January 13, 2005
First game of the new semester
Before classes start, before anything gets done upon arriving back at school, something must come first: poker.
We decided to get a game together Tuesday night to kick off the new year. Seven people played for the five dollar buy-in, although we would have had nine if Godwin and Ryan didn't fag out. This was also the first tournament that I used that new Tournament Director software for, and it worked well.
Seating, from left to right, was Pete, me, Alex, Stephen, Josh, Roy, and Bobby. We started with 100 in chips, with blinds at 1-2 and going up every half hour. My first decent hand came when I had ace 8 of clubs UTG+1. I limped in, as did Roy, and Bobby raised another 4 on the big blind. I called, and Roy folded. The flop came ace 8 9 rainbow. Bobby bet out 8 to me. I figured he probably had an ace, maybe ace jack or so, and I could take a decent pot off him if he played back at me. I raised him 15. He ended up folding- he told me later that he had nothing, not even an ace, which I'm impressed with, because usually Bobby won't bet out unless he has something. Keep it up, Bobby.
Pete was the first one out after he lost a big pot to Roy when his pocket kings couldn't hold up against Roy's pocket 7s when the board gave Roy a straight. This left Pete without much money, and he went all-in with ace 9 suited against Josh, I believe, who had a better ace.
I caught a lot of good cards during the night, including more than my fair share of high pockets. Queens once, jacks once, tens once, kings once, and aces twice. With the blinds at 2-4, I raised it to twelve in second position with pocket aces. Josh called on the button, and Roy called from the blind. The flop came 3 5 10. Roy made a move as if to bet, but then checked. I commented about how he seemed ready to bet, then I put out 14. Josh raised it to 28, and then Roy called. Something was definitely fishy here, and I wasn't in love with my aces much anymore. I called the 14. At this point I was worried that Roy had a set, and that he was trapping us for a big pot. The turn was an offsuit jack (there were two hearts on the flop). Roy checked again. I was still worried about the set, and I knew it would be hard for me to call a big raise, so I checked, hoping to see a safe river card. Josh checked behind us. The river was an offsuit deuce, and Roy checked again. Now I was positive he didn't have a set, because he wouldn't slowplay it to this extent, that's just not Roy's style, plus it wouldn't make sense to try to checkraise two players that had checked the turn. I bet out 20, believing my aces were good and hoping to get called, but both of them folded. Roy later told me that he had ace 3 of hearts, giving him bottom pair and the nut flush draw on the flop.
I lost a pot later, when on the small blind with 8-10, I saw a three-way flop with Bobby and Roy. The flop came ace 8 10, giving me bottom two pair, and I checked it, hoping to get in a check-raise. Roy bet out 14, and Bobby raised all-in! I couldn't put Roy on a hand too well here, because he could easily bet out on a draw, as well as a big hand. I figured Bobby for a pair of aces, as he had played aces poorly earlier and lost a pot to Roy because of it. Obviously, my two pair could get sucked out on, but for the time being, it was good. Plus, I had the chip lead at the time, so it wouldn't damage me too badly if I happened to get unlucky. Bobby's all-in was about 20 on top of Roy's bet, and to drive Roy out, I reraised another 35. Roy folded, and Bobby, who had gotten a sick look on his face when he saw me reaching for chips after his all-in, flipped over ace 5, I believe. The turn was a jack of diamonds, giving Bobby a flush draw to go with an ace, 5, or jack to win the pot. With a lot of outs to dodge, I couldn't do it, as an ace fell on the river, giving Bobby trips. This hand hurt a little, but I couldn't dwell on it, because I got my money in with the best hand, but it was also vulnerable. I was still in fine chip position.
I got my money back and more a few hands later against Josh. I came in raising 12 with pocket jacks, and he called. The flop was jack 7 5, and I checked my top set to him. He checked also. The turn was a 9, and again I checked. This time Josh didn't disappoint, and he fired out 30. The only hands he could have to beat me here were 6 8 and 8 10, and I didn't figure him to be calling my raises with that in a million years, plus he wouldn't have bet so strongly, as he would have obviously wanted a call. Rather than check-raise, I just called, hoping he would fire again on the river. When the river was a queen, he immediately went all-in. Now 10 king was added to the list of hands that could have a straight, but there was no way he could have had these hands. Still, he had a lot of chips, so I took my time thinking it through, but then I called. He flipped over ace queen, for a made pair of queens on the river, and my trip jacks won the pot and took him out.
Bobby went out in 5th after he went all-in on the river with two pair, kings and 6s, but got called by Stephen, who had been slowplaying the nut flush.
Roy was beginning to get shortstacked again, and my main priority was getting rid of him, as I thought I would be a big favorite against the other two, Alex and Stephen. He came in raising under the gun, and I looked down to see pocket deuces right after him. I didn't necessarily figure him for better pockets than me, but even if he did have them, I was looking to hit a set and bust him. I don't believe it was really mathematically correct, as he didn't have a huge stack of chips left after his 15 dollar raise (maybe around 48?), but I figured it was worth a shot to bust him. The flop came ace 2 4, and Roy immediately went all-in, and I couldn't call him fast enough. He had ace queen, for top pair, and my set of deuces were in commanding shape. The turn and river brought no help, so Roy went out in fourth. With a hand like that and not much chips, I don't think there's any way someone could avoid going broke there.
Down to three-handed, I had the chip lead, with Alex in second and Stephen in third. The blinds were up to around 5-10 at this point, and I became aggressive taking a lot of pots preflop. When I wasn't raising, Alex was, and we slowly chipped Stephen away. Then a brutal hand came up. I was on the button with ace ten of clubs, and I came in raising 20. Alex folded, and Stephen called. To give some background, Stephen hadn't reraised anyone preflop once all night, and every time he hit a hand he slowplayed it. The only way to lose money to him was to bet into him when he had a hand, because he won't bet it himself. I took this into account when he called, but I liked my hand. The flop came 2 5 10, and after he checked, I bet out 25. He called. The turn was an ace, giving me top two pair. Again he checked, and this time I bet 15, hoping he might sense me as being afraid of that ace hitting. He raised me 15, just like I hoped, and I went all-in. I had him covered, so he was actually all-in if he called. He didn't say anything, and instead flipped his cards up on the table. Ace Ace. "I assume that means you call?" I said. Hey, you gotta give me credit for having a sense of humor in the face of drawing dead at least. This pot doubled him up, and put a big dent into my plans.
The very next hand I was on the big blind when Alex came in raising 15. I looked down to see pocket 4s. I was now the shortstack, so I was in a tough spot. I couldn't just call, because my odds of hitting a set were too slim to justify it. I was close to pushing all-in, but then thought better of it, as he might be more likely to call an all-in with some hands like a semi-weak ace or mid-pockets, things I didn't want to be all-in against. I raised him 30 on top of his raise, enough to be authoritative about it, but enough that if he came over the top, I could still get away from it if I had to, as I still had about 60 in chips left. Alex thought for a few minutes, and he seemed to really be in a tough spot. I definitely wanted him to fold, because I would have to push all-in in all (Hmm, I like poker vocabulary symmetry) likelihood when the flop came if he called. He finally decided to muck it, and he showed me pocket 9s, as he did, saying, "I'll give you respect this time, Terrence." I was definitely happy for that respect. This pot got me reasonably healthy again, with some room to dance.
I picked up a lot of pots by raising on the big blind after they had both limped in, and with the blinds now at 8-16, that was 32 bucks a pop I was taking. I usually had pretty nice hands, but I was mostly playing off their weakness. On my big blind, Alex came in raising the minimum, 16, and I saw queen jack of clubs, so I called. The flop was king ten rag, and after thinking about how to go about playing this, I checked. I thought this flop may have hit Alex, so I didn't want to get raised betting on a draw. Alex bet 30, and I called. The turn was a blank, and we both checked. The river was a 9, giving me the nut straight, and I checked it to him, hoping I could extract some more chips from him. He bet out 50, and after thinking, I raised all-in. He quickly folded, saying he had nothing, so I took a very nice pot down.
This hand put me back in the chip lead, I believe, and Stephen took out Alex a short while later when Alex went all-in on a bluff and Stephen called with the nut diamond draw. The flop was ace blank blank, all diamonds, and Stephen had the king. Alex had 10 6 offsuit, so he didn't even have a pair. Stephen ended up pairing his 9 to take it down.
Heads up, we raised the blinds to 10-20, and I had about a 350-300 chip lead over Stephen. Somehow our chips didn't add up to 700, but I don't know how. We battled back and forth for a while, without any huge pots. Mostly I was the aggressor, raising and picking up numerous small pots, while he was laying low, obviously looking to trap me. I came in raising 30 with jack 9 on the small blind, only to find him reraise me all-in. I quickly folded. This gave him the chip lead. The next hand, he came in raising 20, and I saw jack 8 of spades. I figured it was good enough to see a flop with, especially as he had been checking most flops anyway, and the flop came ace king jack. I checked, and so did he, making me think he had a real monster after hitting a flop like that on a raised pot. The turn was a brick, and I checked again. He checked immediately, and it didn't really seem that he was slowplaying anymore. He kept the deck in his hand, and right when I checked, he checked and dealt the river. I thought maybe he had low pockets now, as this flop would certainly slow him down. I checked the river, which was another brick, and he checked, too. I showed the jacks, and he showed pocket tens. This was a nice little pot, and put us basically even. The next hand, I picked up pocket aces on the small blind. I came in raising 30, the same as I had raised last time, hoping he might try that all-in move again. He did, and I called like a shot and flipped the rockets. He turned over big slick, and when the board came down 2 2 2 4 queen, my boat dropped its anchor on his head. This reminded me of the hand between Jesse and Pete earlier this year when Pete had big slick, Jesse had aces, and all the money got in preflop. This pot gave me about a 670-30 chip lead, and we were all in blind on the next hand. He had jack 8, I had jack 3 (The Pete!) but I couldn't overcome the domination, so he doubled up. A hand or two later we were all-in again. I had king 4, and he had jack ten of hearts. The flop came 3 4 4, giving me trips, and that was all she wrote. I took home $25, Stephen got $10, and the semester was off to an excellent start.
Quote of the day: "Roy is looking to raise this pot no matter what."-Terrence, right before Roy did in fact raise. Roy later admitted that he was going to raise the pot no matter what. Tricksy Roy.
Terrence's bankroll: $784+$20=$804
We decided to get a game together Tuesday night to kick off the new year. Seven people played for the five dollar buy-in, although we would have had nine if Godwin and Ryan didn't fag out. This was also the first tournament that I used that new Tournament Director software for, and it worked well.
Seating, from left to right, was Pete, me, Alex, Stephen, Josh, Roy, and Bobby. We started with 100 in chips, with blinds at 1-2 and going up every half hour. My first decent hand came when I had ace 8 of clubs UTG+1. I limped in, as did Roy, and Bobby raised another 4 on the big blind. I called, and Roy folded. The flop came ace 8 9 rainbow. Bobby bet out 8 to me. I figured he probably had an ace, maybe ace jack or so, and I could take a decent pot off him if he played back at me. I raised him 15. He ended up folding- he told me later that he had nothing, not even an ace, which I'm impressed with, because usually Bobby won't bet out unless he has something. Keep it up, Bobby.
Pete was the first one out after he lost a big pot to Roy when his pocket kings couldn't hold up against Roy's pocket 7s when the board gave Roy a straight. This left Pete without much money, and he went all-in with ace 9 suited against Josh, I believe, who had a better ace.
I caught a lot of good cards during the night, including more than my fair share of high pockets. Queens once, jacks once, tens once, kings once, and aces twice. With the blinds at 2-4, I raised it to twelve in second position with pocket aces. Josh called on the button, and Roy called from the blind. The flop came 3 5 10. Roy made a move as if to bet, but then checked. I commented about how he seemed ready to bet, then I put out 14. Josh raised it to 28, and then Roy called. Something was definitely fishy here, and I wasn't in love with my aces much anymore. I called the 14. At this point I was worried that Roy had a set, and that he was trapping us for a big pot. The turn was an offsuit jack (there were two hearts on the flop). Roy checked again. I was still worried about the set, and I knew it would be hard for me to call a big raise, so I checked, hoping to see a safe river card. Josh checked behind us. The river was an offsuit deuce, and Roy checked again. Now I was positive he didn't have a set, because he wouldn't slowplay it to this extent, that's just not Roy's style, plus it wouldn't make sense to try to checkraise two players that had checked the turn. I bet out 20, believing my aces were good and hoping to get called, but both of them folded. Roy later told me that he had ace 3 of hearts, giving him bottom pair and the nut flush draw on the flop.
I lost a pot later, when on the small blind with 8-10, I saw a three-way flop with Bobby and Roy. The flop came ace 8 10, giving me bottom two pair, and I checked it, hoping to get in a check-raise. Roy bet out 14, and Bobby raised all-in! I couldn't put Roy on a hand too well here, because he could easily bet out on a draw, as well as a big hand. I figured Bobby for a pair of aces, as he had played aces poorly earlier and lost a pot to Roy because of it. Obviously, my two pair could get sucked out on, but for the time being, it was good. Plus, I had the chip lead at the time, so it wouldn't damage me too badly if I happened to get unlucky. Bobby's all-in was about 20 on top of Roy's bet, and to drive Roy out, I reraised another 35. Roy folded, and Bobby, who had gotten a sick look on his face when he saw me reaching for chips after his all-in, flipped over ace 5, I believe. The turn was a jack of diamonds, giving Bobby a flush draw to go with an ace, 5, or jack to win the pot. With a lot of outs to dodge, I couldn't do it, as an ace fell on the river, giving Bobby trips. This hand hurt a little, but I couldn't dwell on it, because I got my money in with the best hand, but it was also vulnerable. I was still in fine chip position.
I got my money back and more a few hands later against Josh. I came in raising 12 with pocket jacks, and he called. The flop was jack 7 5, and I checked my top set to him. He checked also. The turn was a 9, and again I checked. This time Josh didn't disappoint, and he fired out 30. The only hands he could have to beat me here were 6 8 and 8 10, and I didn't figure him to be calling my raises with that in a million years, plus he wouldn't have bet so strongly, as he would have obviously wanted a call. Rather than check-raise, I just called, hoping he would fire again on the river. When the river was a queen, he immediately went all-in. Now 10 king was added to the list of hands that could have a straight, but there was no way he could have had these hands. Still, he had a lot of chips, so I took my time thinking it through, but then I called. He flipped over ace queen, for a made pair of queens on the river, and my trip jacks won the pot and took him out.
Bobby went out in 5th after he went all-in on the river with two pair, kings and 6s, but got called by Stephen, who had been slowplaying the nut flush.
Roy was beginning to get shortstacked again, and my main priority was getting rid of him, as I thought I would be a big favorite against the other two, Alex and Stephen. He came in raising under the gun, and I looked down to see pocket deuces right after him. I didn't necessarily figure him for better pockets than me, but even if he did have them, I was looking to hit a set and bust him. I don't believe it was really mathematically correct, as he didn't have a huge stack of chips left after his 15 dollar raise (maybe around 48?), but I figured it was worth a shot to bust him. The flop came ace 2 4, and Roy immediately went all-in, and I couldn't call him fast enough. He had ace queen, for top pair, and my set of deuces were in commanding shape. The turn and river brought no help, so Roy went out in fourth. With a hand like that and not much chips, I don't think there's any way someone could avoid going broke there.
Down to three-handed, I had the chip lead, with Alex in second and Stephen in third. The blinds were up to around 5-10 at this point, and I became aggressive taking a lot of pots preflop. When I wasn't raising, Alex was, and we slowly chipped Stephen away. Then a brutal hand came up. I was on the button with ace ten of clubs, and I came in raising 20. Alex folded, and Stephen called. To give some background, Stephen hadn't reraised anyone preflop once all night, and every time he hit a hand he slowplayed it. The only way to lose money to him was to bet into him when he had a hand, because he won't bet it himself. I took this into account when he called, but I liked my hand. The flop came 2 5 10, and after he checked, I bet out 25. He called. The turn was an ace, giving me top two pair. Again he checked, and this time I bet 15, hoping he might sense me as being afraid of that ace hitting. He raised me 15, just like I hoped, and I went all-in. I had him covered, so he was actually all-in if he called. He didn't say anything, and instead flipped his cards up on the table. Ace Ace. "I assume that means you call?" I said. Hey, you gotta give me credit for having a sense of humor in the face of drawing dead at least. This pot doubled him up, and put a big dent into my plans.
The very next hand I was on the big blind when Alex came in raising 15. I looked down to see pocket 4s. I was now the shortstack, so I was in a tough spot. I couldn't just call, because my odds of hitting a set were too slim to justify it. I was close to pushing all-in, but then thought better of it, as he might be more likely to call an all-in with some hands like a semi-weak ace or mid-pockets, things I didn't want to be all-in against. I raised him 30 on top of his raise, enough to be authoritative about it, but enough that if he came over the top, I could still get away from it if I had to, as I still had about 60 in chips left. Alex thought for a few minutes, and he seemed to really be in a tough spot. I definitely wanted him to fold, because I would have to push all-in in all (Hmm, I like poker vocabulary symmetry) likelihood when the flop came if he called. He finally decided to muck it, and he showed me pocket 9s, as he did, saying, "I'll give you respect this time, Terrence." I was definitely happy for that respect. This pot got me reasonably healthy again, with some room to dance.
I picked up a lot of pots by raising on the big blind after they had both limped in, and with the blinds now at 8-16, that was 32 bucks a pop I was taking. I usually had pretty nice hands, but I was mostly playing off their weakness. On my big blind, Alex came in raising the minimum, 16, and I saw queen jack of clubs, so I called. The flop was king ten rag, and after thinking about how to go about playing this, I checked. I thought this flop may have hit Alex, so I didn't want to get raised betting on a draw. Alex bet 30, and I called. The turn was a blank, and we both checked. The river was a 9, giving me the nut straight, and I checked it to him, hoping I could extract some more chips from him. He bet out 50, and after thinking, I raised all-in. He quickly folded, saying he had nothing, so I took a very nice pot down.
This hand put me back in the chip lead, I believe, and Stephen took out Alex a short while later when Alex went all-in on a bluff and Stephen called with the nut diamond draw. The flop was ace blank blank, all diamonds, and Stephen had the king. Alex had 10 6 offsuit, so he didn't even have a pair. Stephen ended up pairing his 9 to take it down.
Heads up, we raised the blinds to 10-20, and I had about a 350-300 chip lead over Stephen. Somehow our chips didn't add up to 700, but I don't know how. We battled back and forth for a while, without any huge pots. Mostly I was the aggressor, raising and picking up numerous small pots, while he was laying low, obviously looking to trap me. I came in raising 30 with jack 9 on the small blind, only to find him reraise me all-in. I quickly folded. This gave him the chip lead. The next hand, he came in raising 20, and I saw jack 8 of spades. I figured it was good enough to see a flop with, especially as he had been checking most flops anyway, and the flop came ace king jack. I checked, and so did he, making me think he had a real monster after hitting a flop like that on a raised pot. The turn was a brick, and I checked again. He checked immediately, and it didn't really seem that he was slowplaying anymore. He kept the deck in his hand, and right when I checked, he checked and dealt the river. I thought maybe he had low pockets now, as this flop would certainly slow him down. I checked the river, which was another brick, and he checked, too. I showed the jacks, and he showed pocket tens. This was a nice little pot, and put us basically even. The next hand, I picked up pocket aces on the small blind. I came in raising 30, the same as I had raised last time, hoping he might try that all-in move again. He did, and I called like a shot and flipped the rockets. He turned over big slick, and when the board came down 2 2 2 4 queen, my boat dropped its anchor on his head. This reminded me of the hand between Jesse and Pete earlier this year when Pete had big slick, Jesse had aces, and all the money got in preflop. This pot gave me about a 670-30 chip lead, and we were all in blind on the next hand. He had jack 8, I had jack 3 (The Pete!) but I couldn't overcome the domination, so he doubled up. A hand or two later we were all-in again. I had king 4, and he had jack ten of hearts. The flop came 3 4 4, giving me trips, and that was all she wrote. I took home $25, Stephen got $10, and the semester was off to an excellent start.
Quote of the day: "Roy is looking to raise this pot no matter what."-Terrence, right before Roy did in fact raise. Roy later admitted that he was going to raise the pot no matter what. Tricksy Roy.
Terrence's bankroll: $784+$20=$804
Posted by Terrence on January 13, 2005 at 03:17 AM | 2 comments
goDWin
roy
