Before I get into Roy's first tournament of the year, I have to mention what took place after the tournament on Wednesday night. Pete and I stood outside for probably over an hour, discussing all the plays we made that night, and different ways to play some of the situations that came up. I also vowed never to play ace queen unless I was in the big blind and flopped the nut boat. I said that even if I had 1 million in chips and my opponent had 1, I would fold ace queen rather than put him all in. I also forgot to mention, Pete lost all his money when ace king ran into pocket rockets preflop in the Wednesday game, then lost his last remaining dollars when the 7 8 his ace king was all-in against caught the nut straight on the turn. That's rough.

Anyway, I kept imploring Pete to be more aggressive when the tournament reaches its latter stages, as he's always finishing in second or third due to his conservative nature.

We got to Roy's at 9:30 for the tournament, and there was a record 18 entrants. Two tables of nine people made for a packed house, and we drew seats for position. I found myself sitting on Jonathan's right, with Godwin, John, Ryan, Yush, and a couple other guys at my table. The first playable hand I got was pocket 7s in late position. Godwin came in raising from under the gun- 2 dollars more than the blind. You should know that we begin with 20 dollars. I reraised him 4, putting him on just high cards and not a pocket pair, and he called. The flop came king king 4, and Godwin checked to me. I bet out 4 dollars, and he quickly pushed all-in. Sure looks like a king, right? I went into the tank for a couple minutes, trying to figure out if he would make this play with anything but the kings. I finally decided that Godwin didn't have that bluff in him, as he is usually a smart, conservative player, and I laid down my 7s. This put me down to less than half what I started with, 8 bucks, but the blinds were still low. I found out after the tournament that Godwin had jack queen that hand, and had put a major move on me. I can't really say anything except great play. I didn't expect him to be bluffing, and he took a huge pot on a gutsy play. Good play, Godwin.

I pretty much sat on my eight dollars for a while, waiting for a hand I could double through with. I picked up pocket 7s again, and after three people limped for the dollar blind, I decided to go all-in. If I was called, I would be a slight favorite, and if not, I'd take $3.50. Everyone folded, and I was up to $11.50. I limped a couple times with decent cards, but couldn't seem to hit a flop, and my short stack pretty much eliminated any chance to bluff at the pot. One time I limped with ace 9, and Godwin raised 3 dollars and was called by Yush and Ryan. I folded it, rather than go all-in, because I figured i was up against a better ace, plus I'd get more than one caller. The flop came jack 3 4, and Godwin went all-in, and Ryan called. Ryan flipped over jack 8(who knows why he called the raise with that), and Godwin flipped over ace jack. Once again, terrible play was rewarded when the river spiked an 8, giving Ryan two pair and sending Godwin's stack across the room. I think Godwin is my Asian poker clone. Every time I see him, he's getting outdrawn by retarded hands.

The blind kept going up, and I kept being blinded down, until I had four dollars left with a 1-2 blind on the way to me. I told myself if I saw a face card I'd go all-in, but in the eight hands I saw, the best hand of the bunch was a 10 5. Finally, on my big blind, I looked down at ace queen, which sure looks good after the cards I've been getting, especially seeing as only one guy had limped in and I would surely be heads up with the best hand. Yum had limped, and I raised my remaining two dollars, which he called. He flipped over a 6 8 offsuit. How the hell do you limp into a hand with 6 8 offsuit when you know the big blind is going all-in? Do peopl pray to get this lucky? Or are they just too stupid to realize that 6 8 isn't favored over anything? Anyway, you've heard this story before- a 6 came on the flop, and I was sent packing by ace queen once again. 9th place out of 18 players. Pretty weak.

I stuck around, though, to see my protege, Pete, try to break through. He was at the other table, and he had a healthy stack. He was down to three handed with Steve Zeng and Patrick, with Steve Zeng being the low chip stack. Pete had some rough hands, though, and he became the low man on the totem pole. Then, a great thing happened. Steve and Patrick had a raising war and Steve was all-in with ace ten against ace king. Patrick's hand held up, and Pete was guaranteed a spot in the money.

I forgot to mention- before I went out, the following hand occurred. Jonathan limped in from early position, as did John Moon. Godwin then raised his last chips into the pot. I think it was something like 10 dollars above the blind. Han called, Yush called, Jon called, and John Moon called, so there was a five-handed pot for a ton of money. The flop was 6 7 8, and Han made a bet, which Jon called, leaving him with two dollars. The other two folded. The turn was a 4, and Han bet Jon's last two, which Jon called. Jon flipped over pocket 4's and Han had king queen, as did Godwin, so they were both drawing dead to a 5 to split the pot. Why Han continued betting I may never know, as he had nothing, and had nothing to gain by bluffing into a pot that was protected by Godwin's all-in. Think about what you would do if you were Jon. You limped with pocket 4's and saw a good-size raise in front of you, as well as five callers. For Jon to call the raise, he was putting more than half his chips in the pot and basically committing himself to going all-in. Best case scenario for Jon, he's against nothing but overcards, at least 5 different ones, which would make him unlikely to win the pot unless he caught his third 4, which is more than an 8-1 shot. I looked up the odds given everyone's holdings on the computer when I got back. Jon had a 27% chance to win the hand, meaning that three out of four times he would be out of the tournament. There's not one halfway-sane poker player in the world who would risk all his chips when three out of four times he will be eliminated well short of the money. Jon tried to justify it afterwards, coming in my room to berate me about my criticism of his play. He eventually left in a huff after pulling out the "well I won the pot, didn't I" move that he'd been saving up. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the rationalization of a bad card player. The fact remains, Jon did win the pot, but he got very lucky to do so, and to rely on luck to win, you may as well not even play. But that's just my feelings on the subject.

Back to the game. Pete came into the final table shortstacked against, Jon, John, and Patrick, but Patrick quickly busted Jon after Jon went all-in with pocket kings on a flop that contained an ace. Good play, Jon. Now guaranteed at least $15 dollars, Pete was about even with John Moon, while Patrick had a huge chip lead. Pete stole some blinds, and then doubled up on Patrick when his pocket 4s held up against Patrick's ace queen. Pete later doubled up again when his ace jack beat Patrick's ace 4 when Pete hit two pair. The very next hand, Pete had Patrick all-in, and his pocket tens held up over Patrick's king queen. Just like that, Patrick was dead, and Pete had almost all the money. He finally got John Moon all-in with king 9 against his ace 10. Pete got a king on the river to win his first yellow chip and $40. Way to go, Pete! I'm sure we're going to have some great battles this year.

On a side note, five players busted out of tonight's tournament by going all-in with ace queen. I broke my own rule about playing ace queen, which seemed like necessity at he time, but all it really did was cost me a chance to play my small blind on the next hand. From this day forward, I am never playing ace queen again. So if you see ace queen on the flop, know that I don't have two pair.

Quote of the day-(In a whiny, hysterical voice) "I wrote movie reviews for the News and Observer for two years!"- Big Red Ass, Jonathan.

Terrence's bankroll-$145-5=$140