A fair warning to those of you don't like my poker posts; just skip this post.

A note to anybody who is reading this who might be mentioned. My criticisms are not meant to be personal, but simply what I am thinking while I'm playing. If you're open-minded, you'll use my image of you against me the next time we play. That's what I'm hoping for. People are getting drastically better, so I'm always excited to play every week. But just don't take what I say here personally.

I came in yesterday, all business. I feel my game has been elevated to another level - one of the big first steps was realizing that I'm not that much better than everybody else, and that playing weak crap out of position wasn't too smart, even if I had an idea of what they had.

My first table had Terrence at it, so I felt confident. I'm not sure why, but anytime Terrence is at my first table, I end up doing quite well for the whole tournament. I can hazard a guess that because Terrence is my toughest opponent, I play more seriously - the best bring out the best.

In any case, the seating (counter-clockwise order):

1. Terrence on the button
   Terrence is a solid player. He will make well-timed bluffs to take down big pots (he probably doesn't bluff more than once or twice in a whole given night), and he extracts maximum value on his hands. He is also capable of tough laydowns in unfavorable positions - something I just remastered these past few weeks.
2. Me
   The important thing to note here is that Terrence is to my RIGHT. I don't play well with tough players sitting at my left; I've always done very well with Terrence to my right (which happens a lot more often than it should)
3. Pete
   I don't mean to shaft his play, but Pete has made some ill-timed moves. Tonight he played pretty tight, so I didn't notice any flaws in his game tonight. But most of the time he plays weak-tight, or he just doesn't know when to check or bet. Terrence got him into the (good) habit of playing aggressive, but this doesn't work well against experienced players who will use position against Pete.
4. Joe
   Joe is one of those players who has a long-term -EV (meaning he plays too loose and will lose in the long term), but he can really run a nice rush of cards to make some horrible beats. If he hits the right flop, he will bust you. He's the type of guy who would call a raise out of position (if you were holding, say, AK) and a flop of 952 rainbow would look scary to you. In any case, I ran into him before the game and he was telling me that he had tightened up his game. Based on our short convo, I decided he really had learned a few new tricks about tightening up, so I decided not to worry too much about him
5. New kid
   Don't know who he is. But I didn't think he was too dangerous. He mostly played loose-weak (like me!) and was never a huge factor in the game
6. Pascale
   I'm not sure yet what to make of this kid. He has made some monster laydowns (including one I'll talk about later which earned him a lot of respect from me). However, I've never seen him finish strong. Honestly, I think if he just tightened up his game a bit more and played more aggressively he could make it to the final table more often. Actually, I think it also might be he overreads his opponents and folds down hands which are -EV. But I'm not entirely sure, cause I don't see enough of his hands. But I respect him. But I don't fear him. Yet.
7. Gibby
   Now, I'm not sure how this happening. I don't give Gibby nearly as much respect as I should ... Gibby is one of those tight players who mostly plays top-10 hands. He will always re-raise against you preflop (like he should). The only problem is he falls in love with pocket pairs and cannot lay them down. Which means you get position on Gibby and hit the right flop and you'll get your implied odds. In any case, Gibby doesn't worry me too much - I have a general read on whether he has overcards or pockets, which is usually enough for me to fold a hand
8. Alex
   Terrence said he played really nice a few weeks ago. I still don't believe it. I haven't seen any good playing from him. Ever.

So play opened up at our first table. I'm not sure what it is (probably confidence running from my sick SNG run online this past weekend), but I wasn't scared of anybody. Joe had tightened up (he scares me when he's loose and he has position on me), Terrence was to my right ... and no one else posed a huge threat. So I decided to play a nice tight game until I got to the final table.

At the first table, there was a nice hand between Pascale and Alex. Pascale raised in MP and Alex called from the BB (I believe). The flop comes 8-high. Alex makes a pretty large bet, and Pascale calls. The turn comes Q, and Alex moves all-in. Pascale thinks for a moment then mucks 99. I guess he thought Alex might have had a queen, but I have to respect him for calling in position thinking he might be beat to see a safe turn. (Alex had 88 for trip eights). My big question: If the turn had been a 7 or lower, would Pascale have folded?

I picked up AK suited in late position with Pascale limping. I made a nice big bet which Pascale called out of position. The flop comes A4x with two diamonds. Pascale checks. I bet a bit under 1/2 the pot (the blinds aren't big, so it really isn't that much). Pascale flat calls. I decide to put him on a flush draw (70%) and maybe a weaker ace (30%). The turn pairs the four. He checks. I figure my best bet is to value-bet this pot; I don't want to commit a large percentage of my chips, even if I have the best hand; my goal is to survive. Getting a lot of chips at the early table becomes almost irrelevant once you get to the final table; survival is more important. I bet 1/3 of the pot, which he calls. The river comes a 8 of diamonds. Pascale quickly bets 4K into the pot (roughly the size of the pot). I separate out 4K chips and count out the rest; I would be down to roughly 3600 in chips if I make this call. My initial gut reaction was that he was on a diamond draw, so I decide that investing that much of my stack is dangerous. Plus, I think I can outplay a lot of these guys later on. Save the bullets for a more advantageous play. So I lay down AK to Pascale, who looks surprised. He says he had a flush, but whatever. It was a good play nonetheless.

Later on, Terrence gets beat in a pot, and I'm thinking that he might be steaming a bit, because he raises 2.5x the BB in EP. I look down and see Jacks [the dreaded hand!]. I'm not sure how I want to play this - do I want to push him all-in preflop and force him to play his overcards? Since I have position, I think the best thing to do is to flat-call him.

The flop comes queen high. Terrence immediately bets out his initial preflop bet into the pot. It seems highly suspicious to me. Given the fact that Terrence was a bit short-stacked, and I was the chip leader, one would think Terrence would pull a check-raise on me (he knows I'm going to bet this pot if he checks it). Either he has AA or KK and hopes I caught a queen, or he's making a clear stab at the pot. I'm still agonizing what to do (he is a tough cookie to read), so I flat-call the pot. I'm hoping he puts on the brakes if he's bluffing ... but then he goes all-in on a blank turn. I agonize. I count out the chips and realize that I've really pot-stuck myself here. I realize that if I call this and lose, I'll have 8000 chips left (we start with 10,000 and it's still pretty much the average); if I win I'll be up to 16000 or so. I decide to call his all-in, and he shows J7 for a bluff. Thank goodness. I didn't realize I had pot-commited myself off the flop ... oh well. It was a weak play, but that's why position is so important!

I'm not much of a person for laying down bad beats. I almost never put my money in with the worst hand preflop, but there is one hand worth mentioning. Around the bubble for our first table, I pick up A4 suited. It gets folded around, and I decide that it's time to pick on Pete. I raise the blinds; he reraises. Given the fact that he has position on me, I decide the best move in this case it to push him all-in. He may lay down any weak ace 9 on down. I have a strong feeling he has a midpockets, which he *may* also lay down, or he might gamble with KQ or KJ (he's done this before when he thinks he's live). In any case, as the story goes, he calls the all-in after agonizing and flips over 77.

Not horrible. I have outs.

Flop: 997.

Ouch. Not anymore. I say "nice hand" and I figure I've lost the hand... until the turn comes an A. Ooh. Outs! I need an Ace or a Nine... and the river... Nine.

Pete ran out of the room. Oops.

To put this into perspective, I was a 98:1 underdog off the flop. That means, you run the hand 100 times, and I will win a little more than once. I was a huge dog. And somehow I came back. I am the SUCKOUT KING!

I went in with a healthy chip stack to the final table. The seating:

1. Andy on the button
   Now, he is becoming a very solid player. But he just makes some dumb moves from time to time which always kill his chipstacks. He takes risks that aren't necessary; like when a bunch of people limp into a pot, if a low flop hits, he'll bet big. Like an overbet big. Just not smart. He's also very loose preflop and will keep calling his chips off.
2. Will
   This is the definition of tight. To the point where he's -EV. Case in point: two weeks ago, I raised UTG with T7 suited with Will in BB. He flat-calls. The flop comes a total miss for me, with queen high. Will checks. I bet. He agonizes. I decide he has a queen. I also decide if he does a crying call here, he can be moved off his hand with a reasonable size bet on the turn. He does a crying call. He checks again. I make a big bet (not an overbet, but a pushing value bet). Will agonizes forever about what I have and then folds down KQ. The board wasn't scary!!!! I'm not sure what he was doing! Why did he flat-call the flop and not the turn? This is the type of game he plays. He also does not price each street properly - he's the type of player that is best to call with a tricksy hand in position. He will let you draw your hand out, and if he has top pair, he will have a tough time laying time laying it down (unless you're bluffing with T7 suited). In any case, the story is that Will has been catching sets all day and has a commanding chip lead.
3. Gibby
   The subplot of the evening was that Gibby was 40 points behind Terrence in the "Player of the Year" runnings, so Terrence was hoping he would get busted in at least 4th place so that Terrence would maintain a lead.
4. Alex
   Not much chip support, stuck between tight players to his right and an aggressive player to the left. Not a great reader. Not a chance.
5. Ryan
   That half-Asian bitch finally showed up to a Tuesday night game. He ended up eliminating 7 people from the game (out of roughly 16, I believe), but his chip support wasn't great. He was close to the top, but not a commanding lead. Given his playing style, I didn't doubt it. Ryan pushes the definition of "loose" to a level you would not believe. He is the Joe, except much scarier.
6. Joe
   He was surprisingly short-stacked, and he was playing tight. Those two make me a very happy man.
7. Aaron
   Aaron was our resident smart-aleck from last semester. He's a very solid player (he's the one I called a Sklansky clone until I decided that he doesn't do it all by the book; he's a good player), but he has the temper of a pit bull. I mean, really. He cannot take bad beats at all. Not at all. Say no to tilt! Bad beats happen! Deal with it! It's what makes you a better player
8. Me

The final table was very solid (as opposed to two weeks ago when I won, which I considered winning a necessity given the weak field), so I was looking forward to some good poker. My only worry for the evening was Ryan sitting across from me. He will call you with second pair, knowing he's behind just to catch his two pair on the river. Or some gutshot. Or something. He always catches too. Aaron sitting at my right let me feel very comfortable.

Long story short, I became VERY short-stacked very quickly. I was close to second in chips, then somehow got sucked out by Ryan who two-paired the river in a hand I played very weak-tight [fear does that to ya].

I also put in close to 10K in chips against Gibby's overcards with JJ. I knew I was a favorite preflop, and I really didn't want to leave Gibby fold equity if the flop missed an Ace or King. Plus Terrence really wanted him out, so I figured I could do Terrence a favor and race Gibby. But Gibby won. And I got severely short-stacked.

I became the far short-stack (~4200) with blinds at around 700/1400. I've long since decided that if you become short-stacked, you cannot think in the "I'm going to last as long as I can" mentality, but the "I've got to double up mentality." Terrence is the master of this strategy; he knows exactly what position and what chip stacks is good enough to push with any two preflop to get everyone to fold. I abused this strategy two weeks ago to come from behind to win the whole thing.

This week, I just couldn't find an unraised pot to push it in. There was a series of hands: A3, A8, A7, AT (in order) where there was a raise in front of me everytime, so I had to fold. (As a side note, I really think it's better to not push with weak aces or King-high into a raised pot; I would much rather push with suited connectors in a situation like that) I was getting quite frustrated; the hand after the string of naked aces I picked up JTsuited under the gun. Being happy to see the best drawing hand, I pushed. I got called immediately by Will who flipped over AK. Excellent. Just what I was looking for. My hand held up, and I doubled up.

A few hands later, I picked up JJ. Aaron pushed all-in in front of me for 8900 chips (I had 8100) in EP. I called immediately, and he showed K8. He's done this type of push before (huge overbet UTG), and I've always had an inkling he's bluffing. It was nice to have a chance to call him and see. In any case, I doubled up and was looking quite healthy. Aaron pushed-all in the next hand for 800 (the blinds were 1000/2000) and I simply doubled the blinds with A6o. It's not a strong hand in EP, but given the fact that there was 1200 in dead money out there (money that Aaron couldn't win) and the fact that he was probably pushing with any two, and the fact that everyone would give us respect ... I had a great chance at the pot. I won the pot and eliminated Aaron (much to Terrence's delight).

I was just waiting to pick up some chips from Will. He doubled me up later when I tried to steal the blinds with 34o. He called, looking really weak. The flop comes K83. So I caught bottom pair. I immediately push all-in and hope he will fold. He debates for a while and asks me if I hit any part of the flop. I'm not entirely sure what he has (I honestly think he might have 55, 66, or 77), so I tell him that I have hit the flop.. hoping he'll fold. He announces "I don't think you've hit any part of that flop" and calls. When he says that, I figure he has AQ (worst case) or 22 (best case). And he flips... 22. So I doubled up.

I later took a HUGE pot (the one that pretty much won me the game, because it was close to a 30K chip pot) when I picked up T9s on the button. Ryan had raised, and I figured it was worth a call in position. Will also called. Flop comes J82. Beautiful. Will bets a sizable amount, Ryan calls, and I call. I'm getting priced to chase this down.

Turn comes a T. Now, this doesn't seem to be a great card, but it was a godsend for me (besides a 6 or Q, obviously). I'm now getting priced (if Will has a J, which I think he has... I think he has AJ at this point) to suck out with two pair, trips, or I can still chase my draw. Ryan folds to a sizable bet from Will, and I call with position.

River... a 6. Will bets 8K, and I push all-in for 6.2K more. He agonizes but eventually folds his hand (ace high!!! he bluffed with ace high out of position!!!!!).

Eventually Will gets knocked out, and it's down to Ryan and I. This is a good rematch - the first time I made the final two, it was against Ryan and I folded my way to a loss. I'm determined not to let that happen this time.

But of course, I blow my chip lead when I misplay top two pair off the flop and let him catch a gutshot on the river, which I pay him off on. I become a 2:1 underdog, but catch up to him a few aggressive hands later when I push all-in with the nut flush (he doesn't call, but it gets me back to even).

The real final hand was when I picked up A2o in the SB. I flat-call, and Ryan calls with J7 diamonds (I believe). Flop comes 345, two diamonds. On the turn, all the chips go into the middle; Ryan has me covered by 400 chips! Ryan misses both his gutshot and his flush draw ... and I pretty much win. But not yet.

I blindly match his 400 all-in. He wins. I blindly match his 800 all-in. He wins. I blindly match his 1600 all-in. He wins. I tell him "This is the last time I blindly match your all-in" with 3200. But finally my hand holds up and I win once again.

I was happy with my win tonight - I made the right laydowns and didn't overcall too many hands. The only hand I have huge regrets is the top two pair against Ryan which I paid him off on - I thought he might of caught a worse two pair on the river (he was pushing all-in with two pair all friggin night). Oh well. I came back from a severe short-stack and tailored each hand I played against the players. I played position correctly, and I played a solid game. It was a tough final table, so the win was special (unlike two weeks ago).

All in all, a good night.