Tonight I thought that mixing it up a little bit would be a good idea as the (extended) weekend was all NL HE. So I log on FTP and see that a 5$ HORSE tourney is about to start. What better way to mix things up than with 5 different games (all limit: HE, Omaha H/L, Razz, Stud, Stud 8/better).

Although I haven’t had the chance to play a single hand of Razz prior to the tourney Razz was one of the best variants of poker in the tourney and the fact that 3 of the 5 variants are Stud (normal, H/L, low) is really good as I consider Stud to be among my best games.

I hovered above average for the first two horses and busted out in the third H because the blinds were just massive (300/600) compared to my stack of 2k…no way to limp in or really push (all limit remember)…so I had to take a shot…didn’t come through…’s all good though….42nd out of 126 is not bad for the first time…

After yesterday’s marathon live game I wasn’t too keen on playing poker at all today, but I decided that I should at last play one or two tourneys while watching Waffles, Wes and Iggy at the 750k tourney on Stars. So I decided to play the $1 MTT again and a freeroll to the Jersey Days Finals (where you can win your own personalized Full Tilt Hockey Shirt).

The $1 tourney was quite nice and I was able to hold my own. No special hands come to mind, except one: the finest way to crack Kings…

It seems that this hand came back to haunt me though as I looked down at KK just before the bubble…and promptly lost to A-3o on a runner runner flush…argh! I was able to dodge ITM though, so it’s all good…although the profit was marginal (to say the least…buy-in $1, amount won: $1.64, 😉 ).

Not a bad showing though, I can live with a 67th place finish out of 729 players.

Jersey Tourney: 1000 players entered and I was able to play on and on, before I busted out in 36th place. Not a bad showing either – and I knew from the beginning that getting the ticket to the main event was slim (3 out of 1000 to be precise). At least I played another solid tourney and had my fun…so ‘s all good….

After busting out in 11th in the WWdN Euro Edition and busting out of two MTTs early on I was something like 20$ down at PokerStars and decided to call it a day at Stars. As it was fairly early though I decided to finally get some cash into FullTilt. Some minutes after I bought in a 1$+0$ fee MTT started and I thought what the heck, let’s give it a shot.

I was playing my usual hold’em fold’em game for the 1st hour and was fairly short-stacked. In the following two hours I was able to really get into the zone though…it was like I had a read on the guys and gals, especially when I smelled weakness. One critical hand came when I looked down at KK (for about the 6th time (including the WWdN where I held it 3 times)) and see what happened:

They held up and I was in good shape. The following 1.5hours of play are a blur, but sure enough I wound up at the final table, w00t!

After another break we were down to three and I busted out the last shorter stack to play heads up for the win.

Then I became literally card dead, or at least so dead that I missed every flop. So I was a large dog soon and I couldn’t do much as I was down in chip 1:5…so I shoved it in and lost…but hey, I’m not sad at all. Invested 1$ and won 74.24$ more than doubling my buy-in (deposit of 50$) in the first MTT…what a way to end the day!

On another note: I declare February 10th the KK-day (hand counted 10times today, no bullets, but KK plenty)! Now it’s time to catch some sleep as I’ve got a nice live home game tomorrow…wish me luck…!

Tonight’s the night of the first WWdN European Friendly version…starting time is 13:30 ET = 19:30 GMT+1 (18:30 UK). So if you’re looking for a good time, get into gear and sign up!

You can find the tourney via the PokerStars Lounge -> Tourney -> Private

The tourney number is 19345283, password is the usual (monkey)…cya at the tables. For more infos check Wil’s post about the tourney.

Update: So, I played the first ever WWdN euro friendly tourney. 27 players entered, some known faces (CJ, Sires, obviously Wil, …) and some “newcomers”. As there were only 27 participants only the top 3 payed and as it was time to approach the final table (after the 1st break), I got a little impatient and pushed with K-10o which lost to an Ace high (a lovely A-7o). Only thing really newsworthy: I had KK three times within the first three orbits – good thing one might think, it might have been if I didn’t chicken out of the first one post-flop (in my defense: Q high with straight and flush draw)…didn’t get anything else than the blinds with the other two so I couldn’t really take advantage…ooh well.

At the final table the weirdest thing ever happen, change100 sucked out on CJ to bust him out in 4th place ( = bubble-boy)…then we all witnessed a damn fine HU game between change100 and Zen Taff…back and forth the action went and in the end Zen Taff came out on top to “defend europes honor” (lol)…he’s from Wales and the winner of the first ever WWdN Euro friendly, cool!

Started the day with some nice going PLO8 SnG action – went into heads up down roughly 1:2 in chips and won the whole thing in two hands. Awesome way to start a session, but it wouldn’t last all that long as I kept running into nuts hands (when I thought my hand was the nuts). Example? I hold A-3-8-8, flop comes down 8-5-5…so I’m in good shape with a flopped boat and the second nut draw…turn and river are blank and sure enough I’m out in 10th of 10. How come? Another player flopped quads (5-5-x-x) and another one was holding A-2…too bad…

Things didn’t improve in the following 2 SnGs so I switched to the NL HE ones…took down 3rd and busted out in 10th of 10 again as my flopped trip 10s were rivered by trip queens:

Nothing exciting in MTT play either…Limit just isn’t my game (anymore). At least I finished the session on a high note…in preparation for DADIII – The HU Championship – I played a HU match on Absolute Poker and totally owned my opponent. I’m so looking forward to play DADIII!

I won’t be playing the WWdN (which starts in around 30mins) tonight as I’m just too tired and don’t feel like playing. I did my share of playing for the day already, too…with not much success either (4 SnGs: 1x3rd), busted out rather early out of the Stud and NL HE MTT…so I guess there’s no point in donking off another 11$ 😉

Have fun all and I’m looking forward to read some transcripts/recaps tomorrow…cheers 🙂

Update: Wow, it seems I’ve missed a quite nice showing by Waffles who took down 1st place, w00t!

…or the case of the accidental hammer clash (more about that later).

After running bad the last few days it was time to get back into shape or back in the saddle of the donkey, so that’s what I did. Played some SnGs (NL HE 3$+0.40$) and was ITM in 3 of 4. The total is: 1x1st, 2x2nd, 1x8th (donkey chasing and connecting) – on a side note: I was down roughly 1:3 in all of the heads up finishes. Was able to turn it around once, although I did well in the other heads ups too…I came back to around even and even took the lead for a while, but just couldn’t finish my opponent…

Apart from the SnG action I played some MTTs, too. Nothing spectacular to report from the PL Hold’em tourney, busted out pretty early. Then I played a Fixed Limit one and the funniest thing ever happened. This poker episode is entitled “The accidental hammer clash”: I’m UTG+3 and look down at the hammer (7c-2d), folded to me and I decide to limp in, flop comes down 7d-Jd-7h…BB leads out, I raise, he reraises, I cap…turn is the 10c…back and forth again…river is the Js…full house baby…back and forth again…showdown (see pic below):

The funniest thing: I correctly shout “hammer time, nh!” in the table chat and I can feel that most of the table is thinking “WTF?!”. The BB asks me: “Why did you call with 72o?” I answer “It’s the hammer, you gotta trust it! … (poker blogger insider)”…he smiles…nothing funny after that and I bust out rather quickly again as I just can’t catch anything.

Then I decided to complete the evening with a NL HE MTT (3$+0.30$). I play some good poker and after roughly two hours of play (already ITM) I bust out in 288th place with Ac-Qc vs As-9c when Mr. BigStack calls my All-In and catches his nine…. not a perfect way to end the evening, but at least I had a good rush today!

Sidenotes:

1. I never had so many AA and KKs in a single day…which is nice, as most of them held up too.
2. The whole single table SnG thing with lots of heads up action today was good training…or at least it should be…I better get in shape for DADIII (see below)

Pimpage:

Be there or be square!

Went on a good run of bad luck early on today. It was so bad it was starting to get funny again. Ever had a time where you were in the wrong place at the right time, all the time? That’s what my SnG and MTT play in the first three attempts was like. Played the Turbo NL SnG (3+0.40), sure enough I push with 10-10 on the button, just to be called by J-J…we both don’t improve and I’m cripple…add another bad timing to it and I’m out in 8th of 10 (I push again with 9-9 this time in LP) and get called by BB, he shows 10-10…you know the drill, no help…

After that I was slightly on tilt and questioning the poker gods, so what can you do? Right, make up for the loss and play a 6+0.50 NL HE Turbo…I dub this one the A-x is the new nuts…nothing more to say about it 😉

Then I go ahead and play a nice NL HE MTT (3+0.30) and I don’t get many playable hands…so after the first break I’m still kind of short-stacked, but not really in need to force things. I pick up some small pots and then I look down at A-K sooted, sure enough my push on the 2-2-4 gets a caller and he shows A-A…what did I say about bad timing earlier on?

Just finished playing my last game for the night, another 3+0.30 SnG. This was the total opposite of the first SnGs or the MTT for that matter. Didn’t get many hands, so I stuck to my tight play and waited for the fun to arrive. It did when we were down to six handed. I look down and find Ad-Ac, w00t…I raise preflop and find a 4-5-2 all clubs, the SB bets I call…the turn brings me the nuts…another club hits the board and it’s the 3c..straight flush, baby!

Two hands after that I got bullets again and pick up another nice pot and we’re in the money.

I donk off some chips before we’re down to heads up – and I’m 1:2 in chips. Sure enough I win a big pot early on in heads up and we’re back to even…a few hands later I’m all-in with Kd-9d he shows K-10 which wins with a 10 on the board…so two bullets and one straight flush wasn’t enough to win the thing…tells you that today isn’t my lucky day 😉

Alrighty…enough poker for the day…off to watch the rest of the Superbowl…

Just played two small SnGs at UB today, nothing news-worthy…1 cash…1 bust.

After coming back from footie training in the freezing cold and having a few at a club, I logged onto Stars to find a lovely 3$ NL HE MTT…and Waffles was playing too…I didn’t check the player ranks, but he was transferred to my table, but I was moved to another table before we even played a hand. So I fire up Yahoo and the nice part of the tourney began, chatting it up and all. We agreed to switch 10%, which in the end amounted to virtually nothing…too bad we couldn’t get closer to the final table…

(No long hand descriptions here, just two noteworthy hands: early on I look down at JJ on the button, EP raises it up to 6xBB, Cutoff reraises to 12xBB…what to do what to do…I put at least one of them (EP) on either AA or KK…so I fold…EP shows KK…Cutoff shows AA…now guess what the board brought onto them….x-x-J-x-x, argh! That would have been a really nice pot, but without knowing the flop it was a correct play IMO. My last hand: I’m desperately short-stacked and look down a 10-10 in the SB…two limpers…I push…1 caller…he shows A-J…board is blank…until I can virtually feel how the final card is peeling itself off the deck….yeah, you guessed it….sigh….)

So I finshed 257th…Waffles busted out shortly after me in 149th….out of 2347…so not a bad showing…

I guess I should come up with better post titles, but it’s 3am, so I blame that fact for it 😉

Played a 7 Stud H/L MTT on PokerStars – the first in quite a while and to my surprise I was right back in the action (after all I was playing 7Stud H/L exclusively for quite a while) and able to scoop quite a bit in the beginning. Just before the bubble I was able to triple up and cruise into the money. Didn’t catch much of anything after that and just survived another level (antes 200, limits 1000/2000)…finished 47th of 456…for a whooping profit of 1.48$ (3$+0.30$ buyin)…Had three hours of poker fun though 😉

After that I played a NL HE SnG and promptly busted out in 8th, those buggers have been totally -ev in recent days, I think I’m going to start playing MTTs again…