It's halftime of the Indy-New England game right now, so I figured I could write about Thursday's game.

Pete got one of those table-top poker tables for Christmas, so we busted that out for the first time. We had one table and 8 players. Seating from left to right was Pete, me, Han, Ryan, Roy, Moonie, Bobby, and Yush.

I couldn't get many playable hands early on, so I sat back and watched Pete get demolished again. For the second straight time, he was the first one out. One hand came up where I had 6 8 suited on the button. There was one limper, so I figured I'd see a flop, so I limped, as did Han, and Ryan checked. The flop was jack jack 5. Everyone checked to me, so I figured I'd take a shot at the pot, and I bet 3.50. Han folded, then Ryan raised it. I folded immediately, telling him that I was just playing around.

A little while later I got ace 7 of clubs and saw a flop of 2 2 3. I bet out at it, figuring no one could have hit it, but Han and Yush both called. The turn was a 6 of clubs, meaning there was two out there. I still didn't think they had anything, so I semibluffed with my flush draw, and again they both called. I believe both of my bets were 3.50. The river was the 9 of clubs, giving me my flush. This time I bet 12, and they both folded. Thinking back on it, I don't like that bet at all, but at the time I thought I might get a call. I should have bet 5 or 6 to maximize what I got out of it.

A very strange hand came up a little while later. I was on the small blind and Han was on the big blind. Han hadn't put his blind in yet, and he seemed to think that he was under the gun. He asked how much it was to him, and we told him 2 dollars, which is what the blind was. "Oh, that's too much," he said, and folded. We then told him he was the big blind, so everyone had a laugh at Han's expense. This didn't make me happy, though, because now someone could try a blind steal, knowing that Han didn't have a hand. I was getting frustrated because Ryan had been stealing my blinds all day, and when he wasn't, Roy was. Somehow, everyone folded back to me, and I looked down to see pocket jacks. I knew Han didn't have anything, so I just went all-in. Much to my surprise, he called(He was actually all-in, not me), and turned over 2 8 of spades. He said he was just having fun, but man, what is that? The first card on the flop was a 2, and I was getting ready to fly out the window, but the rest of the board were bricks, so I took all of Han's money.

There had been a lot of preflop raising going on, with many more uncontested pots than we were used to. Ryan was raising 10 times the big blind, which was driving me nuts, as I couldn't get a hand to stick him with. I tried a bit of an unorthodox play to try to take advantage of this, so I limped in with big slick in first position. I was hoping to trap Ryan into one of his big raises, but he folded. Roy raised 8, though, and when it got back to me, I went all-in and Roy folded.

Ryan had gotten raped by Johnny Moon for most of his stack, and he only had about 25 or 30 left. While I was on the small blind, I got pocket 6s, and decided to just push all-in against Ryan. I couldn't really make any kind of raise without making him pot-committed, so I figured I may as well put as much pressure on him as possible. He called pretty quickly and flipped over king 8 of diamonds. Honestly, I have no idea what to say, because Ryan is known to call with terrible hands, so I shouldn't have been surprised. He took Pete out earlier with his infamous 9 10 of clubs when Pete went all-in with the devil hand. I don't know how he thought king 8 was possibly good, but the only thing I can reason is he figured he'd try to get lucky when he wasn't a huge underdog, because outplaying people sure wasn't working. Anyway, you know the story, a king hit the flop and Ryan doubled up and hurt my stack. I was below the average stack at this point, and I still couldn't find much to play, so I was getting eaten up by the blinds. I picked up pocket aces in first position, and tried to trap again with them. I limped, but nobody raised, so me, Roy, and Moonie saw a flop. It was queen 7 2. They both checked, and I decided to go all-in to make it look like a steal. I know Roy will call in this position with any pair, so I wanted to make it look like as much of a steal as possible. Roy did call, with middle pair, and my aces held up to double me up.

Nobody wanted to die, so we had been playing 5-handed forever. I took a couple stabs at the pot and got picked off, so I was shortstacked again. I had the big blind, and I warned Ryan not to try to steal my blind again, because I was going to pick up a big hand here. He folded, but Roy took the challenge, and he raised. Yush called from the small blind, and I looked down to see big slick. I only had 7 dollars more than the 15 dollar raise Roy had made, so if I went all-in I knew I would get called by both of them, unless Roy pushed back, which was very possible. I knew I had the best hand, but against two people I still didn't like my chances of it holding up. I wasn't going to get anywhere by giving up my blinds over and over, though, so I went all-in. Roy called, which I wasn't happy about, as I didn't think Yush had much, and Yush called, too. The flop was 2 4 6, I believe, and they both checked. I was pretty sure I would need to hit a pair to take it, so I wasn't happy when the turn paired the 2. They both checked again. The river was an 8, and when Roy checked, Yush went all-in. I knew I was toast, because there was no point in bluffing here, and Roy folded. Yush had 8 9 of hearts, so he had hit a pair of 8s, but it didn't matter because Roy had ace 4 and had me beat anyway. This sent me out in 5th. Roy went out a little later, lamenting that he didn't reraise in that spot. From what I heard, Moonie ended up winning, Yush took second, and Ryan got third.

Quote of the day: "God damn you John Moon!"- Ryan, after Moonie took most of his money.

Terrence's bankroll: $804-$5=$799