Last Friday was an odd game, and I bought in for more than I ever have before. I was out three times, for $20 each time. My last buyin was just before the cutoff at 10, and buying in for $20 would be useless because most of the stacks at the table were $70 and up. I bought in for $50, and managed to take the pot of $420 that night. A net profit of $310. Travis and I played heads-up again and I came out on top.

I played in a $55 +5 +5 tourney today at the Yellowhead Casino in Edmonton. The extra $5 is for the house, and the other extra $5 is an optional 1000 extra chips (which everyone took). I placed 4th and took $285. Not bad for my first tourney there. On the last hand I was the low stack at the table and pushed pre-flop with pocket 6’s. The small blind called me with AKos, and hit a king on the flop. That’s all I can ask for I guess, I got my money in with the best hand.

I’ll definitely have to enter this tournament again, it was a lot of fun.

I am playing a small cash game on full tilt right now, and just had a near perfect scenario happen.

I’ve also been playing around with a site I found recently which is really cool..  pokerhand.org allows you to post hand histories from all sorts of different poker sites. It parses the information and displays the hand in an easy to look at fashion. Check out this hand!

I entered into a 36 man shootout tourney tonight that was a satellite for the $500 buyin, $2,500,000 FTOPS Main Event. Top place wins a seat, second place gets $41, and third and down get nothing. I won, and I now have a seat to the FTOPS Main Event on the 14th. I’m stoked!

There’s going to be quite a few Full Tilt poker pros playing in it, including Jennifer Harman, and 7 others (so far). Should be a good time.

(click for fullsize)

Today…. Today was a good day. I entered into a $20,000 freeroll tournament last week, and the tournament was today. The tourney was for Canadians only, and only those who had bought in on full tilt for the first time in april. When I read this the first time I thought “man… that can’t be a very big player field”. Turns out I was right, and was surprised to see only 318 entrants at the beginning of the tourney. I came late, we all started with 1500 chips and I was down to 1260.

I slowly but surely built my way up, and made the money, which was top 90 players, and paid $80. At this point I had about chip average and was feeling pretty good. I kept on building my stack until I was chip leader with over 40k in chips. At this point there were only three tables left or so and I was poised to make the final table easily.

Poker has it’s ups and downs though and I ended up swinging up and down a bit, and eventually getting down to the final table with only about 20k in chips. The chip leader had roughly 120k at that time. I ended up losing all my chip with two pair to a better two pair. I pocketed $300 which is pretty awesome, but disappointing in itself because the money on the final table is very good, with 1st place taking $3600.

Right afterwards I sat myself down at a $.50/$1 table and promptly lost my full $100 stack with a set over set. Well that sucked…

So I entered into another tourney. I bought in at a 27 player $20 +$2 sit-n-go.  I was short stacked right from the beginning after losing a 3rd of my chip stack in the 1st hand I played. I was not able to make things work and ended up just barely hanging on to reach the final table. To give you an idea of just how short stacked I was.. I started the tourney with 1500 in chips, and made the final table with 620. I was very pleased to not be the bubble boy (the last person out before the money) until I realized that only the top 5 pay, not the full final table.  I doubled up a coupld times and felt comfortable enough to start playing my game. I worked at it and played very well, building my stack up to the chip lead with over 10k in chips. When there were only 7 of us left I took two players out in one hand to give myself a 2-1 chip lead over anyone else at the table. I said “you’re welcome fellers” to the remaining players as a joke because they had all just made the money because of the last hand. :)

When heads up started I had a huge chip lead. Something like 32k to 9k. We swung back and forth for a bit, and he eventually went all in for his last 9k. I called with a J 4 offsuit, and he hit two pair on the flop (queens and nines). I went runner runner 4’s on the turn and river to win. Even if I had doubled him up I would have still had a chip lead and I’m confident I would have won. Admittedly I got really lucky on a few hands, but that’s bound to happen in any tourney.

I played a Sit-N-Go on Wednesday. The buy-in was $3 +$0.50, and there were 45 players. I took 1st place and won $59. Yay me!

I also played a couple really good poker hands online this week.. here they are.

Hand 1 (Friday afternoon):

I held 3 3, he held 8 5.

I was first to act and tripled the big blind before the flop and he called.

Flop came down 2 5 5, and I bet out three times the big blind. He called.

Turn was a 3. This is an interesting card because it improved my hand to a full house, and looks like a brick to him. We both probably thought we had the best hand, and he didn’t seem to be scared of the straight because I raised pre-flop. I bet out again, 5 times the big blind, and he called. I’m not sure why he didn’t raise me here. With the possibility of a straight, full house, and two different flush draws, you’re better off to raise to see where you sit. If I call the raise or re-raise he would know that his trips are probably beat.

The river came down a 3. Jackpot! The only hand that could beat mine would be pocket fives, and I definitely didn’t put him on that because he was just calling the whole way. This is a great card for me because it also improves his hand to a full house, primed and ready to lose his chips. I bet out ten times the big blind, and he raised all in. I called and felted him.

Quad threes screenshot here

Hand 2 (Today):

I held A K. He raised 7 times the big blind pre-flop and I called.

The flop came down A 2 K. He bet out 7 times the big blind and I called.

Turn card was a K. He checked and I did the same behind him.

River was a 5. He bet out ten times the big blind, and I min raised him. He re-raised all in. I thought about it for a second, thinking it would be sickening if he had held aces the whole way. but I can’t see him checking the turn if he has aces. I called and felted him. He held a measly A Q. I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t raise on the flop, I might have won the pot too early.. although I was really surprised to see his hand.. why would he think he was good? Maybe he was trying to bluff, but he can’t expect to bluff me when I cam calling 7 times the big blind.. *shrug*..

I love donkeys. Especially when they help me win a pot worth nearly $100.

Kings full of aces screenshot here

I picked up the Friday Night Poker title again this week. Jordan and I had a really awesome game of heads up after the others were knocked out. The game was small with only 5 players, but thanks to rebuys we built the pot up to $180, I was in for only $20 this week. When we got down to heads up Jordan had about $20 more than me. Jordan was down to $13 at one point, I think my lowest was about $25 or so. We did 5 or 6 major swings back and forth over an hour and a half span, both of us refusing to give up while short stacked. I eventually took most of the chips with a a Qh Jh, while he held a J 7. The flop came down J brick brick, he went all in and I called. I doubled up and left him with about $20 remaining and it was over a few hands later.

Great game Jordan. Most fun I’ve had heads up in our cash games yet. I can’t believe we lasted for an hour and half heads up.. usually takes about 15-20 minutes for a winner to emerge.

I’ve been running really well lately, with a total of 7 wins out of the last 9 weeks we’ve played, and I’m up a little over $1000. That is after my buyins are deduced, net pay if you will.

I know I’m destroying the ending to the story here with the subject line, but I wouldn’t write a post for an epic failure on my part anyway.

Thursday night this week we played our usual Friday night poker game. We played on Thursday because a couple of us had a concert go to to (Lamb of God, Children of Bodom, As I Lay Dying, God Forbid). There was 8 players, and the pot grew to a substantial $320 by the end of the night.

Jordan was very very drunk, bought in for $60 and lost it all (big surprise, playing drunk). In the end Pierre, Mikko and I were the last three remaining. Pierre and I each had about $50, and Mikko had the remaining $220. I took Pierre out with an Ace vs his King, and pretty much doubled up.

A couple hands into heads up I decided I was going to bluff a pot, when the flop came down brick/brick/brick. I bluffed on all streets, putting in more each time, little did I know Mikko hit two pair on the flop. He called on the river and took nearly all my chips. I was down to $18.50, and the blinds were up to $5/$10.

I looked at Kyle (who was dealing out the rest of the game for us), and said “Chip and a chair buddy!”. I put my $10 blind in, Mikko called, and I raised all in for my last $8.50 with a king high. Mikko had over $300 sitting in front of him. I hit the flop and doubled up, and did it again soon after. With almost $100 in front of me from two double ups and a couple rounds of stealing blinds, I limped in with a 5 7 off-suit. I hit 7 7 3 on the flop and checked. Mikko checked. Turn was another brick, 6 I think. I was a little afraid of the straight here but I figured Mikko didn’t bet the flop so he probably isn’t drawing for it. I checked again and he bet minimum ($10). I call, and wee the river. The river is a face card, and I bet $10. Mikko raises to $20 and I go all in. He thinks I’m bluffing because I didn’t bet the whole way and I doubled up for just over $90. Wahohoooo!!

I think he said “You fucker” about 7 or 8 times before the next hand. I had taken the chip lead and was prepped to play ultra agressive. I think I won every pot from there on, and took home the entire $320. The last hand of the night I was holding 3c 4c, and hit a straight flush draw on the flop. Mikko went all in with two pair and I called, beating him with a straight on the river.

I have never come back in a cash game like that. Although I thoroughly enjoy our home games every week, it was definitely the funnest time I’ve had playing poker in a long time. Tough loss Mikko, one of these times you will sting me I’m sure.

I’ve been playing quite a bit on pokerstars.com lately. Last night I found some satellite tourneys for a seat into the 1/4 million dollar tournement next Sunday. I put up my money and came in 7th place. That sounds good and all, but only the top 6 got seats to Sunday’s tourney. I tried again about 4-5 times last night and still managed to fall short. Each time I enter one of these satellite tourneys it costs $2.20..

Tonight I got home from work and had to try again.. I not only managed to get the top 6, I placed first!

(pics or bs, notice the chip counts in the table column)

Pretty sweet deal if you ask me.. about $24 for an entry into a tourney with a prize pool of a cool 1/4 million dollars!

Poker tonight was awesome. We had 9 players, and the pot was healthy. I took home the bacon worth $360.

When there was just two of us left, I had 8 7 unsuited, and the flop came down 8, 7, 3. Two pair in heads up is damned good so I went all in ($110), and he called. He flipped over Q 6! I was in great shape and doubled up, and from there on I didn’t lose a hand.

<3 Poker.

Also.. it was my boss I was playing against. :P

I love poker. Nothing of real substance to say about it here, I just love poker. When the World Series Of Poker comes around each year, I get to watching each episode and each bracelet event, then finally the main event. The main event is something else. It’s a $10,000 buy in, and they got 6,800 entrants this year which makes for a pretty amazingly huge prize pool. The top 666 spots paid this year, and the 666th person got over $21,000 dollars for his efforts. The scale of the thing is just unbelievable.

I’m well into the main event now, and they’re down to about 600 guys left. Should get really interesting from here on.

Man, I need to start playing again. I also need to start playing online.