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…

So, I continued my quest to become a better stud player and it’s looking good. I was able to get up from 1000 to 7000 chips in two hours over at FTP and from 57.000 to around 62.000 over at PP. Nice going so far, the only sad part is that most tournaments and S&Gs are really Texas Hold’em and not much going on the stud tables. Can anyone recommend a Poker room with a decent stud crowd when it comes to tournaments or S&Gs?

As I’m having a hard time with Hold’em these days I’m trying to expand my game by (learning/) playing other games. Started to play 7 card stud tonight on FTP…I gotta say it’s a really interesting and yet challenging game as you gotta observe and calculate all the time (at least third to sixth street) and a rewarding one, too. As you can see all the third to sixth streets of the other players you can’t only guess what they might be holding, but see cards that you can’t catch anymore, too. Really really interesting.

Started the night with 1000 play chips and held my own at a 10/20 fixed table…doubling up in the process, before donkeying* out some chips near the end of my playing session (when you play stud you shouldn’t be tired and I am as it’s already almost 3am over here)…still a successfull night and I’ll practice a little more over the next days…and if everything goes well I will start playing for real in a couple of days!

* speaking of donkeys – how do you like my FTP avatar?! 🙂