Oh What A Night!!!

This is the most unbelievable night of online poker I have ever played. First, to build a little confidence I went to online poker school and played 2 sit & go’s. I finished 2nd in both of them. One of the sit & go’s lasted for over an hour. It was a great game to play in and watch. There was some real poker being played. Since I started the message board I was hoping to start an online league. So I went to Full Contact Poker and put another $50.00 in my account. The kids were running around and making a bunch of noise so as I was signing on and I accidentally signed up for a limit sit & go again! I hate limit Holdem. Anyway I told myself that when I put this money in I was always playing to win. So in Limit Holdem you have to wait, and wait. I did just that, and I won!! To be honest I was proud of myself. There were a few hands late in the game that I had a good hand but a bad feeling, so I folded only to watch some other poor chump take a beating by a monster hand. So it was around 9:00 and the kids just went to bed so it was quiet and I figured I would play just one more game. Have you noticed that when you are looking for a table the games just jump from the open games down to the running games? Well that was what was happing to me; I didn’t want to sign on another limit game. So I saw a no limit game with 6 players so I sign up and I had to wait for 10 minutes for 3 more players to sign up. I thought that was kind of strange, I mean at this time a night you have to be fast to get on a table. Well the game started and I was playing very tight. 3rd hand I pick up Ace King of hearts, I’m in early position so I raise to 100 and then the button re-raises me to 500, I was going to fold, but I was hoping for a good flop so I called. Flop comes King, six, 10, with 2 hearts. I bet the pot and the guy goes all in. I’m pot committed, so I call. He has king queen and I double up. So I’m feeling good, I kept playing tight and held the chip lead and building my stack to about 5000 chips. Here was the funny thing. We were playing for 50 minutes and no one was knocked out! Even the short stack still had over 1000 chips. The blinds were up to 200 & 400 and everyone was still in the game. I mean these guys were good. So then there was this huge hand. I get Ace Jack, 3 players fold to me so I raise to 1200, I get 2 callers and the button goes all in. I have everyone covered, but my A J didn’t look so good so I fold. The other 2 go all in. Cards flip up. Player 1 has pocket 9’s, player 2 has pocket 10’s. The guy who started all has King Jack. A jack on the turn and he knocks out the first 2 players. That drove me crazy because I folded the best hand. I would have knocked out 3 players and had a huge chip lead. Instead I lost the chip lead. The game had been running for an hour and 10 minutes and were still had 8 players. I knocked out 3 players and got the chip lead back with 6500 chips. Then everyone tightened up. So I went to work, I was stealing pots. Then I pick up queen’s I go all in and the short stack called with Ace King. My queens held up and we were down to 4. The one guy Dan had 400 chips left and has hanging on by a thread. Then I get into a few huge hands with this one guy. We were trading chips back and forth 3000 at a time. One of the other guys typed in, “You guys Love playing each other.” Then I pick up Ace 10 of spades. I raise and one guy calls. The flop hits with 2 spades and he goes all in. It only was 2000 more, so I call. He’s on a king high flush draw. The river was a spade and I have 12,000 in chips. We make the money round, Dan still hanging with 1,000 in chips, the guy I was doing battle with had 2,000. Dan goes all in, the other guy calls Dan wins and now the other guy is crippled. The very next hand Dan takes out the other guy and we start heads up. I think I had 11,000 and he has 4,000. I want this game. I’ve been playing for almost 2 hours now and I should win. 30 minutes later we are even in chips. I catch a cold run of cards and can’t fight him off. I steal a few more hands and I have him 10,000 to 5,000. Then the hand that wins’s it. I’m in the big blind. He calls, I have Jack 10, I check, the flop is Ace, King, Queen, rainbow. I check, and he goes all in. I call. He slow played pocket Queens. My straight hold up and I win. The whole game lasted almost 2 hrs. Here’s the crazy part. I look at the screen where it tells you how much you won; it says “Congratulations, $250.00 has been added to your account. What??? $250.00, this has to be a mistake. I look, I accidentally signed up for a $50.00 Sit & Go. I won $250.00. Even after typing all of this I’m still in shock!!! I put in $50.00 and now my account has a balance of $260.00. I have never played a sit & go for more than a $20.00 buy in. I just played my game and I beat some very good players. Wow, I’m still on cloud nine. It’s the most I’ve ever won at a poker game. I have to get up in 3 hours and I can’t sleep.

A Mistake That Pays Off

After all the Mother's Day stuff I thought I would play a online sit & go. I got into a limit tournament by mistake. I usually play no limit. I won the tournament. First time I ever finished in the money in a limit tournament. I had some good hands. The hand of the night was a hand I wasn't in. There were 3 of us left. I fold, small blind calls, big blind checks. The flop came king, queen, jack of spades, both players checked. The turn was the 10 of spades. All of a sudden they both go crazy. Bet, raise, reraise, reraise, and call. The river is an ace of hearts. Same thing, until one is all in. Cards flip up. One guy has a 9 of spades for a straight flush; the other has the ace of spades for a royal flush. Now I'm heads up with a slight chip lead. I know I'm going to win. Why? Because he just used all his luck on the last hand. We were trading the chip lead for awhile until my king high straight beat his jack high straight. Then I had him 5 to 1 in chips. It only took me 3 more hands to finish him off. I had pocket 7's he raised with Ace queen. I put him all in and caught a 7 on the flop for the win. The account now stands at $41.00. That's double the amount that I started with.

Art's Game

The one thing I don't like about Art's game is the blinds always double. To me this means when it gets near the end it's more about gambling and less about poker. I got into this huge hand early in the game. The blinds were 100 / 200 I was delt a king jack of clubs. 3 other players limped in, the guy before me who I've played with before and loves to raise small pocket pairs raised to 600, I called and the other 3 limpers called. The flop was king, king, 4. All 4 check to me and I bet out 1500. 3 fold and the original raiser calls. Now I'm afraid He might have ace king, or king queen. The turn was a 6, He checks, I bet 1000, he reraises me to 1500. Which told me he wanted a call. Also, for some reason I knew the 6 hit his hand hard. So if he had pocket sixes he would have a full house to my trip kings. It was only 500 to call so the pot odds were there, I call. The turn is a king!!!! He checks to me and I go all in. I could see the color run out of his face. He only has 1500 chips left. After a few minutes of him staring at me and I tried to look as strong as I could so he thought I was weak, he folded his pocket sixes face up. There were 17 players who started the game. I made the final table of 8 with a medium chip stack. The blinds were at 1000 / 2000 when we got to 6 players and I was down to 6000. I made a couple of all in bluffs to stay alive, the blinds went to 2000 / 4000 I was in the big blind with a 2 8 offsuit and had to fold to an all in bet. Next round I had 6000 chips left and in the big blind when the small blind went all in. I picked up queen 8 of spades and had to make my stand. He had a ace 8 of clubs. His ace high held up and I was out in 5th place. If I folded my 4000, The blinds went up and I would have been in the small blind for another 4000. To be honest, I should have been out much earlier. I was pulling off some huge bluffs at the final table when everyone tighten up. I felt like I played well. The game was going to end about 11:00 pm. I knew if I stayed for next game I would not get home until 3:00am and with it being Mother's Day I knew I would be in for a rough day so I called it a night.

Luck be a lady... Yea, Sometimes she's a real Bitch!!

To be honest I feel I'm an unlucky player. I'm so unlucky I have to adjust my game because of it. If I flop 2 pr and there is 2 suited cards on the flop I am ready to fold, if another of that suits on the turn on the river hits I'm ready to fold. I played 3 games last night and won one of them. I didn't finish above 5th in the other two. I find that the first 5 hands of the game will define how I play online. If I get all rags, then it will be a game of rags, if I get some hands to play then that trend will continue. The thing that I hate is when you get good hands that the flop totaly misses. If I have pocket 10's and raise get one caller,the flop comes ace, king, queen. I know I'm already beat. Do I try and catch a 10 or a jack? Not the way I draw cards. I feel like a total cooler. With that said, I'm taking my unlucky self to Art's tonight to play. Art has a weekly two table game. I like playing there, the players are good and I usually make the final table. Tonight I'm not worried about bad luck. Why? I figure I had all the bad luck I could have today. I bought a new grill at Home Depot this morning. As I was pulling into my development it came loose, slid across the bed and flipped out of the truck. It's basicly trash. $277.00 went sliding by me and was all over the street. I was a real shadow traffic alert. So I'm on my way to get another. This one will be tied down. I'm looking forward to playing tonight.

My First Session With Some Found Money

Well I thought I would take my twenty bucks for a test drive at the Party Poker tables. I figured I would go to the sit & go's. The cheapest is a $6.00 buy in. The first one I played in was a 6 player table. I lasted 8 hands. My trip 9's went down to a flush. Second game, another 6 player table, I was out in 5th. I forget how that ended, but I'm sure I did something dumb. I'm already down to $8.00, this is not going well. So I sign on to a 10 player $6.00 table. It was a great game. I was 1st or 2nd in chips the whole game until I pick up Ace queen of spades. I raise 3 x the blinds to 1800 and the big blind goes all in for 400 more. Cards flip up and he has a 10 - 2 of hearts. A 10 on the turn and I'm down to 2000 in chips. We get down to 4 players and I'm still 2nd in chips. I pick up kings and the chip leader goes all in with Queens. I call and he doubles me up. I lost 2 big hands and with 4 player left I was almost the short stack. I knock out the short stack with 2 pair and then the chip leader knocks out the other player. When we start heads up I have 3900 in chips and he has 16100. I catch 2 quick double ups and become the chip leader. 3 hands later I pick up ace king. I call and he goes all in. I call, he has king - queen. I win and end up with $27.00 in my account. I signed off up seven dollars. Stay tuned.

They won't leave me alone.....

I'm trying to empty out all of my online poker accounts. I think I'm done with online poker for now. I cashed out at Crazy Poker, I wrote about it on here, and I gave the rest of my money away at Titan Poker, I had $7.00 and you need to build it up to $50.00 before you can withdraw the money. It was quite a ride at Titan Poker. I was playing .10 / .20 NL holdem. I had my balance as high as $28.00 and then I was down to $12.00. Then one night 3 bad beats and I was pockets out broke. So that was it. Ya think? I'm just minding my own business, checking my email when I get an email from Party Poker. Now I haven't played at Pary Poker for quite some time. The last time I played at Party Poker I deposited $25.00 and cashed out $85.00 about a month later. I didn't like Party Poker because their limits were too high for me. I'm a basic nickel & dime player. The email states that they just deposited $20.00 in my account. Huh? Now I know people just don't go around giving money away so I start reading the fine print. Have to play so many rake hands, can't withdraw less than $50.00, yea, yea, I heard all this before. Bottom line, there was a Jackson in my account to play with. Nice. Well I figure I would track my progress here. See if I build the $20.00 into something. I mean if they are just going to give me money to play poker who am I to argue. So I guess I'm not done with online poker.

On a Mission at Crazy Poker...

Many online poker sites make it very hard for us nickel & dime players to cash out. Well I marched backed… Well, clicked on Crazy Poker to continue my quest to bring my balance back up to $50.00. Then I could withdraw my money. I earned this money, and I want it. It’s funny, you can deposit $25.00 but only withdraw $50.00. I started out as usual at a 6 player .05 - .10 NL Holdem table. Started with $6.00 and was only going to play premium hands. I folded 15 hands in a row until I pick up pocket jacks under the gun. Hmmmm, this sounds familiar. I got the same hand Saturday night at my home game on the 3rd hand. I overplayed them and was knocked out of the game. Well I want some action so I raised to .30 and 3 players called. The flop was all low cards with 2 hearts, neither of my jacks were a heart so I’m out of position with a flush draw on the board. The pot is $1.35 so I bet $.90. One player calls, the turn is a Jack of hearts. Boy is that bitter sweet. I catch trips, but now there is a flush on the board. I bet out another $.90 and get a quick call. Geeze, how do I get into these hands? The river is rag. Now what? I’ve made 2 good size bets and have no idea where I am in the hand. I bet another $.40, why? Who knows? He now raises to $1.00. Now I have to pay another $.60 to see this dude’s 2 hearts. Ok, I call. Cards flip up and he has a 10 5 of hearts. Now I’m under $3.00. This is not going well. I double up back to my original $6.00 when I call with pocket 6’s and flop comes ace king six. One player raises all in, I call. He has ace king, and my trips held up. I finally build my chip stack up to over $13.00 when I catch a great run of cards. I was over $50.00 and my hand limit so I signed off the table and headed to the withdraw window. Lets see what excuses they come up with this time.