Tried my luck in a little S&G with 8 other players…buy in at 0.50$…man do I like High Low! If your hand is good for either way you’ve got the chance for a real scoop (getting both the high and low pot), if you’ve got a big hand you’ve got the chance to get the high pot (and maybe even the low pot with A-x) and if you’ve got a low hand you’ve got the chance for the low and sometimes for the high too (wheel).

Held my own all night and was able to scoop some hands with nice high full houses (no low hand) and some wheels. Was the chip leader most of the way and was able to push some players around and even eliminate 3 players before the bubble! Nice…when it came to the bubble my mojo somehow took a break and I was down to short stack, but was able to bust out the fourth player of the night to bump me right up into the race and the money. Busted out another player to take a 2:1 chip lead (just over 10k to his just under 5k) and a secured second place. Played back and forth just to make some donkey calls and go down to 1:2 in chips…no way back as we split most of the following pots…then it was time for me to go…he busted my straight with a full house.

So, a second place in my first Omaha H/L tournament try, not bad…although I feel I should have won, but hey…I don’t complain…there’s always a next time 😉

Stats:

• Buy-In: 0.50$ + 0.10 fee
• 9 players
• Finished 2nd of 9
• Hands played: 113
• Money awarded: 1.35$

Back to almost even…nice 🙂

Another day, another 9 handed S&G for 0.50$…and once again I bust out in 4th place (top 3 in the money), but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I sit back and relax and watch people bust out right and left – in the mean time I don’t catch any real hands, at least some live cards, but I don’t catch anything and fold a lot. We’re down to four handed action and I catch a nice run of cards…or at least some playable cards and I move All-In with 9-9, donkey shows A-Jo, my pair holds up as the board is: K-5-4-3-3. Alrighty, double me up (2400 chips now). Next hand and I look down at Ah-Jh…All-In again…everybody folds, nice. Then on the next hand I’m on a diamond flush draw, I put my opponent on a straight draw (flop: 6-7-8 and he’s betting out)…so I call, turn is blank but I call his continuation bet…river hits and I’ve got my king high flush…he bets out…I wonder if he’s holding the Ace…hmm…what to do what to do…I call and sure enough the donkey is showing his diamond Ace…down to 1200 in chips. The very next hand brings another smile on my face…As-Qh…not bad…All-In please…one caller…who shows….A-Q…two hearts in the flop…maybe I’m getting lucky…turn is another heart…but no joy on the river and we split the pot. The very next, and sadly last, hand brings an even bigger smile to my face: Cowboys…All-In yet again one caller (sure enough the same donkey again)…he shows A-Q again…and sure enough the flop hits him…4-5-A…turn (10) and river (3) don’t help either side and I’m out in 4th place…argh!

After the quick exit in the little S&G I was browsing through the tournament listings and found a freeroll, which I entered. There were 1909 players in total and I managed to hold on for over 3 hours!
Unfortunately my K-J All-In bet (14k chips) was called down and crushed by A-A. So I went out in 33rd place. Not bad at all as it was a good experience to finally last really long in a tournament again, while playing some of my best poker (looking up (semi) bluffs, pushing ppl around, etc)! The only thing that didn’t rock is that, as it was a freeroll, only the first 18 places were payed (10$,8$,6$,4$,3$,3$,3$,2$,2$, 10-18: 1$)…nontheless I had a great time and was able to build up some confidence again. Poker world here I come, again 😉

Tried to continue the good roll today, but couldn’t come through right away…finished 5th of 9 in another 0.50$ S&G…so no cash this time…

As I was reading through some of my favourite poker blogs today I came across a site (and poker room) which I hadn’t known yet. Absolute Poker. As they offer a 200% sign-up bonus with Code AP200 I decided to sign up, invest some and start playing.

As it’s already rather early around here (01:40am on Monday) I decided to play just a little NL Hold’em S&G for 0.50$ + 0.10 fee – the lowest Buy In I’ve ever seen…held my own, got a nice stack with A-A and kicked back and relaxed a little, as one bully at the table kept pushing and pushing – until someone looked him up and he was gone. Was able to cash in as I came in third (20% of the pot = 0.90$) – not much, but a good way to start off with a new poker room!

So, I decided that all the S&G playing wasn’t really paying off (I’ll try to combine statistics somewhere in the near future) – so “normal” play comes to mind. It wasn’t a good idea to play a mix of Stud, Omaha and Omaha H/L though. Switching between the two games put me a little bit off apart from the fact that I kept making good hands, but nontheless still run into even better hands. One example: I hit the diamond nut flush and keep betting and betting until I’m all in with one caller…sure enough he makes his diamond straight flush on the turn 🙁

Results: 4$ donkeyed off in less than 30 minutes…

To end my poker day on a low note I decided to play a quick Heads Up match for a buck…and promptly lost…I guess it’s not a good idea to switch from “relaxed” MTT action to heads up…although my scoresheet is still not looking all too bad on Heads Up matches at TitanPoker:

1$: Played/Won/Lost: 25/16/9
2$: Played/Won/Lost: 8/4/4

So I guess what cost me all the money at Titan is the mix of S&Gs and video poker (-6$ alone)…

Played a big freeroll today, not big in price money (top 27 would go on to a 1000$ tourney), but big in participating players: 5206 entered. I was able to stand my ground and even build up a huge stack (around 18k) putting me in the top 10…but then, after around 1.5h, I was my own self again…donkeying away my hard earned chips in less than 30 minutes…to bust out in 730th place. Gotta re-evaluate this thing…it’s not a good idea to bet into 4 hearts on the board and telling yourself “ah come on, he ain’t got the 5th heart”…

Played a little S&G in order to get a little more action…a cheap 1$ + 0.20, 45 players, top 7 pay. Played well and was constantly in the top 10 chip-wise, until my nemesis came to visit me again…I’m UTG and min-raise with my lovely hiltons (Q-Q), three callers, late position goes all-in, I put him on an Ace (and rightly so), took some time to think about the situation: either fold and stay in good shape (2520chips) or call with the possibility to double up or be crippled (120 chips remaining)…ponder ponder, call! He shows A-Js…and sure enough he doesn’t catch either A or J but three spades…6h-10s–3s-2c-7s…I’m crippled…look down at A-10o in the next hand and raise All-In, two callers…board is blank (highest card 8) and sure enough the two callers show A-8…split pot and cya…argh!!!

I think this is the fourth time that I busted out holding Q-Q…they’re just no good luck charm for me…note to self: lay down Q-Q when reraised All-In preflop in next MTT…

Alrighty! The next poker session is set and I’m going to be a part of it. Despite a lot of pre-christmas action we’ve finally set a date for the next Poker event and I’m sure it’ll rock!

I guess the main action will be a Limit Hold’em session although I want to try to push other games (especially Stud and maybe even Omaha (no Hi/Lo though))…watch out for my next post after the session…

Here’s the invitation to the event(!), it’s getting more and more professional around here 🙂 :