Darren Wins Corky Cup IV!

 

Darren defeated Tom on Tuesday evening to win the 4th annual Corky Cup.  The final match lasted just 32 minutes and 18 hands, and Tom never got closer than the 200k-120k chip deficit at the start of the game.

Both players traded modest pots for the first level, then hand #12 was the first big hand of the night.  After both players checked the flop of 2x 5h 6h, Tom led out for 15,000 when a Queen hit the turn, and Darren called.  The river brought the Jack of Hearts, and Tom bet 30,000.  Darren eventually called, indicating that he had considered raising.  Tom flipped over J-Q for top two pair, but Darren tabled Kh 4h for the flush and took a pot of about 120,000.

Tom's stack dwindled even more after a flopped straight draw failed to materialize, setting up the final hand of Corky Cup IV on hand #18.

On the final hand, Darren raised pre-flop from the dealer button, and Tom moved in for his last 40,000.  Darren called with pocket 6's, and Tom was behind with A-2.  On the flop of 5-2-10, Tom needed an Ace or a Deuce to stay alive.  The turn and river were a Jack and King, however, and Darren took the pot, the title, $128 and the Corky Cup.  Added to his $450 from Friday night, Darren turned his $100 buy-in into an impressive total of $578.  Tom won a total of $522 from his 2-night buy-in of $200.

Thanks to all who participated in this -- dare I say -- "epic" event.  I had a great time hosting and playing poker for what seemed like all weekend long.  Kudos to Bob and Ian for also cashing on the individual nights.  And congratulations again to Darren, who captured his first Donkeytown "major" and will soon have a few commemorative $25 chips in play for future Donkeytown games.

Corky Cup Winner to be Determined Tuesday

Darren and Tom will play heads-up Tuesday evening at approximately 6pm for the Corky Cup IV championship.

Darren will start the match with a 200k-120k chip advantage, with the blinds starting at 1000/2000 and increasing every 15 minutes.

The winner will also win $128 in addition to possession of the cup for one year.

Tom Wins Day 2 of Corky Cup IV

We had 6 players for Day 2 of Corky Cup IV on Saturday night:

SEAT 1:  Jeremy J.
SEAT 2:  Tom H.
SEAT 3:  Mark T.
SEAT 4:  Dave Cl.
SEAT 5:  Dave T.
SEAT 6:  Ian B.

Again, the buy-in was $100, with the top 2 getting paid, and the winner to advance to the finals against Darren, who won on Friday night.  It was another night of tough beats and coolers.

I'll have to admit that for the second night in a row, I handed out the worst beat of the night.  Two hours into the game, I held J-5 of spades, and Dave Cl. held 6-7 of spades.  To his misfortune, we both flopped a flush and got our money in right there.  Dave Cl. needed the 10 of spades to make a straight flush, but missed twice to finish in 5th place and nearly double up Tom.

We stayed 4-handed for nearly 2 hours after that, and then Ian increased his already big chip stack in one big hand.  Dave T., Ian and Jeremy all saw the flop of A-10-10.  Dave T. bet 4000, Ian raised all-in, and Jeremy called all-in for about 15000.  After Dave T. folded, Ian flipped over his K-10 for trips, while Jeremy held A-9.  Just as Dave Cl. did earlier, Jeremy had only one out, as Dave T. revealed that he held one of the remaining 2 aces.  No ace was to follow, and Jeremy was out in fourth place, while Dave T. dropped below 10000 on the hand as the money bubble was reached.

Dave T. went to the grind to try to stay alive and double up, but eventually was down to 4100 when he sent all his chips in with A-J.  With Tom already in for 1200, he was getting 2:1 odds with his A-5 and made the call.  Another tough beat, as a 5 hit the board and Dave T. got knocked out on the bubble.

That hand left Tom with 60,500 and Ian with 59,500 as they started the heads-up match with the blinds only at 600/1200.  After the two braced for a potentially long battle, and Ian took two small pots to start, the pivotal hand occurred on heads up hand #3. 

Tom raised pre-flop to 3600, and Ian called.  The flop was As 5d 8d.  After Ian checked, Tom bet out 6600, and Ian put Tom all-in.  After some consideration, he made the call and the cards were flipped over.  Ian held 6-7 of diamonds for an open-ended straight flush draw, and Tom had A-5 of spades for two pair.  We both thought Ian must have been a slight favorite at that point, but as it turns out Tom was a 51%-49% favorite.  Ian needed a 4, 9 or diamond to take the lead, but the turn of Jh gave no help, and another 8 hit the river, giving Tom the hand and a 13:1 chip lead. 

Ian battled back, twice being one card away from elimination but hitting river cards to stay alive and double up to more than 20,000.  Eventually, Ian went all-in with Kd Ts, and Tom called with 7-7.  Tom flopped set with 2c-Js-7s, and Ian had backdoor flush and straight draws.  The flush draw hit the turn with 3s, but the river bricked out a ten of clubs, giving Tom the hand and the win.

Tom took $352 for first place, and Ian received $200 for second place.  Tom will face Darren heads-up, at a date to be determined, for $128 and the Corky Cup.  Because of the lopsided number of players on the two nights of play, Darren will start with 200,000 chips, and Tom will start with 120,000.

The format was a lot of fun I think.  I wish there hadn't been so many bad beats and coolers, especially at the increased buy-in, but hopefully the adrenaline was flowing for everybody and a good time was had by all!

Darren Wins Day 1 of Corky Cup IV!

Darren will be finalist #1 in the Corky Cup heads-up match, date TBA.

Big Games at Corky's!

Last Saturday night, Mike C. (Corky) hosted 18 players for more than 7 hours of poker at "South Donkeytown!"

Game 1 was a $10 buy-in event, and was split into a separate game on each table.  At table 1, Ken M. outlasted Jeremy J. to take the $55 first prize, while Jeremy earned $25 for second place.  At table 2, Aaron B. and Mark T. chopped the top two prizes for $50 and $40, respectively.  Joe R. took $28 for the Game 1 "high hand" contest with Aces full.

Game 2 was the main event of the night, with a $40 buy-in and 18 players on two tables.  Donkeytown rookie Steve C. built a good stack early and held the lead for most of the game, and in the end he and fellow Donkeytown rookie Bob S. went heads-up.  The lead traded hands several times, before Steve finally took down first place and a $320 payout.  Bob earned $190 for second, while Dave T. ($130) and Brad F. ($80) rounded out the money spots.

The high hand of $90 for Game 2 went to Aaron B., when he turned his pocket tens into quads (10-10-10-10-A) early on in the game! 

With the victory and large payout (relative to usual Donkeytown payouts), Steve nearly vaulted himself into "King of Donkeytown" status!  Tom is still hanging on by a thread, with Steve a close second and Dave T. also closing the gap with his 3rd place finish.  Steve did manage to take over the 2010-2011 Donkeytown money list at +$270, while Dave T. is a close second at +$237.
Very special thanks to Corky for hosting such a large group, and creating a great poker room in the garage, complete with Sloppy Joes and snacks for everyone!

Tom Takes Two

We had four -- count 'em, four -- players in Donkeytown for a rare Thursday night game!  Darren C., Ian B., Mike C., and Tom squeezed in 3 games in just under 5 hours.  The buy-ins were $20, $20, and $30.

In Game 1, Mike C. built a chip lead and took top honors, chopping for $50 with Ian, who took the other $30.

In Game 2, the pivotal hand was early on, as about two-thirds of the total chips on the table go into the middle on the flop.  Corky pushed all-in with top pair and a flush draw on a 10-high board consisting of all hearts.  Tom called with top pair and the nut flush draw, and then Ian moved all-in with a made jack-high flush.  Tom called Ian's raise, and when Tom spiked the king of hearts on the river, Corky was eliminated in 4th, and Ian was crippled.

Shortly after that, Darren had AQ and was all-in preflop against Ian's JJ.  Darren not only won the race and doubled up, but made quad aces on the hand.

Eventually, Ian was eliminated and Tom and Darren chopped ($50 and $30).

In the final game, Tom pushed all-in with another nut flush draw, and Ian again was victimized, as his flopped two-pair was no good when Tom made another flush on the river. 

Tom and Darren eventually made it into the money, and this time there was a heads-up match.  Darren took a few early pots, but eventually pushed all-in with A-6 and Tom called with J-Q suited.  Every card on the board hit one of the two players (J-Q-6-Q-6), giving both players full houses, but Tom's QQQJJ defeated Darren's 666QQ, and Tom took $80 for first, with Darren winning $40 for second.

Next game is at Corky's on Saturday the 25th!  Word is we'll have two games, with hopefully at least a full table for each game.  Should be a great time!

Ian's Reign Ends

We had a smallish but hard-fought game on Friday night as Donkeytown returned home after two consecutive "road games."  6 players ponied up $35 each for the tournament:

Seat 1:  Dave C.
Seat 2:  Dave T.
Seat 3:  Mike M.
Seat 4:  Mike C.
Seat 5:  Ian B.
Seat 6:  Tom H.

Both Dave T. and Tom were within reach of dethroning Ian when the night began.  When Ian bounced out on the wrong side of the bubble, and Dave and Tom were still alive, it was ensured that one of them would become the new King of Donkeytown.  Dave needed to win the tournament, and Tom needed just to finish higher than Dave to earn the title.

Corky (Mike C.) made a comeback from a very short stack to make his way into the money and take the chip lead.  His run all but ended when he flopped 4 to a royal flush, and went all-in only to see he had only one out, as Tom flopped AAAQQ.  Bricks hit the turn and the river, and Tom took the chip lead.

Eventually, it was Dave T. and Tom duking it out for the tournament title.  After a few hands of back and forth, with the blinds at 1200/2400, Tom called from the small blind with 10d 6d, and Dave raised another 5000 with KQ, which Tom also called (DONKEY!).  The flop was 6-7-9 with 2 more diamonds, Dave went all-in, and Tom called with bottom pair and a flush draw.  Tom eventually made 3 sixes on the river and won the tourney.

I think the newly built table was a great success, as it seemed easy to play on and a little roomier than what we've been used to.  I think with a full table of 10 we will really see its benefit!

Corky will be hosting a Donkeytown game on Saturday the 25th.  Outside chance that we'll squeeze in one more game at Donkeytown proper before then.  Maybe....

New Donkeytown Table!

Due to the limitations of my blogging app on my phone, I'm unable to post a picture at the moment, but...

Donkeytown has a new table!

Dimensions: 76" x 49" (rectangular with rounded corners)
Old table: 84" x 42" (oval)

Perimeter: 20 ft (24" per player at a full table)
Old table: 17.9 ft (21.5" per player)

Surface: Red gabardine over 1/4" foam. Cards slide easily. Chips grab. Pending actual play, this seems like an ideal fabric for poker tables!

Portability: Questionable (one piece, has rails underneath to fit to dining table).
Old table: still available for road games and a backup/second table.

I cannot believe we got this much use out of the folding table! I thought it was a P.O.S. at first, but we beat the hell out of it and it's still playable (with duct tape).

That Was a Crazy Game of Poker

Dave T. hosted the second straight road game for Donkeytown, and it turned out to be quite the game(s)!

Nine players started the $40 buy-in game with the equivalent of 200 big blinds, but from the start it was apparent that this was no "deep stack" poker.  The standard preflop raise for the first hour was anywhere from 6 to 12 times the big blind, something we have never seen before in Donkeytown!  It didn't help that a number of big hands and big flops were dealt, adding to the incredible action and huge pots right from the start!  Trips, full houses, straights and flushes seemed to be the norm.

And the Donkeytown quad drought, which lasted for more than a year, ended shortly thereafter!  I managed to squeeze into a rare unraised preflop pot in late position with 4-6 offsuit (Mark T.'s favorite hand), and the flop was 4-4-4!  Unluckily for Corky, he held J-J and I took a pretty large pot off of him.

After that, the action slowed down and it was apparent that the goal became surviving the bubble (top 3).  Along the way, Jeff suffered the biggest cooler of the night, holding Qd 7d on a board with three diamonds, one of them being the King of diamonds.  Holding the second nuts, he was put all in on the turn, and after some deliberation called Dave C., only to see the bad news -- Dave had the nut flush with Ad 2d, and Jeff was drawing dead.

Because of the early action, the bubble burst after only 3 hours of play, and with nearly everyone who busted out early still hanging around Dave T.'s pad, a chop was agreed upon between Tom, Dave T., and Dave C. in order to make room for a second game.  Tom had 39% of the chips, and took the top prize of $130; Dave T. had 35% of the chips and earned $122, while Dave C. had 26% of the chips and took $108.

Game 2 featured a $20 buy-in among 8 players.  The poker was more conventional, except for the unusual payout structure of $105-$55.  The bubble was again tight, and Jeff again took a tough beat to finish third when his pocket 10's was outflopped by Corky's two pair with 7-3.  Corky eventually took down the first prize over Dave T.

Thanks again to Dave T. for hosting and providing us with free pizza and snacks!  We hope to return someday to "Northeast Donkeytown"!

Quad Drought!

Donkeytown is way overdue for quads or a straight flush! During 2009-2010, we had a high hand contest for most of the 11 nights that we played, and we did not see anything higher than Aces Full once! Not even in the few games we played without a high hand contest!

Now, I assume that nobody failed to show their quads during that time, but I doubt anyone in our group would not show.

I did move all-in once with 10-K when i hit a pair of tens on the flop, and Dave T. must have sensed what was coming, because he folded QQ! And sure enough, we rabbited the last two cards, which of course were 10-10 which WOULD have made me quads.

To put in perspective, during Super Bowl weekend at Greg's, we saw quad QUEENS four times! And Darren also made a straight flush. And not too long ago, I flopped quad kings twice in one hour, and made quad kings again the next weekend.

It's just weird that we haven't seen it happen once in Donkeytown recently. Maybe Northeast Donkeytown will break the jinx on Friday. Just don't put me on the losing end...

West Donkeytown

Ian hosted 5 other players for three games on Saturday night in Spring Lake.  Because everyone who has played recently at Donkeytown was invited to the game, we decided to make it an officially-sanctioned Donkeytown game!

Jeremy J., Bryan O., Mike C., Tom H., and Dave T. joined "King Ian" for the first two $20 games.  The first one proved difficult to reach a conclusion, as the blinds reached the final levels before any players were eliminated.  Eventually, with the blinds at 3000/6000 for some time, Dave T. prevailed over Jeremy to take Game 1 and $80, while Jeremy pocketed $40.

Game 2 played with an accelerated blind structure to finish more quickly, and did it ever!  The blinds had just reached 800/1600 before Ian was the only one left standing, knocking out Tom on the 2nd heads-up hand.  The payouts were the same as Game 1, $80 for Ian and $40 for Tom.

Mike, Tom, Ian, and Dave remained for one final game, and the rich got richer while the poor got poorer.  Ian took 1st place yet again over Dave, earning them $60 and $20, respectively.

Ian has taken a stronghold of the "King of Donkeytown" title.  It will likely take multiple in-the-money finishes, and a sudden slump for Ian, for anybody to overtake him.  Jeremy passed Tom for 3rd place in the King standings, otherwise the order is unchanged near the top.

Thanks again to Ian for hosting the first-ever Donkeytown road game!

2010-2011 season is underway!

We had 9 players Friday night... not bad for the middle of summer! Hopefully this bodes well for a lot of games and good times this year. The $30 buy-in event featured the following players:

Seat 1: Ian B. ($45)
Seat 2: Mike C.
Seat 3: Dave Ck.
Seat 4: Tim M.
Seat 5: Dave Cl. ($85)
Seat 6: Tom H.
Seat 7: Dave T.
Seat 8: Bob T. ($140)
Seat 9: Aaron B.

After four-and-a-half hours, Bob emerged victorious over Dave Cl., and Ian took third. The host and author of this blog drank too many of Ian's homebrews to make note of any interesting or pivotal hands.

Ian will retain his "King of Donkeytown" status for at least one more game, while Dave Cl. moves up to 2nd, knocking Tom down to third, while Bob's win also puts him within reach, as well as make him the early-season money leader. Jeremy is 4th in the line of succession.

Thanks again to Ian for sharing the Mr. Beer samples!