This is The World According to Buchs - Keepin’ it moving since 2003!

We spent the late afternoon/evening/early morning at Dan & Jen’s place on Saturday. Started with a cookout - hanging around, drinking beer, eating brats. After the sun went down, we retired to the living room, and readied ourselves for a Texas Hold’em Tournament. We had a total of 13 people playing, so we initially had two tables. We decided to play the first round for about 2 hours, or until there were 3 people left at each table, whichever came first.

I drew the “big” table, and played with Jen, Judy, Amy, Justine, Les, and Kirk. Kirk and Jen took control pretty early. Judy was the first on knocked out, and Les wasn’t far behind. Justine went out after that, leaving 4 people competing for 3 spots. It got down to the very last hand, and Amy & I were pretty close for the third spot, but she had a slight lead. I think we both knew going into the hand that one or both of us were going all-in. The other two played it safe and dropped out, already having secured spots at the Final Table. I had pocket sixes, and drew another on the flop. I put up a decent bet on that, which was enough to get Amy into the game. After the turn, I went all in, and she followed. In the end, she had 2 pair to my 3-of-a kind. Great finish.

At the final table, Scott, Chuck, and Jason joined Jen, Kirk, and me. Scott was the odds-on favorite, with many more chips than the rest of us. Chuck won the first 2 hands, and was looking pretty solid. In the 3rd hand, it was down to the two of us, and we both had more than half our chips in the pot. I ended up winning with three 6’s to his three 5’s. I won the next hand also, dropped the next, and won the next with four 7’s. That put me way ahead at the table. Jason and then Kirk went out. Chuck had to go all-in, and I thought I had a good enough hand to also knock out Scott, while Jen folded the hand. I think I had three of a kind, so I was feeling pretty confident. Scott drew a flush on the river, and took me for half my chips. Then, on the final hand, I went all-in with a pair of kings, and not much on the board. Again, on the river, Scott drew to an inside straight to take me out.

I think we finished up around 1:30 in the morning.