…not only is it friggin freezing outside, snow and everything, but the deck was frozen numerous times tonight, too – *lol*. Oh well, no need for an extended rant though as I still finished ahead (winning 6 out of 10 headsup matches). At least there were some nice ppl I played with who were willing to chat, like normal people…not like the usual tuckfards that you encounter on a regular basis these days. Enjoy the random pic dump and I’m outta here, probably not back for a few day as I’m off to cologne after work tomorrow…gl at the tables everyone…

Today was one of these days where there is a sick hand, then another one, then an even sicker one. The difference today though was my reaction to it. Instead of getting angry at “the dealer”, myself or my opponent I just shrugged it off, laughed and continued to play my game – after all I want my opponents to put their money in, all of it, when drawing thin. That being said, I quit small winner today…below some of the finer hands that went down…sometimes it really depends on when the money went in, take the 88 vs AA hand below for example: sure, best in best out, but when all the money went in – on the flop – he was drawing nearly stone dead…but hey…what can you do when you flop gin…put it in, hope for it to hold – this time it didn’t, the next 8-9 times it should 😉

Good luck at the tables…

…it seems that staying away from the game for a little while didn’t change my “luck”…at all. Too bad, but oh well, I guess I’ll still play some on the weekend…enjoy the latest and greatest hand, which made me log off immediately again…it was the first and last match of the day….enjoy…and yes, I owe you at least half a dollar for the pic…

Well, played a little poker today. Totally a mixed bag. Busted some fools early, then lost to some ridonkulously bad calling stations who couldn’t fold a hand and caught and caught and caught. Oh well. Then I jumped into the SwDP and had a good run right up until the first break, coincidentally it was the final table bubble as well. I sit second in chips about 2k above average and I get tangled up in a hand with the biggest stack (having me covered by about 3k). I flop three pair and most of the money goes in. The turn gives me a flush draw, but it also gives my opponent a better two pair and the nut flush draw. I’m busto on the final table bubble. Sigh. At least it was my own stubbornness that cost me the tourney and not a sick cooler and/or bad beat like the ones that cost TheRooster and Al the tourney. I crippled TheRooster when I turn a boat again his flopped boat on a 499 flop (me 9xxx, he 44xx)…too bad I couldn’t use the tasty rooster chips to bring it home…oh well…gg and cya soon…

A few pictures say more than x * 1000 words. Enjoy…

….start with the worst hand and go all-in. 😆

I’m back biotches, even if it’s just for a quick rant. Played the first poker in a week and started off nicely. Won my first two HU SnGs and then it went south….waaaaay south…like below the equator south. I mean, it was just brutal and after a few crushing defeats I was not 100% on my game anymore. I guess I payed off a little too much, but honestly, how can it be that my opponent has got the me crushed post-flop all the time while he’s waaaay behind preflop (examples: would be T8o against my QQ (the first and only time I got action on any big hand) sure enough the flop is ten high, sure enough we get it in…sure enough he has trips when all is said and done, or the good ole turned gutshot straight calling the preflop raise and the big flop bet with the gutterball only, etc etc). In the end I couldn’t take it anymore so I logged off with a bad taste in my mouth.

I guess real poker content, filled with screenshots, will have to wait a few days…I’m off to cologne and then munich on business trips…so it could be a while…until then gl at the tables and remember: the worst-tilter isn’t the cold-deck, it’s your reaction to it…

As you may have noticed my poker adventures were kept to a minimum in recent weeks. Today I climbed back into the saddle and hit the tables hard. The only bad thing was that they hit me back even harder. I’m not going to start an excessive rant here, I’ll just say that I lost every single key hand going in anywhere from 70% to 90% favourite. It was FUGLY and in the end it was only fitting that my opponent hit his three outer, again for all the marbles. So I logged off to write this little mini-post to tell you that I’m still alive and playing poker, although not that regularly anymore, especially not late-night as my new job requires me to get up in the morning 😉

So I’m outta here to watch the Klitschko fight…gl at the tables everyone….

Weird to write about yet another home game…after a few months of not playing live at all it was the second time in two weeks that we met to play a home game. This time only five players showed up though…and not in time either…gotta love it when you’re the only one on time…*lol*…insta-tilt…it didn’t get much better after that…bad beat city followed by cooler city. It was the first time that we played a single rebuy format. I dusted of my original stack when my Queens got cracked, then my TP was no good, then my AQ lost to K5, etc etc…gotta love it when ppl call of 33% of their stack (it was a shorty) preflop with K5…but wait…it was s000000000ted….oh well….so I rebuy and chip up quite nicely. Then, just when I was about to get even (original stack + rebuy stack) I run into the noice cooler…too bad I was on the wrong side of it…I’m on the button with Th8h….s00ted one gapper, I like…cutoff bumps it preflop…I call…we see the flop of QT8 rainbow headsup. Cutoff leads out pot…I shove…he thinks for a while then calls…flips over QT….nice…NOT….oh well…

After that the game went on for a few more minutes before the lucksack of the day won it. After that most of the players left and it was still early. What to do with only two players? Yeah, cue the NBC NHUC music….”heeeeeads up”…so we play a little headsup match and after a long match I win it. It was pretty unreal and honestly I should have lost the match straight up. Every time I had second pair, my opponent had top pair. Every time there was an ace on the flop, he had one…etc etc…it was pretty fugly. BUT I was able to suckout in three crucial pots to seal the deal. The scary part was that the hands went down exactly the same way twice and almost the same the third time.

The hands were Kx vs Ax on a AKx flop…turn blank…river K. Ka-ching. The next one was J9 vs KQ on a QJx flop….turn J…river blank. The last one was J9 again vs AQ this time…QJx flop…turn J…river blank. Scary…but I’ll take…I’m off…gl at the tables everyone…

Do you know the feeling when you’ve played a lot of poker and then you suddenly take a break and you don’t have the urge to come back? I feel like that these days and while recent results both online (WCOOP satellite) and live (home game tourney win) have been good, I still find myself not playing. Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve played a little a headsup match here and there, won the last x ones without a single loss btw, but I still don’t feel like playing more….I guess I need a new goal in poker as the same old “boring” grind isn’t cutting it anymore, at least not these days. Maybe I should check back to see what my goals were at the start of the year, it seems that it’s been ages since then and I didn’t have a second look. Or maybe I should just set a new goal without going back…hmmm….meditate on this I will…until then gl at the tables everyone…

It’s been ages since we had our last home game and it was about time that we got together again to sling some cards. It didn’t feel like the old home game though as some of the long-standing members lost their drive and didn’t show up for tonight’s game (or the last few home games for that matter). We were still able to get 7 players and so we started off our regular tourney format, but only with a single table. Oh well, could be worse. In the beginning a mate of mine ran like the poker god himself. Every other hand he had a monster (either preflop or on the flop) and found someone who had a decent second best hand. So he took the chiplead early while I looked down at abysmal hand after abysmal hand. Oh well, sit tight until the blinds go up and then start some action. So that I did and I slowly chipped away at the others winning small to medium pots in the process.

Before long I was the chipleader having the early chipleader (aka mr. running like the poker god himself) covered by a lot. Then the clinching hand went down. We’re four handed, 3 in the money (don’t ask), and I look down at AhTh. The estimated chip counts are me 45% of the chips in play, early chipleader 25% of the chips in play and the rest divided between the shorter stacks. Early chipleader is in the small blind. UTG folds and I pop it on the button with my AT s00000ted. Early chipleader in the SB calls, BB folds. Flop comes down A89 rainbow. Early chipleader pushes. I instacall…putting him on a pair, def not a set – he would try to milk it – def not a straight draw – he would lowball that as well (good to have reads on your opponents, lol). So we flip up our cards and he shows pocket tens. Nice…he’s drawing to one out or runner runner straight for a chop. I like my chances here. Turn bring a 7. Ooooh the tension. River is the often called for deuce and I’m the monster chipleader with 70% of the chips in play and we’re in the money. From there it doesn’t take long for one of the shorties to bust the other and we’re headsup. As my opponent is a rather inexperienced player I decide to go with a small-pot-strategy. It works out to perfection as I win small pot after small pot. I won some medium pots too as I connected to the flop sometimes, sometimes even really hard: I’ve got 96 s000ted on the button and I raised to 4BB. I get a call and we see a flop of 9d6h9h. Yatzee! She checks, I check. Turn bring another diamond and I’m thinking, please have a flush-draw and let the flush get there one time. River is a total blank and I try to milk it a little, but don’t get a call. Boooo! But oh well….soon enough I’m up 12:1 in chips and the end comes as I push in on a flop of 234. I hold 25o against A8. Turn is a blank and river is another deuce and I take it down. Nice!

After that another player arrived and we started our “second chance” tourney (with half the buyin of the main game). I didn’t catch any cards and the action was crazy. So I decided to go with my first real hand I would get. That happened in the third blinds level. I look down at JJ on the button. Jacks are okay, right? Nah…but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. So…and MP player limps, LP player limps, I pop it, all but the two limpers fold and we see a flop of T88 with two clubs. Checked to me. Hmm…I bet two thirds of the pot. MP player calls. LP player pushes. Bummer. So I got the nagging feeling that I gotta be beat here. Someone’s gotta have the eight or a bigger overpair. Hmm..I look down at my chipstack, then at the chipstack of the LP pusher, then at the chipstack of the MP caller that is yet to act. Oh brother, I should have checked my stack and the others earlier.

I’ve got the pusher covered by a longshot, but the MP player yet to act has me covered. Caught in the middle. What if the MP player has got a ten here…then I can bust him and lose the smaller pot to the pusher if he’s got an eight. What if it’s the other way around. Honestly, I didn’t even think that hard and long…after all the pot was that big and one way or the other I felt like I had commited myself (mathematically I had done it by my cbet after the flop checked to me) – but honestly, even if you’re commited mathematically, is it right to throw in your last chips with a feeling that you’re almost dead? Not really, but I did it anyway…it’s the home game second chance tourney after all and hey, maybe they’re out of line anyway. So I push and get instacalled by the MP player. So we turn up our hands and they’re: MP – AA….yikes….LP – 82o….lol…nice call preflop :p …me JJ…turn brings a deuce to give mr 82o a boat…still need a J…river is a blank and I’m busto. Oh well….can’t win ’em all 😉

So…I’m outta here…maybe I’ll be back with some online poker stuff next week as I doubt that I’ll get in some hands during the remainder of the weekend…so, until then…gl at the tables everyone…