They Always Come Back

liquid's YTD: $903.70

I dumped some money back into PokerRoom this week. My Party Poker adventures have been, uh, less than lucrative, so it's time to go back to where I first became the superstar poker hundredaire I am today. Plus there's a reload bonus!

As a change of pace, I started with a few PLO single-table tournaments, which for whatever reason Party does not deign to offer. First three tourneys: 6th, 4th, 2nd. As spectacularly mediocre as my cash game results!

The 2nd-place finish included a few interesting sequences. I tripled up early by jamming with QQxx on a KKQ board while AAxx and Kxxx chased and failed to hit. Then I had a chance to take out the eventual winner when I jammed the turn with top two pair to put him all-in, and he called with a 9-out straight draw. (Yes, he hit.)

Later, on the cusp of being dangerously short-stacked with the table down to four, I managed to steal a key family pot:

Seat 2: Foe 1 ($5,470 in chips)
Seat 6: Foe 2 ($2,760 in chips)
Seat 7: Hero [Qc Ah 9h 8d] ($1,985 in chips)
Seat 10: Foe 3 ($4,785 in chips)

ANTES/BLINDS
Foe 3 posts blind ($150).

PRE-FLOP
Foe 1 calls $150, Foe 2 calls $150, Hero calls $150, Foe 3 checks.

FLOP [board cards 6c Kc 3h ]
Foe 3 checks, Foe 1 checks, Foe 2 checks, Hero checks.

TURN [board cards 6c Kc 3h Jh ]
Foe 3 bets $300, Foe 1 calls $300, Foe 2 calls $300, Hero calls $300.

RIVER [board cards 6c Kc 3h Jh Kd ]
Foe 3 checks, Foe 1 checks, Foe 2 checks, Hero bets $1,535 and is all-in, Foe 3 folds, Foe 1 folds, Foe 2 folds.

SHOWDOWN
Hero wins $3,335.

Whew.

The final turning point: I had a chance to vault into the lead with the nut straight, a flush redraw, and the chip leader betting big.... when my connection failed for a few seconds and I was auto-folded. Holy bad timing Batman.

So what might have been a runaway victory for Hero turned out to be a fight to squeak into second.