Season six opens

Almost as quietly as season five ended, season six opened. We lost two members during the off season. StillNotFat decided to hang up the spurs for at least a while. His career statistics show $592 in winnings including three top-3 finishes and a win in 21 tournaments. He's been a part of the league since season 1 and will be missed. Mini-Muth is taking another season off. He did this once before after winning the championship. This time around he needs some time to lick his wounds after the embarrasing fall from the top he experienced in season five.

We have a new member on board who came in ready to search for a win, and a nickname. Instead of coming up with his own, he threw out some new ideas for Mojo, which included "cocksucker" among many others. Two members decided not to show up, DoctorLove and Motown - both of whom also missed the season five finale. It always bums me out when Motown doesn't come, because we have the biggest rivalry in the league, including a record seven busts I've dropped on him.

All told we had 10 players show which was good enough to start us off on two tables. The rebuy period had the typical tight play in the first round followed by a flurry of all-ins and rebuys during rounds 2 and 3. Mojo struck first blood by grabbing the deuce deuce bonus after flopping a set of two's and easily taking the pot and the $20 bonus.

It didn't take long after the rebuy period ended to see the first bust of the night. Chuckles raised from mid position and Mojo decided to come right along from the big blind with T6. Looking at a flop of JT6 Chuckles didn't see any cause for concern and was ready to play for all his chips, showing AA. Mojo's two pair held up and Chuckles busts in 10th place. He earns his first Early Retirement achievement and learns what many others have learned about tournament poker - aces will either win you a very small pot, or lose you everything.

We consolidated into the final table and Mojo, who always seems to be the guy busting people early, continued pushing towards another Terminator achievement in another huge hand. He, TheCanuck, and Coopzilla all saw a flop come down Q95. I may be fuzzy on the details of this hand, but I believe the first bet came from TheCanuck, called by Coopzilla and raised by Mojo. TheCanuck calls Mojo's raise and Coopzilla decides to re-raise all in. Rather than go over the top all in, Mojo just flat calls. Red flag folks - when Mojo just calls here he's begging for TheCanuck to call. If he thought his hand were weak or vulnerable, he would have re-pushed to try and get TheCanuck out of the hand. TheCanuck calls with top two pair - Q9. Coopzilla shows K9o for second pair, and Mojo shows the goods, 55 for a set. TheCanuck needed another Q or 9 to show up, and Coopzilla was practically drawing dead. The set of 5's held up and Mojo knocks out two people in one hand. TheCanuck started the hand with more chips so Coopzilla takes the 9th place finish followed by TheCanuck in 8th.

We played seven handed for what seemed like forever. A crazy hand came down between DiceMan and NeedAName (newguy). After a preflop raise, they watched as AKK came on the flop. NeedAName checks, and Diceman throws out a largish bet, around the size of the pot. NeedAName decides to call with pocket deuces (wow, trying to figure out what hand he put DiceMan on that he can beat). The turn answered the question when it fell a deuce. Now I understand... the new guy actually KNOWS what's coming. We may have invited the wrong guy in - the last thing we need is psychic players! Of course all the chips go in and DiceMan (who could easily have AK and the winner) shows AJ and loses to the boat. Out in 7th on a really tough beat.

At six-handed I was perpetually the short stack until SlimChance started really pushing chips around. He was also the bounty and was getting a lot of action. HumpinHorses hit a huge hand against him and busted him down to 1,500 chips with blinds at 500-1000. It was Jodizzle who would put the finishing touches on him after a four way flop came down AK4. On the turn she bet everyone else out of the pot showing A4 for a flopped two pair. SlimChance showed KJ drawing really thin, needing a K to survive. It didn't come and he busts in 6th while Jodizzle takes the bounty.

The new guy held on quite a while, but his stack dwindled slowly as he limped a lot of pots during the high blind rounds only to watch the short stacks push all in and be forced to fold. Finally getting to see a cheap flop with Ks3s and seeing it come down Js8s4c, he decided to make his stand with the flush draw. Mojo was happy to call having his own flush draw. Unfortunately for him, his draw was lower. Unfortunately for NeedAName, it was the 6s4s. With the pair he was ahead for the moment, needing to dodge a spade and a King. The turn and river came blank and Mojo eliminates yet another opponent. No achievements for NeedAName, but a decent finish in his first tournament.

This elimination left us with four players, and what a tough final four it would be. The back-to-back league champ and runner up, along with another former champ were still alive. Mojo, HumpinHorses, Jodizzle, and CMoney would duke it out for the top spot. With the top three being paid, it was time to hand out another Bubble achievement. Jodizzle is the league leader by quite a ways in the bubble awards. In fact her nickname changed to BubbleGirl for a short time. I struck gold early on a quick double up with ATo. Mojo called with QJ (this guy lives for busting me and is always good for a call). The AT held up and I got some much needed chips. I was still in tough shape with only 19,000 and blinds at 1000-2000. Two hands later I looked down to find JJ, by far the biggest hand I had all night. Jodizzle pushed from the button and I re-raised over the top having her covered by a few thousand. Everyone else folded and she showed 88. No help came and she busted in 4th, earning her astounding seventh On the Bubble achievement. Everyone else in the league has less than five bubbles. She also got her second bounty to earn the Bounty Hunter achievement.

Three-handed things slowed down quite a bit. The final three were aggressive players so it was a lot of big raising all folding. When the blinds went higher, the limping started. With a bunch of chips now in my stack, I saw a free flop with 85o. The flop came down 965. I was heads-up with HumpinHorses and figured any pair is worth betting, so I led out with a pot-sized bet. He came along. The turn came 7, giving me a straight. I put on my best Hollywood "aw shit, fuck that card, I hate poker" act and checked. HumpinHorses says "ten thousand" and I think I acted a little too quickly and re-popped all in. Maybe if I agonized over the decision I would have gotten a call but he folded quickly and I now had a pretty comfortable stack.

HumpinHorses was getting a little desparate with the small stack and decided to open push with Kc7c. Mojo woke up with a monster, AdQd. Things were looking grim for HumpinHorses until the flop came down KsQc2c. Folks, flops don't get much better than that for HH. Top pair with the flush draw had Mojo suddenly way behind in the hand. He'd need another queen, or a non-club ace, or some crazy non club running straight with J,T. The turn was the Ts giving him additional outs, and the river came the Ah to give him the hand. Pretty sick.HumpinHorses busts in 3rd and gets a Podium achievement.

Heads up it was a battle of will as neither Mojo or I wanted to back down. I started with slightly less chips and gave up a ton early on. I decided to open raise with 53o hoping to just take the blinds. Mojo calls and the flop came ace high. I fired out about 2/3 the pot and he flat called. There were draws possible so I didn't put him on an ace. The turn came and he checked to me again, and I fired a big bet of 20,000, about 1/4 my stack. He came over the top all in and the bluff was over. I stuck around with my 60K and saw his stack move closer to 100K. With blinds at 2000-4000 I was in a little trouble and he was playing aggressive. A few hands later I decided to raise again from the small blind, this time with a little better hand, K6s. The flop came down about as good as was possible for me, 652. My hand is completely disguised. He checked, and I bet out 12,000. He insta-called. The turn came 4 and he pushed immediately. The way the hand was played, I came to the conclusion that he was going to make this play on the turn regardless of cards. It's a classic stop/go which could mean complete bluff and could mean a huge hand like a flopped set. I can't figure out what he might have had on the flop to call with, other than big overcards like KJ or QJ hoping to hit. I decide to go with my read and call, only to be shown 54 for the turned two pair. In later discussions of the hand Mojo admits that he was making this play regardless of the card, which means he just got damn lucky to see a card that improved his hand :). I think I made the right play, but I'll let the audience decide. I still had some hope, needing any 2, 6, or K to fall on the river. And wouldn't you know it, a lovely 6 falls and I double up taking the chip lead over and leaving Mojo with less than 10 big blinds. I know he's still feeling the pain of that river card which makes me love it that much more.

From there I leaned on him a little, taking a few blinds. He fought back with a few all in bets that went uncontested. Finally with blinds high enough and his stack short enough, I got 64s and pushed all in. I'm okay with winning the blinds, and also okay with a call. The odds are that my cards are live no matter what he has. He calls with K8 and is the 60/40 favorite. I guess it was just my night because a 4 came on the flop and held up through the turn and river. Mojo busts in 2nd and CMoney continues the hot streak taking down his 4th win in 5 tournaments. The quest for a third straight championship is underway - who's going to step up and put a stop to this madness? Mojo earns a podium achievement, as well as his record fifth Terminator achievement. CMoney takes the podium, and the win achievement.

Final tally: $620 prize pool -

1st: CMoney $275
2nd: Mojo $150 (+ $20 for the DD bonus)
3rd: HumpinHorses $75

Jodizzle takes $50 for the bounty, and $50 into the league champion pool (if I win again we're going to rename this the "CMoney bonus pool").

See you in November...