Well, same ole same ole on the poker front. Nothing, I repeat nothing, going my way. Logged on to Stars and stumbled upon the WWdN. I didn’t expect to see it happening so “early” (1:30am), I had missed that DST had kicked in so ET isn’t +6 atm but +5. So…the WWdN had already begun (1min), so I jumped right in. In retrospect I wish I had missed it all together.

Played almost no hands until it was time for some coin-flipping. Someone raises in MP, I reraise in LP…he pushes…I’m stuck here with JJ and I think I have the best hand, although it’s probably a coin-flip. I got the pusher covered by slightly under 500…and I decide to go with it. Sure enough he shows AK. Flop…contains…a King….wheeeeeee….what a surprise. Turn and river are blank and I’m sitting there with one third of my original stack. Was I forced to play that coin-flip? No. Did I believe I had the best hand? Yes. Did I have the best hand? Yes. Did I win the coin-flip? Hell no. I don’t keep that statistic, but it feels like I haven’t won a coin-flip in a SnG or MTT for ages. I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t win one these days and it doesn’t even matter if I got the overs or the pocket pair. One way or another I’ll lose the hand, whether it’s my opponent hitting the overcard, the runner runner flush/straight, or me not hitting my overs. It’s sad, really and if I wasn’t running so bad anyway, I probably wouldn’t even mention this hand, but as it is, it’s just another chapter in the “can’t I win a god damn hand”-book. So I’m basically crippled (or close to it) and I decide to go with the next semi-playable hand. I wait and wait…then I get Jacks again in the BB…and I get a walk…nice…at least I didn’t lose the coinflip (which would have evolved most certainly there if someone decided to play with me in that hand)…so I wait and wait again until I finally hold A5o on the button, which was basically a monster at that point. I pop it to 120 (blins 15/30). I got slightly under 300 left behind, so this is clear indication that I’m going to go with it. Nontheless the BB calls. Hmm…maybe I should have open-pushed here? I don’t know. Flop comes down 9c4s5c…he checks…I push…he insta-calls…he shows 10c7c…hmm…flush draw…alrighty…turn 6h…river 7d…that’ll do it. So…I’m out after slightly over 30 minutes of play and I’m frustrated…two hands…one coinflip lost and one lemur-donk-call preflop with the monster T7 s0000000000000000ted and I’m gone…the joy…

So, I was about to log off, but then I remembered that Al wrote about a HORSE freeroll tonight and as it turns out (thanks to the DST) it’s about to start…wheee…limit…HORSE…nothing better than playing against a bunch of chasing donks who don’t have a clue how limit is supposed to play – if you got a good hand, isolate preflop, if someone is raising and you got a strong hand reraise ffs, get the lemurs out or at least make them pay dearly for their donk-calling. As you can imagine, no such joy though for the most part, so I was pretty tilted after the first round of HORSE and I lost it in the second Omaha round. I decided to donkey-raise every friggin street no matter what. Result: I sucked out a flush on the river against Bobby Bracelet and took down a nice pot. What does this tell us? You should realize that that’s one of the, if not the, reason why donkeys play the way they do, because getting lucky isn’t so far fetched, especially in games like Omaha…anyway…to make a long-story short I tried to play solidly again after that tilt-episode and it just wasn’t happening. I began to sing my “brick brick brick really makes me sick”-song after the next round of Razz where I clearly started out with the best hand numerous times and caught lovely bricks either on 4th, 5th and/or 6th or 5th, 6th and/or 7th street. Just lovely…I survived the second horse though and my run finally ended in the third Omaha round. Thanks again to Al for hosting, it was fun, at least some of the time…here’s a random pic dump from the first break and my final result…

Edit: I just had another look at some stats/graphs…so for all of those who don’t believe or doubt that I’m on a cold streak…just have a look at the following graph…wow…can you say free-fall-tower…(or maybe it’s just the yang to the yin (heater) I was on some weeks ago?!)

I made a quick exit in the BloggerPods, I’m not big on excuses, but I’m just saying that I was a little bit busy watching the EPT Germany Final table…so I didn’t mind busting early…

Thanks going out to Mike from PokerOnAMac.com for hosting the tourney, appreciated…back to EPTLive.com to watch the final four, our own Sebastian “MiamiVice” Ruthenberg from Luckbox.de is the current chipleader after winning a monster-pot with trip eights…

Edit: Ouch…Miami self-imploded down to three-handed…A5 vs KK…he had outs…but why mess with the other big stack and not sitout and wait for the shorty to bust…damn…that was one costly hand (at least 160k Euro (difference between 2nd and 3rd))… 🙁

Well, the first ever EPT Germany started yesterday and Jan over at PokerStarsblog.de is doing the coverage (in german). For all fans around the world PokerStars is doing a little something that is even better than liveblogging though…can you say live webcast!!!

Webcasts will be running both saturday and sunday and will be available with german and english commentary…check EPTLIVE.com !!!

Not much poker today, just the WWdN. Played the hammer beautifully in the second hand: dealt the hammer on the button, one standard-raiser in MP, I reraise to 150…all fold…he calls…flop comes down three rags including a deuce…he checks…I bet 200 and take down the pot. A few hands later I find ducks…raise…one caller…flop three rags…check…I bet pot…call…turn rag…I check I bet half pot…call…river pairs sixes…he leads out with 300…I’m getting 2:1 and it might be a busted flush draw…but I fold…next hand I get AKo…standard raise preflop…one caller…flop comes down Ax2…check…I bet…call…turn 10…check…I bet…call…river Q..check…I bet…he calls…he shows 22…hmm…weird…why not a single reraise here?! Oh well…down to 700 odd chips…take some small pots…up to 1k…moved to another table…tourist in the BB…sox raises from the SB…I call…flop comes down 678 two spades…sox checks…I bet 60…sox calls…mistake nr.2…turn blank…sox checks…I bet 60…sox calls…mistake nr. 3…river 4s…Sox bets 90…i type “why do i think i’m a bluetooth here” and call…mistake nr. 4…sox shows…flush jack high…could I have played this hand any worse? It could have cost me more (if I push on the flop and he decides to call), but the way it went down…I lost minimum I guess…still horrible…

Next hand I fold A4…next hand I push with KJo from the button…BB wakes up with the s00ted tourist…good enough to call my 655 bet…and cya…

Summary: I don’t know what it is, but I played like crap. There I said it. I played like crap and I deserved to get knocked out early. Out in 37th of 47.

At least I got some more reading material now as another book arrived today, the professor, the banker and the suicide king…I guess I’ll read that parallel to the Navarro stuff, which is kind of heavy…this one should keep me entertained…a little more uptodate entertainment should be provided by Card Player (Europe)…I was planning on subscribing to at least one of the major card magazines (Bluff, CardPlayer, ..) for a while now and I finally did it, although their international rates suck…so I settled for Card Player Europe for now…” Combining the best articles from the magazine’s U.S. edition with additional content customized for European readers, Card Player Europe offers local tournament news, European player and venue profiles, and advertising that uniquely addresses the needs and interests of European audiences. ” (Source: CardPlayer Store)…sounds good…sign me up…can’t go wrong with a 1-year subscription for twenty bucks…I’m looking forward to it…let’s see how long delivery of the first issue takes…I’m out…

…at least that’s what I keep telling myself and it worked out pretty good tonight – not that I won anything, close but no cigar, but at least I took the usual beats with a smile. So, basically…I’m still trying to get back to normal, but things aren’t coming together, at least not yet.

Just like I promised myself (and you, my readers), I didn’t play a single hand of poker over the entire weekend and tbh, I didn’t miss it all that much either. I guess that’s easy to say when you’re running as bad as I was/am. But really, it made me think that maybe I should incorporate the “poker-free day(s)”-concept into my playing schedule, after all the consistent grind can wear you out, especially if you take the worst of it on such a cold run. If you’re running bad enough, everything will go wrong…but I’ll come back to that topic later.

Before I get to a closer look of tonight’s session, I’d like to take a moment to talk about some other poker related things.

1. I started to read Navarro’s book on tells (or “non-verbal behaviour”) and so far, I really like it. Some of the things he’s talking about in the first pages of the book make you wonder: How many of these things have I thought about so far? Did I spot something like this before? As I said, I’m just through the first twenty odd pages and after the introduction and everything he’s talking about the most reliable source of tells…the feet…lol…never thought of that before…but if you think about it and watch closely…he may be on to something here…although looking under the table as the flop/turn/river comes down isn’t a real possibility…although he comes up with some hints about how to spot it anyway…I’m really looking forward to the rest of the book and one thing’s for sure: this stuff can and probably will improve my live-game…although it takes work! But I’m up for the challenge…

2. Although I’m currently running bad, I’m still going to do whatever it takes to keep online poker alive, hmm, that sounds a little weird, maybe I should rephrase that to “I’m going to support the people who will do whatever they can/it takes to keep online poker alive”. So I joined the PPA a while ago (see here) and on saturday my “welcome package” arrived. It contained a letter, the membership card, a pin and a nice T-Shirt…maybe I’ll get around to take a pic of the stuff tomorrow…to make a long story short: Because I’m over here in Europe this whole US legislation doesn’t affect me personally (apart from the fact that good games could be hard to come by in the next weeks/months), but I’m not too blind to see that one thing could lead to the next and before you know it, the games dry up for good and other countries could adopt a similar stance on online poker and I don’t want that to happen. Think about it, even if that doesn’t happen, it’s still going to be a loss. Online players turn into “full time live players”, full time live players have no hand histories, no tools to track their play (to the same extent as in online poker) and before you know it, other stuff, like poker blogs, disappear too…and although that might increase workplace productivity, it would be a real shame. So, if you are (remotely) serious about your (online) game, join the PPA!
3. Full Tilt’s downtime on sunday: Bad but good. Why? Just go back and read the second paragraph. As I promised myself not to play any poker this weekend, I would have missed the bloggerpods tourney on Full Tilt, fortunately (for me) they had some server issues, so the tourney had to be postponed. I guess it’ll be played next weekend and I’m looking forward to it. Maybe I’ll get close like last time, maybe I’ll get the junk kick earlier, maybe no junk kick at all and I listen to my favourite jams on an ipod soon…who knows…one way or another, this is a cool tourney, thanks again to PokerOnAMac for hooking us up!

As for tonight’s session…I started with some “new stuff”. A cheap-ass triple shootout to the sunday million. Two bucks, short handed, chance to take down one of two seats. The first table was a real up and down and when all was said and done, I took it down. Almost an hour played, shorthanded, didn’t make any bad decisions (had to push one time with a marginal hand, because I got short, but that worked out okay…and not really a bad decision…or is it if you’re “forced to play”?). The next table was totally different though. Four out of the other five players where really “pushy”. The played almost every hand and the deck wasn’t too kind to me. I started out with the best…didn’t connect…had to let it go, time and time again. Made my exit with a 60/40 kind of hand, so not really a bad beat…it just wasn’t meant to be, but at least I got an hour of play…out in 22nd of 216.

After that I decided to try a three-table SnG and play was worse than I could imagine in my worst nightmare, really, it was THAT bad. I kicked one player out before getting my junk kicked yet again by a lovely two outer. Oh well, what else is new.

After that I went to the HU section and thought I’d give it a whirl. It was a good match, although it was kind of boring, not much between my opponent and me…first in usually takes the pot as we were battling 6-high vs 7-high on a regular basis. He was cool though, we chatted a little and I predicted that soon enough it’ll come down to one hand and to quote Scotty Nguyen “…it’s going to be all over” and I said it’s probably going to be something of the regular HU-nature, two pair vs set or something. Guess what? I was right…lol…although this isn’t too hard to predict either as it’s basically around a 33% shot (either that, T/M/BPxK vs x or monster vs monster are the usual scenarios).

I hold A4o on the button and I fire it up to 3x preflop…he calls…pot is 180 (blinds 15/30). Flop comes down A46 rainbow. Groovy! He leads out with a pot-sized bet (180). I reraise to 480, he insta-calls. Hmm…pot is 1140 (of the 3k in play) and the turn is blank (8)…he checks…I bet 400…he calls…pot is now 1940…so there’s basically no way the money isn’t going all-in…river is Kh…he pushes…now I’m worried about a small range of hands here…either AA (which would be a real cooler with the case Ace on board), AK (which would suck less, but still suck)…or he could have made a really bad call on the flop and turn and hit a set here (KK)…or I totally misjudged the situation and he had a hand similar to mine and his kicker plays as well (A6, A8)…or coolered by a flopped/turned set (44, 66, 88)…man, if you’re running bad…too many (bad) scenarios creep into your mind…maybe he has a hand that would make sense here, which is second best (AQ, AJ, A10, A9, …)…I make the crying call…and he shows?….KK for the set…now, if he any other hand mentioned above…I go straight to my closet, get out a hat and write “payoff wizard” on it…but KK…come on…two outs…again…sigh…now I don’t want to sound like a broken record here and repeat it over and over…but I just can’t help myself…why oh why? Why….oh why?

I guess the (short) weekend break wasn’t enough, as I can’t stand it…at least not any better than last week…I find myself in the same spot, complaining, moaning about the bad luck, feeling empty and annoyed and (maybe) annoying you with it…maybe I’m waaaay to deep into it all atm and I should take a longer break from it all? Maybe I should just learn to deal with it in another way? Maybe I shouldn’t play anymore at all? I really don’t know, one thing I know for sure though is the reason for all of this: I care about winning! I care about making good decisions! I care about “being better”! I care about beating my opponent(s)! I want to win every game I’m playing! I expect to win if I outplayed my opponent(s)! (I despise people “stealing” from me! I despise people making horrible plays and still winning with it! …) …I care about winning!
Maybe a bit too much – at least for a poker player?! Most certainly, as this whole “correct decision, correct play, wrong outcome, no reward”-stuff is still taking too big a toll on me. There’s no such thing as justice in poker – love it or hate it. All poker players do both…you love it when you’re running good and/or if you made a good/great play and it worked out, you hate it when you’re running bad and/or if you made a bad play or a good/great play that isn’t rewarded. The best way to deal with this fundamental “flaw” of poker, would be to be totally indifferent to results.

I’m trying to get there…but hell, it’s not easy, no, it’s HARD…and how could it be any other way?

Today I mixed it up a little, inspired by Smokkee’s SnG run, I switched from HU to single table SnGs. As I haven’t been playing full games in a while, only HU and shorthanded, I thought it would be best to not start too high, so I settled for the 5$ ones and I plan on playing those for a while. I guess I’ll try to hit 100 of them and then see how it goes. The start was brilliant. I two-tabled and soon enough we were ITM in both of them. I just played the cards I was dealt and sometimes the players, but only if they had shown that they could fold a hand. That worked out pretty good. Then it was time for the first major suckout against me…on the turn I hold Aces up…and I move in…I got the other player covered by about 1.5k, so I’m pretty save…he calls All-In with a king high flush draw (two spades on board)…river…ding ding ding….oh well…down to 1.5k…I don’t let it get to me though and I battle my way back. Soon enough I knock out the third player and we’re heads-up, I’m still behind 2:1 in chips though. Some twenty hands later I won though as he payed off two big hands for me. Nice. As heads-up is winding down in tourney one, we’re still three-handed in the other one. Then a major pot develops and I get my money in on a paired rag board…good that I had a free look in the BB…I triple up into the chiplead and never look back. I take out both of the other players within the next 30 hands and another W hit’s my SnG sheet. 2 for 2. Not bad 😉

Then it’s time for the WWdN and things are looking good early on…I even win a nice pot with the hammer from UTG…then I lose a hand with Jacks…I can’t think that they’re good anymore after a K hits the flop against two players. Oh well…as I’m down to around 1k I decide to defend my SB against the BB raise preflop. J10o…flop J98…good enough to double up…I check…BB bets…I push…he calls…shows KQo…no K, Q or T…and I double up. Nice…

As we head into the first break we’re down to 29 players and I’m sitting in 11th with 2530 in chips…

After the break I look down at QQ…the blinds are at 75/150…and MP puts in the standard raise (450) to open the pot…I think I’m ahead here…so I push on the button…all fold to him…he ponders…he calls All-In…shows Ah Jh….s0000ted 😉 … flop AxJ…ty very much…turn K…a little hope…river 5…d’oh. So I’m down to 350…damn…my assessment of the situation:

Scenario 1: I’m ahead and he’ll fold…all good…I’m up to 3.xk

Scenario 2: I’m behind (AA, KK) or slightly ahead (AK)…all good…let’s flip it…

Scenario 3: I’m ahead and he’ll call (probably with Ax)…good…he’s drawing to three outs…if I win I’m up to 4.xk…if he get’s lucky I’m crippled…
Scenario 4: I flat-call on the button to see a flop…as the flop comes down AJx…I he leads at it…I give it up and my stack drops to around 2k…

I thought I had the best hand, I did, he got there, too bad. In retrospect, maybe I should have flat-called to see a flop – what’s he likely to raise with preflop (basically any Ace or pair unless he’s on a total steal) – so…if I just flat-call and the A or K hits…I can get away…what about the scenario where the flop is J high (or lower)? Maybe he spiked a set then…how am I going to get away from it? Tough tough…oh well…I went with my feeling, I was right, it didn’t work out. Next time I move in is with 66…weak calls from the BB…not a bad call…he has the mook…T8…he’s getting 2.x : 1…he’s got a major stack…flop comes down AA8…oh well…gg me…

So…from middle of the pack to out the door with two pocket pairs…too bad I couldn’t spike a single set there…can’t feel too bad though…enjoyed the WWdN, as usual and rocked the SnG tables…I’m off…

Played a nice little session at PokerStars tonight and boy, the cards and chips were in the air and luck was swingy, swingy, swingy. I started the session with some HU play and everything started on a bad luck trip. Lost the first match to an absolute fish who couldn’t even spell poker, lol, good for him that his cards could everytime he needed help, he got it. Not good. The next match was similar, although I can’t blame my opponent for that one, I blame myself and the deck. Some serious set over set on an all-rag flop etc and I was in a deep hole early. Fought my way back, just to run into another cooler. Not good either. The next to matches were better. Won the first one by value-betting my hands to death and the calling station was more than happy to pay off hand after hand. He did get lucky once or twice, but in the end I won it. The fourth one was similar, bet bet bet bet bet…win.

After that I tried out some 6-handed action, after all this whole “strictly HU” isn’t going to cut it in the long run. In the monetary sense it probably could as my winning rate is currently at 55% (it was higher, but due to some bad luck recently, it’s dropped quite a bit) – so after rake I’m still up, but considering the time spent on the tables, it’s not really good…apart from the fact that all those luckboxes sucking out on me is taking it’s toll (for those of you following my adventures, it was kind of the same at bodog, where I played HU matches with a vengeance and totally kicked ass…then the winning rate started to drop into the 5x-60%ish area and all the sucky sucky stuff made me pause my play there). So, I kicked some ass in the short-handed game, too. Down to headsup (ITM) and I’m sitting in the chiplead. It is a real push-fest early on and I fold fold fold. Once I pick up a decent hand I go with it, no chance. Same game again, no chance. Then I go into push modus myself and I can’t catch anything either. So I finish second. Not bad, but not really groovy either considering the 65% / 35% payout structure. Oh well, can only play what the cards give me.

After that I considering calling it quits for the night, but I didn’t. I saw that a 15+1 WSOP turbo DS satellite to sunday’s 650$ qualifier was about to start, so I jumped in. The full hundred players entered, so to advance to the final table you had to get through 9 players. I did well early on, won some small pots and waited for a good chance to double up. I tried to with AQ from the cutoff, no such luck…BB wakes up with Aces…they hold up. So I’m sitting on 250…and as the blinds are already up to 100/200, there’s no point in waiting for the next monster. I get the coveted 74o, 92o etc in the next hands though, so I wait for the next best spot. It comes once I’m UTG…I think that my A7 s00ted should be good enough to win a hand…although there are three callers…not really surprising with the blinds at 100/200 and the winner takes all format. I’m happy to win the main pot once I rivered a third seven. Sucky sucky, outy outy. I likey! *lol* So that’s when my luck started to turn around. I got good hand after good hand and took down pot after pot, knocking out player after player in the process. Once we’re down to three-handed, the other “medium to big”-stack knocks out the third player though, so he enters headsup with a 3-2 chiplead. It all comes down to two hands. He plays his hand perfectly with Kx…he pops it preflop…I call it with my A7o…flop comes down K7x…he bets…I call…turn is another blank…and he pushes…now I’m stuck…either get the money in and hope to be ahead/suck out, or fold and play the next hand blind with the blinds at 400/800 about to go to 600/1200 the chances of “playing” with a 2.xk stack isn’t all that great. So I push in and he flips his Kx…then something out of the ordinary happens….7…ding ding ding, slot-machine 7-7-7, boom headshot! I sucked out big time. Wow. Feels great, now I know why all the others are always that elated when the suck out on me, it feels great. Getting lucky is the new good these days, lol. So I’m up 5-1 in chips and in the next hand it’s all over…I hold an A6…poor opponent pushes in with his 44 and the aces on the flop is all it took. Wow again…I won a coin-flip in a crucial pot and that after sucking out BIG TIME the hand before that. Wow.

I like! So…I wait until the last table finishes and we’re off to the races at the final table. Top 2 will receive their entry (or 650T$)…third and fourth win 72$, 5th 56$…6-10 is out of luck. The table starts off with a bang, the very first and people are shoving like crazy…I’m a little surprised to see 78o win against 910o…well played sirs..*lol*…so we’re down to nine handed and we got an early 2-1 chipleader. I wait and wait and fold and fold and people are playing like crazy…I wonder if I should sit back and let them shoot themselves in the foot…before I can think about it though, it’s all over…A8 vs AK…no miracle for me…and I finish in 8th…the luck-cycle has indeed come full circle in this one…bad luck (AQ vs AA)…good luck (coming back from 250 chips to win the first table)…to bad luck (A8 vs AK)…oh well…what can you do? Now that I’m writing this I’m really a little confused. I guess it all comes down to strategy here. As it’s a turbo, you can’t wait for the nuts till eternity, so you need to get your move on sooner or later, but was A8 s00ted really worth risking all the chips? I guess not really as I watch the table after I bust out, it becomes pretty obvious that at least four of the players have (a little more) shootout experience. Two of those four are firing relentlessly, every second or third hand they’re in there mixing it up. One of them was the early chipleader, so it was pretty easy for him. He picked up small pot after small pot and then some bigger ones when he really had a hand and ppl were tired of being pushed around. I guess he as on the “good side” of luck. The other player firing all the time was similar, he got is money in without looking back and it worked out – and even more important, they were playing for the ticket. The other two sat back and watched the carnage. One of the two was especially clever, he didn’t play a single hand. He just sat there and mucked, mucked mucked. After the bubble burst he laughed about it and said he didn’t have any cards to play, which I doubt. He was just a little more clever than some others, including me. Well, one things for sure, they weren’t really playing for the two tickets, they were more worried about getting the money and then…if it happens…it happens…in this case it didn’t happen as they were not able to come back from such a big chip disadvantage (the two players firing like crazy held a combine 7k of the 9k in play)…but at least they made a profit.

So, am I mad about my play. Hmm…tough question. I would say, yes and no. The spot I picked, was as good as any other. I held a decent hand, folded to me…I pop it, get repopped by a big-stack…which could mean any two cards…I thought I was ahead…I wasn’t…too bad. So, the only thing that I could be mad about is that I got involved in the hand(s) at all. I could have sat back, just like the other one, and watched the carnage for a little longer (with blinds at 25/50 and a 1.4k stack there’s no need to rush it, yet). Then again…tbh I played to win a ticket (read 650T$ to fuel my SnG run), it didn’t work out…so basically it’s the old dilemma…you may want to, but you can’t have your cake and eat it too 😉

In the light of recent “anti whine” / “anti rant” comments/posts (you know who you are ;)), I’m putting up a disclaimer: This following post is a mere attempt to revisit some of the hands that went down during the WWdN. If you consider it to be whining, muttering or whatever, feel free to leave now, without reading the post 😉 *lol*

The WWdN started quite nicely for me, AK in EP in the first hand, standard raise takes down the pot. I’m the first chipleader. Wheee. A few hands in I pick up 73 s00ted in the BB…I call the standard raise by Kat who’s in the SB. Flop comes down 732…now I’m hoping she has the hammer, lol, she leads out with 60, I raise to 180 and take down the pot (up to 1730). Next hand I pick up A9o in the SB…limpy limpy…flop comes down AK4 rainbow…I lead out…two callers…turn 5…putting two spades out there…I lead out two callers…river Jc…I bet out…two callers…my Aces are good enough to take down the pot (up to 2110). A few hands later I pick up Aces in MP…Kat standard-raises preflop…I repop her…she calls…flop comes down Ac9c9s….yatzee! Check check….6s…two flush-draws out there….yes!…check check…river Jc…at least one flush got there…Kat checks…I bet 250…she calls…Aces full takes it down…(Kat mucked 10c10s; up to 3130)….20 folds later I pick up KK…Kat is short by then and pushes in for 540…I raise another 1000 to isolate…it works…KK no chance against AQo though….d’oh! (down to 2590) and it’s all downhill from here…*whine whine mutter mutter* if I win this hand I’m slightly under 4000…now I’m at 2.6k…still in the top 15 though…*whine whine mutter mutter*

A few hands later I lose the minimum (which is slightly under 1k) AQ vs AK…kicker plays…oh well…now I’m slowly but steadily in dangerous territory…it get’s worse once my preflop raise to 300 (blinds 50/100) is not only called but punished by weak_player, he shoves and there’s no way I can call with the velvet hammer (s00ted hammer 7c2c)…he shows 88…oh well…under 1k…fold fold fold…I’m in the BB with A6o…3 limpers…hmm…I check and I’m really pleased with the AA2 flop…four checks later we see the turn 8d…EP checks…I bet 200…MP calls…LP folds…checker calls…river 10h…EP checks…I shove my remaining 5xx chips in the middle MP calls…checker reraises…uh oh…LP calls…double uh-oh….EP checks shows deuces full…gg me….

Yuck! Oh well…what can you do? With the heavy action in the hand…preflop-shove with A6o? Would it have made any difference? Who knows…maybe…maybe not. I thought I’ll have a cheap flop with a mediocre hand, flopped a monster, just couldn’t help that another player flopped it’s big brother. Sucks one way or another…out in 36th place…weird how things can start out more than fine (flopping the joint with Aces and getting payed off etc) and then everything falls apart…just how poker is sometimes…I’m outta here…

*lol* Played some nice matches tonight. Played some of my opponents like a fiddle, got played by the deck in the others. Now I’m not one to argue that yeah, paying off, is kind of an error on my part, then again…if I crap my pants with a “monster” shorthanded or headsup I might as well stop playing…so…conclusion: Sometimes you’re bound to lose (your money) and there’s shit you can do about it…still makes me mad when a douche who can’t even spell poker (*lol*) is hitting like crazy and there’s nothing you can do but either pay it off or fold till eternity…
I leave you with my last hand which is presented by the “classic four-handed wheeee your hand was good enough to make the second best hand Inc.” 😉

The old saying is true, you can’t do more than move your money in with the best. It’s what happened in 90-95% of all hands, still not that much joy. Played seven headsup matches, won 4…lost 3…out of those 3 I would say I deserved to lose 1, in which I clearly overplayed a hand which ultimately lead to my defeat. In the other two losses it was brutal though…dominated hands meant nothing as the three-outers would hit like crazy…oh well…what can you do. The last match was especially brutal….we battle for well over 100 hands, which is quite uncommon. Why did we play for such a long time? Because he just wouldn’t go broke. After a long long battle I’m sitting with around 3/4 of the chips…A10 vs A7…7 is all it takes…throw two coin-flips in the mix (I lose both, haha, no surprise here)….and he takes the match.
I threw another double shootout in the mix, a little torture can’t be bad for character building, lol. This time it filled up pretty quickly, 100 players. So the final table was all ITM with the top 4 claiming a ticket to the sunday million. The table started of like a madhouse. First hand…a player bluffs off all his chips. I’m sitting there cursing him for making such a donkey play as I layed down the winning hand (K9o in EP)…lol…I don’t have to wait long though…second hand…I’m in the BB…MP min-raises…LP calls…all fold…I call…with my powerful 69o…flop comes down 6A9 rainbow…now if he’s got Aces, sixes or nines I’m willing to go broke here….I bet out…MP reraises…LP pushes…I push…MP calls all-in….I show the two pair…MP shows A7o….LP shows 88….my two pair holds up…and I triple up in the third hand. The table is down to seven handed and I’m way out in front. From there on it’s a long ugly drag though…I can’t catch anything and when I do…I catch just enough to lose some chips to a better hand. AQ on a queen high flop….he shows Aces…etc….just nice to see everyone at the table showing their winning Aces one after the other. Weird. Another good 40 minutes of jab and grabble action and I just can’t catch a break. I keep myself in the game by stealing blinds. Nothing more nothing less….I finally go out in the last hand before the break…Ac7c on the button four handed…I’m not exactly laying that down….big stack calls with presto and he shouts just that as it holds up….damn….at least I had fun at the table as we had a really good time after the first three donks were busted, so after the second hand…at least something positive…

Totally unrelated to today’s session: Wheeeee….the AIPS leaderboard just got an update, not that I have any points yet…but at least I’m on it….tied for 30th (= last place) lol… 😉