Warning: There are a few discrepancies between my post and Terrence's rendition. The cards are usually right on (except that last hand - I swear I had A2 because I remember distinctly saying "deuce me, one time"), but the chip values may be different. When in doubt, I would trust him. I tend to not remember the exact chip values, but rather % of pot. So trust his numbers.

By chris baek's request, I have entitled this entry after the best song ever.

Tonight's heads-up match with Terrence lived up to its billing. I've never had spend so much thought and skill in playing against an opponent. I must first commend Terrence on playing incredibly well and defeating me.

Most heads-up matches I've played are usual grinding matches - the poker books don't tell you that in heads-up, the discrepancy in positions isn't as evident as in a full table - there are advantages to playing both positions heads-up. Given the fact that you will miss the flop most of the time and the range of starting hands that people open with are greater, it's far more advantageous to be the first to bluff into a pot.

In any case, the game started off with Terrence on the button. He limped, and I saw 77 and decided to make a raise.

I decided that given the blind structures, winning medium-sized early pots was really an unnecessary task; it'd be far more advantageous to use the early blind levels to set the tone for the evening - I must of raised at least 2/3 of the early pots and I won a lot of early pots. Not that it really matters.

If you set the tone early heads-up that you will be the aggressor, many players will tighten up and "wait" for the best spot. Unfortunately in heads-up action, these hands are quite rare and an experienced player can fold the second best hand. So I like to use the early levels to push around; if a bluff gets called, that's fine. If it doesn't, I set the tone and put the other player on the defensive. This was my plan.

I could sense that Terrence was getting a bit fed-up with the constant raising, so I was always on the lookout to bust him. I picked up a beautiful hand in the BB after Terrence limped in ... AA. I made roughly a 4xBB bet, and Terrence flat-called. The flop came 997, which was about the most gorgeous flop I could ask for with aces. Unless he was holding a nine, he would need runner-runner to defeat me (or one card if he was holding pockets). I made a pretty standard bet (1600), and he flat-called it. There were two spades on the board at this time, and in my mind there was a real possibility that he held spades. Turn came a king. I decided to overbet this pot and pick up maximum value; if Terrence lost this pot, I'd have him almost 3:1 in chips. I bet 3200 and Terrence flat-called again. At this point, I was reasoning that maybe he was holding something like T8 of spades or maybe pockets higher than nines but less than kings.

River came a non-spade king. I bet 2000 (?) and he raised 4000 more. I went deep into the tank.

My original read was some sort of drawing hand; there was no way he made his hand on the flop or turn based on the betting patterns. In my mind, there were only a few hands I could narrow him down to:

1. Missed spade/straight draw: There was enough in the pot that the 4000 bet would make me fold almost any pockets if this was a bluff.
2. King-high: I actually gave this one about 5 seconds of thought and discounted it - I didn't think Terrence would call with king-high on that type of flop; the best move would be reraise on the flop with position; why would you let me draw with a hand I've been raising with? Flat-calling it would be a poor play (or so I thought at the time) so I didn't think Terrence had a king
3. Unless Terrence had a King-rag spade draw and hit a runner runner boat. This was a possibility in my mind, but given the fact that I've been playing super aggressive, I would think that Terrence would raise on the turn to win a ~8000 pot with top pair and an awesome drawing hand.
4. Pocket pairs TT - QQ (if he has KK, so be it). This is actually not a horrible board to be holding TT - QQ against me in this situation. Most of the time I'll have been betting the way down with a draw or ace-high and a strong reraise from TT - QQ can make me lay down this hand. This is what I thought was the highest probability hand Terrence was holding.

In any case, I had a really bad feeling about this hand, so I made a crying call down the river and he flipped up K8 (no spades, I believe). I was stunned. A king-high call on the flop!

I was a bit stunned because this completely threw me off the range of hands I expected from Terrence. In retrospect, I'm torn whether this is a good +EV move or not - if he misread me as being weak, then it works well. But why not raise with the king on the turn? He's hit Kings and Nines; if he has me beat with something like AQ, he's letting me draw to the river with an ace; I could easily be drawing for spades or a straight. Most often times a flat-call here will mean I put a strong bet on the river if a scare card hits.

In any case, I got down to roughly 4,000 chips (we started with 20K). I was playing loose and fast (people who clamp up when they get short stacked should realize this is the worst way to play). When you're short-stacked, you should be ASKING the big stack to gamble with you - the big stack can wait for the premium hand - you better push.

A few hands after I got stunned by the K8, I picked up A5. Terrence had limped and I pushed all-in for ~4K. He instacalled and I knew I was in trouble. I thought he had AA - I had never seen Terrence call so fast. He showed QQ, but we both knew the ace was coming - our epic showdown would not end so quickly. I spiked the ace on the turn and doubled up.

Through aggressive short-stack play, I actually got the chip lead. One of the first big hands that got me on a roll was a raise by me on the button with 83o. Terrence limp called it. The flop came 977, and Terrence seemed strong here. I checked it down on the flop, then gave him another check on the turn. By the river, I had position on him and could sense major weakness; he might have been holding ace-high or some weak pockets preflop (to which that is a gorgeous flop); but the turn and river were two more high cards ... I made a standard value bet into the pot (~1/2, I believe) which he thought for a second and announced, "Man, I can't beat anything here except a bluff" and folded his sixes. I showed him my eight high ... we both got a good laugh out of that one.

Constantly playing aggressive, I later picked up 24o in the BB. I called for a low flop and saw a flop of 773, two spades. Given the fact that Terrence simply limped, I figured a nice solid bet on the flop might get him to lay down overcards. I made a bet, and he called. It was pretty obvious that Terrence was drawing on the spades; given the fact that I'm short-stacked, Terrence is not going to make a play with overcards, and he knows that I'm pot commited to make a move (I had roughly ~7K by the turn). I was debating whether to push on the turn when the turn blanked out, but I felt it would seem too suspicious; Terrence might put me on a seven, which would give him enough outs to make a river call... so I decided to make another value bet on the turn; if the river blanked out with no spade, I would push all-in and shut him down on the river.

Unfortunately, the river came an ace of clubs. The flush missed, but now Terrence had hit his ace of spades. I only had about 6K in chips left at this point - a push all-in might induce a crying call by Terrence given the pot size, so I decided once again to make a value bet into the pot and hope Terrence woudl give me credit for the 3 and fold. In my mind, the pot was too big to simply check it down, while the 3K difference in chips (3K vs. 6K) wasn't going to make a huge difference in a heads-up game.

Unfortunately, I got a crying call from Terrence who won it. What's amusing is the moment I made that bet, Terrence grimaced and said "That's not the card I wanted to see..." to which I simply relied, "Yeah, the ace of spades is a bitch to play here."

One of the more interesting plays was when Terrence came raising on my BB; I saw 79cc and paid to see a flop. I had roughly 5 or 6K in chips before this hand ... the flop came K85 with two clubs. Terrence checked, and I was more than happy to take a free card off as the short-stack. The river came an offsuit 6, giving me the nuts. I made a bet of roughly 1600 chips to which Terrence quickly called. At this point, I was thinking that Terrence was quite strong - I felt he might have AK or maybe even a set! In any case, Terrence thought about the bet for a little while and then said, "Man, this is a tough call because I know you'll move all-in on the river." When he said that, I immediately responded, "You know what? I'll do that" and went all-in blind. This look on his face was mild amusement as he said "I'm drawing." I tried to figure out what exactly he was drawing with to a raise; I imagined the only hand that could make that play would be 77, which was drawing dead to me.

In any case, the river came a 3 of clubs, which filled my flush. Unfortunately, this card was trouble for Terrence. He knows my penchant for bluffing on a draw-filled board; I miscalculated the strength of Terrence's hand and overbet my hand; if I had known before pushing all-in blind that he was relatively weak, I would have probably value-bet that river a bit more.

In any case, I offered him a peek at one of my cards for free before making his decision - I figured that regardless of which card he picked, it really wouldn't change the situation - I hadn't paired the board at all and all I had were drawing cards - I was hoping that Terrence was holding a king or something like QQ, JJ (although it was fairly obvious he held 77) and would give me a call against an exposed 9 or 7 of clubs.

Unfortunately for me, Terrence made the laydown right there.

Well, the ending was not as dramatic as I wished it had been - I got incredibly short-stacked (2xBB) and had to move with A2 against his AT and busted.

All in all, the game was truly a difficult and fun heads-up match. Terrence played very well, making the proper laydowns and making the right calls. Kudos, sir.

And that marks the last big college poker game I'll ever play. Quite sad, isn't it?