Season #15 When Preparation Meets Opportunity...

The aforementioned title has been an anecdotal definition of "luck." In the CIPT landscape, I see it as an appropriate account of Jamie's reign. On Saturday, Jamie again did what she does @ the CIPT house: win poker tournaments. In five seemingly brief seasons, she has amassed a stunning winning percentage that has been unmatched. It seems she has come into our lives, charmed us immensely, while concurrently putting the proverbial boot to our asses. With this victory, a fourth championship, it cannot be overstated just how good she has been. Her fifth straight championship game, she showed up fashionably late, and still would not be obstructed from the shiny goal; a fourth bracelet. She is the elephant in the room, amongst the cackling hyenas.

The table was much less tense than games in the past as everyone was having a good time enjoying each other, early. Perhaps it was because Jamie would not arrive until about a half hour after we started. She came in on one of the final hands of the second level. Chips roamed the table moving from Jamie to Mike to Me and to Stella. Jay was the only player who didn't really hit a huge lick, which is not the usual for him. In fact, he was unfortunately the meat in a Jamie and Laura sando, which saw Jamie eliminate them both. I had hopes that Jay would return to one of the championship seats but it was not his day. Laura earned her seat late and stated she was just pleased to make the table. Perhaps in season 16, she'll be coming for us.

At some point Mike takes chips from Jamie, gives them back, and then gets eliminated by me. It seemed to happen in a flash, as he had a decent chip lead mid game. This leaves Jamie with the chip lead, myself in second, and Stella in third. I was happy to see Stella there as this was on her deepest push towards a championship. However, it would not be a very long visit as she was eliminated by Jamie, not many hands after Mike. This sets it up for Jamie V P-Air IV.

This was the most anticlimactic showdown ever. In a one-hand whammy, I push all of my chips to the center. I have roughly 9K in chips, a massive underdog but I felt like I was going to beat her, somehow. With leads like this I have seen Jamie get a little conservative and try to wait for her time to strike. I guess the iron was hot because to my surprise, she calls. We have A4 v K10. I like my chances with my A high and as luck would have it, I get my ace on the flop however, she also draws a 10 on the final card of the flop. I still feel confident that I am about to double up and begin my dismantling of my frequent foe. Again, as luck would have it, another 10 is turned on fourth street and the fifth card is of no use to either of us. It was over as quickly as it had began. In fact, Stella went to the bathroom when she was put out and came out to Jamie's victory pics being taken. It was a good game like always and I learned that as much as people may want to say luck reigns supreme, I challenge them to look at the track record. No one piles up hardware like this without first being skillfully prepared, like Jamie!