Poker can be frustrating

Since my $660 cash in the 200K on Full Tilt a week or so ago, I've been playing alot more tourneys. I am playing the absolute best tournament poker that I ever have, and have been cashing alot, but I can't seem to close it out for a big win. For example... I was bubble boy in a MTT on Full Tilt last week, and at the same time I was in a $10 rebuy for $135 tourney credits on Bodog. Top 4 got paid, and with 6 left I was big stack with about 17k (second having about 10k). So I was in great shape, until my KK went down to AK allin preflop, then I ended up finishing on the bubble there too, in 5th, after my AK went down to K10 allin preflop to the same guy. And earlier that same day, I was in a tourney on Full Tilt, I believe with a prize pool of 6k, and I managed to make the final table. I was fine in chips but couldn't get anything going there, and pushed allin preflop with 99 only to run into KK and finish 7th for a profit of about $200. Last night I was in a $26 bracelet race tourney on Full Tilt....(266 people, top 6 paid, with the top 3 getting a $2,000 WSOP package including a $1,500 buyin to the 6-handed event and $500 cash). This tourney was 6-handed, which I love. I play better short-handed because I like to raise alot. Most of my limit cash game experience is 6-handed, and I feel I have an advantage on alot of the players because of that. You just can't play too tight 6-handed. Well anyway, I got 15th in that which, once again, was pretty close to something good. At the same time, I was in the 17k guaranteed on Full Tilt, and built a nice stack early. There were over 1,000 people in it and I got my stack up to around 50k when I raised in MP with AKh to 6k (blinds 1k/2k). The sb instapushes for about 30k total. Now I had been raising alot, so I figured he thought I was playing loose for the most part, which I was late in the tourney, so of course I call and he has 55. Well with a board of Q 10 4 Q 4, I lost the race, naturally. I guess he figured 55 had me dominated or something, or either he wanted to risk his above average stack on a coin flip at best with plenty of time to go. Well anyway, I get allin with AK again later against JJ. Ace on flop!!!! but a Jack was right next to it.... bye bye me. 30th place for around $80 which was extremely disappointing.

I just keep getting so close in these multis, but with nothing really to show. I either go card dead late or lose a huge coinflip. I know I'm playing better right now than I ever have, so I'm just going to stick it out and keep on trying. Eventually I should make a nice score. Well I'm out... about to play in a $22 MTT on Full Tilt as we speak.. maybe I'll win this one!

Partypoker 500k and Full Tilt 200k

I mentioned in my last post that I qualified for the 200k on Full Tilt. Well I also managed to get into the 500k on Party for only $10 which was nice.


Party 500k

I ended up starting late.... about 5 minutes before the first break because I was spending time with the family for Mother's Day. It looked to be a good thing though as I signed on, because I was dealt QQ about the 3rd hand I saw. Blinds were only 50/100, and a guy in MP opened for over 600, which is a big raise. For some reason I put him on either AK, 1010, or JJ with that kind of raise, although it could obviously be anything. I decided to push for another 3700 or so because I wouldnt mind winning close to 1k without a fight. He calls with JJ and I double quickly. Almost to the second break I'm sitting decent with about 11k when I get AQc in MP. UTG min raises to 1200, and I only call...(looking back I should've made it about 2400 to go. This would've done a couple things... it would've most likely given me the lead which is important when the blinds get higher like they were starting to do, and there was a pretty good chance I also had the best hand. It also would've knocked out the BB, because getting about 6 to 1 preflop with the antes and all, its hard to fold anything. So to make a long story short, the BB calls and the flop is A 5 4. The BB has 54 and I bust out on that hand. I was really disappointed in my play on that hand, but life goes on. I finished out of the money.


Full Tilt 200k

I was off to a slow start in this one, but managed to double up right before the first break. I was dealt Q10d on the button and MP makes it 200 with blinds of 50/100. Alot of times I'd fold here, but this guy seemed to min raise alot and fold after the flop, which makes me think he's the type who raises min with suited connectors and maybe a weak ace or something, so I call. I also call because if the sb or bb call (which the bb almost always should), I'd be in position 3 or 4 handed with a hand that can hit some big flops. So the flop is A K J rainbow... as T.J. would say, "I flopped the joint!" The BB checks and the min raiser fires out 300 chips. I sit for about 5 seconds and just call because I'm really hoping he has that weak ace now. The BB folds and the turn is the 7d. Beautiful card for me. I still have the nuts, and now I have the flush draw along with it so I'm not worried about another diamond peeling off. He bets 500, and again I just call. I see no reason in raising here because there are no scary cards out there. The worst thing that could happen is the board could pair, and I would still be about 90% sure I had the best hand. This leaves me with around 1500 chips. The river is a nice little black 3. The instantly puts me all in, and I instacall. He had K8s haha. I'm glad I didn't raise the turn because he likely would've folded to even a min raise. So I get to about average going into the second hour.

I'm sitting nicely at about 9k, average around 7k when the next hand comes up. The guy on my right is UTG+1 and he makes it 1400 to go (200/400 blinds) and I have AQ and call. All else fold and we see a flop of Q 8 10 with 2 diamonds (I have no diamond). He checks to me and I bet 2200 into a 3800 pot. He calls pretty quickly. Turn is 6d. This obviously isn't the best card in the world for me here, but I still feel confident that I have the best hand. He immediately fires out 3300.... huh?? This didn't make sense. If he just made the flush would be bet out at me here? If he had flopped 2 pair would he not have raised me on the flop? I was trying to put it together and was worried about Q10 or J9. I pretty much ruled out J9 because I don't think he would have raised UTG+1 with that, and Q10 was unlikely too for the same reason. Could he have turned a set?? I doubt he would've called my flop bet if so. So the only 2 hands I figured he could've had me beat with were 88 or 1010. I was already heavily invested though and I still felt there was a good chance that I had him beat, I mean he could've had KQ or QJ, and maybe with a diamond, which I would still be a pretty good favorite over. Then I remember that he had raised UTG earlier with A10os and instacalled an all in from the button (button had 88) and won that race. So I knew this player was either pretty bad or just liked to gamble. And not to mention I remembered that I went broke with the same hand in the tourney on Party!! But I can't let that influence my decision of course lol. So right before it forced me to fold, I pushed the rest of my chips in. He sat there for about 4 or 5 seconds, which made me feel better about my decision, and eventually called with K10 (10 diamonds). He blanked the river and that rocketed me up to 20k at the second break.

I was feeling great after that, and was one of the chip leaders at my table. In fact, one other guy had 20k and nobody else was over about 12k. So the very first hand after the break, the same guy is UTG and raises to 2200. I have AA and make it 5k to go. I figure to at least get all of HIS chips because he is likely steaming. So it folds to him and he pushes the rest of his chips (about 6k total I think) with KQc!!!! The first 4 cards are blanks and he's drawing dead, sending me up around 27k. About 30 minutes or so after that, I'm given another gift. I get AA in the BB, and the second or third biggest stack at the table (I'm biggest) makes a standard raise in LP. I re-raise from the BB about 3x his raise and he instapushes for about 20k. I call of course and he has AJ!!!! Maybe he thought I was on a re-steal, but wrong! He spikes a jack on the flop, but no help after that and I'm sitting around 50k which is monster stack at my table.

So we get in the money (top 99 paid) and I'm sitting above average still, when I take a big hit. I'm UTG+1 with 1010, and UTG pushes for about 20k. Now blinds were about 1k/2k, so I figured with AA, KK, or QQ that UTG probably wouldn't have done this. This raise was screaming pocket pair or maybe something like AQ to me, I was just hoping not JJ. I call and its heads up, my 1010 vs her 55. Well, she turns the 4-flush and I'm back below average... that sucked. I managed to hang around for a little bit longer, but failed to pick up any hands to work with. I finally had to push my last 20k in (blinds 2k/4k) with KJh and ran into AQc. The jack flopped but so did the ace, and I got no help after that. I finished in 32nd place, good for $660, which is good with me because I got in for only $8. I feel good about the way I played in that tourney and just wish I could've gotten some hands late, and not to mention that 55 taking down my 1010. But thats poker and it happens. Top 3 in that tournament were all over $20,000. I was close, and won't be giving up on it anytime soon. I'm gonna hit it big in one of these.



I'm going to try to get into these big tourneys alot more often now, as I feel I can play well enough to make a push at some good money. I always have fun playing tournaments and think they are a breath of fresh air as opposed to cash games that can get boring. Well, I gotta go. Time to get back to those "boring" cash games!

Tunica results, WorldPX.com, and other random poker stuff

I haven't updated since I've gotten back form Tunica. For the most part, I had a good time. The room at the Goldstrike was great, and Tunica as a whole just looked much cleaner than Biloxi was the few times I've been there. I got there around 11:00 on Thursday, and to be eligible for a special poker room rate, I'd have to play 5 hours a day, or just 15 hours total for the 3 nights I stayed there. I decided to go on and knock 5 hours out of the way the first night, and played from 11:00 to 4:00. I bought in for $100 (1/2 NL) and there were alot of big stacks at the table... some around $1,000! There was plenty of money for me to try to get my hands on. Here are a couple of key hands in my session....

I got dealt KK in LP. A guy in MP makes it $15 to go (this was close to standard in this game, the raises were sometimes even $20 or so). 1 guy calls and I make it $45 to go, expecting a call or 2 and hoping to get all in on a flop if it was favorable. The original raiser insta-pushes and the second guy folds. I'm thinking if he's got AA, then oh well time to reload, but nobody should EVER fold KK preflop in a cash game, at least under any circumstances similar to this. So of course I call and he shows... QJ os!!! Wow, that's bad. The flop is Q 9 9 and he needs 1 of the other 2 Queens to stay alive, and he blanks out. So I'm up to $200 fairly quick.

I have around $200 in chips, and get JJ in MP. Ok at this point, I've moved to another table and these guys are straddling EVERY SINGLE HAND. And it was normal practice for the straddler to make it $25 or $30 to go when the action got back to him preflop... I know I know, crazy. So 2 or 3 people call the $4 straddle and I make it $25, which was the first hand I played at that table. I raised so much for obvious reasons. I knew I should get respect here but still expected at least 1 call, which I got from the sb.

Flop: Ah 4h Jh

He checks to me. Now I have no reason to think my hand is not good at this moment, even with the 3 hearts out there. I figure there is about $65 or so in the pot, so I fire out a pot-sized $65 bet. I bet this much for a couple reasons.... First, I'd be fine with just taking this pot down right now without further confrontation because, of course, having flopped a set, I have no flush draw. Second, I'd also be fine with him calling this much, because if he has a high heart, something like AxKh, he would probably come over the top anyway and I'd be a favorite. Also, if he holds nothing but a heart draw or a heart draw and a gutty, something like KhQx or Qh10x, I'd be forcing a bad call by him with intentions to push all in on the turn if he were to call and no heart came... (unless of course another 4 or Jack fell, then I'd probably give him a free river hoping he would make his flush). So with all that said... he comes over the top. Now he has me covered and I have about $120 or so left, so of course I call. Even if I was 100% sure he already had the flush, with these odds it would be hard to give up my hand drawing to 7 outs on the flop and 10 on the river... ok maybe not too hard to give it up, but hey, I was in a gambling mood! Plus, I figured it was 50/50 or probably less that he either already had it or had something like AxKh like I mentioned earlier, so this made for an easy call.

Anyway, we don't flip our cards because alot of times people don't do that in cash games and you don't have to. The turn is ugly....

Turn: 10h

Man, I just knew I was in trouble here and I needed the board to pair.

River: Ad

I loved that river and proudly showed my Jacks, and he flipped up Qh9h disgusted. I heard him mumbling something, and I said "Dang I got lucky, I didn't think you already had it." And he followed that by saying "Good read." HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. I was laughing so hard inside. I followed that with "Good call with Q9 for $25 donkey...but oh yeah.. it was soooooooooooooooted!!!" Ok, actually I didn't say that, but was thinking it. If someone is gonna make a horrible call before the flop with something like that, they need to just keep their mouth shut when they lose. He then proceeded to reload and steam his way back to broketown again..heeeehawwww. Ok enough of that. That boosted me up to $400, and after a couple more hours of textbook poker and making a good call with QQ on a board of J 10 7 J against another opponent for $100 and checking down the river when his A8 missed (lol), I finished the night at $520.... Not too shabby for a $100 buyin... +$420

The rest of the trip didn't go as well, as I busted out of both tournaments I played in (one was me donking away my chips, the other a donkey busted me calling my all in with an 89os and beating my overs). I also played 1/2 NL again and got all in with JJ on a rag flop but was up against QQ... really nothing you can do there. So I ended up even for the trip, even after that good first night, which was of course disappointing. But it was still fun.

Ok, enough about Tunica. There is now a site that has no rake... NO RAKE!!!! I didn't believe it at first, and wondered how they could possibly make money if they took no rake, but it's true. WorldPX.com (World Poker Exchange) is the place. They are based in England and are mainly a sports betting site, and thats where all of their revenue comes from. They decided that offering rake free poker would attract alot more people to their site, and hopefully boost their revenue in other gambling areas (kinda like the way casinos offer free drinks, and other things like that). Well, it sure has gotten me to open an account there. They have a calculator on their site that tell you about how much you would save per month depending on what limits you play and how many tables. If I 4-table 2/4 for only 20 hours a week, I could make an extra $600/week just on the rake!! That's insane. Oh, and they do take the rake from every pot like all other sites, but they give it all back to you in your account at the end of each week. They do this just to let you see how much you are saving by playing there. That's alot of money, and I hope it will help my profits substantially now that I'll be a regular there.

Oh and the other day I qualified for Full Tilt's Sunday 200K Guaranteed tournament through an $8 MTT satty. There were 57 players and the top 2 got seats, and I got in there. I'm hoping to make something happen and at least finish in the money, although I won't be playing scared near the bubble to sneak in the money, I'll be playing to win. First place is close to $50k so wish me luck. And its getting about time to start trying for the WSOP... again. I'll probably be giving it a try on all the major sites, and Bodog for sure, because the have a consistent overlay in some of their guaranteed tourneys. Well thats it for now.