Eurolinx update

Well, I haven't played much poker in the last two weeks... I did manage to get on Eurolinx yesterday and today for a total of about 4 hours.

My $250 has grown to just over $1600. I made most of that today by buying into the 3/6 NL table with $350. I like to go up in limits once in a while just for a session or two, to test the waters. There was a very aggressive player on the table today, and I took advantage of him.

After a few uneventful orbits, this guy is on the BB. I raise it to $24 with 9-10 offsuit... everybody folds, but he calls. Flop comes 10 high, with 2 spades. He bets $30, I raise to $75, he goes all-in. I call, he shows 3 6 spades. I dodge the spades so I double up. Then, two more times after that I raised all-in after he bet big after the flop (once with second pair, the other with 7 2) and he folded both times.

About an hour in, I get AA in early position, I raise to $24... this same guy re-raises to $42 from the SB. I make it $142 to go, and he calls. Flop JJQ. He bets $206. I flat call. Turn 6. He bets $216, I go all-in for $446 (only $230 more), and he folds... I had made up my mind that I was putting it all in... if he had a J, then it would have been game over.

I've changed my game playing 6 handed... and I like it. I play position a lot more, raising regularly with almost any two cards when I'm on the button - and picking up a lot of small pots. The other players see me raising a lot, so they also call me pre-flop when I have big hands. When I go back to PokerStars, I'll be playing the 6 handed tables exclusively.

Poker tonight

Well I didn't go to the weekly Monday tournament this week... my buddies called to play tennis, so I went there and then I played 90 minutes of poker on Eurolinx. Again, playing a six handed table worked great with my style... playing 2/4 NL I bought in for $200.

After about an hour, I'm up about $60 (I bluffed away $80 in a failed attempt earlier). I still have not showed one hand (personal record for one hour). So my table image is very good - they all respect me... or so I think. Here goes the hand where I made the most cash:


RockHD dealt Ad Qd

Blinds are 2.00/4.00
Evander (UTG) Raise to 24.00
willie_beaman Fold
Zozzzo Fold
tehyoda Fold
RockHD (SB) Raise to 64.00
Voddan (BB) Fold
Evander Call 40.00

Card dealt to table Kd Jd 10s - I flop the straight, with a royal flush draw

RockHD Check
Evander goes All-in 607.40
RockHD calls All-in 198.85 - too bad I didn't put more money down an hour ago!
Evander Return uncalled portion of bet 408.55

Evander shows AcQs for a straight
RockHD shows AdQd for a straight (but I have the flush draw...)

Card dealt to table 6c

Card dealt to table 4d - yes!

RockHD Showdown Show card: Flush
Ad Kd Qd Jd 4d
Evander Showdown Show card: Straight
Ac Kd Qs Jd 10s

RockHD Hand result 518.70

So I cashed out $603, for a profit of $403 in this 90 minute session. I'm now up to $975 from my original $250 buy-in to this site...

Eurolinx

Last week I decided to give it a try on Eurolinx Poker... the pokerpoker.ca gang seemed to like it, and the bonus structure is quite good. I only deposited $250 to start.

After playing for about 90 minutes total at 1/2 NL, 2/4 NL and 3/6 NL, I'm up to $575. I always liked playing 9-seat tables on Pokerstars, but I'm starting to like the 6 handed more. It's easier to size up the opposition... and so far I've seen less suckouts. I've seen some very loose / agressive play from one player (atbaer was his online name)... he must have lost at least $1500 during my 30 minute session at 3/6.

Yesterday though there was a problem with their servers... one of my tables froze up completely and they had to refund people playing MTTs and STTs - I hope this doesn't become a regular thing...

Monday night poker

Last night was our weekly $40 NL hold em tournament at the local bar. 32 players showed up. I went in with the strategy to only play good cards (I have been playing very poorly in tournaments lately).

After starting with $3500 chips, I was down to about $2200. I lost with 88 and 66 when overcards flopped. Then I got very lucky... I have 10-3 offsuit in the big blind. Under the gun calls (blinds 100/200), everyone folds, small blind calls and I check. Flop 10-3-3! Under the gun bets $500, SB folds, I call. Turn blank, he bets $1000, I go all in for my last $1700. He calls with K-10, so I double up.

Next hand I'm dealt 33. There's a small raise PF, but 3 others call so I call. Flop 2 4 5 with two clubs. First to act goes all-in for $1600. I put him on 2 clubs, so I call and hope that I don't get outrawn. Even if he has a big pair, my open ended straight gives me lots of outs. Everyone else folds. He has A 2 of clubs... so he needs a 2 or a club since his A would give me a straight. Turn 6 giving me the straight, and river another 6. So I pick up a nice pot.

A bit later, blinds are 300/600, a very agressive player raises to $1200 on my big blind. I hate min-raises... he's begging me to call so I do. I have K9 spades. Flop comes out J 9 3 with 2 diamonds, he bets $2500 - I re-raise all in for $3000 more and he folds.

Then I went completely card dead for an hour and a half, and my stack shrinked to $4300. With the blinds 600/1200, I got KJ offsuit and pushed all-in, got called by BB who had 8-3 offsuit. My hand held up.

Next hand I have 77, under the gun raises to $4000 - I go all-in for $5200 more. He calls with AQ. Flop A 3 5, turn 6. I need a 4 or a 7 on the river, but I get neither and I'm out in 6th place (top 4 paid). Once again I cannot win a race!

Maybe next time...

Last session

Well I'm stuck in my car on the 401. There's been an accident and we're not moving.

I took out $200 after the tournament, and tried my luck at a 2/5 table. It was a new table, so nobody could start with more than $200.

I found some great hands right away. AA, 2 x KK, QQ, JJ and built my stack up to $450. Then I got 10-10 and lost a big pot when a guy made a set of 2s on a 257 flop.

I ended up making just under $300 in a two hour session.

My favorite hand went like this: everyone folds, only the small blind and myself (BB) left. In all the cash games I had played until then, the blinds just chopped and took back their money. But this guy doesn't want to chop, he raises $25. I tell him: "you're sure you don't want to chop? ok, I'll call and try to suckout on you". I have 9-10 spades... flop comes 9-9-10!! He bets out $50, I put him all-in (only $25 more) - he calls and shows pocket Kings. That hand alone made my drive home so much more enjoyable... he got what he deserved and I got some redemption from all the bad beats I had suffered.

I'm out!

Last 20 players standing move to round 2. Well we were down to about 60 players, under the gun limps in, I have AQ so I went all-in for 2400 total (blinds 400/800). He called with 88... It's a race until the first card hits the board - it' an 8. Game over.

It was still fun... No regrets about coming.

Degree poker

1st break: I have about 4000 chips. 80 players left. Biggest hand I had 76, flop 752. Chip leader bets 600, I go all-in for 1000 more. He thinks and calls with A8... Turn 6 gives me two pair but gives him open ended straight. River 3.

Blinds now 400/800... Gotta catch some cards!

A little more venting

Just to get this off my chest before going to the tournament.

- I got pocket aces 5 times... The only times I didn't lose was when everyone folded to my pre-flop raise.

- although I must have flopped at least 20 flush draws, I didn't hit one flush.

- I never once made two pairs or hit three of a kind on the flop.

- I only made three of a kind with my pocket pairs twice (I made kings full once to take down a $500 pot, and made a set of 2s once more but only picked up the blinds).

All this to say I just didn't have any luck... So I can't be too disapointed with my play.

I gotta go. Tourney starts in 15 minutes.

This is poker hell

As you can guess from the title, I'm not having a great time. I had brought $1500 for my trip... And at 8:00 PM it's all gone.

Here are some highlights from today:

Again today I had to play 5/5 no limit. I lost $700 during the day. The worst hand went like this:

I have AA in the cutoff position, there are 3 limpers. I raise it to $35 and one player calls. Flop is 973 with two diamonds. He checks, I bet $100. He raises to $250, I go all-in for $180 more. He says he's probably beat, but now he has no choice but to call and he shows 9J. Turn J, river J. So I lost a pot that was over $850.

Don't get me wrong, I also made a few bad calls - but none that cost me so much as the bad beats.

I went back after dinner with my last $300. I lost about $125 when my 10J ran into AJ on a J high flop.

My last hand went like this: I have 99... A very loose player makes it $50 to go under the gun. 2 players call, so I raise all-in to $175. Loose player calls, player 2 raises all-in to $200, player 3 calls and loose guy calls. Flop if Q44. Turn 3. River 10. I show my 99, player 2 also shows 99, player 3 shows AK. Loose guy shows 45 off-suit and wins it with trip fours (over $700 in that pot).

He says: "you guys don't respect my raises, you should have folded your nines."

What a fucken loser! Like I didn't have reason to re-raise him. I just can't stand it when bad plays get rewarded like that!

So 2 big pots where I was a big favorite but I lost made the difference between losing big, or winning.

Tomorrow I'll be playing in the Degree Poker event, but I don't have very high hopes since I will need some luck early to avoid being blinded out. And this hasn't been my lucky week!

Forgettable evening

Well, after a 7 hour drive, I finally got to Niagara Falls at around 6:00 PM. I didn't waste much time and got to Fallsview casino at 6:30.

The games are spread pretty high... No 1/2 no limit - games start at 5/5.

I sat down at one of these tables. The minimum buy-in was $100, max $500. One player had over $2500 in front of him.

Things went well early - I bought in for $300 and I was up about $250 after half an hour. Then things started to go sour. My KK got rivered by 99 when the other guy hit his 9. I then hit a straight on the flop, but the guy with top pair managed to draw out a split pot.

And then there was my AK that ran into AA... Against the chip leader I mentioned earlier.

All and all I lost $500. Hopefully things will be better tomorrow.

Online poker

I had a little time to kill today, so I played a little 1/2 NL on PokerStars. I started with $200, and my last hand went like this...

On PS, you don't see the other person's cards even if you're both all in... you have to wait until all the cards are out. But I got that feeling in my stomach when the J hit the river... I knew he had JJ then and there.


PokerStars Game #4812367566: Hold'em No Limit ($1/$2) - 2006/05/02 - 16:19:14 (ET)
Table 'Aegina V' 9-max Seat #3 is the button
Seat 1: raoulshiro ($174 in chips)
Seat 2: Emmoyouesee ($611 in chips)
Seat 3: grayzee1 ($240.45 in chips)
Seat 4: RockHD ($156.20 in chips)
Seat 5: alacatious ($107.35 in chips)
Seat 6: bdubhc ($309.40 in chips)
Seat 8: Fringe Toast ($186.65 in chips)
Seat 9: jono1972 ($231.10 in chips)
RockHD: posts small blind $1
alacatious: posts big blind $2
WozMan: sits out
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RockHD [Ad Ac]
bdubhc: raises $4 to $6
Fringe Toast: folds
jono1972: folds
raoulshiro: folds
Emmoyouesee: folds
grayzee1: folds
RockHD: raises $14 to $20
alacatious: folds
bdubhc: calls $14
*** FLOP *** [9d 6c 3c]
RockHD: bets $136.20 and is all-in
bdubhc: calls $136.20
*** TURN *** [9d 6c 3c] [5d]
*** RIVER *** [9d 6c 3c 5d] [Jh]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
RockHD: shows [Ad Ac] (a pair of Aces)
bdubhc: shows [Jc Jd] (three of a kind, Jacks)
bdubhc collected $311.40 from pot
RockHD said, "of course"
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot $314.40 | Rake $3
Board [9d 6c 3c 5d Jh]
Seat 1: raoulshiro folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 2: Emmoyouesee folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 3: grayzee1 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: RockHD (small blind) showed [Ad Ac] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 5: alacatious (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 6: bdubhc showed [Jc Jd] and won ($311.40) with three of a kind, Jacks
Seat 8: Fringe Toast folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: jono1972 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

No more poker until tomorrow night when I get to Fallsview... hopefully the Poker Gods won't let this shit happen to me all week!

Monday night

I played in the weekly $40 event tonight, and as usual I sucked. I don't know what it is about this tournament, but I keep playing bad cards and getting burned. I think it's because I don't have much respect for the beginners who keep sucking out on me when I do have good cards...

I got busted out after about 45 minutes, so I started a 1/2 NL cash table. Quickly we were up to 8 players. I created a very loose image early on, raising on the button with 8d3d... and then I took advantage when I got nice cards. I doubled up early with this hand:

I raise KK to $12 in the cutoff position
Matt in the BB re-raises to $30
I go all-in for $40 more - he calls and shows JJ.
My hand held-up.

A bit later, I got AK on the button - everyone folds to me, I raise it to $12 again, and I get two callers (Tony and Shawn - both playing loose as usual). Flop comes out K-10-3, all clubs. Shawn is first to act and he bets $40 - he had been betting his top pair hard all night, so I raised him all-in ($45 more). He calls and shows K7, no clubs - I show AK no club. Turn is a 7!! So I lose almost a $100 being an 87% favorite.

I got few hands until very late, when I picked up a good pot with 10-10...

Finished the night up $65 in the cash game, so $25 overall - nothing to write home about.

I'm leaving tomorrow for Niagara Falls - I think I'll be playing 2/5 or 5/10 since I'm playing too many hands at 1/2.