If my poker play had an actual gearbox, it would be smoking right now. I’ve never switch gears that fast and often in my life. Why did I do it? Because I played strictly headsup tonight and what throws the donks off more than switching gears, especially early? Nothing. Once the blinds get higher they’re so confused that they will make more questionable calls than ever and that strategy payed off tonight. Still didn’t finish with a perfect record, but honestly, even playing perfect doesn’t give you a 100%-win-rate, so I’ll take the 5 out of 7 every day and twice on sundays. Probably no poker for the next two days as I’m pretty busy offline…so don’t expect news from the donkfront until sunday…gl at the tables everyone…I’m outta here…

Played another DS to the sunday million tonight…patience at the first table is key, the donks are more than willing to hand you their chips, just gotta have the patience to wait for the right spot and you’ve got a good shot. I took out 4 out of 5 at the first table, even after being down to 500 chips early (losing a coinflip against a pushmonkey). The final table was brutal then. I was playing tight tight tight…just like everyone else, I for one didn’t do it on purpose though. Usually I would try to run over such a tight table in that spot, but it’s hard to do if you’re looking at 53o etc all the time. So I sat back and relaxed a little…once the blinds got bigger I finally had to resort to some all-in steals etc. The worked…but I couldn’t get anything going, not a single decent hand…once we were down to three I pushed…ran into a crap-flip 40/60 shot and lost…out in third…oh well…can’t complain here.

After that I donked around a little in the HU SnGs…and the game was brutal…I won my first match within 5 hands when my KJ on a KJx board was more than enough against my opponent calling a re-reraise-shove on that flop with K4o…well played sir….TPNK totally gold there…lol. In the next three matches it was cooler time. Flush into bigger flush…boat into bigger boat…nut flush into small boat…two pair into bigger two pair…you name it, I ran into it. Oh well, that’s how it goes sometimes…so I finish the session down, but down less than the rake…so I can live with that…

On another note: I finished reading Johnny Hughes’ book “Texas Poker Wisdom” yesterday…I gotta say a really good read, it made me smile a lot of times along the way with all the gamblers’ / poker players’ references by Old Cardslinger Matt…I can really recommend it…and I wonder if there’s going to be a sequel…

I have to check my shelf now as the poker reading material is starting to get slim…after all I have read a lot of stuff so far…I guess my next must read will be Doyle’s new book (autobiography?!)…if it is only nearly as entertaining as Amarillo Slim’s I will be a happy customer…alrighty…enough babbling…I’m outta here…gl at the tables everyone…

I really do like the double-shootouts these days. Played one tonight and what can I say….I win…another T$215 on a 8,8$ investment. I like! That’s 2 wins and 1 ITM out of the last 5 tries…heater? Could be…playing good…could be as well. No doubt about the fact that I was on a heater on the first table, which always helps…after all if you win the first table you can usually sit back and chill at the final table until the first player is knocked out and you’re ITM. So how was the heater at the first table? Pretty hot. Within the first 40 hands I had AA twice, KK twice, JJ twice, AK once and they all stood up. The only big pot was early on when my AK busted a player holding KTo on a K-high flop. With all the other hands I won small to moderate pots, still enough to keep me in the lead until it was three-handed. Then I went card-dead, surprise surprise, still managed to see some pots in position and finally bust my way to the W.

The final table is mostly a blurr. It took 97 hands (in contrast to the 69 of the first table) before I finally won it. The setup: I go into headsup down 2:1. I chip away and win a nice pot when my opponent obv missed his flush-draw. I win a few more small pots and suddenly I’m up 2:1. A few hands later we flip it QJo vs 77. Flop comes down KT2…I like that…any Q, J, A, 9…turn K…even more outs…any 9, T, J, Q, A…river 9 and I’m golden…T$ 215…ship it…boy I love it…so I’m outta here with a big fat grin on my face…gl at the tables everyone…

Put my tourney dollar to use today, tried to satellite into the Sunday Million again…had nothing going the first two tries (DS), almost lost it in the third one two. We’re down to three and I’m coolered, JJ vs 99 all-in preflop. I got him covered by a long shot…he manages to pull a two outer out of his head. I bust him not long after that nontheless. On the second table I’m sitting back until I find some hands. I knock out a few and sit pretty. Once we’re down to four shit hits the fan and I lose it all in two hands. The first one was pretty straight-forward, I look down at A7o in the cutoff. I raise it, BB pushes for about 1200 (I had raise the standard 600 at 100/200)…so I instacall…he shows presto and wins the hand. Presto obv g00t. Next hand I look down at A5o on the button. UTG fold, I push…SB instacalls…BB folds…he, who just doubled through me shows QQ…lemon. So I’m busto in fourth, good for 20, but still sucks. I watch how he goes on a tear and finishes the other two poor souls within 10 hands. Sometimes you’re just destined to win it…he was this time.

After that I logged off and watched some movies, nothing awesome to report there, I guess it’s going to be a while till the next real kickass movies come out (e.g. The Mummy 3)…so I switch back to some poker…and I get my ass handed to me for the most part. I still manage to win a 6-max, finish 2nd in a 6-max and win a 9handed turbo SnG…good enough to be slightly up for the night…and I’m out of here…gl at the virutal and real table, especially to the broggers still in the hunt for the donkus maximus (aka the WSOP Main Event)…

It’s been a while since I’ve been happy with the results of a poker-session. Tonight the long wait is finally over, finally won something again. Played a double-shootout to the Sunday Million (8,8$, 6max, 36 players; 1st = ticket). I think I was “destined” to win it. Why? Because I won the first table after 61 hands on a coin-flip (33 vs KQ), now don’t get me wrong, even if I lose that pot we’re back to even, so no worries about taking the flip…although I rarely won one when it matters recently…

The second table was starting out pretty rocky. Not surprising as 6th is bubble. So once we lost the first player play opened up a little. I sat back and waited for my chance, picking up some smaller pots along the way, c-betting after a preflop raise. Then I found pocket tens in LP and popped it. Setup: 3 players are about even (around 2.2k) including me, 2 are rather short (one less than 1k, one slightly above 1k). BB, one of the other big stacks, calls. Flops comes down ten-high with two diamonds. He checks. I lead at it with pot. He calls. Turn is an off-suit queen. He checks again. I bet pot again, commiting myself and putting him to a decision. He pushes over the top with around 250. I instacall. He shows Ad5d. Please no diamond! No diamond on the river and he’s crippled. I bust two players in the next two orbits and we’re down to three with one shorty. My opponent busts the shorty and we’re headsup.

Stab stab, jab jab. I think it was the fourth or fifth hand of hands up when I find KcQc on the button. I pop it, he calls. Flop comes down K-high with two spades. He checks, I bet, he calls. Turn offsuit 9. He checks, I bet, he pushes. Hmmm….I’m pretty much committed at that point and I think I have the best of it, call. He shows K9…f00k me, but at least I got outs with the board being KT89 – so any queen and jack…not much…but please baby, let me resuck one time. River Jack! Boooom! It seems sometimes there is justice in poker….so I’m up T$ 215 for that baby and out of here with a grin…

What else can I say, two things happened tonight….

1. I got kicked in the junk so hard, my sack is going to hurt for another week I guess. It was pretty unreal, I made good call/bet/raise and read after another and got fucked on all of them. Sure..3 outs is plenty…or not…tonight it was more than enough to kick me in the junk.

2. I hit my first (real) royal flush ever. It only took me nearly 3 years of insane online play to hit one…

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Seat 1: il Priore ($2470)
Seat 2: spartana82 ($2160) –
Seat 3: Ingoal ($1760) –
Seat 4: n0valogick ($1260) –
Seat 5: gmu 6 ($1125)
Seat 6: knowjack ($225)

PRE-FLOP:

Ingoal posts small blind $15
n0valogick posts BIG blind $30
Dealt To: Ingoal

CALL gmu 6 ($30)
FOLD knowjack
CALL il Priore ($30)
CALL spartana82 ($30)
CALL Ingoal ($15)
CHECK n0valogick

FLOP:

Pot: $150
   

CHECK Ingoal
CHECK n0valogick
CHECK gmu 6
CHECK il Priore
CHECK spartana82

TURN:

Pot: $150
     

CHECK Ingoal
CHECK n0valogick
BET gmu 6 ($240)
FOLD il Priore
FOLD spartana82
CALL Ingoal ($240)
FOLD n0valogick

RIVER:

Pot: $630
      

BET Ingoal ($150)
CALL gmu 6 ($150)

SHOWDOWN:
Ingoal:

MUCK gmu 6

Ingoal collected $930 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $930 Rake: $0

Final Board:
     

Seat 1: il Priore folded on the Turn – Net Gain/Loss: ($-30)
Seat 2: spartana82 button folded on the Turn – Net Gain/Loss: ($-30)
Seat 3: Ingoal small blind showed [4d Kd] and won 930 with a Royal Flush – Net Gain/Loss: ($510)
Seat 4: n0valogick big blind folded on the Turn – Net Gain/Loss: ($-30)
Seat 5: gmu 6 mucked [Th Tc] – Net Gain/Loss: ($-420)
  
Seat 6: knowjack folded before Flop didnt bet – Net Gain/Loss: ($0)

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First session: this morning, some NL cash and 8 NL HE SnGs…mostly good…3x1st 2x2nd in the SnGs….slightly up in the cash game.

Second session: this evening, 8 NL HE SnGs…1x 2nd…that’s it…the other time I totally lost it. I basically ran into more coolers than I’ve ever seen. Sure, there was the one or other bad play in between, but every time a big pot came down, it was pretty much a hand that automatically plays itself. QQ vs KK…JJ vs AA…along with some coinflips of which I won the grand sum of 0.00000000000. Pretty sick. Especially sick was one game where a donk ran so hard over the table that it was a done deal within 15 hands. He sucked out on two fellas in the first hand. Down to for. I was next along with another player…I had the best hand going in…He busted us both….headsup took two hands before he sucked out and won. I’ve never ever seen such a SnG before where a player ships it into the middle behind on every god damn hand and wins em all…he made CJ look like the unluckiest player alive…

Random bubble hand (the usual in the second session):

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Seat 3: 11p0wner ($1965) –
Seat 5: xamou ($3615) –
Seat 6: Ingoal ($3420) –

PRE-FLOP:

xamou posts small blind $50
Ingoal posts BIG blind $100
Dealt To: Ingoal

FOLD 11p0wner
CALL xamou ($50)
CHECK Ingoal

FLOP:

Pot: $200
   

CHECK xamou
CHECK Ingoal

TURN:

Pot: $200
     

BET xamou ($100)
RAISE Ingoal ($200)
RAISE xamou ($300)
RAISE Ingoal ($400)
RAISE xamou ($3515)
CALL Ingoal ($2920)

RIVER:

Pot: $7635
      

SHOWDOWN:
xamou:

Ingoal:

xamou collected $6840 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $6840 Rake: $0

Final Board:
     

Seat 3: 11p0wner button folded before Flop didnt bet – Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 5: xamou small blind showed [Ac Kd] and won 6840 with three of a kind, Aces – Net Gain/Loss: ($3520)
  
Seat 6: Ingoal big blind showed [As 5s] and lost with three of a kind, Aces – Net Gain/Loss: ($-3420)

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I was pretty satisfied with my play tonight…especially amusing was the last HU match though. I play against a pretty aggressive player. So I limp on the button with KK awaiting his pop…he obliges and I repop him….he repops me…hmm…I repop him…he shoves…no way I can fold…I commited myself after the repop….sure enough he shows Aces….as I say “nice cooler…gg”…he laughs….the laughing stops when the king hits the river. I say sorry and he goes ahead and berates me how he would have folded my hand preflop. Yeeeeeeah, right. If I ever meet a person that will fold Kings headsup in a 6$ tourney, I’ll let you know.

Moving on…I did a little catching up tonight…it’s been over a week that I had listenen to my favourite poker podcast (anteup)…to my surprise episode 159 was the last one…at least in the current setting. Chris and Scott are moving on…leaving the St. Petersburg Times to start their own poker magazine “Ante Up Magazine“…they said they’ll continue the podcast over there…I sure hope they do…but we’ll see if the “startup” is leaving them enough time to do it…we’ll see…I’m outta here…gl at the tables everyone….

*lol* where ppl can call pot-sized bets preflop, on the flop, on the turn and on the river….pretty nice…especially if you lose with trip aces…then the very next hand same deal, this time it’s pot-sized bets preflop, on the flop and on the turn (all-in) and you get call by TP and a gutshot against your Aces with the nut-flush draw…sure enough the gutterball hits on the river….*lol*…that’s so sick that I can laugh really hard about it…

Apart from that I went 2:1 in HU SnGs…and enjoyed myself listening to PokerRoad’s Crew (including Annette_15) ribbing my main man smokkee about his WSOP backing deal…who pitched it to them? The Smokkeester himself :p

Good night and gl at the tables….

That pretty much sums it up. It was pretty unreal what kind of hands came down tonight and I’m not talking about “some coolers”, it was like it was anarctica day – going both ways. It started on bodog where I donked around a little on the HU-SnG-killing-fields. I toasted a donk twice, he literally had no chance, I mean it was pretty sick how he payed me off even with his worst hands. It took quite a while to bust him though as he kept hitting two and three outers on my ass, but oh well, a W is a W and such a W is even sweeter because I didn’t let it get to me during play (not calling shoves etc, but continuing to play small-ball until I busted him). Then I jumped to Stars where I started with A HU SnG as well, busted the guy pretty quickly.

In the end I finished the session with a Double-Shootout to the Sunday Million on Stars…and it was an interesting match. I got coolered in the mid stages of the first table, then coolered the player right back in the next hand (QQ vs AA…Q on the flop…boom)…in the end I won the table.

Then came the second table and while the table was tighter than a virgin’s punani to begin with, it tightened up even more once we were on the money bubble (8 left, 7 payed). That’s when this hand came down. In retrospect I guess I could have folded after the big-stack cold-called my raise and the following shove by the shorty, then again, if they are both drawing to a flush or hold TPTK or something I’m golden and the only way I’m out of the money is if the shorty wins the hand and the big stack has my hand beat and on the upside, if I win the hand I’m the chipleader by a long-shot and can start to bully ppl around bringing me closer to the 215T$. So I went with it. Made my boat on the turn, but too bad that the big stack indeed held a set…making him a bigger boat…oh well…

Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: kent2ben ($1573)
Seat 3: bertbarndoor ($1692)
Seat 5: mistery31000 ($900)
Seat 6: dedor ($2495) –
Seat 7: zwerg12 ($2010) –
Seat 8: Ingoal ($1795) –
Seat 9: AnotherTran ($1210)
Seat 10: eltigre666 ($3325)

PRE-FLOP:

zwerg12 posts small blind $25
Ingoal posts BIG blind $50
Dealt To: Ingoal

RAISE AnotherTran ($100)
CALL eltigre666 ($100)
FOLD kent2ben
FOLD bertbarndoor
FOLD mistery31000
FOLD dedor
FOLD zwerg12
CALL Ingoal ($50)

FLOP:

Pot: $325
   

CHECK Ingoal
CHECK AnotherTran
BET eltigre666 ($300)
RAISE Ingoal ($600)
RAISE AnotherTran ($1110)
CALL eltigre666 ($810)
RAISE Ingoal ($1695)
CALL eltigre666 ($585)

TURN:

Pot: $5425
     

RIVER:

Pot: $5425
      

SHOWDOWN:
Ingoal:

eltigre666:

AnotherTran:

eltigre666 collected $1170 from side pot 1eltigre666 collected $3655 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $4825Main pot: $3655
Side pot: $1170
Rake: $0

Final Board:
     

Seat 1: kent2ben folded before Flop didnt bet – Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: bertbarndoor folded before Flop didnt bet – Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 5: mistery31000 folded before Flop didnt bet – Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 6: dedor button folded before Flop didnt bet – Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 7: zwerg12 small blind folded before Flop – Net Gain/Loss: ($-25)
Seat 8: Ingoal big blind showed [7d 4d] and lost with a full house, Fours full of Sevens – Net Gain/Loss: ($-1285)
Seat 9: AnotherTran showed [Ks As] and lost with two pair, Aces and Fours – Net Gain/Loss: ($-1160)
  
Seat 10: eltigre666 showed [5h 5s] and won 4825 with a full house, Fives full of Fours – Net Gain/Loss: ($3030)
  

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So I’m logging off up a little…and I’m happy with that…gl at the tables….