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Fish 'N' Chips - A small stakes poker blog    Friends

Kicking ass, taking names

Date: Fri, May 25, 2007 Internet

I'm up over $40 after 80 sngs, which is fantastic. Let's talk about an interesting hand.

Probably the hardest play I keep screwing up involves being four-handed with a decent stack of chips. Usually I'm third but only about 100 chips from second. There's a short stack moron and an average deep stack.

CO - 7000
Button - 2400
Hero - 2300
BB - 800

The CO is perfectly average, which means I have a hard time reading him for anything tricky. He bluffs in safe spots, raises with decent hands, but doesn't do anything exceptionally well or stupid.

The button is the best opponent I'm facing. Tight and aggressive. He's willing to put all his chips in the middle if there's a good chance he's ahead, but he doesn't need the nuts to do it. He bluffs rarely, but always in the right spots and aggressively.

The Button is a total moron. Calling with any two suited cards, any one paint card, any connectors, regardless of position or size of raise he's facing. He'll call all the way down to the river with 5 high, but will fold to an allin bet. This strategy has gotten him to fourth place, but recently his luck has run out and he's down to 800 chips with blinds at 100/200.

I get Jacks and I start thinking about how I'm just going to push all when it gets folded to me.

Then the CO goes allin for 7000 chips. It's the first time I've seen him make this kind of move. Now some opponents I would read as very weak with this raise. Maybe A8 or a pair of 8s or lower. Just looking to pick up the blinds. But then the CO knows he's getting called by the BB. Sure it's only 800 chips, but why give your chips away. Forget the fact that either of us medium stack could call.

Suddenly I decide I must be facing a premium hand, or at least a hand like AK or AQ. If I call, it's the only way the BB will fold. If I fold the BB will call.

So I make a super tight fold with my jacks and the BB calls like I figured he would.

The BB turns over some crap hand like Q8 and the CO turns over the A5 suited?! The BB hits an 8 and doubles up.

There's two big reasons I should call in this spot every time and one reason I should fold. I should call because the allin raise is probably weaker than jacks. Not always. Sometimes it's queens or AQ or AK and it's a coin flip I don't want. But it's usually weak, and in this case I gave the CO not only too much credit for having a hand, but too much credit to understand the table.

I should also call, because although I think the BB will fold crap, he will call with what he would think is a great hand - two paint cards, any pair, etc. In this case I'm happy to win and fine with the CO winning, since I still get third place.

The only reason to fold was my read, which was WAY off, and the fact that the BB was so bad that I had a reasonably expectation to outlast him anyway. In this case, the BB managed to get it allin later with 52 suited by calling bets down to the river and spiking a 2 for top pair.

I don't have it recorded by my guess is I went allin with A high preflop and busted in fourth.

Other than that, I have been playing very well, doing a bit more slow playing than I usually do and getting paid off.

51- second - 77 vs A10 - good heads up player and I was card dead the whole way. Made a good laydown with KK three handed - up against 2 pair and a flush draw - flush draw won.
52- first - 5 handed at level 10 - think I played it the best I could, got lucky heads up when my 33 beats 88 - str8 on river naturally.;) Also interesting that I was forced to fold KK and QQ on the flops around levels 2-4 but still managed to find a way to win. Moral - Don't got broke with a big pocket pair when it's clear you're beat.
53 - sixth - A4 vs KK - quad kings on flop. Didn't get the right breaks. Played fine.
54- fifth - annoying. Lost against a terrible table. Got two outed on river to lose.
55- seventh - 99 vs KK -made a very bad play with the 99 - have to play tighter.
56- fifth a7 vs KK - bad luck - played okay. some guy reraised my 10s with 6s which cost me a huge pot.
57 - third - A7 vs A4 - he flushes on river naturally.
58 - fifth - K8 vs 82 - 2 on river - that's right 82 sooted..
59 - second Q7 vs A3 - high blinds with aggressive opponent, could have folded...maybe...
60 fifth - didn't play well

4/10 (32/60) down $0.30 (up $22.05) At $166.97

61- first - played against complete idiots three handed.
62- third - another terrible set of players, Got raised off of A9 - maybe should have just called, but folding still left me second in chips and was hoping for short stack to donk out.
63 - second - had the short stack allin, lost the race and then next allin was QJ vs KJ.
64- fifth A6 vs KQ - I play the hand perfect on flop, and he calls my allin with KQ with jacks, queens and kings for outs and hits a jack on turn for gut shot str8.
65- fifth - A9 vs A8s - flushed board so opponent gets nut flush on flop, oh, and I get top pair top kicker with the nine...so you can imagine the rest.
66 - second - didn't play heads up well enough. Played well three handed though.
67- third - 10s vs JJ - could have folded? But probably not.
68 - third 8s vs A10 - push him allin and got the call. Could have just limped along and folded on the 10 high flop - maybe. Not a horrible play.
69 - third - 10s vs Q10 I raise, he calls, flop is Queen high, I move allin he calls.
70 - first KJ vs 108 - opponent played very well, but a bit too tight/predictable. He read my raise with KJ as weak, kinda was, but I had too many chips involved to fold.

8/10 (40/70) up $9.60 ($31.65) At $176.57

71 - fourth A4 vs A2 - 2 on flop
72- fourth - 99 vs QQ
73- first - heads up against complete idiot.
74 - first - got lucky 44 vs KK - flopped trips.
75 - second J9 vs QJ
76-first
77- fifth A10 vs J8
78- fourth - lost to horrible circumstances - big stack goes allin UTG into a BB shortstack idiot who is going to call with any two cards.I have JJ and figure I should be beat, and even if I'm not, the shortstack has got to be pretty screwed against whatever the Big stack has. So I fold the BB calls with some junk hand and the BB flips over A5off and loses. In retrospect, I should have called, since even if the big stack wins I get second. But I was also concerned that calling would coinvince the BB to fold and hope I got eliminated. Annoying hand. Later the BB was dead to a 2 or 5 on river and got there.
79 fifth - 66 vs 99
80 second KJ vs A3 K on turn A on river.

5/10 (45/80) up $10.20 ($41.85) At $186.77

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12 cashes in a row - rolling along well.

Date: Tue, May 22, 2007 Internet

I'm well on my way to a ITM percentage of +50% and a ROI of 30 per cent.

I managed to cash 12 times in a row, which is certainly a record for me.

Made a good read in game 20 preflop but didn't follow through with it after the flop.

In game 50, it was four handed when this hand came down.

I had J9 and a decent stack of chips, around 3200 with 200/400 blinds. I'm in the BB and SB limps in and I check. Flop comes 89J, giving me two pair. Sb min bets, I min raise and he min raises again. His most likely hand at this point is 710. The min raise was a smart move by me because it gave me some information. Unfortunately, I talked myself into thinking he could also have 89 or 8J and reraised allin and lost.

If he had 89 or 8J he probably would have bet more on the flop. If he had 89 or 8J he would have called or reraised allin to my reraise. He would not have min reraised.

His most likely holding after he min raised me was 710 and I should have folded the hand.

Now at $167.27. Accidentally played a couple of 60 sent sngs..damn. Which messes with my stats a little, but in the grand scale of 1000s of sngs, I'm going to choose to ignore it.

11- fourth
12- fifth
13- second kk vs Q5 i slow played, he hit 5 on flop I went allin, moron called and hit 5 on river for trips.
14- first
15 - second A8 vs AA - bad timing.
16- fourth A4 vs AQ short stacked.
17-first
18-fifth AJ vs AQ
19-eight - KJ vs KQ - lost a big pot when my trips got crushed on the river by a gutshot str8
20-fifth - AJ vs AQ - read him for a big hand, but hoping it was a pocket pair, but then even with PP he should have beat the flop,so therefore, should have put him on bigger ace than me. A on turn and I'm toast.

4/10 (9/20) up $2.40 (6.60) at $151.52
21 - fourth Q4 vs 64 sooted!!whatever!!
22- second - AJ vs AK
23- third - Q10 vs KK - guy went allin about 12 times in a row - hard to put him on anything strong.
24- second 56 vs some radom hand - M of 1.5
25- fifth A5 vs JQ Jack on turn.
26 - second - AK vs 77 - probably could have held off on the death blow but I'm pretty sure he would have pushed allin with 7s anyway. This left me with 2000 chips against a complete idiot. I originally gained the chip lead when my AK beat his 84 sooted.
27- ninth - KK vs A9 sooted!! I raise 5x bb get two callers, both morons, I hit trip Ks, three diamonds so I push, with the odds of a flopped flush rare, and of course he has the ace high flush. I fail to get the boat and I'm out
28-fourth KK vs A9 (str8 on turn) earlier we call called the short stack and this idiot bets out with his pair of eights, short stack catches pair of nines and then I would have made the runner runner flush arrg!
29- fourth A7 vs AA bad luck
30-first

5/10 (14/30) up $2.40 ($9.00) Now at $153.92

31- fifth - AQ vs A2 with 2 on river
32- third 22 vs A8
33 - second - KJ vs 58sooted and the KJ vs JQ
34 -third - A3 vs AQ - 3 on flop queen on river.
35- third
36- second AJ vs Q9 - played very well heads up
37 - second A3 vs J8 - quad jacks on flop.
38-second
39-second J8 vs 62 soooted.
40-second J9 vs AKs short stacked...

(9/10) (23/40) up $9.60 ($18.60) Now at $163.52

41- second
42- first -finally - played very well.
43- fifth 55- 87 - I hit trips on flop, he hits two pair, and the boat on turn.
44- seventh 55 vs AK flop is 5k6, we get it all in, turn is a 6, river K. - Bad beat!
45-sixth QQ vs 79 suited - str8 on river naturally:)
45 second Aq vs q9 nine on river
46- first
47- sixth - 22 vs AJ - eariler possibly misplayed JJ - or made great laydown.
48-sixth A10s vs KJ
49- second (accidentally a 60 cent table)
50- fourth - J0 vs 710 - two pair vs str8 played the flop bad.

5/10 (28/50) up $3.75 ($22.35)

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Off to a good start.

Date: Sat, May 19, 2007 Internet

Typical bad beats, but I am off to a good start, especially considering I've decided to 3-4 table the entire set.

1- second
2- first
3- first
4- fifth - AK vs KJ - moron turned a str8 naturally.
5- fifth
6 fourth 55 vs 77 - bad luck, but still, didn't play it well enough.
7 - seventh - trip 3s against a str8 draw - he hit on the river.
8-fifth 44 vs JK - short stacked
9-third - played well, short stacked for quite a while
10-second K3 vs JQ - I hit king on flop, so naturally he hits the str8 on the river.

5/10 up $4.20 for $149.12 total.


My goals for this set are to get enough cash to up my stakes for the next set of 100 sngs, to finish ITM 55 per cent of the time, but more importantly, to finish with a ROI of 30 per cent.

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Set of 100 sngs completed

Date: Sat, May 19, 2007 Internet

So, after 100 sngs, I finished in the money 51 per cent of the time, and made $26.40 for a return on investment of 22 per cent.

Not horrible, but down from 30 per cent ROI from my last set of 100.

So my average through 200 is ROI of 26 per cent and ITM of 54 per cent.

If I factored in my first place finish in that $6 sng, I would have a ROI of 37 per cent:) But I think that's an unfair statistic, so I'll leave it out for now and perhaps factor it in later.

At $144.92, I'm still about $12 away from upping my stakes to $2.40 sngs.

For now I'm going to do some poker reading and review my results to see what I can improve on. I know I need to play better three handed. Third place finishes piss me off almost as much as fourth place finishes and recently, I've been getting too many of them.

91- fourth played well, unfortunately ran my jacks into aces four handed and from there had to play good short stacked play - didn't get a break, everyone else did and out in fourth.
92- eighth - classic two pair vs two pair. guy picked a weird spot to slow play two pair, with str8 possiblity, but meh.
93-third 77 vs K8 - king on turn. Could have plotted for second, but first seemed up for grabs.
94- first
95- fourth - AQ vs 88 - trips and my ace on flop, read him for weak ace - crappy:) turn brought an ace just to make it extra funny.
96-sixth - 10s vs AJ heading to the river he had 4 outs - annoying.
97-fifth - 66 vs AK - played okay
98-third j6 vs 77
99-third j6 vs kj - both hit jacks on flop.
100- second -A4 vs Q7 earlier folded AJ to an allin. At that point he didn't seem the type to bluff, only raising with real hands but calling with total crap so I was pretty sure I was crushed, but later he made some bone headed plays so hard to say.

5/10 (51/100) up $0.60 ($26.40) Now at $144.92.

ITM - 51 per cent ROI - 22 per cent.

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Serious ups and downs.

Date: Fri, May 18, 2007 Internet

So I was finishing up my 90th sng and decided to play some stud hi/lo. This is a game of patience, almost as bad as razz, but where with razz, it's very easy to tell if you're ahead of behind going to the river, it's not quite as clear cut in stud hi/lo. Still, a pretty easy game to beat if you're feeling patient. But I don't think I was. I lost a pot that I was likely 70 per cent to at least chop with two cards to come and ended up losing about $4.00

Then I decided I'd just play a nl cash game, be patient and win my $4 back and leave. Instead, I get outdrawn on the river 3 times and lose another $8.

I win back most of it before making a bad call with a full house when I was 95 per cent positive I was getting beat by a bigger full house - and I was.

So now I'm down $18 and a little annoyed. I do consider all my cash game time as a learning experience and I don't mind paying for that experience, but I was annoyed all the same. For once, I'd like to come out even or even get a little lucky. At one point I flopped an Ace high str8 with K10, with three callers to my raise and didn't get a single customer when I bet half the pot on the flop.

So, as I was heading to bed, I figured out if I played a $6+$1 sng and won, I'd be back to even plus a buck or two (first paid $27).

So I signed up and played against 8 players I had never seen before. Nobody made any bone-headed mistakes The first two guys to bust lost with two pair against a better two pair and a flush.

I played tight, made sure to only make continuation bets on good looking boards. The only mistake I made was making a bluff on a flush board on the turn. At the stakes I usually play at, this move would succeed enough times to be profitable. But in this case, it was quite apparent what I was doing so the guy reraised me and I was forced to fold.

The turning point hand was when some guy went allin for about 2300 chips and I called with about 3000 chips with AK suited. There was another guy at the table who made this move earlier with aces - a smart move, possibly, to make against smart players, since they'll have a hard time to figure you for aces.

But in this case, it was another guy, and I was positive that he did not want a customer. So I called and he showed KQ.

I don't recall much of the rest of the game, except I stayed tight, buying blinds when I could with strong moves. The hardest move I had to make was going allin three handed with A2 on the button. I promise you this is the right play, but it looks pretty dumb when one of your opponents picks up AJ or better and makes the call. Some will even call with A8 or higher. But with my tight image and the size of the other stacks, I figured I had a good chance of folding A10 and lower.

Mostly this play is profitable because A2 will, on average, be the best hand three handed. Whether you choose to fold or raise allin with this hand depends on your opponents ( I had one tight and one semi-loose opponent left) stack sizes, which at this point I think I was about even with the semi-loose player and 2-1 with the tight chip leader. Finally, the size of the blinds. At the time I had maybe a little more than seven BBs, but A2 is just not a hand I want to be bluffing with on a flop. So if my only play would be to go allin on the flop, I might as well do it preflop and force my opponents to make harder decisions.

Heads up was against the tight player, who had now tried to adapt his play to take advantage of my tight play. A couple times in the sng I had made a raise, was reraised and I folded. So I figure he would pick up on this and try to take me off hand preflop and on the flop.

I think I managed to get him allin with him holding Q6 and me holding Q9 and my hand held for the win.

So I'm now back over $140 with 8 sngs left in my stack of 100.

In game 91, I managed to lose in fourth place, despite picking up aces twice, busting an opponent each time, once to double up and once to pick up about 400 chips.

The turning point was where I ran my jacks into aces four handed (I could have folded easily had I thought the hand through). I played very well short handed and grinded buddy who doubled through me down to the level of a short stack. Unfortunately he was able to catch his two outer on the turn when facing elimination against the chip leader to pick up trips and double up.

It also didn't help that the chip leader was a moron, who didn't apply any pressure preflop and only seemed willing to call allins when he had little hope of winning (94 suited?).

I point all this out to explain an important concept of sngs - winning hands early in a sngs isn't nearly as important as winning hands later in on. I'd rather win two big hands four handed than four big hands 9-7 handed.

Now, had I made a disciplined fold with my jacks, maybe I would have gotten ITM - maybe not. But had I gotten a double up with aces four-handed - I'm sure to have finished strong.

The point is it's better to play tight early in a sng since the chips aren't really worth the risk that early and you risk going bust well before the money.

81- fifth
82- third - K10-AA - either I was getting bluffed like mad or my opponents were getting hit by the deck. reraised me allin twice in three hands, finally went allin with K10 and well, aces.
83- eighth - AA vs K6sooted - full house against quad 6s. early aces are my kryptonite.
84- first - crazy game with bad beats all over the place.
85- seventh - JJ vs KQ and AK. Could have folded.
86 - second A4 vs 73
87- second - KQ vs A4 - probably could have folded. Be a bit more patient headsup.
88- fifth - A5 vs AK went allin for last 550 chips with a str8 draw and he called with air and won.
89-sixth KQ vs J10
90-second

(5/10)(46/90) up $2.40 (up $25.80) at $143.11

I then lost about $18.00+ playing cash games and then entered and won a $6+$1 sng for $27.00

Am now at $144.32

91- fourth played well, unfortunately ran my jacks into aces four handed and from there had to play good short stacked play - didn't get a break, everyone else did and out in fourth.
92- eighth - classic two pair vs two pair. Guy picked a weird spot to slow play two pair, with str8 possibility, but meh.

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4/10 again..need to pick it up.

Date: Wed, May 16, 2007 Internet

I played okay, but only managed 4/10 and this time taking a $2.10 loss. Losses of this size are pretty much par for what happens when I play well and get some bad luck. And games 73 and 80 were full of bad beats and cold decks.

I was doing some 4 tabling which I can honestly say didn't affect my play too much. At one point I accidentally called on the button with a pair of kings, but ended up winning a lot more chips than I probably would have had I raised.

Hopefully, I can start putting together some serious cashes as I finish up this set of 100. So close to jumping limits - can't wait.

71- fifth - K10 vs A4 - seemed like i was getting teamed up on with the chip leader doubling up two short stacks with air.... oh well.
72 - third - AK vs 55 - could have played it differently.
73- seventh - AK vs 88 - no luck...no cards...little hope.
74- third QJ vs A8 and 89s
75- fourth
76- first
77- fifth - razz - played well, bad cards, crappy player called down with JQ showing..unreal.
78- sixth 33-88
79- third - 610 vs A9 - bad time to make a bluff - should have been a slight bit more patient...big blinds no excuse this time. On the plus side came back from 370 chips nine-handed to take third.
80- sixth - KK vs JJ - nothing wrong with that - trips on flop obviously.

4/10 (41/80) down $2.10 (up $23.40 total ) at $140.71.

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Frustrating set of sngs.

Date: Wed, May 16, 2007 Internet

I managed to go four out of 10 with two wins for a $2.40 profit. Not horrible but a bit frustrating when I felt I played quite well through all ten sngs and basically got beat up on every flop or ran into the wrong hand at the wrong time.


61- sixth KQ vs AQ - SB vs BB... bad luck or overplayed KQ - a bit of both.
62- second 107 vs K3 - down to like 4 BB
63- first -easy heads up opponent.
64- first - good battle, but pretty simple strategy played by opponent.
65- fifth A10 vs 66 - trips on flop. played well.
66- sixth - Q10 vs 23 sooted - BB woke up with a monster hand and rivered the 5 high str8..
67- second 810 vs Q5 - very short stacked.
68- ninth - JJ vs 78 sooted - he hit trips on flop and I was out. Hard to put him on 78 suited, but I could have folded with about 1000 left. More likely holding 10s, or 9s, but nine- handed loads of people like to call with suited connectors regardless of raise size, so should have check folded after 400 bet was called on flop.
69 - fifth - AQ vs AA - bad luck basically.
70- sixth - str8 against better str8 - bad luck again.

4/10(37/70) up $2.40 ($25.50) at $142.81

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Not bad...but should be better.

Date: Tue, May 15, 2007 Internet

Well, I was able to turn what was looking like a losing set of sngs into a small winner by concentrating hard on my final three and getting a bit of luck in my last one to get a winner.

In game 56, I played my second hand of the stt (single table tournament) badly. In MP (middle position) , I limped with AQ, which I do a lot of the time. I'm just looking to see a good flop cheaply. Well, I got a great flop, hitting two pair, but it also had a 10, giving KJ, a very possible holding nine-handed, the str8.
Two people limped on the flop and I raised it up to about 300, a little more than the size of the pot and got one caller. At this point I should have just checked it down, calling a small bet or something that appeared fishy, but otherwise proceeded with caution. The only hands I would be beating at this point would be A10 or Q10. Both of which may have called my big raise on the flop but neither would be interested it putting any more money into the pot with such a dangerous board.

But instead, I talked myself into going allin on the turn to keep someone from drawing to a str8 and busted out. Not smart.

I have passed the $140 dollar mark, which makes me happy.

51- sixth AK vs AA than AQ vs QQ - bit of bad luck.
52 - seventh - trips against two flush draws - they both hit, I lose.
53 - fourth - AJd vs K8d - pair jacks on flop, king on river.
54- second - played well heads up, considering started with 1/8 chip disadvantage, but didn't get the cards when it mattered most.
55- second - A5 vs A6 on a flop of AQQ and I DON'T get a split pot - unreal!
56- ninth - AQ vs KJ two pair vs str8 on flop. Played it bad.
57- sixth JJ vs AK and K7 - king on flop and I'm out.
58- third
59- third
60- first - played well, got lucky when I needed to, winning with 22 vs AK to take the chip lead.

5/10 (33/60) up $1.50 ($23.10) At $140.41

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Good weekend, bad move with AQ

Date: Mon, May 14, 2007 Internet

Well I had some success with my last batch of sngs, but I totally crapped out in the AP Challenge - a freeroll I've decided I'm going to make an honest effort to qualify for every week via the Horse freeroll.

Anyway, I went card dead for the first 6 levels and finished at the break with 1450 chips. I bought the blinds 3-2 times and won a flop.

I think I managed to double up with a pair of Jacks vs a pair of 10s on the first hand after the break and then reraised someone preflop, folding them and getting up to around 3200 chips.

With the blinds at 100/200, I had AQs in mid-position facing two limpers. The first limper I had already noted as someone who limped a lot with weak hands in early position. The caller didn't seem to be showing much strength either, so I made it 1000 to go. Everyone folded, except for the weak limper who called.

The flop came K 4 2 rainbow and he led into me for 100. 100??!! What the hell? There was over 2000 in the pot. I didn't think the K helped his hand. I put him on either a small pocket pair, trips or air. Since I didn't see any draw that had me worried, I just called, thinking, I had ace high, and was either way ahead or way behind.

The turn was another complete brick and he fired out again with 100?! And again I called.

The river was an 8 and he checked and I checked.

He turned over 89 of diamonds, with one diamond on board, for a pair of 8s to take down the pot.

Obviously, I played this hand poorly.

Given what I knew about my opponent preflop, I should have read my opponent for being weak on the flop and raised him. A 100 bet into a 2000+ pot indicates either weakness or great strength, but I'll never know unless I raise. I probably would have had to raise 1000 - about half my stack to find out, but besides getting some information, there's also a very good chance that I'll take the pot down.

Instead I was very short stacked after that hand and busted out soon after with a pair of 7s.

Lesson learned.

Here are my sngs results:

41- second K10 vs A8 - pair king on flop, he paired ace on turn. Table played very well.
42- fifth KK vs AK, AA, and QQ. Short stack went allin (AK), stack shorter than mine went allin (AA). Seriously considered folding, probably should of but called and then guy behind me went allin (QQ) and I called. Trip queens won.
43- second - 66 vs J10off - runner runner flush.
44- first
45- third
46- first - played very well heads up. Got lucky on a A10 vs AK and then unlucky on a Q10 vs J10 but was patient and won.
47- sixth - QQ vs 88 and earlier, KQ vs K2 - bad luck, but could have played the KQ better and lost less chips, maybe:)
48 - third A10 vs AQ
49 - sixth - AQ vs AK could have folded...but a tough fold it would be. This all of course could have been avoided if my AK could have beat A7 offsuit!
50- second - A10 vs JJ - biggest bluffer at table gets jacks back to back to take out me and the other guy.

7/10 (28/50) up $8.70 ($21.60) At $138.91

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AP Challenge

Date: Sat, May 12, 2007 Internet

I totally forgot that by finishing in the top 3 of the Horse Freeroll on AP I also got a chance to enter the AP challenge - basically a $1,000 freeroll that pays the top 27. I think I finished 42 last time out of about 1200. Hopefully I'll get to cash this time.

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Bad luck + good play = profit.

Date: Fri, May 11, 2007 Internet

The bad beats have kept coming but I played a bit better. I also gave a bad beat on the way to one of my wins when I flopped trip kings against aces after we got it allin three-handed.

Mostly, I have to learn not to push too hard with A -rag when it's folded to me in the small blind when it's four handed. If I'm horribly shortstacked, pushing is the play to make. If not, I can fold, call or raise, but allin is just kinda dumb.

Also, as demonstrated in game 33, just because I get four good hands in a row, doesn't mean I should be pushing heavily the third or fourth time. See a flop to avoid a 50/50 situations and avoid elimination.

Funny that both of my third place finishes should have been firsts, had the cards been even fair to me.

31- eighth - AA vs 66 still, probably could have read him for trips on flop and folded. Be careful and super tight early.
32- first - FINALLY!
33- fifth - AJ vs 44 - tighten up! had just taken blinds three times in a row. No surprise someone was going to stand up to me.
34- first
35- fourth - AQ vs 55 played fine.
36 - third AK vs K8 - runner runner str8
37 - fifth - didn't play well
38 - first
39- fourth A3 vs JJ - too bad - played well but could have gotten away from this hand preflop.
40- third - UNREAL BAD LUCK!! had about 7500 chips when it was five handed and lost every hand once it got to three handed (about 5 hands). When it was four handed there was a raise allin and a call in front of me and I folded my pair of eights. A solid play when they turned up AK and AA but of course the flop brought the third 8. Had I called, it would have been basically all over with me having an 11-1 chip lead heads up.

ITM - (5/10) (21/40) up $5.10 ($12.90) Bankroll now at - $130.21

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When bad luck and bad play meet.

Date: Thu, May 10, 2007 Internet

Sometimes I'll play bad, but still get by with a couple of breaks to break even on the day. Other times, I'll get a bad string of luck, but play well enough to minimize the loses.

When I play bad and I get horrible luck, bad things happen.

I played well my last few sngs to keep things from being depressingly awful, but I'm sure done for the day.

21- fourth - wasn't playing that well 67 vs KQ
22- fourth - AQ vs AA - man, did he pick up a hand. But no need for me to go allin. Could have called his min raise with AQ and saw a flop.
23 - seventh 99 vs AK gotta tighten up
24- third 55 vs KJ - played a bit better, but still not my best.
25- fourth KJ vs A5
26- seventh AK vs A6 - nothing I could do.
27 fourth 99 vs KJ I went allin on 8 high flop and he called with no draw and hit K on turn - what can I do - nothin'
28 ninth - 10s vs 97 offsuit, trips vs str8 on flop... He called 4bb raise with his monster hand preflop.
29 second - KQs vs A4 played well
30 -second 22 vs 310 sooted!!

(3/10)(16/30) down ($4.80) up ($7.80 over 30 games) now at $125.11

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Finished set of 10 sngs with eight cashes

Date: Wed, May 9, 2007 Internet

Again, not much time for poker today, so just figured I'd finish up my set of 10. Still no bloody first place finishes, but I'll take going 8/10 on cashes.

17- third A8 vs 77 but also spent too much on K10 trying to bluff pot against the unbluffable. Also when you've shown that you're in allin mode (7 BB or less and a smart player limps at you, might be best to check and then go allin on flop. If he has a small pair or a couple of high cards, much hard for him to make the call after the flop.
18- third - A10 vs A7 - he hit 7 on flop and ace on turn and it's all over. Played well.
19- second J9 vs JQ - if I didn't call I'd have 2800 after I paid the small blind against +10K. was hoping for live cards.
20- sixth 69 vs KJ - allin preflop. was down to 3 BB and got heads up with another player, flopped opened ended str8 but couldn't connect. Lost most of my stack in boat over boat situation earlier.

8/10 (13/20) up $7.80 ($12.60)

Playing in the AP horse freeroll again for fun. No addon at the start, but I hardly needed it. Picked up AA and QQ in the first round of limit and they both held up against the 5 opponents who followed me to the flop. Also picked up AK on the next hand but a jack high flop had me fold. Of course it goes runner runner for the str8.

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