Final Table Frenzy

Lamma is now officially on the poker map. It's that little unmarked island not far from Macau.

Lamma drama aplenty this week. We also welcome Lamma_Jim to this week's rankings. He starts his roll off with $100 and signs up at Poker Stars. Choosing a 5 man $1 tourney to start off his online career with trembling fingers he is dealt into his first SNG. It's all good as he opens up with a debut win. A couple of unplaced games though and his win is depleted. Its still a winning week though and he goes into the second week a winning player. Nice one sir!

With Moocher sliding towards what appeared to be an inevitable busto it looked like doom and gloom for him. With $40 left in his account he set bankroll managment aside once again and opted for a $5+0.50 Multi-player tournament. With 157 entrants it was a long shot but when he reached the final table his luck was running good and confidence was high. When he made it to heads-up with a big cheap lead over his opponent he set him to the test with a 10,000 raise. His opponent responded with an allin raise putting in his last 28,000. Holding 95o Moocher wasn't phased. On a hot streak he called and was rewarded with a Q95 flop and took home a $204 pot. Moocher is back! He continued his turn in form and managed to add a few more dollars to his roll. Having just missed out on his $100 bonus by only a few player points its now all rosy in the Moocher household - the storm clouds have finally broken and a little sunshine is peaking through. Can he build on it?

Meanwhile Bigshotbog is back from a UK trip and was chomping at the bit for some MTT action. In a parallel fashion Bigshot was also perilously close to virtual bankruptcy. He takes his final online dollars and buys-in to a 180 man $5+0.50 MTT. After a few marathon sessions over the weekend he has been bleeding money and begins to look forward to a poker-free life. Fate once again steps in. In another back-from-the-brink tale he finds himself at the final table and reaches the last three in a commanding position. His good fortune comes to an end though as he has to settle for third place. The accompanying $216 score is a welcome one and with a rejuvenated bankroll he returns to the tables on Sunday. We await news on whether he has frittered his newly plumped Bankroll away. Indications on Sunday evening weren't positive however.

Things seem to be pretty quiet for Deadly this weekend. His roll slumps a little and his journey to 3G seems to be a lot slower than route 2K.

For yours truly I continued to work towards clearing a $100 bonus. Unfortunately leaking most of my earlier gains in the process. $60 down from my high-water mark the bonus served to reverse these losses. Short of my 8BB/100 target as I check out just shy of 7BB/100 it was a disappointing end to a promising start. I try to sign up at their sister site but after inputting my details they recognise me and after checking with support I realise I am not eligible for another first deposit bonus. I decide to leave the decision on what site to go to until later and join Bigshot and Deadly on Stars for some SNG action there. I potter around on the $1 tables. I win a 5 man SNG, bubble out and then take down a small prize in another MTT. I score a few losses on a couple of 4.40 tourneys and I'm down $14. I decide to go for a 180 man $4+0.40 before calling it a night. It goes well and I reach the final table. I've been just below average stack for the majority of the table and just doing enough to survive. I check my stats and I've won 10 out of 10 showdowns - getting lucky once -very lucky I might add - four limpers (400/800 blinds) and I have 88 and I push for around 12,000. The button thinks for a long time and calls - he has 99 and I'm looking like a goner until a miracle 8 shows on the flop. With this win I become 3rd in chip-stack as we reach the closing stages and I begin to think a decent score is in sight.

With no cards and antes and blinds taking their toll my stack dwindles though and we now have one big stack everyone else very close to each other. It is now 2.30am and noone has been felted for a good 20mins. I haven't played a hand for a while. I'm in the big blind with AQ and when the loosest raiser remaining on the table comes in for a 6,000 raise (Blinds 1,000/2,000) I decide its time to get it allin with my last 20K. Again there is a pause and I'm thinking I'm either dominating or its a race. He calls and turns over KJs. I'll take that. When the flop shows QJx I'm feeling good. The turn is good but the river brings a sickening second Jack. Bed-time and I take a disappointing $25. The incremental steps were just about to grow considerably so a bad time to suffer a nasty river. Straight to bed and at least my meagre Stars bankroll reaches a new high.