Regular readers (you know who you are) may recall that last week yours truly managed a lucky win, which resulted in my announcement that the Deadmoney monicker should be replaced. Lucky Luke, the luckiest slag, I believe was the suggestion. Well, as Mr. Slag and the rest of TCP found out tonight, luck tends be a bit of a slapper – everybody gets a go sooner or later.

Mr. Consistent (Phil) has had a pretty lean time of it lately with a run of cards so poor they probably live in Cardboard City, harassing commuters at Waterloo. It certainly seemed appropriate that he should find lady luck in his bed tonight - which, for brief spells, he did. But then so did everyone else. Lady luck personified this evening would be Abi Titmuss (or if you’re my age, Joan Collins) – except that the title ‘Lady’ would be a euphemism, and you get fucked when she’s NOT with you. So, like a cheap porn movie, everyone had their turn – I was just waiting for a plumber or pizza delivery boy to show up, but I guess the music playing wasn’t cheesy enough.

Let’s forget the seedy analogies for a moment, and give you a brief synopsis of a very long night. At different times everyone present was both chip leader and low stack. It was one of those nights when getting ahead was easy, but staying there was tough. Re-buys averaged nearly 3 per player, so let’s cut to the freeze-out. Just a few hands earlier I’d been chip leader, but I was starting off low stack and the blinds came my way on the 2^nd and 3^rd rounds. By a combination of luck and bluff, I scraped back to about even, and decided to keep my play tight. A little later, the chip lead came my way again, only to be lost to my lack of discipline. Don’t you just hate it when you lose a bundle cos you’re a twat? I did.

A severe talking to ensued (in my head) and I resolved to let a few others battle it out – unless of course I found I was holding a monster in my hand. 30+ years of self-abuse told me that was a forlorn hope, so I sat back and waited. The strategy worked, possibly because our hosts, Kris & Emily wanted to get some shut-eye before the dawn came up. Whatever, they were the first casualties. Phil, Graham & myself then passed chip lead and low stack around on a frequent basis, each of us hoping the other 2 would go all-in and leave us in the heads up. It wasn’t a lack of all-in calls that delayed matters (although we all played much more warily) – it was the fact that the low stack seemed to keep winning and the merry-go-round continued.

Eventually, I saw the cards I wanted. Not mine – I folded my small blind. Phil & G were all-in, and about even in chips. Their cards were pretty even too, but Phil’s slight lead held up. I knew he was due something decent and with just over a 2 to 1 advantage, it looked likely to be his night. All of a sudden, all-ins were in vogue again, but not too many were called. I finally got the lead back after adopting plan B (I announced I’d be going all-in at least every other hand). This works best when you pick up a big hand immediately after the announcement. And so it was. My pair of tens won and put the pressure back on Phil.

Very soon he clawed most of that back to roughly even (great all-in bluff with a 96 off, amongst others no doubt) and like this report, I thought the game would never end. It finally reached its climax (ooh-er, missus, etc) when we both picked up a small pair. Mr. Consistent had 3s, while I’d found a pair of 5s. The flop was a pair of 7s and a 6 – I felt lucky again. Another 5 on the turn made my full house. Forget the monster, I was holding the nuts in my hand – and you know how good that feels. Lady luck had been used by all, but finally went home with me.

Two wins in consecutive weeks? Just call me Steve Slag – it must be my porn star name.