Tonight was the Thursday night game at Roy's, where coincidentally, Roy has been kicking ass and taking names all semester. I have been thinking all week about how bad I wanted to win Thursday's game- even more so than Tuesday's game, which has been high on my priority list. I just can't stand to see myself in such a hole in the yellow chip count to Roy, and I need a victory to inch closer. Despite all this, my confidence is at an all-time high because I'm playing the best poker of my life, and I'm finishing in the money basically every time.

I had also made two vows to dethrone Roy this week- one to Pete at lunch today, and a joint pact with Yush to kill Roy and prevent his madness from continuing.

Before we started, me and Roy, being the fiendish devils that we are, decided to rig the deck so that we messed with Pete and Bobby's head. I fixed it so that Pete got king queen of spades, Bobby got pocket aces, and Roy got 3 5 of spades. Bobby raised preflop, which Roy called from the big blind and Pete called in middle position. The flop came ace 2 4, all spades. Roy and Pete checked, then Bobby bet out 8 bucks. Roy raised it 20, Pete went all-in, then Bobby called, as did Roy. Bobby showed the set of aces, Pete showed his nut flush, and then Roy just put the 3 5 of spades right in Pete's face. Pete went absolutely ballistic, jumping onto Donald's back and screaming like a banshee/monkey/mental hospital inmate. I put out the turn, a jack of spades, and by now the entire room was psychotic. Everyone was yelling and screaming in disbelief, no really, I'm serious. Pete jumped up on Roy's bed, coming perilously close to flying out the window and crushing some poor pedestrian outside with his weighty 60 pound body. The river was the 10 of spades, of course, giving Pete the royal flush. Again he went nuts, screaming and jumping, then it dawned on him and he was like, "You rigged this, you son of a bitch!" I was rolling on the floor, clutching my sides because they hurt from laughing so hard. Half the people in the room were crying from laughing. It was just insane. After that, we gave everyone their chips back and redrew for position. This was maybe the single greatest moment in the history of Poker Night at Roy's, surpassing Jonathan receiving his fishing trophy and Caysh getting his magazine tossed.

On to the game- the table was seated like this(clockwise): me, Alex, Ryan, Pete, Yush, Jon, Roy, Godwin, Donald, John Moon, Bobby. This arrangement was fine by me, because I had Roy and Big Red directly in my sights across the table, and I had Pete and Alex, two tight players, playing behind me. It's also worth noting that we played with $40 in chips tonight, and I think it worked really well. It seemed to stimulate a ton of action, and no one was in big trouble because of one bad hand early on. Roy, I recommend we keep this structure in the future. I know you like it so you can dance around, too.

I didn't play much of anything for the first round- I was selective because we were playing 11-handed, and hands really go down in value at a table that big. I picked up pocket kings about half an hour in, and I came in raising 4 bucks. Donald was the only caller, and the flop came jack jack 8. He bet out 5 bucks- kind of suspicious. I figured he would think I hadn't hit that flop, so he could get me to fold. That meant that he didn't have a jack in all likelihood, as I figured he'd slowplay trips on me when I was the aggressor. I flat called the 5, which wasn't the greatest move, as I should have made an information raise to see where I was at. The turn was a 9, and he bet 5 again, which I called. This bet made me worried, because you can't make a $5 bluff into a good-size pot when your opponent has already called $5 on the flop. I called it again- I know, very weak- and the river was a rag. He bet 5 again, and I made a crying call, almost sure I was beat. He only had 8's though, so my kings were good. That pot got me off on the right foot, and I stayed patient from there.

A few things to note that were going on- Yush was destroying everybody- I mean everybody. I think the first 9 pots he was in, he won. No joke. Roy was playing his usual crazy poker, raising with 3 4 of hearts under the gun, and smoking Godwin's trips when he caught his flush in the river. He had also amassed a good stack of chips. Some of that was from having pocket aces and kings in back to back hands, the kings taking out Pete when he overplayed his ace king suited. Think, Pete, you're better than that! Ryan and Bobby got whacked early by John Moon and Godwin respectively, who were both playing very well. Big Red was his usual crazy self, calling 8 dollar raises with king ten offsuite, then bluffing away most of his money on an inside straight draw to Roy. He even made a value bet when he caught a ten in the river. Stop giving Roy chips, dammit!

I picked up pocket queens in late position after seeing a couple limpers. I raised it 6 bucks, and Yush called from the small blind. The flop came king rag rag, and he bet out 12 bucks at me from his mountainous stack. Yush is usually pretty straightforward against me, so I read him having king jack, and laid down the queens. He told me later he had ace king, which I'm surprised he didn't reraise with preflop, but it's fine because it saved me some money.

One bad note about playing at Roy's- I'm going to be a quadriplegic soon from playing on the floor. My back just can't take it. You have to be kind of hunched over, and when you need to deal or drag a pot, there isn't an unpainful way to do it. Maybe I'm just too old, haha.

I took a good pot off Big Red when I limped in with king 3 of hearts(I'm not sure what possessed me to play that, but everyone had limped, so I liked my implied odds). I hit a king on the flop, checked it, then bet out on the turn when I also picked up an open-ended straight draw. Jon called, and I hit my straight on the river. I bet out 8 bucks and he called with pocket tens, paying me off. Roy later told me he had folded the 8 on the turn, so that's good or I would have been in trouble. I honestly didn't play any other memorable hands on the floor, so we moved to the table with me, Roy, Yush, Jon, and Godwin still remaining. Roy and Yush had all the money, but I saw a definite opportunity to come back. Yush, despite playing very well, is usually pretty straightforward to read. Also, he doesn't push people around much preflop with his chip stack. Roy was kind of complacent, calling a lot of blinds to see flops, not raising much, and overall just playing very loose. The other two were in the depths with me, so I felt if I could double up once I'd be on my way.

The 5-handed battle went on for a seriously long time. It was a war, with no one wanting to die. I got down to 16 bucks after coming in raising with king queen suited, hitting an open-ended straight draw on the flop, then pissing away 20 bucks chasing it. The very next hand I had king queen, raised all-in over Roy's raise, and had his king jack dominated. That double up was huge, but I was still on life support, with only about 30 bucks left. Godwin was also hanging tough, nursing the same size stack as me. Jon seemed to not be playing much, and anytime he won a pot, it was after making what looked like a steal bet on the river of a pot that wasn't bet at. I was just waiting to get in a hand with him to let him walk into me.

The blinds were 2-4, which was meaningful when you have three shortstacks. One big hand was after everybody limped on my small blind and I looked down to see 4 7 offsuit. Everyone seemed very week to me, so I went all-in for my last 30 or so. They all folded, and I had won about a third of my stack in one nice move. Roy came in raising a few pots later, and I saw ace 8 of diamonds, so again I raised all-in after not figuring him for much. He folded it, and I took another nice pot. I kept nickel and diming my way back until I picked up king ten on the button. I limped, as did Yush, and Jon checked. The flop was 3 jack king. Yush checked, and Jon went all-in for 30. This left me with 4 dollars, so I had to be sure I had it to make the call. I figured Jon for at best, a jack, but there was no way he had my king beat. He had just been doing too much stealing. I moved all-in over the top of him, then watched in horror as Yush started getting his chips ready. I thought he may have hit a set of 3s or something, and when he called I thought I was dead. He flipped over king ten also, and Jon flipped his ace 4 for ace high. The turn and river were blanks, so Yush and I had jointly destroyed the Large Red Menace. This is the pot that got me healthy again, and from there I got more aggressive.

Godwin was still struggling, but surviving, as his ace 5 somehow cracked Yush's pocket aces when all the money got in preflop. Yush had raised it ten bucks, and Godwin reraised all in for another 18. Yush said, "I call you, sir," and flipped over his rockets. That's what I like about Yush- what a classy guy. Him and John Moon should hit the campaign trail, wave at people, and kiss babies. The flop came 3 4 6, the perfect flop for Godwin, and the turn was the 7, giving him the straight to double up.

I had a pot with Yush where I raised it 10 preflop with ace 3. I then bet out 12 bucks on a flop of 4 5 7, which Yush called. The turn was a 2, giving me the wheel. I checked it, hoping Yush might bet out, but he checked it behind me. The river was a king, and I bet out 26, which Yush called. This hand made me really comfortable, and allowed me to do things I couldn't have done earlier without so many chips, like check-raise more often and see more flops with playable hands.

Roy had lost a lot of chips in a hand with Yush in which the following occurred. Flop- Yush check, Roy bet 10, Yush call. Turn- Yush check, Roy bet 30, Yush call. River- Yush goes all-in. Roy agonizes over it for a full two minutes, then mucks it, saying that he was sure Yush had missed his flush and was bluffing. We found out later that Yush was bluffing, but Roy only had a pair of 6s, so it would have been a hell of a call to make.

This knocked Roy down to mine and Godwin's level, and he was taken out soon thereafter. Finally, the evil Roy was slain! Seriously, though, Roy has been playing awesome, clever, nasty poker lately, and I was glad to not have to deal with him anymore.

I was gaining confidence by the bucketload as we went on, because I have such a good read on Godwin and Yush. Godwin had made a comment earlier about how he didn't mind getting in a pot with me, so I made it a personal goal to make him mind very much. I got in his head, and the following hand is what portended his end at the final table. I came in raising with ace 6 of hearts, and Godwin called. The flop was king 3 7, with two hearts. Godwin bet out 16, and I saw this as a sign of weakness, because the bet was bigger than the norm. Regardless, I knew what I needed to win the pot, a heart, but I also thought I may be able to steal it off him later if I don't hit my heart. The turn was a 10 of hearts. Godwin checked it, maybe putting me on a flush draw, and I checked it behind him, trying to induce a river bet. He obliged, firing out 25 bucks on the river. I raised him 50, and he agonized for a few solid minutes, then folded. When I say agonized, I think he literally was in physical pain. He had his head down in his arm, and he said something like, "He checked the turn, what could he have. Does he really have that good a read on me?" At this point, I knew I was deep in his head. He ended up folding, but that pot had crippled him. He got taken out a little bit later when he went all-in blind on my big blind. I called with queen jack, and I hit a queen to win it over his 10 8, which paired the 10.

Heads up with Yush, who had been steamrolling everyone all night, promised to be a good match. Since we had reached the final table, I had been manipulating him pretty well, and I started out aggressive, taking the first 4 pots off him. I just kept whittling him down by raising preflop, then betting out on the flop if called, although I usually caught a piece of the flop, too. I threw in a couple checkraises, one with ace ten of hearts and a board of jack 2 2, with two hearts, and another with top two pair, 7s and 9s.

I had Yush down to about 30 bucks, and he just would not die. We battled for over half an hour, and he doubled up twice, but I finally got him when I had 10 7 of spades on the big blind. The flop was 7 2 4. I bet out 16, and Yush raised all in for another 18. I called, and he showed ace queen. The turn was a 10, clinching it for me, and the river was another 7, giving me the boat, and the precious yellow chip.

I was finally off the schneid, and it took no small amount of work and skill to fight out of the hole I was in. I have to say, almost everyone we play with on Thursday is getting much better as poker players, especially Yush, John Moon, and Godwin. They acquitted themselves very well tonight.

Hopefully this will be the beginning of a winning streak. I would love that, because if I can win on Tuesday, I'll really put some distance between myself and Aaron in the standings.

Quote of the day: "I call you, sir."- Yush with his pocket rockets.

Terrence's bankroll: $265+$25=$290