Moving On

mclarich 2, cmitch 1

The last game was another back & forth battle. Started off strong with trips & 2 pair in my first two hands, but drop down a bit when I have to fold 3rd pair to a bet on the river. Get back to even when we get the first big hand of the night.

Limp in with the JackAce and see an AA7 flop. cmitch bets & I reraise 3x. At this point, I actually felt like he might have the other Ace. Turn is a T and we both check it. I checked the turn hoping to make it seem like my raise was a steal, to induce a good size bet on the river. River is a K and he bets out about 1\2 pot. I was hoping for a bigger bet, so if he has the A, he must be worried about the kicker. I reraise again 3x and he calls, showing A8. This puts me close to a 2-1 lead.

We get back to even when I call his minraise with 89c. Flop comes 864 rainbow, and I don't want to get crazy here with TP9K, so I call his 1\2 pot bet on the flop & when the 5 hits the turn. River is a 2 and I lead out with too small of a bet, and he comes over the top. I can't call, and he says he had 87h for top pair with mega-draws.

I try to start making some moves and check-raise some flops that I think didn't hit him, but when he moves all in, I gotta fold. I start getting a little tilted, even making calls with nothing but Q-high, thinking I'm catching some bluffs when I'm just calling his value-bets.

Drop down to about 1k when I finally get some good hands, AA & KK. Of course, he folds preflop to them.

Then I take the lead with a bullshit hand that I had no business playing, but I thought that I'd try to represent a strong hand for once, since I wasn't getting anything to play with.

I raise it up with the almighty 37o and get a call. Flop comes A high, all hearts. I do have the 7h incase I need it. I try to represent the A but he calls my 2\3rds pot bet. Turn is an 8h and I check my weak flush. River is a Q and he checks it to me. There's a chance he has a flush, but if he called with a heart, I don't see why he's relying on me to put chips in the pot. I bet out 350, with the idea that I'll fold to any resistance. He calls, showing A8 for 2 pair. This vaults me to a 600 chip lead.

I build another stack when I call his raise with Q9. I flop top pair but we both check the flop. When the turn pairs the board, I check-raise him thinking that I'm good, and it turns out I was.

It finally ends a couple hands later when I limp with KQs. Flop comes Q high and he bets out. I check raise, hoping he sees it as a steal attempt and comes over the top. Instead, he just smooth calls. Turn is a harmless 6 and I bet 2\3rds his stack. He pushes and shows Q2. My hand holds up & I'm off to the Final Four.

It was a great heads up match, and I really enjoyed going up against another blogger I wasn't really familiar with. Next up is blogger that I'm a little more familiar with - RecessRampage.