My reading skills have become really nasty. It's especially bad when I play against players I play regularly (Terrence and Pete).

First amusing moment of the night: I suck out Pete on the river after he makes a my-little-pony bet on the turn to let me catch. I feel bad for him, but at least I started the year off right against him; the first suckout is always well-remembered and is an effective tool for later psychological control.

Second amusing moment of the night: One hand, as the hand is being dealt out, I have it in my mind that I'm going to raise this pot preflop before I look at my hole cards. After the player to my right (Josh) folds, Terrence looks at me and says, "Roy is looking to raise this pot right here." I'm not sure if there's a tell, but I think he has a good sense of the rhythm of my game, and it's scary. I laughed and admitted I was doing this, but I still raised and got people to fold to me.

Third amusing hand of the night: There is a new player, Steven, who is the ultimate rock. I mean, honestly. This kid only plays high pockets or AK and gets paid off handsomely. I'm looking to raise any pots he limps in with since he's so tight ... one hand he opens the hand for a standard raise. I look down to see Q6ss, which in my mind is the perfect calling hand here. Then I go back to study Steven a bit to make sure I'm not drawing as a 4:1 dog, and notice he's yawning. This isn't a real yawn either ... this was one of those fake "I'm not really interested in the game" yawns. He hadn't yawned at all before, nor did he look very tired. That was probably the first time I've ever folded a hand preflop based 100% on a physical tell... turns out he had KK.

Fourth amusing hand of the night: Terrence opens the pot for a pretty big raise in early position, which seems to me that he's either protecting a mediocre hand (not likely) or he's protecting a big hand (yeah). I've noticed that Terrence likes to call with mid-pockets more than anything; he loves to see cheap flops with them and hope to catch a set or catch a forrtunate flop. When I'm in my aggressive mode, pocket pairs usually look golden to me based on the shit that I normally play, so I usually like to try to "protect" mid-pockets (although this has cost me more pots then I'd like to remember). Anyways, Josh calls, and I see A3 hearts. At this point I'm not sure whether Terrence has a big hand or a mediocre hand, so I decide to see a flop and play it from there. Flop comes T83 with two hearts. What a beautiful flop.

I'm debating an overbet here in early position. If Terrence has overcards or a mediocre hand, he'd have to fold it. But I'm worried that he might have a big pair which would put me in a hard position if he reraised me all-in (which he'd have to do since Josh the Call Station was sitting after him). So I simply check it... Terrence says something to the effect of, "Wow, you really wanted to bet that, didn't you?" and then bets out $14. This doesn't seem like one of his standard leading bets. This smells really fishy. Josh then reraises to $28 and I'm now faced with a raise and a reraise. I've got the low pair, and the 3s are probably live. I also have the nut flush draw, and if my odds are real good, I may even have an overcard on Terrence.

Terrence has got to be fearing a set when I flat-call. Or maybe he knows I have low pair and a flush draw. I couldn't simply call this huge raise on just the flush draw ... two more outs (and I actually think the implied odds if that second three hits is gonna be pretty huge) ... if I call this flat out, there's no way Terrence can make a huge play at the pot off the turn unless he's really ready to gamble against two chip leaders with his big pair. I feel there's a pretty good chance that the turn will come cheap to let me see the river for my flush. Terrence calls.

Turn comes a blank. Terrence wisely checks, Josh does so behind him. At this point I can't imagine Terrence having any hand besides AA. He's going to wait until a safe card hits the river and he's going to take it down.

River comes a safe card for him, and he takes down the pot with a solid $20 bet. Josh the dumbass raiser off the flop (he had absolutely nothing, I'm telling you) folds ... and I fold. That was very well played by Terrence. He didn't pot-commit me to make a move on a drawing hand when I had him covered ... and he still won a huge pot ($~$80?). Smart playing.

Amusing hand number five: I'm playing against Bobby, who is sitting after me. A bunch of people see the flop, which comes A53 (two hearts). I bet a sizable amount into the pot (with 25 of diamonds, by the way) and Bobby flat calls. Everyone else folds. At this point, I'm pretty sure he has a weak ace. Bobby raises strong aces, and there's no way he's calling with any type of drawing hand. The turn comes a 6 (I believe). I check. Bobby bets a weak $12 in the pot (I thinK I might of bet $7 into the pot off the flop). This smells ridiculously like a weak ace. At this point, I'm deciding whether I want to reraise him and try to push him off, or if I want a scare card to hit before I move him off his hand. Bobby can be a bit of a call station at times and I don't want to risk it. Furthermore, I figured my 2s and 5s were all live, and hitting either would give me the hand. If another scare card also hit, that would give me a legitimate hand to bluff with. The river is a beautiful queen of hearts. It's completed a flush on the board, and it makes any weak ace look like absolute shit. So I do the smart thing and make a very solid bet ($24) that doesn't look too much like a bluff. Bobby agonizes and folds. Terrence knew the moment that hand was over I had bluffed the scare card. He knows I love to do that. Hah.

I busted out in fourth, which I felt was pretty solid given the fact I had rags all frickin' night. My three best starting hands were: JJ, KK, and AQ suited (which got busted on a flop of A32 against Terrence's 22). There was a point in time where I got 68 suited and it looked golden. I hate it when that happens.