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no luck

u need to get lucky to do a well in a tourney, and
i cant get the luck when i need it.

Final or crucial hands of tournaments -
losing Ks v 10s (finished on the bubble of the main draw)
losing js vs aj (finished on the bubble of the weekly tourney)
losing ks vs a-4 (big part of stack on sunday tourney)
lost j8 v 47 in the blinds (finished in the money on the sunday tourney)
losing trip 9s against js on the turn (knocked out of saturday tourney)

The best hand ive won is ak v qs, which is a coin flip, anything
else as an underdog ive lost.

Main draw i played almost flawless poker.

One hand i limp in with aces in first position, hoping
for raise, everyone folds to the blinds.

Flop comes 8-5-4 (2 spades). Both check to me I bet,
small blind raises and big blind calls. I put
the small blind on 2 pair, and the big blind on a
straight. Unforunately running spades came out and
i woulda made a flush, but hellmuth would have been
proud of that lay down. Coz at the showdown I was
spot on. Sometimes it pays to be stupid.

Oh well.

$100 ST

played $100 st. 2 interesting hands. One I pick
up aces, blinds are 10-20, I raise to $50.
I like to try and double up with aces on a single
table tourney, and this table was so tight, if
I rasie any more Id scare ppl away. Which is dangerous
for the guy with As, after all some guy can limp
in catch 2 pair, and it could be all over.

Now 5 ppl saw the flop including the 2 blinds.
Which came A-Q-J (2 spades). This was going to
be interesting. Blinds checked to me, I bet
50, a couple of ppl folded and then the big
blind re-raised me to $200. Ok If hes got K-J,
hes got me beat, but anything else, im ahead
with my top set. In fact this bet didnt make
much sense to me. Was it that he sensed
weakness or was he betting a draw or was he
protecting a real hand like a straight. I
thought may be 2 pair, and he didnt want me to
catch a cheap flush. The turn came a small spade.
If my initial read was right he would check his
2 pair , coz a scare card came out. And I could
well be on a flush draw. But thne he went all
in for $800. I had $1200, and I had a feeling
I was beat. It seemed like he was protecting
his hand, I mean he was commiting all his chips.

What could he have ? Had he slow played his straight,
and got desperate, did he have a flush? If he had
a flush why did he not check it? Or was he trying
a steal with his two pair, it seemed like his
hand was vulnerable, and on that basis, i called.
He flipped over a small flush, damn, I luckily
had the board pair on the river making a full house.
Inaccurate read, but good outcome.

Down to 3, I raise to 1500 out of my 4500 stack, with
pocket 10s. Blinds are 400-800. Get called in the
big blind, knowing hes prolly called with a 20 hand,
like two picture cards. Coz thats his style. Then
the flop comes 9-4-2, and he goes all in , fk ? Did
i get my read wrong, no, im sure i was right. I called,
sure enough he had q-j, and then on the river, bang
a queen, and i get knocked out. Damn a good read
and i get busted, a dodogy read and i survive , oh well.

Poker meltdown

I had a poker meltdown last week, playing on tables
I prolly shouldnt have and flushing down a vast portion
of my bankroll. I learnt some lessons, I learnt the value
of patience and the value of analysing myself.

I guess I realised when investing turned to gambling.
Coz if one hand can cripple you then your out of
your depth.

It was a question of money management. May be
I was bored and i needed the action, but gosh
I felt stupid afterwards. I did learn how to play
limit with the best of them, and evaluating the
table strength.

But if you learn something from it, its not a
total waste.

I wonder whether I will be able to build it up, I
dont see why not.

know the value of hands !

Hands like A-T and A-J are junk hands in a 10
handed game, sure if you can
get them in late position, into an unraised pot, then
they become a lot better, but raising in early position
with these hands is a losing play.

2 important lessons, if your calling a raise , especially
in tournament play, make sure you have a decent hand
or a different hand. The way to lose all your money
is to play junk hands like A-T and A-J, and get into
a dominated situation. The reason is , the guy with A-Q
or A-K has your hand dominated. So even if the ace comes
out u dont know what to do ? Sure you can get lucky
but its not worth it. Raising, with 5-7s is a lot better
play than raising with A-T, at least your hand is different
and u know what a good flop for you is!

Watch the world series and see how many ppl are playing
hands like A-J or A-T or K-J or K-T, these are the hands
that will lose you money! in a 5 handed game, these are
good hands, but 10 handed, their trouble.

If ive learnt anything from recent tournament play, its:
1. Getting rid of crap like that.
2. Watch out if its a raised pot ! And not calling with
hands that can be dominated, even K-Qs, can get you
in a lot of trouble
3. And how to trap a raiser by limping in. One trick is,
if you have a big hand or small hand in early position
u play it the same. So if you have Ks or As dont raise.
In tournament play, you can choose to re-raise and
trap the raiser with a big hand, and dump the small
hand for minimal damage.

Recently ive done better in tournamnets:
$20 tourney (170ppl) - 3rd
$20 tourney (90ppl) - 2nd
$20 tourney rebuy (130ppl) - 7th
$100 tourney (90ppl) - 5th
$20 rebuy addon (1100ppl) - 55th

Also try and stay aggressive, u need to play enuff hands
if u dont wanna have ur blinds eaten up.

New game !

Whilst watching a WPT episode, I developed a new
strain of holdem. Its a hybrid of limit and
no limit, and its a game where reading the player
is all important !

Its called "NO FOLDEM HOLDEM"

Its the same as holdem except:
1. The betting structure pre-flop is the same
as in limit (so ur betting is capped at 4 bets
the size of the big blind).

2. Heres the catch, no one can fold their hand
pre-flop !!! Thats right, if you have 2-7,
and the table makes it 4 bets to go pre-flop
you have to call !

3. Betting after the flop however is NO LIMIT !
And you can of course fold your hand.

The thing about this game, is when you make it
4 bets to go with pocket aces say, and the
flop comes 2-2-7, what do you do ?! Everyone
is still in the field, sure you built up
the pot with your aces, however, you could
easily be beat ! Thats the beauty
about "NO-FOLDEM HOLDEM" you can represent
whatever you want, its a game of bluffing
and most imporantly reading your opponent.
Just because your opponent made it 4 bets
to go pre-flop, who says they have anything,
they could be representing whatever
hits the flop ?! Also if the table keeps making
it 4 bets, your going to get blinded out,
so your forced to make a stand at the right
spot !

Anyway i think it might be good, who knows
Ive never played it b4 and i doubt anyone
else has ?

bring on party poker

So i decided to sign up with party poker, apparently if
you do your credit card transfer during hours it works.
Anyway they were offering some special deal where u
get a 50% bonus up to a $100. So i sign up and then
they say they will credit my account with $25 not a $100.
They said there was another bonus i was eligible for
which entitled me to $25. They were like oh
u can only get one or the other. I wrote them an email and
said what the hell ? surely i want the offer that
gets me the $100 deal ?? Cmon ?! They then agreed
with me, and gave me my $100. At least they're
efficient, ill give them that.

Looking to try and qualify for a satellite for poker
millions qualifier, didnt seem like any action. I
played one $10 sit and go, won that, got decent cards.

Here is the hand summary, ull see that i dont
raise much pre-flop early, see flop cheaply, avoid
raised pots with marginal hands, like in hand one.
Then when its gets short handed raise with anything
and everything. However if im not the raiser, im
much more likely to fold. Never got short stacked, no
all ins.

weekend poker

Playing saturday, waiting to pick up food from taj tandoor.
About to leave, just one more hand im thinking. $2-$4 NL
In the button, i may as well have a look. POcket Aces !!!
First position raises to $6, guy with a $1000 calls,
I decide to call. Then big blind goes all in for $20.
First position raiser folds, guy with a $1000 calls,
fk it im all in, for $210. The guy with lots of money
calls. First all in has Ks, $1000 guy has A-K.
Nothing comes out, and I double up to $460, thank you
very much, vindaloo tastes a lot sweeter after a monster
pot.

PLayed a bit on sunday, few multis, coming 9th, 22 ppl
left, top 20 cash. Then i have to go to lunch , oh well.
Played a few erratic hands, but even all up for the day.
Which wasnt bad, after pLaying some $5-10 tough going,
when u dont hit and ur up against a maniac.

poker

havent played poker in a while (72 hours +) so decided
to play a bit late last night. Sat in a $30 tourney,
then saw $100 tourney open up as well, so sat in both.
Played tight, was coming 5th in $100 tourney, when
i didnt raise with some good hands, and prolly cost
me, as my stack dwindled with blinds increasing. Tried
to raise with A-3, someone came over the top and i
had to fold, from then on it was a struggle, ended 5th.
Got some luck in the $30 tourney, got to 3rd position,
when i lost with A-K suited to pocket 2s.
At this point i was down $70 or so for the night,
and thought lets check out the live game. One $2-$4 NL
game going, with biggish pots. Anyway i sat down
and some guy was betting pretty hard and was doing well.
Ok target him ! Picked up A-Q, flop comes A-Q-8. I
bet small, he raises to $10, some other guy calls.
Turn comes a blank, I bet $8, he raises to $20. Hmmm
interesting, who knows what hes got hopefully not trips.
Last card comes and Ace, so sweet, A-Q-8-5-A i have
the nuts!!! I check, he bets $40, i re-raise all in
he calls. He has Q-8, I pick up a $400 pot. He
re cashes in for $200. Shortly after in the big blind
I get 10-5. Flop comes 10-10-5. About 5 callers. I
check, last position guy bets $2, everyone calls. Then
turn comes a 9, Crazy guy bets $10, I call. River
comes a 3 or something. I bet $50, he comes over the top
of me all in, only 10-9 can beat me. I call. He has
like Q-6 or some crap. I take another $200 off him !
So im sitting at $650, and this guy has given me $400
in about 15mins. Play a few more hands, dont get
anything. but a good end to the night :)