Picture me rolling ...

Including the win in my last game on Thursday night, I've now won 3 of my last 5 games. They were only $3.25 45 mans because I was playing short sessions, but still ... good all the same.

So yes, I just finished a very short, quick session but obviously the results of it were great. Four games played, two wins. The first win was a bit out of nowhere as I really didn't expect it. I failed to double before the final table so went on to it as one of the short-stacks. It was taking ages to lose anyone and I decided to defend my big blind and try to double up against a slightly shorter stack all-in with 8 9 suited. They turned over ace ten off and first card out was the ace, second was an 8 but my hand didn't improve. So I was all-in on my small blind but thanks to someone trying to bluff on the flop, I won and got some chips back. A whole nother orbit went by without losing anyone and someone shoved from mid-position and I was forced to call in the big blind with king jack suited which I obviously didn't mind. He turned over ace rag and I caught a king on the flop and made the flush on the river.

Finally we lost a couple of players and the money bubble burst. I stole the blinds with queen ten off from midposition which moved me in to 3rd place. Not long after that I found myself short-stack until I doubled up with ace king 5 handed. Lost a few more players and I was short-stack 3 handed until I double up twice, the second with 9's against queen ten off. I lost a huge flip with ace queen suited vs pocket 4's (I of course had ace queen) and looked to be gone. Somehow I fought my way back in to it and watched the other two attack each other and I soon found myself heads up but facing a 4:1 chip deficit.

First hand, aces in the big blind ... but the big stack small blind folds ... sick. Funnily enough, it didn't matter as I had them again 3 hands later (after stealing the blinds once) and doubled-up to take the chip lead. Then 3 hands later I had aces AGAIN and delivered the knock-out blow to get the win.

The second win was a lot more straight-forward. I was short-stacked midway through but doubled up with 7's vs ace king and then raised under-the-gun with jacks, got shoved on and decided to call. He turned over aces and luckily for me a jack came on the turn and I was chip-leader. From there I cruised through to the final table, kept the lead in the early going and then got a big stack and sailed in to heads-up with a bit of a chip lead. My opponent seemed fairly aggressive early so I decided to call a small blind shove with king 8 off, he turned over jack ten and thankfully my hand held. That was the turning point and I knocked him out soon after.

So my bankroll is now at US$1212 which is of course an all-time high. My goal yesterday was to get in to the top 2% on OPR, I'm pretty sure that will happen tonight.

APL return

I played my first APL game in ages last night. One of my friends has just got back from overseas and a few other people have been asking me to come along so I ended up going to Broadway last night. It was good to catch up with a few friends that I haven't seen for a few weeks. It was good to play live poker for the first time in a while and actually touch the cards and the chips.

I picked Ellen up on the way and we got to the game just as it was starting. It was a full house so instead of setting up another table, we ended up being reserves number 7 and 8. This would cause much joy later for players that got knocked out early and had to wait an hour or more to get back in the game.

I got in during the 2nd blinds and shortly after I sat down got pocket queens in the small blind. One of the looser players who was short-stacked raised the blinds in early position and was quickly called by someone else and then me. The flop came out 6, 7, 7 with 2 clubs and the original raiser put in the rest of his stack (just another 300 or so) and was again called by the other player. I decided to push all-in over the top of the caller and hope the initial raiser had ace king or a lower pocket pair. The caller thought I had pocket 9's and decided to fold and the initial raiser turned over kings. He could've played the hand exactly the same way with a lot less. I thought afterwards, I probably should've played my queens a little slower post-flop to get some more in the sidepot as insurance in case the initial raiser was actually strong.

I didn't see many cards after that until after the break. I limped in with ace queen from eary position, someone raised with 9's in middle position, got a few callers and won the hand on a low river and flop. Shortly after another loose/aggressive player (yes, there are plenty of them in APL) raised in early position, I didn't have much more left so I pushed in over the top with pocket kings. I knew I was ahead, knew he couldn't fold, so just had to hope they would hold up. The big blind ummed ahhed and eventually also called. Turns out she had 9, 10 suited, initial raiser had queens, my kings hold up and I get the main pot while the queens take the subsequent sidepot. Nice triple up for me and I'm right back in the game.

For much of the next 30 mins or so our table plays short-handed as the turbo-table gets drawn and we're down to the final few tables. Blinds rising quickly and 5 handed I stupidly don't shove with ace 8 under the gun and a tight big blind player. Later, I'm in the small blind with king jack suited and everyone else is folded, the big blind has a large stack so whether I shove or not he will call with any two cards. We joke about this on the table so I just call and he puts me all-in anyway. I of course call and he turns over ace 6 off and I flop a full-house, I double up but still not that far in front of the blinds.

Next orbit, I'm in the small blind and push all-in with ace 9 off for an extra 4000 and a new big blind who is also chipped up umm's and ahh's for a minute or two and then calls with 7, 8 off. Low board, he turns the straight and I'm out in 12th spot, which isn't too bad considering there would've been 50+ players. Other than the king jack suited full-house flop, not much luck and not many cards.

Friday night poker

I'm really liking quiet Friday nights with no plans. Firstly, you have the NRL double-header on TV and now that I have OneHD there is 2 hours of poker on as well! Last night was the High Stakes Poker episode where they're basically playing a sit'n go where Daniel Negreanu is busted early when he runs bottom set in to top set. Unlucky

I haven't really played too much poker this week. After a big weekend on PokerStars last weekend, I made sure I didn't play on Monday, instead just watched TV and read a book. Wednesday I had a pretty solid night, playing 13 games and getting in the money in 6 of them. Unfortunately I didn't get really deep in any, the best being an 8th in a $2 180 man turbo tournament. I mentioned last month that I noticed I wasn't doing well in these but I'm giving them another shot and am doing much better.

So last night, I was playing a couple of $1 90 man turbo's but I concentrated mostly on the $2 90 man non-turbo's and the $2 180 man turbo's. Things started off slowly for me getting nothing out of my first 6 games. Nothing was going right for me and I was a tad frustrated at running in to bigstacks who were playing junk but kept sucking out on me (mostly when they were dominated pre-flop). I then managed to final table one of the 180 games but finished 9th. That started a string of in the money's without getting deep.

It was getting pretty late so I decided to finish with two 180 games and then I'd call it a night. I made the money in both and hoped I could make both final tables but finished 11th in one when the big-stack limped in from middle position, I shoved all-in with ace king but I didn't have enough to make him fold. He turned over king 8, I have ace king, first card out 8 (and my hand doesn't improve) ... frustrating.

On the other game I started to get a few things going my way, hitting 2 sets prior to the final table to chip me back up from short-stack. With the blinds already high on the final table I pushed all-in with pocket 8's and got called by ace queen in the big blind. First card out ace (groan) but the rest of the flop and turn formed to give me outs on the river of any 7 for a straight or an 8 for the set. 8 on the river, bang, another set!! This win put me in to 3rd place and I essentially cruised through in to the final 3 from there. Three-handed went for a while and stack sizes continued to fluctuate. Eventually the short-stack got knocked out and I was heads up but facing more than a 2 to 1 chip deficit. I knew I was in trouble but the chip leader was fairly loose aggressive so I figured one good win and I'd be right back in it. I can't remember the hand itself but before I know it I hit the chip lead. Things were going well until he took down a couple of raised pots post-flop when I had nothing. The final hand he doubled the blinds and I re-raised all-in with king queen off. He called with jack 9 off and rivered the 9 ... ouch. Heads-up I kept getting it in with the better hand the cards just didn't hold up, so I'm happy with the way I played and the $72 second prize is niiiiice.

Bankroll now US$404.