Then downstairs with about 6500, and managed to grab three pots in a row, to remain steady and even gain a little bit. But on the next table, I doubled up short stack Judd, and that took about a third of what I had left, so I was back to only having enough chips to play for one large pot. 3900 was about my lowest ebb, and I reached it here. Get much below that beyond the mid-point of the evening, and you're likely to need all your chips every time you get involved.

Best play of the night that I saw was Red going all-in heads up against Chuck's cousin after the river card made a straight to the jack on the board, with three spades. The way it rolled, it was unlikely either guy had a queen or two spades: they were both playing preflop and the flop too aggressively. Other guy folded, and I think Red stole his half of the 5 grand in the pot.

Final table, and I was waiting for the right cards for an all-in with blinds at 2k, 4k. On my big blind, pocket kings, and I was trying to figure out whether to slow play them when Brian limped in under the gun, then Omar also limped from the small blind. That was already enough money to make it worth taking down right there, so all-in was the right move. I figured Brian to fold if I went all-in, but had a feeling Omar would call: he was very tall stacked, and (A) I was in the perfect position for a position raise and (B) Omar thinks he knows my "tells." ;-) Which may be true, so I put on the shades, and tried to look nervous. Then, doing my best imitation of a guy who's not sure, I went all-in. Sure enough, Brian folded, but Omar called with 10-jack offsuit, and doubled me up.

That made me tall stack, but not hugely so, and I was contemplating waiting around for decent cards when on the very next hand I got ace-queen offsuit in the small blind. Everyone folded around to short stack Andy who went all-in with only 4k, and then second stack Omar goes all-in on the button. I figured Omar would slow play a great hand in that position, and that with his raise he was hoping to force me out and play Andy heads-up. If I was right about that, my ace-queen almost certainly had him beat, so I called; and besides, even if I lost, I would still be second stack. Sure enough, Omar flipped over ace-4 off while Andy flipped over ace-5 off. Andy actually sucked out with a 5 on the river, but it almost didn't matter: 90% of the chips in play were between Omar and me. I was already tall stack, and by taking out Omar as second stack, I now held about 40 - 50% of all the money on the table, with 6 guys left. From that point on, with blinds as big as they were, now in addition to Andy both Brian and Donnie were short stacked. Freddy was in a strong second with maybe 20% of the chips on the table, and Chuck's cousin was in third with maybe 10%.

Shortly afterwards I went all-in with ace-jack offsuit, shortest stack Brian called, and Andy did as well. Andy's pocket 9's lost to my and Brian's ace-jack with an ace on the flop, and again while not winning the main pot (splitting it this time), I won the lion's share of what was out there because I had more chips to risk.

Then Freddy took out Brian and Donnie with pocket 9's of his own, and it was the three of us. Chuck's cousin put all-in with ace-jack on the small blind, but that was less than my big blind, so it was my 4-7 against his ace-jack. I caught a 7 and he caught a jack on the flop, but the turn gave me a third 7, and so he was out.

Then down to Freddy and me. Freddy has personally knocked me out of this damn RWPL not just once but twice, and he's got me spooked. So of course he's the one guy left. And he had enough chips to hurt me: perhaps 1/4 of my stack, which as we all know is enough to win with just two all-ins. However, he couldn't catch a card, and I was getting great cards with almost every deal, so it was all-in almost every hand for six hands, with me taking down about 5 out of 6 but no showdowns. Finally, he'd had enough, and called an all-in with queen-6 off, against my ace-2 off. Neither of us got any of the board, so the ace held up, and that's all she wrote.

Had a blast as I do every month, so thank you to Brian and Red for organizing and thank you to Jesse for hosting. See you guys at the next one.

Christian