The Poker Adventures at Pennison's Pub Episode 1

The following are some of the events that took place at a bar in Sugar Land, Tx. Names have been changed because I don't do well with names.

Howdy all! This is the first episode of, hopefully many, a poker tournament that takes place every Wednesday at 7pm and 10 pm. There is no buy-in. You read that right! There is no buy-in. All that they require from you is to sign up and get a username & password. The company that runs the poker portion of this bar is called Time Well Wasted. A few reasons on why I like playing here.
1) Its Free
2) Its the only games that's close to me.
3) Gambling is illegal in Texas.
4) I don't trust the back alley games in my city.

Let me run through some of the rules so you will understand what you are reading.

All players receive 100k in chips. All players pick their own seat, unless table are uneven, then the host/hostess moves people around. Cards are fanned out and everyone draws a card to determine the starting dealer. Once found, the player who chose the highest card is the dealer and...well deals the cards. Each hand the deck is passed to the person to the left. Blinds start out at 500/1K and the blinds go up every 10 mins. Normal Texas Holdem rules are enforced. If you buy a beer/pitcher/mixed drink/straight liquor drink, you receive extra chips (10k-20k depending on the drink). Every time the blinds go up, free chips are placed in the middle and this is called the "Pot Sweetener". When the "Pot Sweetener" is in place, no raises can be made pre-flop. After the flop, normal play occurs. Prior to the break, the host/hostess goes around and takes drink orders. If you order their drink special, a Time Well Wasted (Which depends on what the bar wants to serve for that), you get more chips and are entered into the freeroll that takes place during the break. Once the break comes, all player who bought a certain amount of drinks or the drink special get to participate in the freeroll. During the freeroll, all players are able to win 100k by playing a face up hand of Texas Holdem. If you win the hand, you get the 100k. This goes for three turns. After that, break is over and resume normal play. Top 4 people get points. The points are kept on their database and I think at the end of the year, highest points get like a t-shirt or something. Got it? Probably not but here we go anyways......

I walked in through the doors and the smell of liquor and smoke hits my nostrils. People are playing pool, shooting darts, and Golden Tee. As I make my way to the par, three tables have poker table tops and roll outs with cards fanned across them. I make my way to the bar and order my usual Jim Bean on the rocks. 

At that time, the poker hostess announces its time to register. With it being a free roll Tournament all you need to do is sign up for a user name and password. Being a returning player, I throw my info into their computer. I find an open seat at one of the three tables and wait for further information. 

The bar itself has every chair filled. The patrons are talking among themselves or watching the sports games on the many tvs. 

A majority of the people playing in the tournament have clearly been drinking already. 10pm hits and the hostess says,in her deep southern accent, "Alright Poker Players, shuffle up and deal!" There are only 16 players. 8 at each table. Blinds are thrown out and the cards are dealt. I'm sitting under the gun and I'm looking at pocket 10s. I raise to 2k. Folds happen all the way to the drunk right of the dealer. He calls with the dealer and the blinds folding behind him.

Flop comes out 3H 7C 3S. I bet 5k, Drunk calls. Turn is 4H. I raise 5k. Drunk calls. 9S hits the river. I check and the drunk raises 4k. I sit back and go over everything and put the guy on nothing. I call and he flips over 3D JC. Damn the luck.

Night continues on and I win a few and lose more. Pot Sweetener comes up and I'm sitting on the button. I'm dealt Aces. Of course I can't raise so I'm irritated. Everyone is in the hand because why not? Since no one can raise, every hand is good huh? 2D 7D QD hits the flop. Guy in middle position goes all in with 80k. THREE PEOPLE CALL! I fold my aces. 4C 9D follow. Everyone flips. Guy who went all in hit the flush on the flop with 3D 6D in his hand. Everyone else had no diamonds. I hate the Pot Sweetener.

Continuing on through the night.He stressing on whether or not he should call the blind or if some one was to double the blind, he would act as if he had the hardest lay downs. He called a few times, times he really should have even been in the hand, but would flip 3 7 off suit and wonder how he lost to three kings. The guy to the left of me who act as if he had to decide who lived and who died every hand! 

Moving on. At some point I am sitting low on chips. I'm dealt 8D JH. I go all in (120K) with one call. The caller flips over AS KH. Im already standing up and getting ready to pay my tab. Flop comes out 3C 8S 4H. Im interested now! Turn 7H, river 3S. Im still alive!

Players get knocked out from both tables and now the final table has been made. Whos in the final table? This guy! Blinds at this point are at 50k/100k and I'm sitting with 320k. The other stacks are around 800k-2M. I get lucky with a few hands and build my stack up to 1M. We get down to the final 2. Who in? You guessed it! THIS GUY! The chip leader is sitting on at least 5M. We talk about the payout and its $50 for 1st and $25 for 2nd. The chip leader says, "How about we split and get $30 a piece and play for $15?" I'll take that any day of the week! We shake hands and continue to play.

I go all-in right out the gate with pocket 8s and he immediately calls. He flips over AK off suit. Flop comes out 4D 10H 4H. Im still leading but barely! Turn is a 5C. COME ON BABY! River 2S. I take down the pot and I'm at 2.5M. The guy then says, "I'm done bro. Lets go all-in. Whatever the outcome is, I'll get $5 and you can have $10." Again, I'll take that any day of the week. I was going to win $25 at second place but I've already got $30 and he's going to give me $10. I won't bore you with the hand because honestly I don't remember it. He won the hand and got the 1st place points and I got the 2nd place points. I walked out with $40 and he walked out with $35. I would call it a good night.

What I got out of tonight is that you can never give up because you never know when Lady Luck is going to rub your back and whisper in your ear, "Its going to be ok. Keep playing." I made some bad calls but my good calls prevailed. Sure I took 2nd place but I wasn't last place. 

Don't know if this entertained you, inspired you, or just flat out bored you. Keep playing and keep learning!