So It Begins
Tuesday, August 16, 2005
So It Begins
I logged on to my computer last night to do some online banking - paying bills, not playing poker - and was surprised to see GCox online. I had not planned to play any poker, even though the challenge started last night, because I had not heard from anyone about planning a game. In fact, GCox had mentioned he was having internet problems and might not be able to be online till Friday. With DNasty still out of commission, and Jordan MIA, I didn't have my hopes up. So I was pleasantly surprised when G instant messaged me to let me know he was up and running. I asked if there was the potential for a game and he said most def. I had a few things to do, but mentioned I'd be back later. The games would soon begin.
GCox vs. TripJax
Around 8:30 I was able to get back online and not long after the Heads-Up Challenge was officially underway with GCox and myself playing the first match. And what a match it would prove to be. Early on I took a pretty strong lead and had visions of finishing up the match quickly. Right around that time DoubleAs dropped by to say hello. At that point, I knew there would be more games occurring. As for our 1st match, GCox didn't like the idea of going out early and made a strong run. I overplayed top pair weak kicker and G made me pay. We ended up going back and forth for a while and I was the lowstack under 700 numerous times. I managed to also make a comeback and took a near 2 to 1 chiplead (I think) when the following hand came up. I had A-7 offsooot and strongplayed it putting G all-in for his final chips. I want to say he had somewhere between 700 and 1000. He called and I think turned over A 10 offsooot. The flop brought 3 diamonds and I held a diamond. At this point I was willing a 7 to hit the turn or river. I just had a feeling it was coming. Neither the turn or river brought a 7, however, the river was a diamond giving me a 4 to the flush win.
Not a win to write home about for me, but it happens. It was a tough beat to put on G, but I knew eventually the cards were going to have to play the game out for us because we had battled hard up to that point. I can't recall the last time I played a heads-up match that long. It could have been 20 minutes or an hour, but it definitely felt like closer to an hour to me! When I pushed with my Ace hand I knew no matter what I would still have chips at the end of the hand. If I lose, we basically exchange chips and keep on rolling like we had been. I think it was an excellent match to start the challenge and I'm glad G and I got to play it.
I must say, I was extremely impressed with the way G played the match. He pushed me off hands I would normally be able to take down. He controlled the play and never let me feel like I had full control. Sure we folded our hands plenty, but he managed to put me off my game which has not happened to me often. He had me second guessing myself which I try to avoid. There was a point in the match where I felt like it could go forever. Eventually, however, the blinds did their job and increased enough to force us to play our hands fast and hard. Color me impressed with G's play, no doubt.
WillWonka vs. TripJax
Will proved to be another tough match indeed. We played another relatively long match with similar up and down chip counts in the early going, much like my game against G. I liked Will's style of play and his betting. I didn't feel off my game during his match, but I think my confidence was up after winning the earlier match. On the very first hand I had the top straight and there were two Aces on the board. I was hoping Will had one Ace and his set would fall into my straight trap. However, I was also worried he had A K and had a dominating full house. He had neither and I took down a relatively small pot to start the match. The pivotal hand in our match was when I had, I think, J Q with J K X on the flop. The betting was such that I felt I could stay in the hand and see it through. Once the betting was over I was happy to see my J's held up and Will did not hold the K. At that point I had over 2000 in chips and again felt pretty good, but knew I still needed to seal the deal. With Will low on chips I limped with pocket 10's hoping to induce an all in with any marginal hand - something like K 10 or or Ace Little. It's what I would do if I was low stacked and it's exactly what ended up happening. Will raised me enough to committ himself and I pushed enough to put him all-in. He had Ace Little and I ended up taking that match down. Another good match played out that just ended up going my way.
With the way the first two matches had gone, I was beginning to get worried that all my heads-up matches were gonna be long battles. These bloggers are some damn good players and it was starting to show. But the match that most intrigued me was about to happen.
DoubleAs vs. TripJax
Not long after the match with Will, DoubleAs and I decided we might as well play out our game. Now I must give a little background on my thoughts of DoubleAs before I go forward. He is one of my favorite bloggers out there and I think I've learned just as much about the game from him as any other blogger. That's why he's probably one of my top 5 blogs to read. I respect his play and his writings and I was extremely happy to hear that he was going to join us in the Heads-Up Challenge. At the same time, I was also a tiny bit intimidated. That didn't last long as I knew we're all just a bunch of guys out to have fun and play some poker, but still I was anticipating our game. I didn't realize it would happen on the first night and end so quickly.
Right off the bat DoubleAs was raising my big blind. I expected nothing less. On the first hand I had high suited connectors, but the flop didn't improve me so I was out. Not long after - maybe 5 or 6 hands into the match, we got into a nice game of betting. The amounts were just enough to keep both of us in, but enough to make for a strong hand in the end. Double had been betting his Ace with an Ace on the flop. I had been betting my King with a King on the flop. The river brought a very pretty King and when Double pushed all-in I made the call that proved to be the match. I ended up taking the hand down with my trip Kings. He only had about 100 left after that hand and I put him all-in with Ace Little and took down the match.
Somewhere along the way DoubleAs complimented me on my betting style and that really was a good feeling. One of the main things I had worried about when planning to play him was betting incorrectly. Making the wrong decisions at the wrong time. It felt good to have him note that and I appreciate it. As for the pivotal hand in our match. I think he either knew he was a lock on the hand with Aces and Kings or he felt we were probably splitting the hand and hoped he could push me off the hand. I don't think he put me on the Kings so that ended up being the deciding factor. If that King doesn't come on the river and he strong bets me, I'm out of the hand. However, I get the feeling he would have either gone all-in or medium size bet me to induce an ill fated call on my part. Either way, it's just one hand and and one quick match, thus not indicative of the complete gammot of our games.
Obviously I'm happy with my results so far and I hope to continue the good trend. Three matches down and four to go for the first round. Watch out, DNasty, Jordan, SteelerJosh, and Mourn!
Here are the current results as of last night.
posted by TripJax @ 2:38 PM,
19 Comments:
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At 1:15 AM,
said...
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Sad to say I just got back from a bowling tournament and decided to log in and do some websurfing. Blogger I love your blog. I had some very good laughs. I am doing a paper on poker chips in a case and have been downloading information for the last hour. I don’t know how I came across So It Begins but I am glad I did. It has set me back a little because I have spent the last hour reading your archives. If you don’t mind I would like to add you to my favorites so I can back again and read some more. Well I need to get back to poker chips in a case . I am almost finished with it. Great job.
p.s some very good points on your blog -
At 3:02 PM,
said...
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Sad to say I just got back from a bowling tournament and decided to log in and do some websurfing. Blogger I love your blog. I had some very good laughs. I am doing a paper on casino quality poker chips and have been downloading information for the last hour. I don’t know how I came across So It Begins but I am glad I did. It has set me back a little because I have spent the last hour reading your archives. If you don’t mind I would like to add you to my favorites so I can back again and read some more. Well I need to get back to casino quality poker chips . I am almost finished with it. Great job.
p.s some very good points on your blog -
At 1:35 AM,
said...
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P.S I will add you to my favorites so I can come back and visit later -
At 6:27 PM,
said...
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At 12:09 AM,
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At 1:22 PM,
said...
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At 10:44 PM,
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Hey Blogger. Very nice blog :0) I just got inside from washing and waxing my truck. It is my baby. Took me 2 hours though. So I settled down into my basement and started doing some web surfing. Anyways I am in the process of grabbing my masters degree and have spent the last 6 months researching poker chips in a case . In the midst of my surfing I landed smack dab in the middle of your blog. I hope you do not think I am intruding but I must say it is great blog. Even though So It Begins is way off base from poker chips in a case I found myself cruising through your blog archives for the last half hour :0) You have some nice blogging friends. Anyways, I need to get back to my mission. I wrote don’t your url and feel free to visit me here at poker chips in a case . I am so busy so I can only update my site monthly. Keep up the great work.
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At 8:32 AM,
said...
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P.S I will add you to my favorites so I can come back and visit later -
At 11:15 PM,
said...
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What up Blogger! I just finished up a ten hour work day and decided to kick back and do some surfing. So I grabbed myself a drink and stumbled across your blog while doing some research on chipco poker chips for a upcoming project I am doing. Well even though So It Begins isn’t what I was looking for I really enjoyed reading your blog. Your doing a great job and please keep up the good work. Lots of people do not keep their blogs up to date :0) There are some very interesting view points stated here. Anyways I am going to grab the bull by the horns and continue to plug away at chipco poker chips. I have already bookmarked your blog. You many want to visit me at chipco poker chips. You never know you might see something you like! Again great job.
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At 9:04 AM,
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At 12:30 AM,
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At 7:00 PM,
said...
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Well I just got back from the gym and I am beat. I am currently doing some research on clay poker chips and tables and stumbled across your blog. Which cracks me up really. The internet can certainly land you off base sometimes. Even though So It Begins is not completely related I think it is a cool blog. I have read back through the archives and lots of people make some very good points. Well I have been on-line forever it seems. I need to continue to plug away at clay poker chips and tables . If you have the energy swing by clay poker chips and tables . I try to update my site weekly and maybe you will see something you like. I already snagged your URL and put it in my favorites. If you do not mind I will be back again. Great job!
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At 7:58 AM,
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researching custom clay poker chips and came tumbling across your blog. I LOVE IT! I needed a break from custom clay poker chips anyways :-) If you don't mind I want to add your
blog to my favorites list so I can come back later on and read some more stuff. Well I guess I should get back to researching custom clay poker chips .
Even though my search is not on So It Begins I am glad I came across your blog. Keep blogging away! -
At 4:16 AM,
said...
-
Sad to say I just got back from a bowling tournament and decided to log in and do some websurfing. Blogger I love your blog. I had some very good laughs. I am doing a paper on chipco poker chips and have been downloading information for the last hour. I don’t know how I came across So It Begins but I am glad I did. It has set me back a little because I have spent the last hour reading your archives. If you don’t mind I would like to add you to my favorites so I can back again and read some more. Well I need to get back to chipco poker chips. I am almost finished with it. Great job.
p.s some very good points on your blog -
At 2:33 AM,
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Hey this blog is not about ceramic poker chips. Silly internet bringing me here :-) Funny I have been doing hours of research on ceramic poker chips and it brought me to your blog on So It Begins. The web plays funny games sometimes. Anyways, I was reading your blog Blogger and I think it is really cool. Keep up the great work.
If you do not mind I may snag your blog and put it in my favorites. I read a ton of stuff that interested me. Keep blogging away :-) -
At 7:45 AM,
said...
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Well this blog certainly is not about cheap poker chips sets. What the heck! I guess the internet can play some tricks on us sometimes. I have been on-line for two hours
researching cheap poker chips sets and came tumbling across your blog. I LOVE IT! I needed a break from cheap poker chips sets anyways :-) If you don't mind I want to add your
blog to my favorites list so I can come back later on and read some more stuff. Well I guess I should get back to researching cheap poker chips sets.
Even though my search is not on So It Begins I am glad I came across your blog. Keep blogging away! -
At 2:46 PM,
said...
-
What up Blogger! I just finished up a ten hour work day and decided to kick back and do some surfing. So I grabbed myself a drink and stumbled across your blog while doing some research on chipco poker chips for a upcoming project I am doing. Well even though So It Begins isn’t what I was looking for I really enjoyed reading your blog. Your doing a great job and please keep up the good work. Lots of people do not keep their blogs up to date :0) There are some very interesting view points stated here. Anyways I am going to grab the bull by the horns and continue to plug away at chipco poker chips. I have already bookmarked your blog. You many want to visit me at chipco poker chips. You never know you might see something you like! Again great job.
-
At 8:17 AM,
said...
-
Sad to say I just got back from a bowling tournament and decided to log in and do some websurfing. Blogger I love your blog. I had some very good laughs. I am doing a paper on clay composite poker chips and have been downloading information for the last hour. I don’t know how I came across So It Begins but I am glad I did. It has set me back a little because I have spent the last hour reading your archives. If you don’t mind I would like to add you to my favorites so I can back again and read some more. Well I need to get back to clay composite poker chips. I am almost finished with it. Great job.
p.s some very good points on your blog -
At 6:49 PM,
said...
-
Hey Blogger. Very nice blog :0) I just got inside from washing and waxing my truck. It is my baby. Took me 2 hours though. So I settled down into my basement and started doing some web surfing. Anyways I am in the process of grabbing my masters degree and have spent the last 6 months researching poker chip racks. In the midst of my surfing I landed smack dab in the middle of your blog. I hope you do not think I am intruding but I must say it is great blog. Even though So It Begins is way off base from poker chip racks I found myself cruising through your blog archives for the last half hour :0) You have some nice blogging friends. Anyways, I need to get back to my mission. I wrote don’t your url and feel free to visit me here at poker chip racks. I am so busy so I can only update my site monthly. Keep up the great work.
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