It is inevitable that Andrew and I will battle.  Yesterday was our third time playing at the same table and sooner or later, we're going to have to battle.  With our styles, we both know we want to test each other.  Andrew is a new player to the group.  From what I've heard, he's ran over the game since my absence.  Everybody kept telling him just wait until you play with TK blah blah.  Our first two games together, we played each other rather cautiously, no one wanting to make a big mistake.  I'm not one to go after someone but I know I need to observe a player before I can make moves on that player.  I have to understand his mind and what his though processes are.  From what I can tell, he's an aggressive, smart player.  He goes after pots and makes other people think.  Plays hands strong. 

Fast forward to yesterday's game.  I had a feeling we would battle today.  We were involved in a lot more pots and I know there's more coming.  Early on in the game, I raise in LP to $5.50 with 1010 and Andrew RR out of the blinds to 25.50.  His range is so big in this spot because of how aggressive he plays.  My initial instinct told me I was good but I elected to call.  Flop Q Q J.  He bets $25.  I'm not in love with flop.  This very will could have hit his range or he could have AA, KK.  With starting stacks of $100, I felt like I couldn't call and that if I was to proceed in this hand, I had to push.  However, there was a part of me that said I was good.  I decided to fold (wuss ass) but I wanted to see how I could entice Andrew to show his hand to see what he was RR with and get confirmation.  I showed my opponents and said I folded tens and which he turned over 88.  Good play by him, but at least I know. 

Throughout the night, I was able to pick my spots exeptionally well.  I built my stack up to $250 or so after dipping as low as $50.  I got people to pay me off when I had big hands and was able to steal quite a bit.  Surprisingly, I didn't have to show many hands with a continuation bet on the flop. 

Then this critical hand happened.  Behind some limpers, I pick up AA in the BB and raise to $7 and get 3 callers, one of which is Andrew (on my immediate left).  Flop Q 9 5 rainbow.  I lead out for $15 and after some thought, Andrew calls and its heads up to the turn.  Turn 6.  I felt at this point that I was definitely ahead.  I had him on a straight draw, or just one pair, most likely top pair (KQ, QJ, J10, etc).  Of course two pair and sets are possible but up to this point, I felt I was way ahead.  Against most of his hands I have him on, I'm 8/1 9/1 favorite.  I didn't want to lose him and decided to value bet the turn.  I bet $35, big enough yet small enough to spike his curiousity.  He was thinking for some time and I felt even more confident in my hand.  As he's thinking, I'm going over in my heads cards I don't want to see on the river (K Q J 10 8 are the most dangerous).  If anything hits besides those cards, I would make another smallish bet (in relation to the pot of course).  After thinking, he calls.  River hits a bad card, Q.  Terrible card for me.  I opted to check see what would happen and to no surprise, Andrew went AI for $81.50.  I felt like he went all in to represent a bluff but wanted a call.  The hands I would beat in this spot are straight draw bluffs.  Any Q (which I was a HUGE favorite against on the turn) is now winning.  $80 for $180 pot, a little over 2 to 1.  My GUT says I should fold and that he got lucky and caught up.  However, he's the type of player that would make the exact same move on a bluff or a 9.  Knowing that, I convinced myself to call and he tabled Q10o.  I thought about this hand for a little bit and I think I played it correctly in this scenario.  I could have bet more on the turn to get him off his hand but the thing is, I didn't want him to fold!  I took a risk to extract more money but got unlucky.  Given that scenario, I would want my opponent to call on the turn 100% of the time because 9 times out of 10, I win.  It was just dissappointing to lose. 

We had a few more battles through the night.  One hand, I raised with A6, missed the flop but continuation bet, and he RR me big with AQ.  I can tell he was getting frustrated with my flop continuation bet and finally towards the end of the night he raised me.  I was able to battle back for a $5 profit after dipping really low again but I think Andrew and I will be battling a lot more in the future.  I welcome the challenge.

See you at the felt!

TK