Poker

When half of my players flaked on my home game last night, Sam, Dylan, Chad and I decided played a heads-up tourney.
Me vs. Dylan, Sam vs Chad. Winners battle for all the money.
Dylan had me on the ropes for most of the match. But I fought back a couple times and finally eliminated him. Chad lost to Sam, so I was to take on Sam D for the money.
It didn't take long.
I held KTo. There was a bet and a call.
Flop: KTJ
I bet, he raises, I go all-in, he insta-calls.
I show KT for two pair.
He shows KJ for a bigger two pair.
I say, "damn, I need a ten"
Turn: blank.
River: Ten.

I had him by one chip.

He promised to never tell this bad beat story EVER.
And since for me it was a GOOD BEAT story, I reserve the right to say it as many times as I want. This would be the 4th time since last night. :)

Cash game followed; Irwin and Christian show up for some no-limit $.25-$.50. I played wildly, calling with shit, raising with shit. Having fun. But Sam was having no fun. Dylan just rubs him the wrong way, so basically every word out of Dylan's mouth was followed by a disdainful comment or at least rolled eyes from Sam.
That sort of sucked, but I understand. Some people just can't play poker well with others. Especially after taking a bad beat like he had earlier, it just leaves bad tastes in the mouth.
Chad played his usual hyper-aggro, kill-Joe game. He came after me with a flush draw and pushed all-in when I held trip-sixes. We got it all in on the turn and sweated his nut-flush draw. My set held up, and he was felted.
"God, I was hoping to see the diamond and see you on tilt." He says.
Fucking bastard.

He deserved it a felting by me. It was about friggin' time.

Poker is fun for me lately. I've been doing well on Full-Tilt, my bankroll is slowly building. My game has improved. I'm confident I can beat the spread limit game at Garden City, and am ready to climb the poker ladder some more. I'm certain I can be a bigger winner in some of the larger games (relatively), but the roll needs to fatten to do that. So with some determination and a little luck, I know I can accomplish that.

Peace in the Middle East.