I played in Roy's tournament tonight. I haven't scored a yellow chip yet this year, and it's in danger of getting away from me early, because Roy already has two of them. I played pretty tight early. I didn't win a pot until about the 15th hand when I had king 8 in the big blind and faced a minimum raise. The flop was 8 7 4. I checked then called. The turn was a 4. I checked, and Roy bet the minimum, as he'd been doing all hand. I called again. The river was an 8, and I figured I shouldn't get cute, so I bet out, but he folded. He told me later he had pocket jacks.

I played pretty tight until the blinds went up, which took a while because we kind of forgot to raise them. I don't like playing much early because there's seven people in on the flop, even with a raise, so I wait for the blinds to go up and throw some cash around. I picked up ace 9 in middle position after the blinds were up. It got folded around to me, so I made a medium raise of 3 bucks. This new kid Jeff called (he always defended his blind), so we had two of us in the pot. The flop was 8 5 3, and he checked. I bet out 4, and he folded.

A few hands later, the same thing happened. I got ace 9 again and came in raising. The same kid called. The flop was low again, something like 2 3 6. I bet out 5, and he folded. I built my stack up nice mostly without showing anything.

With the blinds up, we started seeing bigger raises, but more people tightening up. I got the 4 5 of clubs one to the right of the dealer. Everyone had folded to me, so I raise it 4 coming in, just looking to steal and use my position. The same kid called yet again(when will he learn?) The flop came 3 6 10, and I bet out 5 on my straight draw, although I just wanted to take it down right there with the low cards. Once again he folded, so I took another nice little pot.

I picked up ace jack a little while later and came in raising 4. Roy called, and we saw the flop two-handed. The flop was jack 9 4. I checked it to him, expecting him to bet out, and he did, with ten bucks. I thought for a minute, then went all-in. He told me he had a flush draw, and decided to fold it. That's a good man. Most guys call with a flush draw, which just drives me nuts. Sure, you have money in the pot, but why chase good money with bad? So a good laydown by Roy.

The first real sick hand came when I had ace king under the gun+1. I raised it 6 bucks coming in, and Roy reraised another ten. The kid Jeff behind him went all-in for another 3.50. I wasn't worried about Jeff, because I figured he'd go for it with any ace, so I figured to have him dominated. I was just trying to figure out what Roy had, and if I could get him to fold it. I ended up putting him on tens, and I knew Roy was good enough to lay that down against another reraise from me. I went all-in, and Roy folded, saying he had 8's, so I made a pretty nice read there. The other kid had ace queen, which was again a nice read, so I had him dominated. The flop was queen jack 5, giving him his queens. I needed a king or a ten. I just had this feeling that a ten was coming. I knew it. I yelled, "Give me a ten!" The turn was a blank, and the river was my beautiful ten. Man, I love tens. That pot was huge, and gave me the chip lead while whacking Jeff.

The very next hand I picked up ace jack under the gun and came in raising 6 again. Roy again reraised me ten. Everyone else folded it to me. At this point I figured Roy was steaming a little bit, but I didn't really have a handle on what he had. I didn't figure him to have another huge hand again, so I called. The flop was ace king queen, pretty sick, so I had top pair with an inside straight draw. I decided to go all-in and put a lot of pressure on Roy. I knew he didn't have jack ten, and I was pretty sure he wouldn't have reraised with a lot of guys to act with king queen. I put him on either a mid-ace or another pocket pair. The way I saw it, unless he flopped aces up or a set, he had to fold it. He called right away and I knew I was in trouble. He turned over ace king. The turn was a jack, so I needed a jack to win and a ten to split it. The river was a 9 so I took a huge hit, and Roy had a monster chip lead. Looking back on that hand, I think I really overplayed it. I should have made a small information bet on the flop, and go from there. If Roy decided to slowplay, I may have been able to steal it from him when the jack came out, as you only needed a ten for a straight. As it is, I messed with the only guy that could hurt me, and that's just what he did. Good hand, Roy.

This knocked me down to 30 bucks, so I wasn't in deep crap, but I wasn't really comfortable, either. We got down to four-handed-Roy, Alex, Pete, and I. Pete and I were both shortstacked, so I figured I needed to hit something because Pete is notorious for folding everything when it gets near the money. One of the first hands four handed, Roy came in raising on Pete's big blind. Alex called, and Pete went all-in, much to our surprise. Roy called him, getting real nice pot odds. Pete had ace king, and Roy had jack 9 of spades. The flop was jack 9 5, and Pete was dead. Just to add insult to injury, the river was a 9, giving Roy his boat.

Now that I was in the money, I was pretty aware I needed to double up, because I had about 4% of the chips on the table- not too good. I stole the blinds once when I went all-in with ace 3 on the button. They both folded, surprisingly, because they only had to call 11 more with 29 in the pot. If I was Alex, I would have called with anything, but I was happy to take it.

I lost my blinds back by getting 9 4 offsuit three straight hands, and my big blind came up. Roy folded, and Alex called. I had 10 4 of diamonds, so I just checked, with only 11 left. The flop was 8 8 4. I got a piece of it, so I figured I had to go for it. He flipped over pocket kings, and I couldn't get another 4, so I was done. That was a really nice job by Alex of baiting me to go all-in preflop, and I had no idea what he had on the flop. Good play, Nasty Nate.

I took home $10 for my efforts- not much, but I'll take it. That runs my streak of money finishes to four straight. Third, third, second, third. I played really well tonight, save for the ace jack play, which killed me. I could have pretty much cruised into heads up with Roy, but I'm greedy. Roy ended up winning, taking his third yellow chip, so I have some work to do to catch up.

Quote of the day: "You... I want ALL of your chips!"- Marcel Luske

Terrence's bankroll: $180+$5=$185