Went to the weekly Thursday night poker game. I've been in a drought all semester, so I was just looking to catch some good cards and have a good time.

Tonight we had 8 players, except both Donald and Terrence [to my right and left] were late. So I was picking up a few extra blinds every round. In any case, a bunch of weird-ass hands came around:

I pick up KTo on the cutoff and limp into the pot. I forget exactly who else was in the pot, but Moonie the Gentleman was in the pot in the BB. The flop comes 87x. There is a small bet by Moonie, and I figure that catching an overcard pair would be good, so I call. The turn comes a J, so I picked up a gutshot straight draw. I'm not sure what Moonie is holding exactly, but I have a feeling he's drawing out either for the straight or the flush [I believe there was a flush on the turn].

Now a bit of background... Moonie is a very good player. His good player-ness has coincided with constant betting. It's not aggressive, but it's enough to make tards like me fold down ace-high in position when I think they're good. In any case, I had picked up a few pots before, so I wasn't doing bad in chips.

The river came a total blank, so I missed all my draws and my pair. I only had king-high. But then Moonie threw out a big bet (1/2 pot). I think this is where Aaron picked up my penchant for calling down bit river bets, but I seriously thought Moonie might be making a move on me. I figure with my chips, it was worth a call. If he had me beat, then I would muck and the game would go on.

But as it turns out, Moonie was bluffing ... and couldn't beat my King high. To be honest, I got a bit lucky his nothing wasn't 'ace-high,' but I'd like to think my call threw Moonie a bit off his game, so I was happy.

Then came the most amazing string of cards in my life to give me a HUGE chip lead (I got up to roughly 35K with only 80K in play and 7 players left!). The first hand I got was 33 which I played against Han [who ended up saying he held two spades]. The flop came JJT. I bet in position; it looked like a pretty safe flop. Han simply called. I pegged Han on either a straight draw or a flush draw. The turn came a spade. I had to find out whether or not Han was drawing on the straight or if he had hit the flush. Since I also had position, I figure I'd be safe to check/fold the river. Except the river came a glorious 3 of spades [putting four spades on board, too!]. Han bet 2K, and I pushed him in for the rest with my boat.

I was seriously catching all my sets early on. I caught top set with 6s in a multiway pot. I misplayed this hand grossly, but I won it, so I won't complain too much.

I late had 88s in the BB against Pete. I caught an 8 off the turn and took down that pot as well.

Later on, Pete raised UTG and I called [out of principle, of course] with 97o, figuring him for some shitty ace or maybe KQ [For some reason, Pete *loves* KQ and KJ and AT]. The flop comes 9-high, and I bet out just the right amount for him to reraise me [he's like an automatic reraising trigger!]. He reraises me, and I push him in for the rest. He agonizes and folds, and I talk some trash. I believe my exact words were, "don't go reraising with shit against me." What great fun.

In any case, my cards peaked too early, cause once I hit 35K, I couldn't find great hands to play. However, I was aggressive enough to pick up blinds enough to stay afloat, until this hand came up.

I picked up a 7x against Yush and Aaron. I can't remember exactly what happened, but the board came out 89TJx. Yush bet 1K into a huge pot, and I called with the ass-end of the straight. Then Aaron re-raised 4K on top, and Yush folded.

Now, I've played with Aaron a few times before, and I have seen him pull these bluffs in very strategic moments before. Now, given the fact that Yush bet a small amount into a large pot and I flat-called, Aaron can discount me having the queen. He only had to worry that Yush had the Q, but maybe Aaron read that Yush didn't have the queen. It's kind of like the sandwich effect or something... but when I was studying Aaron, I just got the feeling that he might be pulling a fast one on me. Furthermore, I had close to $30K+ in chips at this point, and to call off 1/7th wasn't a huge concern for me... so I called it... and Aaron shows QJ for the straight. I got a bunch of looks for what seemed to be an obvious play, but honestly my read was that he was pulling a fast one on me. I love to bluff with 4 to a straight/flush in the right position, so I guess I let that factor too much into my call. We can't always make the right calls.

Now, I still had a very comfortable chip lead. I was looking to eliminate Terrence as soon as possible because he's friggin dangerous when the blinds start going up. What was worse was that Terrence was sitting to my left, so I knew that once the blinds started going up, I would no longer be able to limp any pots.

Now, all throughout the night, whenever Yush and I had limped into a pot, Terrence would re-raise all-in. I was just waiting for a monster hand to take Terrence in hopefully a 70/30 situation. The hand came when I picked up JJ and Yush limped before me.

The standard protection play in EP with JJ against a flat-call is to re-raise at least 4x the BB. But I was REALLY looking to trap Terrence. I was going to call any all-in since he could move with almost any high suited ace and maybe 88 or TT. So I call with 600 in chips. Terrence pushes in for 3K more and I can hardly conceal my delight. My delight is dashed when Yush quickly calls.

Now I'm in a bind. Now normally against two players jacks need to get tossed. But I don't really think Terrence is that strong. My only issue is with Yush. I don't think he could call with KQ in this position, so I figure he has at least an ace. He MIGHT have AQ, but the way he called the bet didn't seem incredibly strong.

Terrence asked me why I didn't re-push. The thing is that Yush is a bit loose on the preflop side; I saw him calling all sorts of hand preflop with a push. The lesson I learned from Sam on one of the Tuesday game [where I had QQ vs. his KQ] is not to risk all my chips preflop against a loose preflop caller. My plan was to avoid an ace on the flop and then to push the rest in. Yush cannot call with ace-high, and I'll be heads-up with Terrence just like I wanted ... with Yush's dead money.

Now get this. An ace hits the flop, and Yush makes a ridiculously small bet ($1K). I say "I hope you got him" and chuck my hand. Yush and Terrence both flip up... AJ. They had two outs to draw to, and they hit it on the flop. I was drawing dead off the flop... amazing.

I was a bit peeved with this loss, but there's nothing I could. I didn't risk more chips than I needed, and my read was right on both [weak aces].

Later on, I pick up AK in the SB with everybody folded. Now Terrence is playing realllly loose [He got ridiculously lucky tonight to even get as far as he did ... I love you Terrence, but you pulled some REALLY nasty stuff], so I figure a minimum reraise would be worth something. I've been raising his blinds all night, so I'm trying to trap him. The flop comes with a K. I decide that I'm going to trap him because I really feel like I'm far ahead, so I check it to him. He checks. The turn comes a blank. I check again, hoping he'll make a move of sorts. He still checks it down. The river comes a 3.

I decide it's time to finally 'value-bet' my hand. I throw out a value-bet of 1600, and Terrence re-raises me all-in for another $3K or so). Here was one of my two big misplays of the night. There was no way he was bluffing me, and there's no way he would overplay top pair in this position. I'm not sure why I called, but I just got incredibly stubborn with my AK. If I was slowplaying the hand, I should of been ready to release it to any strong reraise. But I didn't. Damn me!

In any case, I kept getting chipped down after that. I picked up pocket turds three times tonight, ALL on the button. I made it 1600 to go (with blinds at 300/600), and Moonie called me with only 2300 left in chips. I figure he had overcards, so any flop that missed a face card would be a safe one. The flop comes T63. He checks. I decide that my hand isn't worth drawing out on, so I push him in for the rest. He quickly calls and flips up T6 of clubs, for two pair. What's worse is he backdoors the flush on me. OUCH!

Oh well. After that my cards ran cold so I lost. But I had a helluva time. I was catching great cards left and right in the early session [Aaron and Terrence were scolding me for being too much of a call station, but hands that get you up to $35K with start stacks at $10K after only two levels are worth calling and playing!].