Saturday 28th January 2012

Winners all look the same to me

Result:
1. GingaStinga
2. The Doctor (seriously)
3. Petawatt
4. Killawatt
5. The Raiser
6. Sea Cock
7. Wee Rambo
8. Bottleneck

As Roger Daltrey still repeats to this day, 'Meet the new boss, same as the old boss'.

His Royal Radgeness obliterated allcomers at the Rare Books Arena on Saturday leading your humble scribe to suspect that we may be at a PP$ juncture, a handing over of power, a changing of the guard, which ultimately is a return to the same old same old...

PP$ at a Crossroad?

Having seemingly realised that going all-in, always, with anything just isn't a successful tactic, the GingaStinga has tweaked his game in recent weeks. The aggression is still there for sure as are the big chip moves, but there has been a subtle tweaking to an as yet unidentified part of his game that this observer believes may be the end of the KillaWatt golden era.

While KillaWatt utilised his unbelievable luck as always, making lucky mis-reads and suchlike and mid-game was positioned nicely for his customary theft of the money, he fizzled out in 4th looking a shadow of his 2011 poker self. Unlikely as it may seem, it was left to a resurgent Doctor to push the StingingGing over the finishing line.

It's only taken about 3 years for the penny to drop, but I'd like to take some credit in the downfall of the Director of Jay & Silent Bob after last week's Internet-hate campaign where I beseeched people not to give their feckin chips to Kev!!!! In the beginning, this was happening but on a much smaller basis than previously and no doubt 7 players had my high pitched whinging in their mind when they were in a hand with the previously Infallible One.

Earlier, Bottleneck yelped in pain when his Q-J high, heart flush was beasted by the Ginga ones massively superior A-K high heart flush. Being dealt the first two pocket A's of the new season couldn't save the host and he was forced to sit in pain for the rest of the evening as his vanquisher went on to pocket the pennies.

Wee Rambo continues with his cunning strategy of making us think he's shit. This time he went out holding A-8 (58.96%) against your narrator's K-9 (40.7%), a bit unlucky for sure. Probably a case of trying not to be in that position in the first place which is easier said than done. Or, better to be lucky than good!!!

Sea Cock had a ship to catch as usual. Killawatt was the first to hear the foghorn and tried to get the former Buoy's chips. Unfortunately I cannot recall exactly how he was sunk.

The greatest player never to have won the title went out in 5th when Ginga's low pair tripped me. But not before some mad hands. With an 8-8-3 flop, Dean made me put down 10-10 with some big raising and then assuring me he'd have gone all the way with his very own 10-10. Too loose for me. Earlier, despite not having bought a pot for months and doing everything possible to show I'm never at it any more, my re-raising of Kev's raise was met with him re-raising again, all pre-flop. It made me put down 10-10. He declared he thought I was at it (he held a more than respectable, BUT BEHIND, A-Q/J) and we chased the rabbit. Naturally the first card out was a 10. Hmmm. Revenge was magnificent though. For the first time this century I played with a J-6, my allegedly lucky hand and was able to bet Killa off of his very own fave hand, a K-9 which had hit and would have held up. Thigh slapping jocularity all round.

Once the reigning champ was deposited on the scrapheap of history in 4th place, his online-tournament-ingrained sibling maintained his place high/fizzle out pattern bleeding dry one hand after a final double up from a low stack. To win, you have to be willing to risk losing young man. But don't listen to me, what do I know about winning titles.

With two players left it was always going to be the Radge's prize. The Doctor, with tears rolling down his cheeks and the crowds singing his name was simply delighted just to be back in a heads-up situation. His Anus Horribilus (sic) was tough for us all. However, the achilles heel was still evident. For some reason, anytime the good Doctor wins a hand, he feels he has to lose all his chips before the next two hands have elapsed. Fortunately for him, he'd survived this induced psychosis earlier in the evening and made it to the final two.

No date for the next outing yet. What is clear though is that one or two players are already chasing their half-plus-one.

Apologies: The Professor (unable to leave almost-Kelso three times in the same day), Da Blouse (in the burns unit at ERI due to flash fire at Blouse Burning Ceremony), The Damage (unwilling to put in the hours of travel).