The Halls

Poker last nite was really fun. We had the biggest pot I can remember, $560. It was pretty fun, although I have fonder memories of the nites when I drank. Did I mention I decided to stop drinking all alcohol for a while? 3 months or losing 20 pounds, whichever comes first. I suspect 3 months, although I've almost lost 10 pounds so far.
So anyway, even Chad said I play different 100% sober, which gives me an advantage. It was cold outside, but I borrowed a kerosene heater and we played in the heated garage all nite. It was nice and toasty, and I didn't have to have the dirty smokers in my house.

As far as the poker went, it was fun. I started off fine, building a big enough stack to make it to the final table, but as a short stack. And then the sucking out began. My prime unforgettable moment:
At the final table, I have pocket jacks in the big blind, and everyone folds to the small blind and me. Small blind just limps, but he's the biggest stack, so I'm not sure if I want to tangle with him, but you can't let a hand this good go to waste, so I raise $2000 on the $800 big blind. He thinks for a short time, and calls. Figure I'm up against a crappy ace or king. Flop is A72
Great. I'm beat. I know it. To further confirm this, he leads out with another $2000. I have a total of $3500 left. Everyone is saying "if you're going to call, you may as well go all-in". (this is the first hand on the final table)
I think for a long time, I just know he's got the ace, but at least one other person is telling me he was notorious on the other table for being very aggressive. I missed my set at the flop, so now I'm down to an 4% chance of catching.
Factoring that a) he may be trying to push me out with a scare card out there, and
b) I could still catch a jack
I figure I'd rather take one more look, then fold, and wait for a whole table orbit for a good hand to gamble with.
Of course, it wouldn't be a story worth telling if the turn wasn't a jack. Big stack bets enough to cover me, and I say "Sorry, I just sucked out big on you, because I'm pretty sure you have the ace." and call. He shows the ace, and I show the set of jacks. To further drive the nail in, the river was a jack.
Quad jacks to start my comeback, I was low stack at the start of the final table.

Later Ann and I colluded by her losing to me, but it was all quite legitimate, as I had a trips, and she had the top pair and went all-in.

The bubble lasted forever. No one would take a chance. Pretty standard, I suppose. BJ and I were the lowest, and were getting to the point where we had to make a stand.
BJ went all in pre-flop in early position, and I was late position. I had A-K and called, hoping he had A-something less than king, and I was right. He had A-10, and my K held up.
Later, Chad had all the chips and was pushing hard. Finally, I called my small blind with AK, knowing he would push, and he did. So I re-raise all in (I'm 2nd in chips now), but he calls immediately.
He's embarrassed to show his A2
I'm 2-1 favorite here, but Chad couldn't seem to lose. He catches a 2, and I get nothing, and am eliminated in 3rd. Still payed $80.

Then we played cash for a long time, and it was quite fun. But I also won $100, so it's easy to like that. Everybody loves poker when they win.