If I"m honest, and I like to think I am, I didn"t really think we could pull this off - I apologise if I gave a contrary impression whilst spamming your @rses off!
Only the 3 points for a win would do, and then only if Kent failed to score. I was hopeful of being able to rally a good turnout for one last "hurrah" and was buoyed by Kent"s poor turnout of a week previous. I was hopeful also that, because Luton & Sunderland had both already secured promotion,that their numbers may be significantly down, thus leaving the door ajar for us to slip through to glory.
It was with some dismay that come the start time of 8pm I realised we"d only managed to muster 5 players. Not the end of the world in itself, but any hopes of a below par turnout by the Luton hordes were dashed as they brought 14 runners to the grid (oops - mixing my metaphors!). Sunderland also had a reasonable turnout with 7 runners. At least Kent only had a couple!
So of the 29 starters, 14 were Luton, 7 Sunderland, 5 Notts, 2 Kent & 1 Swansea - not promising! However, Sunderland had overturned a similar disparity of numbers a few weeks earlier, so we knew it was possible, at least in theory.
What little hope I had was dealt an immediate blow when both smithsj1 (Stuart Smith) AND shozboy (Baljinder Powar - who was our top points scorer) were both disconnected for the early part of the game. When smithsj1 was finally reconnected it was only for one hand as his set careered into villain"s straight and he was our first and very early casualty in 28th place. This wasn"t the start we needed.
To make matters worse, only 1 of the first 5 exits was a Luton player giving them an even greater proportional numbers edge.
When red_simon (Simon Lawlor) bit the dust in 23rd place, it looked very much like the game was up. We had 3 out of the 22 remaining runners, Kent still had both their men left, Luton had 12, Sunderland 4 and Swansea 1.
Shozboy, Bainn and I limped on for a good while then. Bainn had a half decent stack, but shozboy and I spent most of the game nursing a short stack. When we were down to 16 remaining, with both Kent players having departed (in 18th & 20th) I was just starting to think - "you never know, it could just happen". So when shozboy was next out, I more or less resigned myself to another season in Division 3.
However, we carried on in the hope that the poker gods might smile on us like they never had before.
Somehow we both managed to make it to the final table with a combination of good timing & good luck.
The final table comprised 4 Luton, 2 Sunderland, 2 Notts and the lone Swansea ranger, the redoubtable Nemisiss9. Points are scored for 9th (1pt) through to 1st (9pts). At this point we could score a maximum of 17 points and a minimum of 3. The same applied to Sunderland. Swansea could score 9 maximum and 1 minimum. Luton however could score somewhere between 30 and 10 points, so they were odds on favourites for the win.
If memory serves, and it rarely does, Aceonfifth (Luton), Nemisiss9 (Swansea) and sayidjarrad (Sunderland) were the big stacks. Bainn and I were both among the midfield runners and IanMatthews (Luton), chipfire227 (Sunderland) and Waz1892 (the magnificent Luton skipper and deserved winner of the Division 3 Player of the Season) were the shorties.
Everytime a player is knocked out (other than a team mate), your team"s minimum score goes up by 1 point for each remaining team member. This meant that if neither of the first two exits were Luton, there minimum score would be 18 - exceeding our possible maximum - and all would be lost.
It was with great relief we saw IanMatthews of Luton go out 9th - keeping them on a minimum score of 10. Next out was chipfire227 of Sunderland bumping Luton"s minimum score up by 3 to 13pts.
Thankfully it was another Luton player, Lombardo99, who went in 7th spot. Sunderland"s skipper, sayidjarrad, was to follow in 6th place meaning Luton could score a minimum of 15 points with their remaining duo.
At this point there were 5 left. Me and Bainn, both fairly short, Waz1892 (Luton) - the shortstack (hanging on limpet-like to try to clinch Player of the Season title), Nemisiss9 (Swansea) & Aceonfifth (Luton). Aceonfifth and Nemisiss9 both had imposing stacks - Ace 30K+ and Nem 25Kish. Poor old Bainn and I were languishing in the realms of 6 to 8K and the win was looking as far away as ever.
Anyway, it wasn"t a surprise to see Waz go next as he only had 2 or 3 BBs. We could now score between 17 and 13. Luton had a minimum of 15 and 18 maximum. However due to their greater number of final tablers, we needed to beat them by a clear point for the win.
The next exit in 4th was Nemisiss9 - taken out by Bainn. This was great as it bolstered his stack considerably and allowed him to pressurise Aceonfifth, who had pretty much been running over the table prior to this. However, it also meant that Luton now had 16 points in the bag and that Bainn and I had to finish 1 & 2 to claim, what seemed at the outset, an implausible, if not impossible win.
It was all a bit of a blur at the end but Bainn won a pivotal pot against Aceonfifth to put him on the back foot and a short time after was able to administer the coup de grace.
The unthinkable had happened! We had somehow managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat! I can"t speak for Bainn but I was elated - I think I still am!
I was gutted for Ian Thompson (pables) the Kent skipper who had steered his team to the finishing line with low and diminishing numbers. I know how I"d have felt if the roles had been reversed. Unlucky Ian but I hope you go a step further in the next league - no-one would deserve it more.
So, Division 2 beckons. I"m going to try to hit the forums on a recruitment drive. Please feel free to help. Mention it to your poker-playing buddies in the Notts, Leics, Derby & Lincs area. If you"re on other forums - you could mention it there.
We"re definitely going to need more players if we"re going to be competitive in the higher divisions.
Thanks to everyone who played in this league and helped to nudge us over the finishing line in 3rd place, if only by the smallest of margins. I hope I can count on your continued support in the next league - DIVISION 2 (woo-hoo) - which starts on Sunday 8th August at 8pm on Betfair.
Get your inboxes emptied as they"re gonna fill up quick!
I can"t wait!
