Who's got the nuts?

I do, or rather I did on Friday night when the Poker tour met with a season high attendance of 16 people.

It was another night of wild swings. I won a big pot early with a straight beating two pair to give me a nice chip lead, which was chipped away from me leading up to the merge of the tables. I had just been dealt big slick when the merge was called, so I saw an opportunity to try an grab some extra chips before we consolidated. I went all in, and Steve, sitting to my right called, but in the way someone might when they had resigned to giving up and leaving for the night; he had 4, 5 of Spades. He hit the straight, and left me with $13.50 in chips (we start with $25.00, and you would probably want to have at least $40-$50 going into the final table).

I went into disaster recovery, and held on for dear life. It didn't help my cause that the blinds went up to $4 - $8. Soon after I was dealt big slick again, but this time fate was kinder, and I managed to double up, plus the blinds. I then went on to steal the blinds a few times, before hitting a few remarkable hands. One of the other players (Ron) noted that I'm most dangerous when I'm the small stack, and look like I'm about to be pushed out; that's a reputation I don't mind.

I went all in once with A,3, and found myself staring down A,A. I hit the straight on the river.

I've already forgotten most of the other winning hands. The adrenaline high I was catching from the cards was giving me the shakes, hence my nickname "shaky lady," which also derives from a notable panahndler who put on the shakes from 9-5 every day in downtown Toronto. I think everyone who's lived and visited downtown TO in the last 15 years would say they've at least seen her, if they haven't given her any spare change. One day, someone sees her promptly stop shaking, get up, and get into a Lincoln that has pulled up to the street side. The story made the front pages of the papers.

When it came down to the final four, my goal was to make at least 3rd place for the $50. By the time I had at least claimed 3rd, I was the chip leader, and started bullying my way to first. My last hand of the night was Wayne Gretzky, which ended up making made a set of nines. I went home with $200.00, and tied for first place on the tour.

The squirrels are the design from the t-shirt I was wearing that night.