Bad beats continue

I played for about 3 hours this afternoon. I sat at 1/2 NL tables instead of 2/4, one six-handed, the other 10.

Things started off pretty bad, then got much better. I was up about $300. Then the bad beats re-appeared. I managed to lose only $80 in the session despite three big suckouts. One against a donkey, the other against a four outer and the last & biggest against a 2 outer.

First pot.

6 handed table. I'm dealt QQ. Under the gun raises to $10. One caller. I re-raise to $35. Original raiser folds, other player calls.

Flop 10 J 3. He checks, I put him all-in (he only has $13 left). He shows 10d 8d. Turn is a 9, river a 7 giving him a straight. Total pot $105.

Second pot.

I call an $8 pre-flop raise with 22. Flop 9 9 2 with two hearts. Original raiser bets $16, I flat call, 3rd player goes all-in for $51. Raiser calls, I also call. Turn 10. Raiser checks, I bet $50, he calls. River Q. He checks, I decide to check since there is no possible flush, so I don't think I can bet and be called unless I'm beat . Raiser had AJ hearts, so I beat him on the side pot. But 3rd player had 9 10, and he caught one of his four outs on the turn to get a higher full house. Total pot lost $170.

Third pot.

I call a $10 pre-flop raise with 22. 3 players including me. Flop 2 3 6. He bets $40. I put him on a big pair. I min re-raise it to $80. Other player folds, he calls. Turn 4. He checks. I don't put him on a 5 for the straight, so I put him all-in for his last $135. He calls with AA. River is an Ace. 2 outer bullshit. Total pot lost $460.

And then to top it all off, I lost a $151 pot with 10 10 on a 8 9 J 5 6 board against KK.

Like I said earlier, I only lost $80 on the day. But I keep putting my money in as a big favorite, and Eurolinx keeps taking it away.

Bad beat day

I played online poker for about 2 hours on Tuesday afternoon. I lost over $400 in that session... much of it on bad beats. My Eurolinx account is now down to $641. As you know from past posts, I invested only $250 on this site, and have already taken out over $2200. But I don't want to have to put money back... so the luck better change.

Here's the rundown of the key hands.

Lost $244 on this hand: I went all-in with KK vs AK suited pre-flop. I'm a 66% favorite, but I lost as he flopped a flush draw, and made the flush on the turn.

Lost $53 when I bet a flush draw that didn't come, and the other player bet the turn hard so I couldn't chase it to the river.

Lost $144 when my K4 suited flops K 7 4. I check-raised the flop, then bet hard on the turn. He kept calling. Ace on the river, he checks and I check. He had AK. My two pair had him all the way until the river... at least I didn't lose any more after I correctly checked the river.

Lost $96 when my A7 suited flopped a flush draw, but didn't hit.

Lost $99 when my 22 saw a great flop of 8 4 2. I check-raised on the flop. The turn was a 4, giving me a full house, and I bet out hard. River is another 4... counterfeiting my hand. He checked, and I checked behind. He had JJ for a better hand of JJ444 vs my 22444.

I did win $400 on this hand however... I call a $12 raise with 56 suited vs two players. Flop 3 4 7 rainbow. 1st player bet $25, 2nd player calls, I call. Turn K. 1st player bets $75, 2nd player folds, I went all-in. He called with JJ. If I had been in his shoes, the K would have saved me some money. Why do people think their mid-pairs are still good when there are overcards on board?

I also played my first tournament on Eurolinx... a $50 buy-in event against 124 players. I managed to squeak into the money with a 22nd place finish worth $68.

I'm taking a break from online poker until next week.... I might need to go back to 1/2 NL since my bankroll has shrunk. I also want to start playing more tournaments... maybe go back to Pokerstars for those.

Vegas - Day Six

Saturday, I started out at 9:30 in the morning, going to the MGM 1/2 no limit game. I made $157 in about 90 minutes, so I quit since it was enough to cover my buy-in at Caesar's noon tournament.

I played very solid all day. I only lost once when I was a big favorite (my JJ was beaten by KJ before I used the rebuy) so I didn't get too many bad beats. I made some good calls and good laydowns, and I didn't get involved unless I had to. This is the way I need to play tournaments if I want to be in the money consistently.

There were 163 players, and they paid up to 20th. I finished 11th, for a small payout of $253. I had to go all-in with AJ, and I was called by AQ. First place money was over $5300. So close, but yet so far...

By the time I was done, it was 6:30. I hadn't eaten since breakfast (this happens a lot here), so I went to dinner and spent some time with my girlfriend since it's our last day here - so no more poker.

So I finish the day up $280, and the trip up $687. I was down $202 in tournaments and up $889 in cash games.

I fly back tomorrow, but I will be coming back soon.

Vegas - Day Five

I started off the day at the MGM's 1/2 no limit game. I was up $40 when I had to leave for Caesar's noon tournament.

In that event, I lasted about 2.5 hours. I lost big pots when I flopped a set of fours, and the other player got a straight on the turn, and another when I check-raised all-in with top pair and the guy with 2nd pair called and rivered trips.

I rebought at that point, but got blinded out. I eventually had to go all-in with 44 and got called by AA. The flop was AAK. That was it.

I then headed back to MGM. I bought in for $200 at the 1/2 no limit. I was down to $120 when I tried a big semi-bluff. There was a pre-flop raise to $12, 4 callers so I called with 9 10 offsuit. Flop is Qd Jh 3c. Everyone checked. Turn was Qc. I check, original raiser bets $30, two players call. I figured nobody was too strong with all the calling, so I raised all-in for $80 more. I was thinking the only hand that could call would be if they had a Q, but with the flush draw I didn't believe anyone would have just called with a Q with so much money in the pot. And if they did, I had 8 outs for the straight. The original raiser folded (he said he had aces), 2nd guy folded (he said he had Kc Jc), but the last player called with Ac 4c even though he said he thought he might be drawing dead because he only had $50 left. I was already beat by the ace high, but he still caught his flush on the river.

Everyone at my end of the table said they thought it was a great move. And it made my image as a loose player. I rebought for $200.

I went down to about $175, and then I called a $16 raise on the button with 7d9d. I like to call raises with these hands because I can easily fold if I don't hit. The flop was beautiful: 5c 6c 8h. He checked, I bet $20. He raised to $50, I go all-in. He decides to call. He had QQ. So I doubled up.

I got my chips up to about $400. I get KK. There are two limpers, I'm on the button and I raise to $17 and they both call. Flop is K 9 5. They check, I bet $20. I get one caller. Turn is a Q. He bets $25. I raise to $75. He goes all-in. I call. He has 55 for a smaller set. I win and I'm up to $800. I played a little more and called it a night at 9:45 when I got up to $900. Making a $500 profit for the session, and following my own advice about leaving when I'm ahead.

So today' tally: made $540 at cash games, paid $130 for the Tourney. Up $410 for the day, $407 for the trip with one full day to go.

Vegas - Day Four

Today, I played in a $130 buy-in tournament at Caesar's. I was eliminated in the first hour when I bluffed away all my chips.

It was a dumb move that early in the tournament, I know... There were over 150 people entered, and I will have to try again before leaving.

I sat at a 1/2 no limit table from 1:00 to 7:00 pm. I was up early, but I made one bad call that cost me $120. I then sat through a 2 hour stretch where I got absolutely no cards. About 15 minutes before I had to leave for dinner, I was dealt 89 offsuit. I limped in, but someone raised to $15. There was one caller, so I also called. Flop came out 10 J 3. The raiser bet $20, other player called and I called. Turn was magic: 7. Raiser bet $75, other guy called. I moved all-in for $55 more. Raiser went all-in, other guy folded. Raiser had AA. He was drawing dead.

So I ended that session up $248. I didn't play tonight, so I'm up $118 for the day, down only $3 for the trip after that awful first day.

Vegas - Day Three

My girlfriend flew in on Wednesday, so I went shopping in the afternoon. I finally sat down for some poker at 5:00 pm.

I got very lucky early, building up my $200 to $700. I limped on the button with Q5 because there were 6 people in the pot and I felt priced in... Flop was Q55. Turn 7. I managed to stack a guy who held 57. I also raised KJ, and flopped three of a kind, and then turned quads against a kid holding a pocket pair.

I then lost $120 on a good read when I called an all-in with J9 on a J high board against a pre-flop raiser who had AK, only for him to catch an A on the turn. So I cashed out a $369 profit at about 11:00 pm.

I went to the Excalibur 1/3 no limit game, lost $200 and called it a night. I ended the day up only $169. So I'm stilll down $121 for the trip, but I would be up $1000 if I would just quit when I'm up $500 at a table.

Have I learned that lesson? Stay tuned...

Vegas trip - Day two

I started off day two by signing up for the 11:00 am $65 tourney at the MGM. I had about an hour before the tournament started, so I bought in for $200 at a 1/2 NL table. I played only 3 pots, winning them all and leaving the table up $310.

The tournament itself is a bit of a crap shoot... with $1200 in starting chips, blinds starting at 25/25, doubling every 15 minutes. Things started off well, I was up to $3000 chips in the first half hour. About an hour in, I'm down to $1900 chips, blinds are $100 / $200, I'm on the Big blind and someone min-raises... I call with Q10. Flop comes 10 5 4, I check, other guy checks, original raiser goes all-in for $500. I call, the other guy calls. Turn 3, I go all-in for my last $1000... he thinks and calls. He shows 99. River comes a 9! Tournament over... a 2 outer sends me to the rail. The river gets me again...

I went back to the 1/2 tables for the rest of the afternoon, playing from about noon to 8 pm. Up and down it went, although I never went under my $200 buy-in. I made quad fives against two opponents to take down over $250, but I ended the session up only $165.

I made more laydowns today... probably folded some hands that were leading, but the point was to not risk all my chips when I wasn't sure. The lesson was learned the night before...

The river cost me on two or three occasions too... for example, a $350 pot when my K10 was beaten by K8 on a K 6 9 5 8 board even after I re-raised the bettor on the flop and the turn. But that's poker!

So I ended day two early... back in my room at 9 pm since I need a good night's sleep. I'm up $410 for the day, so still down $290 for the trip.

First day in Vegas

What a day to forget, again starting off a poker trip on the down side. I played for about 3 hours at Excalibur in the afternoon, 1/3 no limit. I lost $300. I never got anything going. I did bluff away $150 on a poorly executed play...

After dinner, I went to MGM, and sat at a 1/2 no limit table with the $200 maximum buy-in. I got my stack up to over $300 when I called an all-in against someone who had me covered. I had 4d 6d, the board was 10d 5d 7c. He held 10s 7h for two pair, but my open-ended straight plus flush draw came out on top when the turn came up 8h.

I actually got my stack up to over $800... but I didn't leave! That's the big mistake I keep making... I stay too long. And as it had to happen, I limped with A 9, and the flop came A 9 6. Some guy bet, I raised, he re-raised. I should have taken time to think here, but I went all-in. I told the guy next to me "I hope he doesn't have 66"... but he did have it. I lost over $600 on that hand. I bought in for $200 more, got that up to $350. Up and down it went, and then the last hand. I have about $250 left, and I get AA in the cutoff. I raise it to $17, one caller. Flop comes 9 7 3. He checks, I bet $30. He raises $50. I re-raise $50, he goes all-in. I call saying once again "you hit three of a kind, didn't you?". And he did, taking me out with his 99.

I end the day down $700,

I've been up for almost 24 hours... so I need some sleep. Tomorrow, I think I'll try some lower buy-in tournaments. And of course I'll probably go back to the 1/2 tables to try to make up for this shitty day.

Sunday $100 tournament

On Sunday I played in a $100 buy-in tournament with the Boys Poker Tour. The BPT gang are a bit younger than me (most are around 25 to 29), but they are very good, agressive players. They were hoping for 20 players, but only 10 showed. But it was a very good 10, definitely the best table of players I've had the opportunity to sit with in Rockland.

The tournament paid three spots $600 - $300 - $100... We all got $5000 chips to start, and blinds started at 25/50 with 45 minute levels. So you had some time to play... no bingo here.

My buddy Pecker (well known in the Ottawa poker circles) got knocked out in the first orbit, so he dealt the rest of the way. Thanks Pecker! He's a great dealer, and he made the game move quickly.

I decided once again to play position and to play agressive. I would also always raise whenever I opened a pot. Basically a similar strategy to the one that's got me running so good on Eurolinx.

About half an hour in, I get 45 suited in spades, and I raise it to $200. I get one caller, Eric Desjardins on the button. Flop comes out 10 7 7. I throw in the continuation bet - $300. Eric takes about a minute, and he raises me $1000. My thinking here is that he has a 10, or a small pair. Why? No re-raise pre-flop, so I don't put him on a big pair. I take about 20 seconds, and I re-raise $1500. $1500 makes it look like I'm serious, but I don't mind a call... I didn't go all-in. It also leaves me with $2500 chips if my read is wrong and he calls. He thinks for about a minute, and he folds, turning over A 10 and saying "you must have a big pair". I turned over my hand - and he was left shaking his head, and saying I played it like I had a big pair. That's the difference when you play better players, you can bluff them more then novices. You just have to pick your spots.

About 15 minutes later, I get pocket 10s. I raise again, this time to $400. Eric re-raises me to $1000. In my mind he has a big pair, but $600's not a big amount to call, and I figure if I hit my set he's done... and the beautiful flop came out 10 J 3, with 2 clubs. He goes into the tank, and after about a minute he announces "all-in". I insta-call... he shows QQ and I knock him out.

Then that was about it for the hands I remember... the rest was really just playing solid agressive poker. I raised in position no matter what cards I was holding, picking up lots of smaller pots. When we got to 4 players, and everyone was so tight. We must have played 4 handed for at least 90 minutes. Then 4th place go knocked out when the short stack went all-in with Q6 and I was holding QQ. About 5 minutes after, Sly went out 3rd when his set of 7s got beat by Eric B's set of Ks. And it was on to head's up.

I had 18,000 - leaving 32,000 for Eric. It was already 9:15... we'd been playing for almost 5 hours. I asked if he wanted to split 50/50, he said no. I don't blame him, he held a two to one chip lead.

But then I steamrolled him... I raised every hand when I was the dealer, except for two that I just limped and then made a big bet on the flop, and I re-raised him twice when he made big raises, to which he folded. It's about as agressive as I've ever played, since I didn't really get any cards in that sequence. After 15 minutes, we were even in chips. Then came the last hand... he raised to $5000. I went all-in with Kd2d... not strong, but I figured he'd fold since he'd been folding everything else when I re-raides him. He says "well I have two live cards and I'm tired of playing, so I call". He hadt 10 J offsuit. My hand held up and that was it.

We then played a $40 tourney with 7 guys... I finished third with just two spots paying. But I did get to knock Pecker out first again...

All in all I made a profit of $440 for the evening... that included a $20 tip to our dealer of course!