Once again, I've missed a few games, but they've been rather uneventful. In the last 3 games, I've gone up 5 bucks. Tuesday was the second Stacy Poker Tour event- I had finished 6th in the first one. This game was a really tough one mentally, as I had a ton of things on my mind going in, but I made myself stop thinking about them for a few hours and play some awesome poker.

We had 16 players this week, so with two tables of 8, I actually got put in the lounge for once. The seating was me, Donald, Pete, Gibby, Josh, Andrew, Stephen, and Alex. I was fine with my table arrangement because it was mostly composed of tight players, whereas all the aggressive players got put in the ping pong room. I really didn't get involved much early on- I couldn't find anything to play at all. For about four rounds, I got nothing, but i was still slightly up thanks to a couple small pots and steals. One nice hand came with the blinds at 200-400. I was the big blind, and I had three limpers, all of whom appeared very weak. I don't even remember what I had but it wasn't anything much, maybe queen 7, but I raised it another 1200 to go, and everybody folded, so I took 1600 bucks right there. One kid who has been at the first two tournaments to take pictures (I wish I could remember his name), loves watching me at the table. Early on I was singing and generally making an ass out of myself. He kept looking for my picture when I was in a hand, and he said he's gonna give us the pictures to put on the website, so that'll be awesome. Anyway, I had been bemoaning my lack of cards right before the blind steal hand, and I showed him what I had and said, "I don't even need cards to win." I was feeling really cocky for some reason, but I was having fun, too.

Donald had a lot of chips when he basically doubled up off Alex. Alex limped, Donald raised and Alex called. On a flop of 8 9 jack, Alex bet out 600, and Donald raised it 1200. Alex called. When the turn brought an ace, Alex bet out 1200, and Donald went all-in. Alex thought for a while, then called and flipped ace 9 for two pair. Donald had top two pair, though, aces and jacks, so he took out Alex first when the river bricked off.

Andrew had been shortstacked most of the night, but he doubled up off Josh in a pretty nasty hand. Andrew raised to three times the big blind under the gun, and Josh called from the small blind. The flop was 4 5 6, and Josh checked. Andrew bet out something like 1500, and Josh immediately said, "All-in." I was intrigued as to what everyone had. I figured Josh for a set, and Andrew for an overpair. Andrew ended up calling, and he flipped up 6 7 for top pair with an open-ended straight draw. Josh flipped pocket aces over. Remember, he's the one who called and Andrew raised under the gun with 6 7! What a weird hand. The river brought an 8 to complete Andrew's straight, and he doubled up.

Stephen was also amassing a healthy chip stack, due to his catching the sickest cards I've ever seen. Pocket kings two hands in a row, aces two hands later, etc. He really should have made more money than he did with them, but he was still up over 20 grand. I did take one hand off of him, though, when he came in raising 800. I saw pocket queens, and reraised another 1500 on top. He folded and said, "Good raise."

Gibby, after coming out aggressive early, was also laying low like me. Pete was losing most of his money, and he got whacked when his pocket 8's, I believe, ran into a higher pocket pair. Pete's been in a total rut this whole semester, and I don't think it helped that I was needling him any time we got involved in a hand together. Pick it up, Pete!

Josh got whacked a little after the hand with Andrew, and after Pete got knocked out, we played out the round then combined for the final table. I was at about 8 grand after losing a hand with Donald when I was the small blind and he was the big blind. I limped in with jack 8, and he checked, so we saw a flop of ace 2 4. I bet out 600, and Donald raised me 1200. I thought he was weak, and he thought his fours were good, so I raised him another 2500. He thought, then went all-in, and I had to toss it. He showed 3 5 for a flopped wheel, so my original read was a little bit off, to say the least.

I also lost a sizable pot to Stephen when he came in raising to my right, and I saw pocket 9s on the small blind. Stephen doesn't steal much, so I figured him for a hand, so i just called his button raise from the small blind. The flop came 5 5 10, which looked good for me. I bet out 1500, and he raised all-in. I went in the tank for a couple minutes, but I just couldn't see him making this play on a bluff with a missed ace king or something. I figured he had to have an overpair, so I tossed it, and he showed kings for the third time that night.

Aaron had gotten whacked before the final table, as had Roy, Ryan, Greg, and one other that I can't remember. The seating for the final table was me, Dan, Stephen, Gibby, Andy, Donald, Will, Andrew, and Joe.

Will had been talking shit all day about how I was going down, so you all know what that means- I had to take his money. Early on, Will got aggressive, coming in raising on a lot of pots, and I kept coming over the top of him, as he never seemed particularly strong. I had hands like ace ten suited and the like, and I took about four pots off him like this. Once I called a raise on my big blind with jack 9 of hearts, and when the flop came 2 2 5, I bet out about a third of what he had left, and after thinking for a while, obviously not happy, he folded.

For the first twenty minutes of the final table, I killed everyone. I went from about 8 grand to almost 30 and the chip lead. I took a few pots off Donald, as well, twice when he came in raising and I called. Once I flat-called with ace queen of diamonds, hoping to trap him, and when the flop came queen high, I check-raised all-in, but he folded. Still, it was a nice pot. A few hands later, I called a raise in the big blind with king jack, and when the flop came jack high, I went all-in right off the bat. I didn't put him on having a terribly strong hand, so I thought he may have thought I was putting a move on him and would call with some kind of mid-pockets. After thinking, he called and flipped queen jack up, so I had him outkicked. The king played and Donald was out.

I laid low after my rush died down, and I watched everyone else kill each other. Andrew was the first one out at the table, Joe was amassing a nice stack after he took out Stephen. Dan, who was shortstacked with me, had also gotten himself back in it by playing very aggressively preflop. Will went out in 6th after being nearly forced all-in from the blind. Andy and Gibby were both laying low.

With 5 players left, we battled for a while. Gibby finally got taken out by Joe, I believe. As a side note, I looked at Gibby as a bit of a fish last semester, as he never had any cashes or strong finishes, but this semester he has a win and a 5th, which is good for first place in the Player of the Year standings so far. I like to play him because I have a good read on him and can use position on him really well, but he seems to be taking apart a lot of other guys who challenge him with less-than-stellar holdings.

Now that we were in the money, everyone had a sense of relief. The funny thing is, nobody had been playing extremely tight. It was mostly just good, solid poker. A raise preflop, take it down. A raise preflop, one call, then a bet on the flop took it down. The quality of play is really improving, in my opinion. It's true, though, that we had a very strong final four, with myself, Andy, Dan, and Joe, all of whom are very solid players.

I hadn't been getting too involved in marginal situations, as I wanted to get shorthanded with an above average chip stack. With 160,000 in play, I had about 50 of it, so I was in fine shape. The blinds were getting pretty steep by this point, at 1000-2000 then 1200-2400. Taking the blinds was a very viable strategy, and Dan and I seemed to be raising preflop the most. Andy was getting blinded away, and Joe was holding strong with a couple nice reraises. I took a huge pot off Andy after I had lost a big chunk of my stack to Joe, when I limped in with 6 8 from the button. The flop came 3 8 9, and after Dan checked, Andy bet 6 grand. I thought my 8 was good, and I called, then Dan folded. The turn was an 8, so I had trips. Andy bet out 9 thousand, and again I flat called after looking him up and down for a minute. I was a little worried that he may have a better kicker than me, but I also thought he could have been using the 8 as a scare card if I called him with a weak 9. The river was a 2, and Andy bet 9 grand again. This left me with about 5500 left, so I moved all-in after a little thought. I knew I had him right when it got back to him, because he said, "I knew you had the 8s. Let's pay the man off." He called the extra 5500 (which he almost had to, with almost 50 grand in the pot.) He had queen 9 for top pair, which meant my original read was wrong, so that 8 was a fortunate card for me.

A really strange hand came up between Dan and Joe that still has me scratching my head. Joe came in raising from the button, and Dan called from the big blind. The flop came ace 4 5, all clubs, and just then Dan's phone rang. He picked up and started talking to this guy. Dan told his friend, "Hey, I have ace jack on a board of ace 4 5. They're all clubs, and so is my jack- what should I do?" Then he checked. This confused the hell out of all of us- did he really have ace jack? Or was he just messing with Joe to slow him down after his preflop raise? Joe went all-in, which was a huge overbet, and it put Dan all-in. Dan then flipped up ace jack with the jack of clubs! He kept talking to his friend on the phone. He said, "My friend thinks you have a low flush." After thinking some more, he said, "I call," and Joe turned over 8 9 of clubs for the flush. We all started laughing like crazy because this guy on the phone had read Joe perfectly based on just hearing how the hand played out. The turn and river were both red, and Dan was out in 4th.

The whole dynamic of the table changed once Dan left. Andy, who was now the shortstack, began going all-in every time from the small blind when I folded on the button. Anytime I came in raising, I usually took it uncontested, and this kept me afloat. Joe was raising less often than either of us, but it was obvious he was biding his time to finally catch Andy when he moved in on him. One hand came up where Andy limped on the button (for the first time all night), Joe limped, and I checked with queen 6. I thought it was really suspicious that Andy had limped, especially because he didn't have more than 15 grand left. The flop came queen 9 4, and Joe checked, as did I. Andy moved all-in, and right when it got back to me, I called. In retrospect, it was a stupid call, because I knew he was up to something limping on the blind, plus I didn't think about it like I usually do. Andy had pocket aces, and they held up, so I lost about 15 grand on this hand. Dumb, dumb move. I took some of it back though, when I kept raising Andy's blind, which was now at 1500-3000. Finally, Andy moved in on Joe's blind again, and after about 20 times of folding, Joe called immediately with ace queen suited. Andy had king ten, which didn't make Joe happy, because he didn't have Andy dominated. The flop brought a queen, and the river an ace, so Joe had top two pair, and we were now heads up.

Joe was just slightly over 2-1 on me, with 108k to 52k. The very first hand, I came in raising on the button with jack 9, and Joe went all-in, so I tossed it. OK, so this is how it's gonna be. I decided to limp more and use my position, and we traded punches for a while, staying about the same as we started. I lost a lot of money on one hand when I picked up 4 5 on the big blind when Joe limped in. We saw a flop of 2 8 9, and we both checked. The turn was a queen, and I bet out 6 thousand. Joe started talking to himself, which I found very odd, and said, "You checked the flop, now did I let you hit a queen?" He then called. I knew something was up, so i was going to give up on it, but the river paired the queen, and it also put a third diamond out there. I didn't think he had a queen, or a draw. I figured he flopped two pair and was sucking me in, so this queen was the worst card he could hope to see. I bet out 12 thousand. He went into the tank, and after a few minutes, he called. I rapped the table, and he flipped up 2 8, so my read was dead on, but his was even better, as he put me on a steal. This hurt me, and I lost a similar pot when I made a big bet on the turn of a board that was king queen 9 5. Joe moved all-in, and I had to muck. I was down to about 12 grand, so I was looking to double up in a hurry. Joe limped on my big blind, and I had about 9 thousand left. I looked down to see king 7, and I moved all-in. Joe thought for a second, then said, "this is better than the average hand, so I'll call," and flipped over king 9. Ouch. His 9 played on a ragged board, so it was all over. I took second, 40 bucks, and 60 points. Joe moved into second overall, while I moved into third. Gibby hung on to first but it shouldn't be long before I catch him.

Quote of the day: "Gibby's mom has got it going on-" sung by half the final table at one point to rag on Gibby, to which Gibby replied, "You guys like women with no teeth?" I have no idea what the hell this means, but it made me laugh.

Terrence's bankroll: $799+$5+$30=$834