Two Big Hands Yesterday

The first hand is one that unfortunately I was involved in.  Made the ace high flush but got beaten by the straight flush.  He did not maximize his profit on the hand, and in some ways I cannot see why he chased on the flop...though probably not much betting with the paired board, and then he picked up the nut club draw on the turn.

The second hand, I had no "dog in the hunt" as had folded preflop, he knocked the other player out I think with his royal flush.

You tend to see more big hands in Omaha because of the 4 cards, but honestly have not had quads all week, which is highly unusual.

Two Outers Following me

What are the odds that you would get knocked out of two tournaments virtually at once with people catching two outers against you? Argueably I brought my own problems on myself in one. A button raiser was called by me with my AJ offsuit. The flop came Ace high and I checked it. He made a pot size continuation bet, which I called. On the turn, I checked, planning to check raise him all in. He checked back. The river was a 6, I bet he reraised me all in. I called, he had pocket 6's. I let him get there. But, essentially, that is the problem with playing out of position. The other tournament was Omaha, and I was the short stack at the table with 6 remaining (3 paid). I had one of my favorite pairs, 8's, which I seem to flop a set very often. The flop is 8/9/2. I bet, the big stack raises, and I call. The turn pairs the board with another 2. I bet, he calls. The river....a 9, I bet, he raises, I call with my last chips to see his 8/9 catch a two outer overfull on me. Very unlucky river for me. So, there is the tale. Two 2-outers within a minute of each other. And that is what you call running bad. I am in Seattle for the week and thinking of playing at the Crazy Moose sister casino here sometime. Hope my luck runs better there.

Getting Sick of Being Cracked by Weak Aces

Let me begin by saying how much I truly sincerely utterly hate weak aces, and I am including suited weak ones as well. Why you ask? You just never know where you are when the ace flops, and are normally way behind praying for your 3 outer, which may not even be good on an A/J/4 flop. I just prefer not to get my chips in on this sort of guessing game. Even with the suited ace, you are not that much better off. According to my poker calculator, an AJ offsuit is 46.3% to win against A/6 suited (different suit than my cards) at 23.7% to win preflop. This morning in a tournament I got cracked twice with my dominating ace. The first hand I raised preflop with AQ suited and was called by A/8. The flop? Q/8/8. Sick. The next hand I raised with A/K suited and the flop came all spades, and the A/6 suited (spades) got my chips. Anyway, I am pretty sick of these weak draws catching perfect flops and crushing me. I was chip leader in the tournament before these two beats, and ended up being the 2nd player eliminated.

Chris Ferguson 10.000 Challenge

Took a first step in the 10K challenge (running a freeroll up to 10K). Playing on Full Tilt I came in 13th (7500 players) for a $3.00 win, woo hoo! Funny part was, I went to sleep when I was in about 20th place with a couple hundred players remaining. It was a Pot Limit Omaha, high only game on Rush Poker....very interesting concept.....if you are not familiar with it, you can precheck fold and are immediately dealt in at another table. It is very fast and I was successful by just playing really strong starting hands like AA, KK, double suited, etc.

I Am So Done With This Game

Took a horrible, dumb beat in freeroll. They were paying 250 places with a seat in Sunday tournament and there were only 376 players left, with me at a comfortable stack of around 30,000 when this hand came up. A loose player raised to my right and I had 9/9, so I called with the intention of folding unless I flopped a set, which I did.

The flop was 10 high and I bet 2/3 the pot, he called. The turn was a blank and I fired half my stack, he calls. The river is a jack, he goes all in and I call, figuring not a lot of hands beat me, just JJ, 10/10 or KQ. He has KQ. Unbelievable lucky donk play to call off most of his chips with overcards (which were drawing dead) and a gutshot. It was my bad for even playing though as I could have sat out and coasted to a tournament ticket. Dumb of me and dumb of him.

Sick Last Hand in 7500 person tournament

This was just a sick hand for fairly close to the money in a 7500 person freeroll (they paid 90 places).

I had just moved to this table and lost one hand small blind vs. big blind to the guy on my left. A couple of hands later, I pick up this AQ suited and raised the BB from 800 to 3000, he calls with his weak suited ace and gets a miracle flop with the nut flush. I go all in and he hets runners for the royal flush. Amazing.

Final Table again at Legion

One great online hand today.



Making the final table at the Legion is a fairly regular thing for me. Problem is I usually arrive with a minimum of chips and somehow survive long enough to make 5th place or so, which is what I did last night. It was worth $104.00 less my $40 buy in and a small dealer tip. Not a real profitable night for me. I got stuck early on a QQK flop and had a king with no kicker in the big blind. After a round of checks I bet small on the turn with two callers. Another small bet on the river, then a big raise from the button. I folded my king face up and said, "nice hand", he then showed the flopped boat.





Few monster hands, but a couple of double ups all in got me back. The key hand was pocket 7's which I raised preflop, all-in. I was called by the dealer, who had me covered, with AQ. The flop had a queen, the turn another queen and I called for the 7 which he miraculously brought against his own hand. The tables consolidated and I did not see him until the final table where he had already been eliminated. I rarely get that lucky.

Freerolling on Full Tilt

My latest guilty habit is freerolling tournaments on Full Tilt. Turns out that they have several each day with anywhere between 7500 and 10000 players maximum. I am thinking of doing the Chris Ferguson challenge to take my bankroll from $0 to $10,000 on the site. The key is of course winning some money in the first freeroll.

I came fairly close day before yesterday with a 153rd place finish (out of 6,056), with 45 places paid in a razz tournament. Was overachieving yesterday in holdem until I got all in with J2 (JT would be sooooo proud) in my big blind on a J/2/K flop. Called by K9 and got knocked out when runner queens came to counterfeit my two pair. Came in around 2700th out of 10,000.

The photo above is my latest win in a freeroll, 10,000 players, 250 seats awarded. I came in 241st or something like that despite it saying 1st place (all survivors got 1st). Folded every hand for a half hour, including AK and shoved once with KK. When you get down to the end tight play pays off, let the shorter stacks gamble and get knocked out. Some people just don't understand this. I also slow played a lot, waiting for the timeout to kick in before folding.