Victory at the House of Dawn!

Well, I had no intention of bubbling this tournament for a third time, come hell or high water, and though the water high and hell nearby, I chopped 1st prize two ways with the hostess herself. A run-down of some of the highlights -

First off, no double rebuy to start, so all of us were stuck with 3K chips to start. The first three levels were uber-boring for me, chipping up once or twice with a PF raise and a CBet here and there, but nothing overly fancy or strange. Right before the rebuy period was over I risked all my chips with 66 and they held up, doubling me up heading into freezeout time.

Most of my tussles came against Mary tonight, and due to some antics by others she got rather angry, and I do not blame her. Basically folks, don't talk when you're not in the hand. Even if you think you have the best piece of advice in the history of the world to give, don't do it. We're now 5 handed I have about 8BB and my shoved KQ runs into Mary's AJ.King hits. So that tilts her a bit. She is now in shove mode as well and goes all in. I have an ace, action is to me and only me, and I say" Ouch...I have an ace." Someone still around says, "Oh, that's a definite call here." This tilts Mary completely. Now I know I should call, this is not news to me, but still, it's impolite and unprofessional and rude. I call, but Mary's hand holds up, and though she was plenty pissed off, play continued.

We lost one more, and blinds were getting steep. Dawn was the big stack, and the rest of us were varying levels of short. A lot of button-raising fold-fold had been happening - so it was only a matter of time before someone got caught. Mary limps her Sb into my BB and I check 56. The flop comes K56. I had been shoving a lot, so I was at a point where I felt if she was merely limping to trap me post-flop, re shoving her with two pair is going to be as good of a spot as any. Action is to her and she shoves, and I snap call. Two pair holds, and Mary is sent to the rail. I felt bad, although I know I shouldn't because it's poker, but I never like to see people I play with mad or angry, and doubly so if I'm involved in the hand in question. Granted, I did nothing wrong, but I still felt bad about it.

It was not long before the shortest stack busted, and Dawn and I stood fairly even, so we happily chopped $190 each. Nothing like a night where luck goes your way AND you feel great about how you played. Thanks always to Dawn for hosting!