What a night of Poker!

That's me dealing at the final table. Hank Fraley is standing behind me. Wow, what a night of poker. It was cold and rainy outside, but the poker was hot & heavy inside. I got invited to a No Limit Texas Holdem tournament hosted by Philadelphia Eagles center Hank Fraley. We took seven players from my monthly game to see if any of the “Gloucester County Rounders” could finish in the money. Tom, Tracy, Mike, Bill, Franny, Eileen, and I along with 103 players showed up at this huge 3 bay garage to play. With 110 people hitting the felt it was not going to be an easy task. I really was surprised but it didn’t take long before the rail birds started to line up around the table after getting knocked out. Franny was at my table to start so there was a familiar face at the table. I wanted to play a tight aggressive game and take control of the table from the start. I folded a ton of hands until I picked up pocket queens. I was second to act and the blinds were 50 & 100 so I raised to 400. I got on caller before the flop so I knew he was playing an Ace something. The pot totaled 950. The flop came ace, 9, 6, all different suits. So I bet 400 again to see where I am in the hand and the guy raised to 900 so I knew I was done with the hand. I won a couple of nice pots and at the break I had 5900 chips. That was almost double the amount I started with. Just before the break Eileen walked up behind me to let me know that she just became a rail bird when her full house lost to a bigger full house. After the break a few of the players at our table busted out. Then came an amazing hand that Franny was in. He was third to act and went all in with his last 1400 chips. The next guy calls, I fold, the guy after me calls. A few more called and the flop was all low cards. Then all hell broke loose. Four more people went all in. It was crazy; there were 4 different side pots. So it didn’t look good for Franny. When the cards flipped up Franny had an Ace King of diamonds. He won the main pot when a third diamond hit on the river for an Ace high flush. Two more players from our table headed for the rail. Tom was the next out. He did everything I told him not to do. Played too many hands, and out of position. Then I hit my normal run of bad cards. If I did get a half way decent hand it was in early position, so I couldn’t play. By the second break I was in the red zone with only 3000 chips. I think Mike and Tracy were out by the second break and I was in big trouble. After the second brake there was only 40 players still in. I tried to hold on, but there was nothing to play. I finally went all in with a queen three. I only had 3000 chips and I was in the big blind next hand for a 1000 chips. I was hoping that not playing any hands that my all in would get some respect since I hadn’t played a hand in a while. It almost worked, except the small blind picked up pocket Aces and my night was done. I finished somewhere in the low thirties. Hank and I started dealing for the final two tables. Franny was at the table I was dealing and ended up in sixteenth place. Hey wait, what about Bill? Well Bill almost made it to the final table. I think he busted out on the bubble in 11th place. Only the final table made it into the money. I ended up dealing the final table and Hank took $60.00 out of the pot and gave it to me for dealing. It was very nice of him. The funny story of the night came when I was dealing at one of the final two tables. I didn’t realize it, but Eagles corner back Lito Sheppard was sitting right next to me. He had his chips in a chip rack. So I look over at him and lightheartedly said, “Hey why don’t you take your chips out of that rack and stack them like a man.” Everyone starts cracking up. He said, “What’s wrong with using a chip rack?” I told him it was like poker training wheels. Lito makes it to the final table and again is sitting right next to me. So he takes his chips out of the rack and stacks them. He says to me, “You happy now?” So I said, “Yea, now that’s how a man plays.” I think he got knocked out in 8th place. So at a break Tracy told me that she couldn’t believe I was talking to Lito Sheppard that way. I didn’t know it was him. So I walked up to him and shook his hand and said I was a big fan and I was only breaking his balls. I said, “Jesus, I’m didn’t know I was telling Lito Sheppard to stack his chips like a man.” It was a great time. I would have liked to have finished better, but I felt I played well. Lady luck was not real kind to me.