Today was one of the uglier sessions, not results-wise as I was wise enough to quit after just four matches, but in the overall “coolness” of the matches. I played PLO8, PL5CD and one NL HE HU match and the theme was the same in all matches.

PLO8: Start with A2xx…flop A2Q…turn A…river 10…most of the money is in by now…opponent holds AQxx…etc etc

PL5CD: Start with two pair…opponent starts with two pair…opponent hits boat…start with set…opponent starts with flush draw…opponent hits…

NL HE: Dismantle opponent, pick up bluffs, etc etc, then watch cooler after cooler…two outer on the river (T8o vs 55…flop 8xx turn x…river 5)…two outer on the river (62o vs A7…flop 667..turn x…river 7) …etc etc…

Fugly…but oh well…at least I didn’t let it tilt me…right back at ‘cha soon…

PokerStars just announced this year’s World Championship of Online Poker…

Sep.14 (15:00) NL Hold’em [6-max] $215 $400,000
Sep.14 (16:30) PL 5-Card Draw $215 $100,000   ***
Sep.15 (15:00) PL Omaha [6-max] $215 $200,000
Sep.15 (16:30) 2-7 Triple Draw $215 $100,000
Sep.16 (16:30) NL Hold’em $530 $2,000,000
Sep.17 (15:00) PL Omaha w/Rebuys $320 $400,000
Sep.18 (15:00) Limit Hold’em $215 $100,000
Sep.19 (15:00) Limit Omaha H/L $530 $300,000
Sep.20 (15:00) NL Hold’em w/Rebuys $215 $1,000,000
Sep.21 (15:00) NL Hold’em Match Play $320 $500,000
Sep.21 (16:30) Razz $215 $100,000   ***
Sep.22 (15:00) HORSE $215 $200,000   ***
Sep.22 (16:30) PL Hold’em $530 $400,000
Sep.23 (16:30) NL Hold’em $1,050 $2,000,000
Sep.24 (15:00) 7 Card Stud $320 $100,000
Sep.25 (15:00) PL Omaha H/L $320 $200,000
Sep.26 (15:00) NL Hold’em [6-max] $320 $400,000   ***
Sep.27 (15:00) 7 Card Stud H/L $530 $200,000
Sep.28 (15:00) PL Omaha $530 $300,000
Sep.28 (16:30) NL Hold’em Triple Shootout $530 $200,000
Sep.29 (15:00) HORSE $5,200 $500,000
Sep.29 (16:30) Limit Hold’em $1,050 $200,000
Sep.30 (16:30) NL Hold’em Main Event $2,600 $5,000,000

*** I think I’m going to try to satellite into these ones…let’s see how it goes, still plenty of time to do it…and wouldn’t it be sweet to win a bracelet while sitting at home at the compi…beautiful…. 😉

*lol* I still can’t stop laughing about this one fish. Yes, he was my downfall in a six handed PL 5-Card-Draw SnG, but hey, I’m still laughing. The setup was perfect, it’s early on in the SnG and I’m on the button. I look down at two pair, Queens and Deuces…not a monster hand, but good enough for a raise, especially as all players limped in front of me. So I pop it up to 100. SB folds…BB calls…BB+1 calls…BB+2 calls…BB+3 calls. Hmm…exciting. Let’s see how the draw goes. BB draws 3…BB+1 draws 3….BB+2 draws 3…BB+3 draws 3…I draw one…a brick. Nothing new there, but what the hell is going on here. All those guys called a +4x raise preflop OOP and now they’re drawing 3?! What the hell? Ever heard of starting hand requirements? So I’m guessing there are two guys with Aces and god knows what the others have. BB leads out. BB+1…folds…BB+2…folds….BB+3…folds…errm yeah…I raise…BB ponders long and hard, or at least it seems that way, and he raises….hmm…must have caught good my friend…I call…he shows? Fives full of fours. A friggin boat.

Quick rewind: he calls +80 preflop with a pair of fives OOP. He draws three. He draws what? Not only one of the remaining fives in the deck, but also a pair. Three perfect cards! Are you kidding me?

So after that hand I’m off to a real bad start and I lean back, curse my luck, go off a little in the chat and focus on the game again. A few hands later…I hold two pair again…my donkponent get’s involved again…draws three again…I draw one again…a brick…what does he show? Trip sixes…he called again preflop with his huge pair of sixes and drew out on me. Nice. Down but not out. A few hands later…I look down at a pair of Aces on the button…I pop it up AGAIN…my donkponent get’s involved again…I draw three, bricks, he draws three…what does he show? Aces and Kings with a queen kicker…hmm…not bad…yuck.

After those three ridiculous freezers (although the last one isn’t a real freezer, but let’s just say that hand #1 was an ultra-freezer and #2 was a freezer, so the average should be freezer), I’m down to roughly 320 in chips and the next time I start with two pair again…another opponent get’s involved…he draws three…I draw my usual brick and he shows his set…gg me.

Now, why am I laughing so hard about that fish in particular (and this SnG)? Well, tbh, I should be crying, but it doesn’t matter and it won’t change anything, so I might as well laugh it off. I mean come on, someone drawing three perfect cards, then 1 perfect card, then two perfect cards…can’t do much about that, now can you? Not really…so nothing to be mad about, especially considering the two following things:

1. I told the fish that the only way he could win anything would be if he was lucky and as soon as his luck ran out he would be busto in no time. Now remember, he got ultra-lucky against me and held over 4k in chips when I busted in 6th. Sure enough my prediction rang true as he busted in 3rd. *lol* good job there.

2. I look him up on Sharkscope and this is probably the BIGGEST fish I’ve ever seen. Honestly, tell me, how can you drop nearly 5000$ playing 5$ SnGs?! Poor sucker…

But enough about that SnG, I only played one headsup match after that disappointment and who did I play? A player from Stuttgart…well…that’s 20km from here…middle of the night, half-way across the world (pokerstars) and who do you meet at the table…a fellow german…lol…cool stuff. I won the match easily as he managed to bluff off his chips like crazy…and sharkscope says… …hence the title of this post…

In other news, I finally ordered my new laptop today. I was looking around for months now and it seemed that I just couldn’t find “the” perfect model. My requirements were:

1. max 14.1″ screen…15.4″ screens are fine, but having a 15.4″ screen means that the things is at least 16.x” wide (15.4″ + frame)…usually models sporting a 15.4″ screen are heavy (around 3+ kg)…and due to the big screen the battery runtime is usually low(er) too…

2. decent vga…integrated intel and stuff is cool, but not really…especially as I tend to hold on to laptops for quite some time (I bought my current laptop, an IBM Thinkpad, 6 years ago), so it should be at least up to par now so that’ll still be “okay” in a few years…

3. at least 1GB of ram…better 2GB…dual channel…yadda-yadda…

4. don’t care much about hdd size but 80GB would be fine and a DVD burner would be nice too…

5. shipped with Vista

6. not the most expensive one out there

7. service…at least two-year warranty with at pickup service or better…

8. screen resolution of at least 1024×768…but preferred would be some widescreen format (e.g. 1280×800)…

Given those requirements, it was a real hard task to find a compromise between some of them – 14.1″ models are usually far more expensive than 15.4″ models as 15.4″ is the biggest seller these days, so I guess the panel prices are way cheaper. Some models are still only available with Windows XP. Other models have 14″ screens, but only a 1024×768 resolution. Some models are looking good in pictures, but when you touch them in real life, they feel cheap and not really fit for everyday operation. etc etc

To make a long story short, I finally decided to go with the new Samsung R20-Aura line. There are only two models available in that line, so not much to chose from, but they are exactly what I was looking for. The difference between the models (Deva / Declan)? They’re exactly the same…except for the CPU…so chipset, ram, video card, hdd, dvd burner, software, everything is the same…

Deva – Core 2 Duo T7200 (2x2GHz, 4MB Cache)

Declan – Core Duo T2350 (2×1.86GHz, 2MB Cache)

Now, I always want to go with the newest stuff and all and a Core 2 Duo system would be nice, but I decided to go with the Core Duo model. Why? Let me explain…

Yeah, Core Duo isn’t the current line of Intel mobile processors, but it’s a kickass CPU and probably more CPU power than I’ll ever use (as this notebook will be used as a mobile computer, not as a desktop replacement) and you just can’t beat the price difference. I ordered it with 2GB of ram, 120GB HDD, DVD burner, Vista Home Premium, the whole shebang…and what’s the price difference between the two models (which are exactly the same minus the CPU)? 400 Euro (that’s roughly 545$)…you can keep your 2 between the Core and Duo for that fellows 😉

…the best thing is that I ordered it this afternoon and they called me up five minutes after I had placed my order to confirm everything. The said it would be shipped tonight and earlier on I received a mail with the UPS tracking code…wheee…it really left their shop tonight and now, in the middle of the night, I just rolled into the UPS depot for my area…so…I expect to be playing on and with it tomorrow…the excitement 🙂

Specs:

T2350 – 1.86GHz Core Duo

2GB Ram

Ati x1250 video card (max 256MB, which will leave me with 1.79GB of ram)

120GB HDD

DVD-Burner

Vista HomePremium

14.1″ Widescreen WXGA screen (1280×800)

Piano-style finish (shiny black)

If so, please tell me. I’ll smile right smack into the middle of the camera, laugh and wave and we can get this over with as it’s getting too ridiculous. Thank you.

I start off with some shorthanded NL (SnG)…nothing much going on…can’t catch anything. All good…I exit in fourth with the second best hand. No problem.

I jump into headsup mode and meet a fellow german. He’s pretty aggressive and has lots of bullets in the chamber, so I’m waiting for him to make a mistake. He complies as I make, well…a good call, at least I think so. Situation…he raises preflop, like 80-90% of the hands, and I call with A4o. Flop comes down J48…I lead out and he insta-pushes. My head screams call call call….but I restrain myself from insta-calling and try to think it through. I got bottom pair with the Ace kicker. He raised preflop, which I can discount as he raised with pretty much ATC. I think he has two big cards here…and I’m hoping that the J isn’t one of them. Then again…why would he push here with a Jack? Doesn’t make sense. So I make the call for all the marbles…he shows K10o…ooooh wheee…me initial thought was correct, he made a bs move with two overs…so…six outs to dodge, 3:1 favourite. Turn Q…Some more outs for him, but still 2,5:1…river…9…runner runner goodness. Thank you.

On to the next match…he’s a little more passive and does all the lovely donkey plays. Preflop push with any low pair, min raise with monster pair and two big cards, etc. We play a little and he minraises. Wheeee…got a big pair or at least two big cards mr. donk, huh? Well…let’s see if we can hit the jackpot with J6o. Flop comes down 6J9….wheeee…jackpot…let’s see how he plays it…check…small cbet…call….turn 8….check…push. Hmm…what do we have here? The turn brought a possible straight, which doesn’t fit into the scheme of his play here (10-7 or Q10 are unlikely here)…he over-pushes big time…which fits right into my read…big pair…AA/KK/QQ…I call…what does he show…Queens….wheeee….you got two queens, three nines, three eights and four tens sir…you’re a 73/27 dog…hmm…river? Queen…thank you very much.

No need to play anymore HU or hold’em for that matter when you’re running like this. Even the best read and best hand in the world can’t save me here. This is getting spooky. So I jump into some PL5CD action and as we’re down to four handed the usual happens…someone draws out on me for all the money…why oh why do you need to catch trips against my two pair…even more important…why did you call my predraw raise with a pair of Jacks in the first place? Oh well…results are with you sir, you made a profound play here sir, very nice.

So, coming back to my original train of thought: If you’re the producer of the hidden camera show and it’s true that you’re pulling one on me…please, show yourself, I’ll cut a nice promo for you. I’m out and I’ll probably take a break for a few days as I just can’t stand it anymore…the pain is getting to me and I don’t want to throw good money after bad and spiral into ultra-cooler land again. Cya in a few days…

Sing to the tune of “Gotham City” by R.Kelly…lol… 😉 🙁
I’m looking over the skyline of the city.
How loud quiet nights in the mist of crime.
How next door to happiness lives sorrow,
and signals of solution in the sky.

(chorus)
a city of injustice,
a city of hate,
a city of junk-kickings for everyone of us.
We don’t need it, can live without it
Bad Beat City (oh no!!!)
…

Oh man. I’m sounding like an old card-flinger in a saloon, who’s telling everyone bad beat story after bad beat story, even though noone wants to hear ’em. This is really sad, it’s not even funny anymore. Every god damn time I’m on a “good” run – which equals (slowly) recovering from a monster bad run these days – I’m getting pwned, big time, over and over, without any mercy. Now I can live with some beats here, some beats there. My goal in HU matches is to win 60-x% of the time. Everything below that is bad news, especially due to rake concerns, so that’s what I’m aiming and I don’t think it’s unrealistic, or is it?

True, deep inside, I want to win 100% of the matches when I’m playing better than my opponent, but we all know that’s not the reality. But losing close to 100% on a bad run, can’t be the reality either. Sometimes it is though where you get hit smack in the face/junk while your opponent laughs his behind off, because he’s hitting like a madman, mostly cold-decks too. After all just winning a hand when your opponent doesn’t have anything won’t get you to the W, you’ll need some hands where your opponent makes a strong, but second best, hand too.

…and that’s exactly what’s happening. You hold Q6o…no raises preflop…flop comes down QQ5…you bet…he smooth-calls…you’re screaming on the inside, please please please have Aces or Kings here….turn comes a 4…you bet out…he smooth-calls again…you’re screaming even louder…river is a 3…you bet out again…he min-raises you…you laugh…and push the remaining measly few chips in…if he got you here, well…you have me…what does he show? Q7o to scoop the pot…well…it happens…lol…I wonder when I had the best of such a hand for the last time…seems like ages ago…

So you lost the first match…off to the next…after a few orbits, you’re slightly down in chips, but look down at AK…now, I normally wouldn’t overplay this hand, but I had a feeling that his insta-push after my raise was a bs move. I insta-call his push…he shows? 87o…errrm yeah, very well played sir…flop 7810…have a nice day.

The third match features a W by me…he thought second pair was good, I didn’t think so, he didn’t suckout. Thank you. One time.

The fourth match…some close hands…no joy in hitting ANY of my 14+ outs twice hands. Not good…so the scoreboard is 1-3…one more, if I win that one I’m quitting slightly down, if I lose it, I’m quitting a little more down.

After just a few short hands I’ve got my opponent right where I want him, pushing his 10-10 into my AA after I put in the third raise preflop…the rest goes without words…

Next hand finishes me off…I push with Qc6c…he calls with Jd6d..flop 3 diamonds..thank you…

After that, I closed the PS client in disgust and watched the EPT live coverage. This is the only upside of today’s poker play…I got to see some nice action.

After the broadcast ended quicker than expected I logged back on to play some “relax poker”, PL 5-Card-Draw…took second…far from being unstuck, but at least the PS dealer waited till we were in the money before he cold decked me in three straight hands (set over set, he starts with the lower set but boats up; two pair over two pair, he boats up; and aces vs a lower pair, he catches two pair)…((poker + bad end of variance) = the ultimate pain)…that is all…I’m off…

Not much poker playing today…too tired to play a long session. So I tried some new grounds, moving up a level in the HU matches. It worked out pretty good, although it might not be worth it if all the matches are similar to the one I played – it took a really long time as it was not the usual “TPNK = gold”-territory. I scored the W after a little over 100 hands. Quite a long ass match…

After that I played some “no-brainer” SnGs, one PL 5-Card-Draw and one SH NL HE…in both I didn’t get much going…oh well…can’t have a good run all the time. The 5-Card-Draw one was especially excruciating, I sat there folding hand after hand after hand…no pair, no draw…fold, fold fold fold fold…then I got some hands going…but then it was set over set over set time…at least I didn’t end up with the worst hand, the second best/worst it was 😉

To close out the session I played a donkey-level HU and it was good to see that donks will be donks…TPNK it is…good to see that if you flop the straight 😉

So I finish tonight 2-2…with a little profit to show for…I won’t complain about that 🙂

…hehe…after the last post I thought I was going into the right direction again, but oh well, not really. What can I say, had an awful session today and losing all those T$ doesn’t hurt any less than losing “real” dollars, the only win I could score today was in a turbo HU match. All others, I either donked out off (A9 vs AJ) or got pretty much cold-decked. It all started out in the PL 5-Card-Draw SnG. I totally annihilate the table, no I’m not exaggerating. I play aggressively when I had the goods…and after I showed down best hand after best hand and got payed off, the others were pretty careful about messing with me – and rightly so 😉

So..I bust the first one, I bust the second one and we’re down to three-handed with me holding roughly 55-60% of all chips in play. Then within 6 hands I’m gone, bubble boy. How did it happen? Set over set (he draws out with a boat), two pair over two pair (he draws out a boat) and two pair vs flush draw (he draws the flush). Oh well…had the luck of the draw earlier, now I got unlucky three times in a row…nothing new…nothing old, just the way it is sometimes.

So I jump into a double-shootout…and the donkey-department had a field-trip on my ass…so I’m thinking, slow down man, this is no good here…so I play a triple shootout…the play is fast and loose as expected and when I look down at 10-10 to a raise and call…I decide to repop it…one player between me and the original raiser calls, original raiser pushes, I push over the top…caller in between us calls…showdown me, 10-10, original raiser 8-8, caller AdQd….well…a coinflip…all three of us are looking to triple up…all good…flop is all rags with one diamond, why do I mention this? Well, if you haven’t guessed it by now…turn diamond…river diamond for the beautiful runner runner nut flush…here we go again. Now, as I said, it’s a coinflip when the money goes in, so all good, but the tease…I’m trying to sweat a Q, 8, or Ace and instead it comes runner runnering my ass again…not a thing I wanted to see…

So I’m 0-3 and I’m seriously thinking about closing the PS client…but I don’t…hehe…hmm…so I play a turbo HU match and I win it pretty easily. Wheeee…hope. I play a normal HU match and after a long-fought battle I lose. Damn! I try another triple shootout and it’s all the same mess again…once we’re down to three-handed I can’t get the job done. My exit comes at the hands of the beautiful ace rag, which proves to be gold again, at least on the river.

After that, I’m looking at my stats for the night and it’s not a pretty sight. 1-5. I decide that it’s time to play a little higher, which leads me to the conclusion that play should be a little “better” there…now…the 15-30$ region isn’t all that high and so it’s no real surprise that the play is even worse than I expected. A six-handed game should usually be somewhat aggressive, right?! Instead player after player is doing what donkeys do best – calling. Whether the have a monster, a draw, a small pair, big pair, middle pair, over pair, nothing…they call…bet after bet, street after street…as I witness that, I decide to sit back and relax, waiting for some big hand to take advantage of that. Haha. Oh well…let’s just say that I won a few, lost a few and then some really nice hands came down. The highlight was three-handed (bubble time)…I’m in the BB with 7s4s and I’m the shortest player of the remaining three…as I don’t like the 74 s00ted all that much, I’m delighted to see that the button and SB only call…I knock on the virtual felt and we see a flop of As2s2c…SB checks…I check…BB checks…turn is a beautiful Ks…SB fires…I think and call (maybe I should push here to keep him from hitting the boat if he’s on that draw, then again, he’s in the SB and could have any hand, I don’t put him on Ax or 2x here…so instead of pushing, I’m trying to get the button to call as well)…the button obliges and calls as well…river is blank…SB fires again…I push…and the button folds…SB shows? Qs3s…oh well…flush over flush…three-handed…nice. Cya…

So…I’m finishing the night on a low-note with a 1-6… 🙁

Edit: One last HU match…W…2-6…still not good…but feels better to go out on a W 😉

…aka how to get back from the road to insanity and turn 2$ into 215 (T)$ 🙂

Wow, after the last few weeks of ultimate bad luck, today was the quickest turnaround (money-wise) I’ve ever encountered. Oooooh what a rush. I’m still a little in shock. I started off by playing some PL 5-Card-Draw this morning. Back to basics, take a break from hold’em, plus it’s 6 handed (SnG), so it fits my style of tight-aggressiveness (basically start out with two pair/trips or better or a decent draw (OESD, OESD+Flushdraw, Flushdraw if it’s cheap early, etc), control the pot-size and fold when you think you’re beat). It worked out pretty nicely and I scored second. It should have been a W, but who cares? Should have, would have, could have is all hypothetical (when HU began I was 3:1 in chips, but I couldn’t finish him off after that, I had the chance once or twice, but he smelled that he was beat and got out with a few chips left; then he went on a total tear and I couldn’t do much about it…set over set…two pair over two pair etc and I had the worst of it).

Tonight, I started off with the same thing. PL 5-Card-Draw SnG. I did fairly well, despite not getting payed off with my monsters (pat nut flush etc). I had the best of it when a big pot came around and well…in the end it was a tough fight, but I had the best again (two pair over two pair). So a W it was and I was both relieved and energized, so I jumped into a triple shootout to the sunday million. It didn’t go all that well. No major suckouts or anything, it was just not going my way (draws not coming through etc). I thought about it and I decided to try another one…it was very slow to fill up, so I started to listen to the newest episode of Ante Up. Once the tourney began I paused and focused on playing the best I could. On table one, I was all-in one time with the best hand (coinflip 55 vs A6 and presto held up, what?! Yes, I won a coinflip right off the bat!)…so I was off to a good start. The rest of the first table is a blurr, I took it down.

After that I played the waiting game as there were still some tables going. After a while they were finally done and the second table was under way. I won some smaller pots early on, than lost some, than won some again. I just played a patient game and it was rewarded, boy was it rewarded. All the cards that I had been missing over the last few weeks came in, in a hurry. We are down to four handed and I went on a total tear. I had a hand-counted number of 4x AA and they all held up (I either won a small pot or busted someone)…and soon enough it was all said and done and I had won the second table, fittingly with the fourth pocket Aces of the night.

Then it was time for the waiting game again…two tables were still battling it out and I waited…after another 10 minutes the final table started and I was a little nervous. You know how all those thoughts come creepin into your mind once it’s crunch time? I shook it off though and started to fold, fold, fold, fold. After a few hands and the x-th button steal(-attempt) I finally called…a pretty loose call with Ks5s, but hey, he can’t have the nuts every hand. Flop comes down with two spades and he fires a continuation bet in. I call, hoping to see a third spade on the turn. Dealer turns…and it’s the most beautiful Ace of spades I’ve ever seen giving me the nut flush. He pays my bets off and I’m sitting pretty with over 3k. Nice! From the on I went into rock-solid mode again. KK UTG, raise…all-fold…yay…another big pair and it held up…the next few orbits are a blurr and once we’re down to three-handed (bubble-time) the action is fast and loose and I look down at one 63o, 48o, 93o after the other. So I fold fold fold, at least I’m not getting into trouble, except for the fact that I’m slowly getting short…then “THE” hand occurs…I have slightly under 2k…the other two splitting the remaining 7k among themselves get into a raise-war preflop…after the second reraise they’re all-in! I jump up from my seat and can’t believe my luck…there are three scenarios here:

1. Player 1 wins…and it’s over with

2. Player 2 wins…and Player 1 is crippled (400 chips)

3. Split pot and we’re back to square one…

I like my chances as they show 77 and TT…the tens hold up…scenario 1 it is…and it’s all over!!!!!!!!

Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! How much one win can mean, especially considering the circumstances. Man, I’m so relieved now and this is the first time in weeks that the “destined to be”-part wasn’t me “getting busted”, but me “taking it down” 🙂

So…I jumped into the sunday million tourney tab to have a look…

Good to see my name there up on the “big one” list, but I’m not all too crazy about playing it. First of all, the win (215(T)$) will be a nice compensation for the recent bad run and secondly, I don’t want to push the envelope here. Playing such a tourney with such an unreal amount of players isn’t for me, at least not now. How’s the old saying? “It takes more than one swallow to make a summer” – and I think that’s exactly what it is…one swallow along a big group of big Ls or the first step on the road to redemption. So…I unregistered pretty quickly and I’m looking forward to use the tourney dollars to fuel my “comeback run” at the SnG tables…wish me luck 🙂

Well, played some headsup at FullTilt to start off the evening, but I lost interest quite quickly. I did win 2 out of 3, but the opponents were such jerks that I didn’t have any fun. Well, that’s not entirely true, I had some fun making fun of them…yes it’s always a good idea to (over)push after the river…hmm…no I don’t believe you had the nuts every time…so…it’s a donkplay and a nice “heeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaw what a donkey play, you only get called if I have you” is in order. If you can’t take that, play a better game donk. After that I jumped over to Stars and found that a lot was going on, but nothing that sounded really interesting…apart from one MTT…the lovely PL 5 Card Draw MTT that was 1 minute away from starting. I jumped in and play my usual game, start out with a decent hand and hope not to get unlucky. The next well over 2 hours are a blur, but I’m getting ahead of myself…quick pic dump…

105 players remaining at the first break and yes, you guessed it, the chipleader was just moved to my table, lol. I’m wondering if it’s only me, but I can’t remember a MTT (with a shitload of tables left) where the chipleader wasn’t moved to my table. It’s been ages since that didn’t happen, but hey, what can you do. He tried to run over the table and he was out in less than 20 minutes after the break. Way to go dude donking off all those chips. No, a reraise for all their chips doesn’t mean they’re holding a good hand. Wait…it does. Surprise surprise. Continued to play my game and watch as donks busted themselves left and right.

Final four tables and I’m sitting not all that pretty in 19th, time to catch some hands. I do and this time I don’t care for the money – yes we’re already ITM, but the “real” money starts at the final table as usual – so I wait for a decent spot and go with my hand. I start out with two pair and I don’t boat up. My opponent draws one too and I’m more than happy to see that he didn’t make his gutshot straight. Nice. Double me up. The way to the final table is a blur, I did play some nice hands though, so this time I don’t come in as the shortstack.

I wait two orbits before I play my first hand and when I do I win it. Small pot, but fine with me. Then I go on a roll. I get dealt a made flush and a made straight back-to-back. No customers though. The next hand I get dealt two pair, queens up. I three-bet it as usual and the other player within the mid 40k repopps me. Now I’m faced with a tough decision. Does he have a real hand or is it that he doesn’t believe my “rush”? And even more important: do I want to commit to this hand? I ponder my options and decide to go for it. I repopp him to put him all-in and he calls. I draw one…brick…he draws two…uh-oh…that’s most certainly trips and yes, he shows trip eights. Now I’m crippled with 10k. I don’t feel bad though. I made my play and if I won the hand (by boating up), I would have been slightly under 100k and second in chips with a real chance to cruise into the top 3 spots paying in xxx figures. Oh well, can’t be too mad. Made my play, didn’t work out. Apropos out, I wasn’t out yet. Next hand…I start with slighlty over 10k and get dealt two pair again. I push and the huge chipleader insta-calls. I draw one, he draws one. I brick he bricks…he has trips though. Now I’m still not mad. What can you do? Back-to-back two pair, five handed, ran into trips back-to-back. It just wasn’t in the cards for me to claim the W or the 2 or 3 spot and who knows, if I sit around and wait for the next “big hand”, I might be blinded out in 5th quicker than you think with blinds at 2k/4k…so all in all…a nice showing…gg me… 🙂

Do you have that inner feeling that something is going to happen sometimes? I do…it was just one of these days today…first off the donks bust my balls at Stars in PL 5-Card-Draw catching like crazy (yes, it’s an absolutely correct play to call 40% of your stack with a flush-draw, yes it’s also correct to draw three against my three jacks, as long as you catch your own set with it). Then they busted my real good in some 6-handed games on Full Tilt. It was about time I took a break, so I went to a friends house to play some Skat…nice little run and won my dinner 😉

Came back…sat down in a 90-person-SnG at Full Tilt…hadn’t played those before, seems like a good format – much like Stars’ 180s, but only half the size…everything went pretty good…made some tough laydowns Kings on a Ace high board…etc…then lost a flip AKs vs JJ…this crippled me…with just 600 and blinds of 100/200…I waited for the next playable hand and tripled up. Next time I look down at 9s..flop gives me trips and I’m back in the game…fold…fold…fold…I look down at Kings…table-captain calls in a hurry with AQ…flop all low…turn…low….river….Ace…thank you very much.

Oh well, can’t be too mad…just another day at the office…at least I had fun at the tables with some players chatting it up…I would have loved to go deep though…not going to happen if you lose such hands…finished 30th…better luck next time…