Not much poker today, just the WWdN. Played the hammer beautifully in the second hand: dealt the hammer on the button, one standard-raiser in MP, I reraise to 150…all fold…he calls…flop comes down three rags including a deuce…he checks…I bet 200 and take down the pot. A few hands later I find ducks…raise…one caller…flop three rags…check…I bet pot…call…turn rag…I check I bet half pot…call…river pairs sixes…he leads out with 300…I’m getting 2:1 and it might be a busted flush draw…but I fold…next hand I get AKo…standard raise preflop…one caller…flop comes down Ax2…check…I bet…call…turn 10…check…I bet…call…river Q..check…I bet…he calls…he shows 22…hmm…weird…why not a single reraise here?! Oh well…down to 700 odd chips…take some small pots…up to 1k…moved to another table…tourist in the BB…sox raises from the SB…I call…flop comes down 678 two spades…sox checks…I bet 60…sox calls…mistake nr.2…turn blank…sox checks…I bet 60…sox calls…mistake nr. 3…river 4s…Sox bets 90…i type “why do i think i’m a bluetooth here” and call…mistake nr. 4…sox shows…flush jack high…could I have played this hand any worse? It could have cost me more (if I push on the flop and he decides to call), but the way it went down…I lost minimum I guess…still horrible…

Next hand I fold A4…next hand I push with KJo from the button…BB wakes up with the s00ted tourist…good enough to call my 655 bet…and cya…

Summary: I don’t know what it is, but I played like crap. There I said it. I played like crap and I deserved to get knocked out early. Out in 37th of 47.

At least I got some more reading material now as another book arrived today, the professor, the banker and the suicide king…I guess I’ll read that parallel to the Navarro stuff, which is kind of heavy…this one should keep me entertained…a little more uptodate entertainment should be provided by Card Player (Europe)…I was planning on subscribing to at least one of the major card magazines (Bluff, CardPlayer, ..) for a while now and I finally did it, although their international rates suck…so I settled for Card Player Europe for now…” Combining the best articles from the magazine’s U.S. edition with additional content customized for European readers, Card Player Europe offers local tournament news, European player and venue profiles, and advertising that uniquely addresses the needs and interests of European audiences. ” (Source: CardPlayer Store)…sounds good…sign me up…can’t go wrong with a 1-year subscription for twenty bucks…I’m looking forward to it…let’s see how long delivery of the first issue takes…I’m out…

…at least that’s what I keep telling myself and it worked out pretty good tonight – not that I won anything, close but no cigar, but at least I took the usual beats with a smile. So, basically…I’m still trying to get back to normal, but things aren’t coming together, at least not yet.

Just like I promised myself (and you, my readers), I didn’t play a single hand of poker over the entire weekend and tbh, I didn’t miss it all that much either. I guess that’s easy to say when you’re running as bad as I was/am. But really, it made me think that maybe I should incorporate the “poker-free day(s)”-concept into my playing schedule, after all the consistent grind can wear you out, especially if you take the worst of it on such a cold run. If you’re running bad enough, everything will go wrong…but I’ll come back to that topic later.

Before I get to a closer look of tonight’s session, I’d like to take a moment to talk about some other poker related things.

1. I started to read Navarro’s book on tells (or “non-verbal behaviour”) and so far, I really like it. Some of the things he’s talking about in the first pages of the book make you wonder: How many of these things have I thought about so far? Did I spot something like this before? As I said, I’m just through the first twenty odd pages and after the introduction and everything he’s talking about the most reliable source of tells…the feet…lol…never thought of that before…but if you think about it and watch closely…he may be on to something here…although looking under the table as the flop/turn/river comes down isn’t a real possibility…although he comes up with some hints about how to spot it anyway…I’m really looking forward to the rest of the book and one thing’s for sure: this stuff can and probably will improve my live-game…although it takes work! But I’m up for the challenge…

2. Although I’m currently running bad, I’m still going to do whatever it takes to keep online poker alive, hmm, that sounds a little weird, maybe I should rephrase that to “I’m going to support the people who will do whatever they can/it takes to keep online poker alive”. So I joined the PPA a while ago (see here) and on saturday my “welcome package” arrived. It contained a letter, the membership card, a pin and a nice T-Shirt…maybe I’ll get around to take a pic of the stuff tomorrow…to make a long story short: Because I’m over here in Europe this whole US legislation doesn’t affect me personally (apart from the fact that good games could be hard to come by in the next weeks/months), but I’m not too blind to see that one thing could lead to the next and before you know it, the games dry up for good and other countries could adopt a similar stance on online poker and I don’t want that to happen. Think about it, even if that doesn’t happen, it’s still going to be a loss. Online players turn into “full time live players”, full time live players have no hand histories, no tools to track their play (to the same extent as in online poker) and before you know it, other stuff, like poker blogs, disappear too…and although that might increase workplace productivity, it would be a real shame. So, if you are (remotely) serious about your (online) game, join the PPA!
3. Full Tilt’s downtime on sunday: Bad but good. Why? Just go back and read the second paragraph. As I promised myself not to play any poker this weekend, I would have missed the bloggerpods tourney on Full Tilt, fortunately (for me) they had some server issues, so the tourney had to be postponed. I guess it’ll be played next weekend and I’m looking forward to it. Maybe I’ll get close like last time, maybe I’ll get the junk kick earlier, maybe no junk kick at all and I listen to my favourite jams on an ipod soon…who knows…one way or another, this is a cool tourney, thanks again to PokerOnAMac for hooking us up!

As for tonight’s session…I started with some “new stuff”. A cheap-ass triple shootout to the sunday million. Two bucks, short handed, chance to take down one of two seats. The first table was a real up and down and when all was said and done, I took it down. Almost an hour played, shorthanded, didn’t make any bad decisions (had to push one time with a marginal hand, because I got short, but that worked out okay…and not really a bad decision…or is it if you’re “forced to play”?). The next table was totally different though. Four out of the other five players where really “pushy”. The played almost every hand and the deck wasn’t too kind to me. I started out with the best…didn’t connect…had to let it go, time and time again. Made my exit with a 60/40 kind of hand, so not really a bad beat…it just wasn’t meant to be, but at least I got an hour of play…out in 22nd of 216.

After that I decided to try a three-table SnG and play was worse than I could imagine in my worst nightmare, really, it was THAT bad. I kicked one player out before getting my junk kicked yet again by a lovely two outer. Oh well, what else is new.

After that I went to the HU section and thought I’d give it a whirl. It was a good match, although it was kind of boring, not much between my opponent and me…first in usually takes the pot as we were battling 6-high vs 7-high on a regular basis. He was cool though, we chatted a little and I predicted that soon enough it’ll come down to one hand and to quote Scotty Nguyen “…it’s going to be all over” and I said it’s probably going to be something of the regular HU-nature, two pair vs set or something. Guess what? I was right…lol…although this isn’t too hard to predict either as it’s basically around a 33% shot (either that, T/M/BPxK vs x or monster vs monster are the usual scenarios).

I hold A4o on the button and I fire it up to 3x preflop…he calls…pot is 180 (blinds 15/30). Flop comes down A46 rainbow. Groovy! He leads out with a pot-sized bet (180). I reraise to 480, he insta-calls. Hmm…pot is 1140 (of the 3k in play) and the turn is blank (8)…he checks…I bet 400…he calls…pot is now 1940…so there’s basically no way the money isn’t going all-in…river is Kh…he pushes…now I’m worried about a small range of hands here…either AA (which would be a real cooler with the case Ace on board), AK (which would suck less, but still suck)…or he could have made a really bad call on the flop and turn and hit a set here (KK)…or I totally misjudged the situation and he had a hand similar to mine and his kicker plays as well (A6, A8)…or coolered by a flopped/turned set (44, 66, 88)…man, if you’re running bad…too many (bad) scenarios creep into your mind…maybe he has a hand that would make sense here, which is second best (AQ, AJ, A10, A9, …)…I make the crying call…and he shows?….KK for the set…now, if he any other hand mentioned above…I go straight to my closet, get out a hat and write “payoff wizard” on it…but KK…come on…two outs…again…sigh…now I don’t want to sound like a broken record here and repeat it over and over…but I just can’t help myself…why oh why? Why….oh why?

I guess the (short) weekend break wasn’t enough, as I can’t stand it…at least not any better than last week…I find myself in the same spot, complaining, moaning about the bad luck, feeling empty and annoyed and (maybe) annoying you with it…maybe I’m waaaay to deep into it all atm and I should take a longer break from it all? Maybe I should just learn to deal with it in another way? Maybe I shouldn’t play anymore at all? I really don’t know, one thing I know for sure though is the reason for all of this: I care about winning! I care about making good decisions! I care about “being better”! I care about beating my opponent(s)! I want to win every game I’m playing! I expect to win if I outplayed my opponent(s)! (I despise people “stealing” from me! I despise people making horrible plays and still winning with it! …) …I care about winning!
Maybe a bit too much – at least for a poker player?! Most certainly, as this whole “correct decision, correct play, wrong outcome, no reward”-stuff is still taking too big a toll on me. There’s no such thing as justice in poker – love it or hate it. All poker players do both…you love it when you’re running good and/or if you made a good/great play and it worked out, you hate it when you’re running bad and/or if you made a bad play or a good/great play that isn’t rewarded. The best way to deal with this fundamental “flaw” of poker, would be to be totally indifferent to results.

I’m trying to get there…but hell, it’s not easy, no, it’s HARD…and how could it be any other way?

He’s back…but just for a quickie. Stuck to my original plan not to play and full table SnGs today, only played two HU matches and no, luck didn’t change a bit, I will spare you going into too much detail as it’s obvious that I’m on a nasty unlucky downswing…so what’s the point of repeating the same sentiment over and over again (just two quick examples: K4 vs K5…flop KK5…we both slow play each other into oblivion and by the third min-re-raise I call to see the grim news…I still wonder how I could not go broke on that one; A2 vs 45 (happened twice in the same match) flop A24…major betting…turn 3….no, I didn’t go broke the first time, the second time did me in though)…

So…just a quick note that I won’t be playing this weekend, not a single SnG, not a single MTT, not a single hand, period. I think this is the kind of unlucky spell that you can’t play through, so why ruin my weekend? I’ll probably see you all at the WWdN on tuesday…until then…may all your monsters hold up and your opponents draw dead 😉

Damn. Just as I’m about to finish the uber-rant here, my computer crashes. Thank you very much. So, here goes the second try. After yesterday’s horror-session, I thought that things would be a little more normal today. Haha! Think again, dummy. It was exactly the same today, exactly the same. I mean, there’s no doubt in my mind, that I’m on a very very cold streak here, but honestly, how do you do it donkeys? How do you do it? If there’s some magical donkey mojo juice, you better not tell me where to get it or I will be an unstoppable force. I mean imagine if my monsters held up and I sucked out all the time, I would be invincible. Stop! Reality Time!

In the beginning, I thought this whole “back to (one/full table) SnGs”-deal was a good one. But now, after only 14 SnGs I’m so tilted, annoyed and about to hit someone, that I’m not so confident that it was a good decision to switch. I mean, everyone can lose here and there and if you’re on a cold streak, well…you’re shit out of luck. This doesn’t make it any less nerve wrecking or annoying though. If poker was like this all the time, I would stop playing immeadiately. I mean, yeah, that’s the reason all the donks play, because even though they don’t know shit about it, they can win, even by playing like a blind monkey. I’m cool with that, as long as the “shit factor” is in the green to orange zone. With all the hands that went down the last 48h though, the shit meter hit blood red on me…

Two examples out of the last one I played, after that, there was no way I was playing another one…

Hand x (down to five handed, I’m second in chips, I put him on a bullshit move with a weak to medium ace, I’m playing to win so no way I laydown this hand here)….

PokerStars Game #8689644256: Tournament #44234991, $5.00+$0.50 Hold’em No Limit – Level V (75/150) – 2007/03/01 – 18:12:04 (ET)
Table ‘44234991 1’ 9-max Seat #6 is the button
Seat 1: DAWGS6 (4040 in chips)
Seat 2: pokersonbill (1720 in chips)
Seat 3: alpacas (2175 in chips)
Seat 6: amiel123 (2580 in chips)
Seat 8: Ingoal (2985 in chips)
Ingoal: posts small blind 75
DAWGS6: posts big blind 150
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Ingoal [Ah Ks]
pokersonbill: folds
alpacas: calls 150
amiel123: raises 2430 to 2580 and is all-in
Ingoal: raises 405 to 2985 and is all-in
DAWGS6: folds
alpacas: folds
*** FLOP *** [Kd 6d Ts]
*** TURN *** [Kd 6d Ts] [Qs]
*** RIVER *** [Kd 6d Ts Qs] [Th]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Ingoal: shows [Ah Ks] (two pair, Kings and Tens)
amiel123: shows [Jc Ac] (a straight, Ten to Ace)
Ingoal said, “good damn it”
amiel123 collected 5460 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 5460 | Rake 0
Board [Kd 6d Ts Qs Th]
Seat 1: DAWGS6 (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 2: pokersonbill folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: alpacas folded before Flop
Seat 6: amiel123 (button) showed [Jc Ac] and won (5460) with a straight, Ten to Ace
Seat 8: Ingoal (small blind) showed [Ah Ks] and lost with two pair, Kings and Tens

Thank you very much…mr. donkey…lucked out on me again and instead of sitting pretty in the chiplead with four players, I’m sitting crippled in 5/5. Nice job there donkface. The very next hand I chip up to slightly over 1k. Nice. Next hand…I look down at AA…

Now, if I was the only one in the hand…I could find a grain of reasoning in his decision to play his hand (the donkey reasoning is clear “wow, I have two face cards and they’re s00000ted! Gold! When can I push in”), but the other player reraised after me…how can you call there? Are you kidding me? And yes, thanks again for the nice deal PokerStars, you brought the term “shit out of luck” to a whole new dimension over the last 48h…

So…that’s the straw that broke the camels back…I mean, this is hmm I think the 8th straight time that I went from “I’m going to take this thing down” to “Out the door within the next two to three hands”…and not only with significant better hands, but by absolute donkey donkey donkey play by my opponents…may the all rot in donkey hell…I’m out of here and don’t expect me to play any of these SnGs at any level over the few days maybe even weeks…I just can’t take this bs anymore…seriously…

Edit: Sharkscope says, Form: Super Tilt….Ingoal says, Form: Super, Luck: Unlucky as hell…

God I hate poker. Let me repeat that, I hate poker. Honestly.

WARNING – You’re entering sick, borderline uber-rant territory, beware! WARNING

Not really, but it’s hard not to after a day like mine. Only upside of it all is that I wasn’t in a live game or I might as well punched a player or two, or three right smack in the face for their stupidity and their audacity to talk smack to me after laying some of the sickest beats on me. Hell, bad enough that they play like crap, which I absolutely endorse, after all that’s where the money comes from, but then sucking out on me hand after hand after hand and then talking smack to me? Are you shitting me? God damn little dastards! ;)Played a total of 8 SnGs today…not all that much considering that I multi-tabled, but hey, I couldn’t take anymore. I mean, it’s all in good fun if you lose one or two (more or less sick) hands that cripple you or send you packing, but the amount of those hands was way above my tolerance today. Alrighty, it’s normal to lose a coin-flip or even the eventual dominated hand here and there, but no, there was nothing in the region of “here and there”, it was more like everywhere.

Coinflips won (4x Pair vs two overs, 2x two overs vs pair): 0

Dominated hands won (AQ vs AJ, AK vs A7, A10 vs A5, etc): 0…just have a look at the typical hand…

Cold deck mountain (QQ vs KK, A7 vs AK), shorthanded: 2, won: 0

Overpair vs two unders (QQ vs J9, QQ vs 108): 2, won: 0

16+ outs twice (OESD+Flush-draw, OESD+Flush-draw+trip-draw): 2, won 0

…and then the hand that send me over the edge – I mean come on, are you kidding me, how can you call a raise-war with that hand…and btw…where is my four-flush there? God damn it!

PokerStars Game #8674121289: Tournament #44160577, $5.00+$0.50 Hold’em No Limit – Level II (15/30) – 2007/02/28 – 19:14:21 (ET)
Table ‘44160577 1’ 9-max Seat #4 is the button
Seat 1: faceless0516 (1670 in chips)
Seat 2: tb1172 (2560 in chips)
Seat 3: DreamOnPlaya (1040 in chips)
Seat 4: mossposse (1250 in chips)
Seat 5: BigDaddy613 (2640 in chips)
Seat 7: Ingoal (1210 in chips)
Seat 8: orrell22 (810 in chips)
Seat 9: lancerloaf50 (2320 in chips)
BigDaddy613: posts small blind 15
Ingoal: posts big blind 30
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Ingoal [Ac Ad]
orrell22: folds
lancerloaf50: folds
faceless0516: raises 30 to 60
tb1172: calls 60
DreamOnPlaya: raises 60 to 120
mossposse: folds
BigDaddy613: folds
Ingoal: raises 120 to 240
faceless0516: calls 180
tb1172: folds
DreamOnPlaya: raises 800 to 1040 and is all-in
Ingoal: raises 170 to 1210 and is all-in
faceless0516: calls 970
*** FLOP *** [4c Ks 9c]
*** TURN *** [4c Ks 9c] [Tc]
*** RIVER *** [4c Ks 9c Tc] [4d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
Ingoal: shows [Ac Ad] (two pair, Aces and Fours)
faceless0516: shows [Qh Jc] (a straight, Nine to King)
faceless0516 collected 340 from side pot
DreamOnPlaya: shows [Qc Qd] (two pair, Queens and Fours)
faceless0516 collected 3195 from main pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3535 Main pot 3195. Side pot 340. | Rake 0
Board [4c Ks 9c Tc 4d]
Seat 1: faceless0516 showed [Qh Jc] and won (3535) with a straight, Nine to King
Seat 2: tb1172 folded before Flop
Seat 3: DreamOnPlaya showed [Qc Qd] and lost with two pair, Queens and Fours
Seat 4: mossposse (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: BigDaddy613 (small blind) folded before Flop
Seat 7: Ingoal (big blind) showed [Ac Ad] and lost with two pair, Aces and Fours
Seat 8: orrell22 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 9: lancerloaf50 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Poker oh poker, it’s all skill…start with the worst hand and go uphill…so considering all the circumstances, this was by far the worst run of bad luck I’ve EVER seen in a day…I mean there’s no way in hell I could have made money today, yes, I scored a 90-95% in the correct decision department, on the other hand I scored a 100+100% in the junk kick department…god am I tilted now…stats for the day: SnGs played 8, ITM 1 (1x 2nd), other finishes: 8, 8, 5, 8, 6, 8, 7…thanks very much for ruining my day donkeys…

Today I mixed it up a little, inspired by Smokkee’s SnG run, I switched from HU to single table SnGs. As I haven’t been playing full games in a while, only HU and shorthanded, I thought it would be best to not start too high, so I settled for the 5$ ones and I plan on playing those for a while. I guess I’ll try to hit 100 of them and then see how it goes. The start was brilliant. I two-tabled and soon enough we were ITM in both of them. I just played the cards I was dealt and sometimes the players, but only if they had shown that they could fold a hand. That worked out pretty good. Then it was time for the first major suckout against me…on the turn I hold Aces up…and I move in…I got the other player covered by about 1.5k, so I’m pretty save…he calls All-In with a king high flush draw (two spades on board)…river…ding ding ding….oh well…down to 1.5k…I don’t let it get to me though and I battle my way back. Soon enough I knock out the third player and we’re heads-up, I’m still behind 2:1 in chips though. Some twenty hands later I won though as he payed off two big hands for me. Nice. As heads-up is winding down in tourney one, we’re still three-handed in the other one. Then a major pot develops and I get my money in on a paired rag board…good that I had a free look in the BB…I triple up into the chiplead and never look back. I take out both of the other players within the next 30 hands and another W hit’s my SnG sheet. 2 for 2. Not bad 😉

Then it’s time for the WWdN and things are looking good early on…I even win a nice pot with the hammer from UTG…then I lose a hand with Jacks…I can’t think that they’re good anymore after a K hits the flop against two players. Oh well…as I’m down to around 1k I decide to defend my SB against the BB raise preflop. J10o…flop J98…good enough to double up…I check…BB bets…I push…he calls…shows KQo…no K, Q or T…and I double up. Nice…

As we head into the first break we’re down to 29 players and I’m sitting in 11th with 2530 in chips…

After the break I look down at QQ…the blinds are at 75/150…and MP puts in the standard raise (450) to open the pot…I think I’m ahead here…so I push on the button…all fold to him…he ponders…he calls All-In…shows Ah Jh….s0000ted 😉 … flop AxJ…ty very much…turn K…a little hope…river 5…d’oh. So I’m down to 350…damn…my assessment of the situation:

Scenario 1: I’m ahead and he’ll fold…all good…I’m up to 3.xk

Scenario 2: I’m behind (AA, KK) or slightly ahead (AK)…all good…let’s flip it…

Scenario 3: I’m ahead and he’ll call (probably with Ax)…good…he’s drawing to three outs…if I win I’m up to 4.xk…if he get’s lucky I’m crippled…
Scenario 4: I flat-call on the button to see a flop…as the flop comes down AJx…I he leads at it…I give it up and my stack drops to around 2k…

I thought I had the best hand, I did, he got there, too bad. In retrospect, maybe I should have flat-called to see a flop – what’s he likely to raise with preflop (basically any Ace or pair unless he’s on a total steal) – so…if I just flat-call and the A or K hits…I can get away…what about the scenario where the flop is J high (or lower)? Maybe he spiked a set then…how am I going to get away from it? Tough tough…oh well…I went with my feeling, I was right, it didn’t work out. Next time I move in is with 66…weak calls from the BB…not a bad call…he has the mook…T8…he’s getting 2.x : 1…he’s got a major stack…flop comes down AA8…oh well…gg me…

So…from middle of the pack to out the door with two pocket pairs…too bad I couldn’t spike a single set there…can’t feel too bad though…enjoyed the WWdN, as usual and rocked the SnG tables…I’m off…

Played a nice little session at PokerStars tonight and boy, the cards and chips were in the air and luck was swingy, swingy, swingy. I started the session with some HU play and everything started on a bad luck trip. Lost the first match to an absolute fish who couldn’t even spell poker, lol, good for him that his cards could everytime he needed help, he got it. Not good. The next match was similar, although I can’t blame my opponent for that one, I blame myself and the deck. Some serious set over set on an all-rag flop etc and I was in a deep hole early. Fought my way back, just to run into another cooler. Not good either. The next to matches were better. Won the first one by value-betting my hands to death and the calling station was more than happy to pay off hand after hand. He did get lucky once or twice, but in the end I won it. The fourth one was similar, bet bet bet bet bet…win.

After that I tried out some 6-handed action, after all this whole “strictly HU” isn’t going to cut it in the long run. In the monetary sense it probably could as my winning rate is currently at 55% (it was higher, but due to some bad luck recently, it’s dropped quite a bit) – so after rake I’m still up, but considering the time spent on the tables, it’s not really good…apart from the fact that all those luckboxes sucking out on me is taking it’s toll (for those of you following my adventures, it was kind of the same at bodog, where I played HU matches with a vengeance and totally kicked ass…then the winning rate started to drop into the 5x-60%ish area and all the sucky sucky stuff made me pause my play there). So, I kicked some ass in the short-handed game, too. Down to headsup (ITM) and I’m sitting in the chiplead. It is a real push-fest early on and I fold fold fold. Once I pick up a decent hand I go with it, no chance. Same game again, no chance. Then I go into push modus myself and I can’t catch anything either. So I finish second. Not bad, but not really groovy either considering the 65% / 35% payout structure. Oh well, can only play what the cards give me.

After that I considering calling it quits for the night, but I didn’t. I saw that a 15+1 WSOP turbo DS satellite to sunday’s 650$ qualifier was about to start, so I jumped in. The full hundred players entered, so to advance to the final table you had to get through 9 players. I did well early on, won some small pots and waited for a good chance to double up. I tried to with AQ from the cutoff, no such luck…BB wakes up with Aces…they hold up. So I’m sitting on 250…and as the blinds are already up to 100/200, there’s no point in waiting for the next monster. I get the coveted 74o, 92o etc in the next hands though, so I wait for the next best spot. It comes once I’m UTG…I think that my A7 s00ted should be good enough to win a hand…although there are three callers…not really surprising with the blinds at 100/200 and the winner takes all format. I’m happy to win the main pot once I rivered a third seven. Sucky sucky, outy outy. I likey! *lol* So that’s when my luck started to turn around. I got good hand after good hand and took down pot after pot, knocking out player after player in the process. Once we’re down to three-handed, the other “medium to big”-stack knocks out the third player though, so he enters headsup with a 3-2 chiplead. It all comes down to two hands. He plays his hand perfectly with Kx…he pops it preflop…I call it with my A7o…flop comes down K7x…he bets…I call…turn is another blank…and he pushes…now I’m stuck…either get the money in and hope to be ahead/suck out, or fold and play the next hand blind with the blinds at 400/800 about to go to 600/1200 the chances of “playing” with a 2.xk stack isn’t all that great. So I push in and he flips his Kx…then something out of the ordinary happens….7…ding ding ding, slot-machine 7-7-7, boom headshot! I sucked out big time. Wow. Feels great, now I know why all the others are always that elated when the suck out on me, it feels great. Getting lucky is the new good these days, lol. So I’m up 5-1 in chips and in the next hand it’s all over…I hold an A6…poor opponent pushes in with his 44 and the aces on the flop is all it took. Wow again…I won a coin-flip in a crucial pot and that after sucking out BIG TIME the hand before that. Wow.

I like! So…I wait until the last table finishes and we’re off to the races at the final table. Top 2 will receive their entry (or 650T$)…third and fourth win 72$, 5th 56$…6-10 is out of luck. The table starts off with a bang, the very first and people are shoving like crazy…I’m a little surprised to see 78o win against 910o…well played sirs..*lol*…so we’re down to nine handed and we got an early 2-1 chipleader. I wait and wait and fold and fold and people are playing like crazy…I wonder if I should sit back and let them shoot themselves in the foot…before I can think about it though, it’s all over…A8 vs AK…no miracle for me…and I finish in 8th…the luck-cycle has indeed come full circle in this one…bad luck (AQ vs AA)…good luck (coming back from 250 chips to win the first table)…to bad luck (A8 vs AK)…oh well…what can you do? Now that I’m writing this I’m really a little confused. I guess it all comes down to strategy here. As it’s a turbo, you can’t wait for the nuts till eternity, so you need to get your move on sooner or later, but was A8 s00ted really worth risking all the chips? I guess not really as I watch the table after I bust out, it becomes pretty obvious that at least four of the players have (a little more) shootout experience. Two of those four are firing relentlessly, every second or third hand they’re in there mixing it up. One of them was the early chipleader, so it was pretty easy for him. He picked up small pot after small pot and then some bigger ones when he really had a hand and ppl were tired of being pushed around. I guess he as on the “good side” of luck. The other player firing all the time was similar, he got is money in without looking back and it worked out – and even more important, they were playing for the ticket. The other two sat back and watched the carnage. One of the two was especially clever, he didn’t play a single hand. He just sat there and mucked, mucked mucked. After the bubble burst he laughed about it and said he didn’t have any cards to play, which I doubt. He was just a little more clever than some others, including me. Well, one things for sure, they weren’t really playing for the two tickets, they were more worried about getting the money and then…if it happens…it happens…in this case it didn’t happen as they were not able to come back from such a big chip disadvantage (the two players firing like crazy held a combine 7k of the 9k in play)…but at least they made a profit.

So, am I mad about my play. Hmm…tough question. I would say, yes and no. The spot I picked, was as good as any other. I held a decent hand, folded to me…I pop it, get repopped by a big-stack…which could mean any two cards…I thought I was ahead…I wasn’t…too bad. So, the only thing that I could be mad about is that I got involved in the hand(s) at all. I could have sat back, just like the other one, and watched the carnage for a little longer (with blinds at 25/50 and a 1.4k stack there’s no need to rush it, yet). Then again…tbh I played to win a ticket (read 650T$ to fuel my SnG run), it didn’t work out…so basically it’s the old dilemma…you may want to, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too 😉

Well, I didn’t play all that much today and really, there isn’t much to tell without heading straight down “cold deck street”…one thing’s for sure…Ace rag is the new nuts, no matter at which level you play and even if you hit an Ace…Ace rag will still prevail as it’s such a powerful hand, maybe even more powerful than two s00000ted cards 😉

Anyway…one upside of the junk kickings at Stars today was the fact that I finally cleared the anniversary reload bonus…so the junk kicking is on PokerStars tonight, both figuratively and literally. After that depressing session at Stars (2W 6L), I head over to FullTilt to see if they finally managed to put some of the hog-wild donks back into their stable. Not really is the correct answer. What does it take to beat a really bad player? 1. The bad player must hit at least his TPNK 2. You must catch some cards. If it’s the other way around (let’s say AKs preflop, or 99 preflop, or similar) noone will fold to a 3x or 4x pop, why should they? They’ve got two cards! Two cards! …and if that wasn’t enough, they’re usually s00000ted…and below T…so why not? If you’re happy to flop top two then on a two-gapper-like board, rest assure that mr. donkey has either hit the jackpot, with or without even noticing it, or at least has got something “real players” call outs (usually < 4)...so mr. donkey will call you no matter what you do. Solution to this problem: Wait for the nuts...and while you're waiting...rest assured that if you have the nuts, the donk will have zilk for shizzle-dizzle...and it doesn't matter if you're playing for 1$, 2$, 5$ or 10$, believe me, I've tried them all... 😉 Oh well...enough ranting...I'm done with FullTilt for now (less than five bucks left in there)...so I don't have to worry about their donks anymore (at least for now)...and I sure hope that I can get some better results at Stars over the next few days, as these bad swings really tend to make me wanna slap somebody, lol...good luck at the tables all...

Well, I don’t want to bore you too much today, so only a quick post. Played some more HU today and in the very first hand I got coolered (88 vs KK). Then in the second match I was coolered again…but I sucked out (88 vs 1010…I made an ugly four-flush). From there on out I just went on a total tear and annihilated opponent after opponent, winning another three straight until I headed out for footie training and some drinks. After I came back I managed to squeeze in another three matches (2-1)…so I’m very happy with today’s results and my play…nuff said…

Honestly, I didn’t even want to play tonight. Then I logged on to see if anyone was around. I see that CC’s Thursday Bash is about to start, I hesitate though as it’s early in the morning and I don’t really want to play for long. So I go to my usual feeding grounds, the HU SnGs. In the first match I still feel the effect of yesterday’s session – maybe you know the feeling when you got sucked out on so bad and in such rapid succesion that you don’t know what to do with marginal hands. “Could it be that he got me again on the (turn/river)?”  and other similar thoughts creep up on you. Indeed he did get me sometimes on the turn and river, but you can credit that to some hesitation on my part. Normally I, at least try to, let my opponents dance to my rhythm…controlling the action, keeping pots small with marginal hands or draws…getting the money in with a (near) lock. Today that rhythm was still a little off, so no big deal that I messed up the first match.

In the second match I shook that off and after a long battle, with some nice suckouts on both sides, I was finally able to score the W. I totally controlled the action and I even picked up some bluffs – nothing better to boost your confidence when you pick of a big bluff with Queen-High…

The third match was even better. Not only did I play good, apart from two bad calls, but my opponent was the kind of opponent I would like to see more often. Not because he was weak, he wasn’t. But because he knew how to behave himself without the banter and shit. He played a good game and after a long fought battle of over a hundred hands I finally conquered him. I see a free flop in the BB with 8h2h….we’re almost even in chips and there are 200 in the pot. Flop comes down Ac8c2d…push comes to shove and he shows the A7o…basically no redraw except the 6 outs…none of them hit and I take down the monster pot. I’m up 2700 to 300 and then something unexpected happens. Usually ppl will play a mean shortstack pushing every hand, sometimes getting lucky and doubling up…maybe even more than once. So I wasn’t ready to mark it as a W yet, but my opponent did. He typed gg in the chatbox and folded to my reraise. He then folded the SB. He then folded the BB. In the next hand he was all-in with 50 and we chopped…next hand he was auto-allin and I won the pot and the match.

Now I don’t advise anyone to do that, after all you can get lucky and if you double up with such a small stack, you’re up to 600….one double-up more and you’re back in contention. Still I wasn’t exactly going to stop him from folding 😉

So…I finish the night with 2-1…and I’m ready to hit the tables again…maybe not tomorrow…but I’ll certainly play a match or two once weekend time rolls around…good luck everyone…