the money.
Now it was down to Ralph, Tom and myself. Ralph on my left, Tom on my right and Matt dealt for us. This is Matt on the left dealing and Tom at the end of the table. Tom won a big pot off of Ralph when he sucked out another straight, it was like his 5th at that table. He was pretty drunk and getting pretty lucky. Thats when I looked down and saw the big pretty ladies!!! )(pic right me looking) Woohoo!! Tom had even limped in front of me so even if they folded I got the BB and his limp, I of course pushed all in since I was the SS (as usual) and Tom called me with 66. Of course I knew the 6 was coming (as usual) and I went out in THIRD AGAIN!!! I got $20 this time, and I was happy getting in the money both times, but Im sick of not winning!!! I have alot of work to do on my turney game.

Anyhow, bottom line, I had a GREAT time!! I hope I get invited back. Bill and his wife are really great people. The kind of people that treat you like they have known you forever even tho they havent. Cat (who I have met before) is also a great guy. Bill mentioned he is shy in person, and he is, but he still had us all cracking up a few times!! He had invited a great group of people as well, totally changed my view on you ENGINEER types! Altho I didnt get home till after 3am, which is late for a mama like me, I didnt regret it!!

Thanks again Bill for your hospitality, you and Beth are great peeps!! <--- sucking up to get invited next time.