Another good weekend

Its been another good weekend of poker. The first milestone in the challenge was achieved and that was being able to start playing €3 + 0.30 games. There is a few more different types of game on offer so it makes it more interesting. So far Ive played one cooler and easily made it through that. I played this after a bad beat to stop me tilting and it worked. I have also played 5 turbos and only cashed in two of these which overall has won me my money back. These are a complete lottery and I wont be playing many of these. The blinds go up far too quick and if you dont get cards at the right time you're screwed. They don't suit my style of play at all.

Another thing I have found is that I lose too many chips with AK, so im trying different ways of playing this hand. My main problem being that I raise with it pre flop and if im just against one other player then make a continuation bet no matter what the flop is. But if I dont hit and I get re-raised I have to fold and quite often i lose a large chunk of my stack doing this. Or I can get called after the flop and then Im not sure whether to bet again and hope they are on a draw or check which generally leads to them betting and me folding.

There was also the good old weekend drinkers playing and some terrible play on offer. I have had a couple of bad players knock me out when they have got lucky and then call me a fish or say how great they are when in fact they won with a bad beat. I then check there sharkscope and reveal how bad they are and they soon shut up. Although largely I try to stay out of chat and concentrate on my play as im generally playing 2 games at once. Another example of bad play was when I was BB and was raised by SB. I had AQ and with the blinds at what they were I decided to push all in. He called and had 8-2. Of course a 2 came on the river.

One other thing I have learnt is to be more patient heads up when blinds are small in comparison to stacks. I try to play aggressive heads up as I find more often than not this is the best way to play. But at times you need to sit back a bit when the blinds are not that big yet. This especially cost me in a 3 table 30 seater game in which I finished 2nd but should really have won. I still won €21.60 for my troubles but should have won the €36.00 first prize really. I pushed with A 5 and was called by Q J and he hit the jack. A raise rather than an all in here would have allowed me to get away from this. When in the last 5 of this tournament I managed to hit a sweet hand, my first ever royal flush which you can see below.

Im enjoying the 20 and 30 seater games but also seem to be doing well in the 5 and 10 seaters so I will be mixing it up between these for now and see how this goes. Thats it for the weekend for me, lets see what next week brings.

***** Hand 1403086780 ***** 400.00/800.00 Texas Hold'em (No Limit ) -
Sunday, January 11, 2009 12:46:45 PM Holdem 3 Table (Real /Tournament )
Seat 1: Mane54 (14658.00)
Seat 3: DJ_Sharky (12056.00)
Seat 2: gorogoro (7306.00)
Seat 4: Kyol (3450.00)
Seat 5: Unknown (0.00)
Seat 6: Unknown (0.00)
Seat 7: Unknown (0.00)
Seat 8: Unknown (0.00)
Seat 9: benben95 (7530.00)
Seat 10: Unknown (0.00)
Mane54 post SB 400.00
gorogoro post BB 800.00
** Deal **
Mane54 [N/A, N/A]
DJ_Sharky [As, Kc]
gorogoro [N/A, N/A]
Kyol [N/A, N/A]
benben95 [N/A, N/A]
*** Bet Round 1 ***
DJ_Sharky Raise to 2400.00
Kyol Fold benben95 Fold
Mane54 Fold gorogoro All-in 7306.00
DJ_Sharky Call 7306.00
*** Flop(Board): *** : [3h, Jc, Qc]
*** Turn(Board): *** : [3h, Jc, Qc, 10c]
*** River(Board): *** : [3h, Jc, Qc, 10c, Ac]
*** Showdown *** : Rake: 0.00 Total Pot: 15012.00
Mane54 Fold Win: 0.00
DJ_Sharky [As, Kc] Royal straight flush Win: 15012.00
gorogoro [Ad, 7h] Pair of aces Win: 0.00
Kyol Fold Win: 0.00
benben95 Fold Win: 0.00

Current balance: €86.28