Suck-out Sundays

Sure, it was Monday night my time but since it was Sunday in the US, I'm fine calling it "Suck-out Sundays" on PokerStars. I've checked my stats on SharkScope before and its confirmed that Sunday & Monday are two of the worst performing days for me.

The night started well with a 2nd in my 4th game of the night but it was somewhere in the middle of my 12 game drought that I wandered why I bother playing on Monday nights. There was a spot or two I should've got away from but a number of others were just plain ugly.

I'm not sure why, but I loaded up a $2.20 180 man which I'm notoriously bad at (comparatively speaking) and hoped for the best. I think its the frustration of not doing well at them that makes me want to beat them. I was playing the 45 mans at the time but after laying very low for much of the tournament started to get a stack together at the right time. A double up or two later and I was easily in to the money ... which isn't unusual, its the next step that I seem to have trouble with. Blinding out is a problem inside the final 18 so I decided to be aggressive and it paid off making the final table.

It took forever to lose anyone off the final table and with the blinds rising so quickly I thought it would be me. There were multiple all-ins and miracle cards on the river to ensure that we didn't lose a player and I was half-way through typing "can we farking lose a player please?!" when I had pocket kings in early position. I stopped typing so as to not jinx myself and pushed all-in. I got called by queen jack suited and my hand held knocking the other player out in 9th. The very next hand, kings again ... I raise and take down the blinds. I took down a few pots but mostly stayed out the way unless I had monsters. One other player was doing most of the damage and before I knew it we were 3-handed. I lost a blind vs blind battle and it wasn't looking good but I doubled up once or twice and was soon heads-up. Unfortunately the villain had a 10 - 1 chip count when it started and as I went card-dead the contest was soon over.

The $72 prize for second in the 180 was a nice reward tho and made up for my drought at the 45 man tables which also ended around the same time with a 4th. So despite feeling like a really tough slog, it was a profitable session and the bankroll is now over $1260 which is pretty much even its highest point. APL tonight and State of Origin tomorrow means I won't be playing the next few nights.

Still running good

Haven't been putting in much volume of late but the bankroll is still steadily growing and I think playing less tables at a time is really helping my game. I'm basically playing no more than 3 tables at a time and its been paying off with good results of late.

Tonight was the first time I played since a short session on Monday night. Tuesday I hate a date with a girl I used to play poker with at the Shafston. It went well so we'll see what happens from here. Wednesday is trivia night and we came second again after losing in sudden death last week.

The night didn't start well tonight with a couple of ugly suck-outs in the first couple of $3.25 warm-up games. In my third $6.50 game I had a 3rd place finish which was good but could have been so much better. Three-handed the game was just going around in circles until I defended my big blind with ace 6 off to a small blind shove. Unfortunately he turned over ace 9 suited and caught a 9 on the flop to cripple me. I fought back a little but was knocked out when my aces in the small blind couldn't beat king 8 suited in the big blind.

After grabbing dinner I got a second place in another $6.50 game. I had a good shot at the win against a relatively new player but just went card-dead come heads-up and just got pounded on. I eventually got it in good on the flop but was called and he caught a gut-shot straight on the river for the win.

Thankfully I finished the night with a win in a $3.25 45 man. It was nice to take one down after getting close a couple of times earlier in the night. Three handed again was taking its time but I raised with ace king off on the button, small blind shoved turning over ace 8 and thankfully my hand help up to give me a decent chip lead going in to heads-up. First hand the small blind shoves all-in and I call with ace queen in the big blind. Thankfully my hand holds and its all over straight away.

With 3 strong results tonight and clearing the 2nd Stellar reward on Monday, the bankroll is now just under $1150. I probably won't be playing again until Sunday afternoon, friends place tomorrow night for the AFL, heading to the parents on Saturday and then caddying on Sunday morning.

Greatest comeback EVER!

At the start of January I had a post titled "a win for the ages" but that was nothing compared to what happened two days ago in a $6.50 45 man game on PokerStars.

After losing to 3 4 three-handed I managed to scrape in to second place and faced the seemingly impossible when heads-up started:

Seat 2: CapitalDodge (1860 in chips)
Seat 9: Kstnbike (65640 in chips)

And to add to the challenge, the blinds were already at 1000/2000. I survived my big blind as my 9 high was good enough to win the hand. We split the next pot with the same hand, I then doubled up again with an ace high win and shoved the next hand with ace rag and he folded. Up to 10K and in the big blind I called an all-in with 10 2 suited and sucked out with a ten against queen 2 suited. He didn't like it but I had to take the chance and giving my blind away when it was now at 3000 just didn't make sense.

After pots going back and forth mostly pre-flop the turning point of the match came when I completed the small blind with 7 10 off and saw a 7 10 3 flop ... unfortunately for me all clubs. Villian led out and I decided to shove over the top and take my chances. He called turning over 7 2 off with thankfully NO flush-draw and my hand held. This now gave me a 52K to 15.5K chip lead and I began to whittle him down.

I called an all-in with 7 9 off but his queen 5 caught two pair and the stacks were even again. After coming back from nothing and having a dominant chip-lead, I really didn't want to let this one get away. I took down a large pot when I raised pre with king ten and flopped the open-ended straight draw and pleasingly he check-folded to my strong c-bet. Two hands later I got it in with ace rag against his queen 9 and an ace on the flop sealed the deal and gave me the win.

Coming back from all-in on my first big blind when heads-up started to fighting all the way back, then having a huge chip lead only to see it disappear and then getting the win ... extremely satisfying and definitely the greatest comeback EVER!!

A win for the ages

The last day or two has been back to the see-saw up and down that I went through a few weeks back.

Monday I played just 6 games and failed to cash in any of them. Tuesday I came back, played 9 games, got two 3rd places and a 6th. Last night I played for a while longer, 18 games but cashed just 3 of them, 2 min-cashes and a 5th.

I've been sticking mainly to the $3.25 45 man games with a few $2.20 180 mans thrown in. I'm not sure why I bother playing those because I haven't done any good lately. I got close last night in one of the 4 but bubbled going out in 23rd spot.

After work I played 5 of the 45 mans. The plans were to get to the gym and do some cardio before it got too busy but I was waiting for some clothes to dry so figured I would get in some time on the tables.

I grabbed a 3rd in the second game I played, called an over-shove with ace king, he turned over 4 9 and hit a 4 to take down the hand and knock me out. I bubbled the next game when I went to the final table short-stacked and couldn't get a shove-worthy hand and had to defend my big blind and couldn't hit.

My final game of the night is where the title of this post comes from. I found myself in trouble with the blinds at 100/200, I was the big blind with just 540 behind. I had pocket 5's in the big blind and had 2 limpers in front of me. I figured I had to try and get rid of one of them and hope for the best so I pushed all-in but called by both of them. Thankfully there was a 5 on the flop so I survived and tripled up. Next hand I got pocket queens, the chip-leader next to me min-raised so I shoved over the top but he called with king jack suited. I had him labelled as loose before this but this call confirmed it by him. Thankfully my queens survived and I now had a good stack of over 5000 (blinds still at 200) and was the chip leader on my table.

By the time the blinds were at 600 I was down to 3600 in chips but picked up a few shovable hands and took down a few blinds to get a healthy stack again. When the final table formed I had an ok stack of over 6000 but so did most other people. There was some crazy play on the table and by the time a few players had survived all-ins I was soon short-stack with 1 more player to go before the money. With the loose player still on my right, and blinds now at 2000, it was folded around to him in the small blind and of course he raised. I only had 1200 behind and had queen 2 but against him I didn't mind called and he turned over 9 4 off. I hit a queen on the flop, took down the hand and moved ahead of 2 other stacks.

The bubble burst but with the blinds so high compared to my stack I had to get it in soon and double-up. I had 2 limpers to my big blind and I had queen 3 off and checked. The flop came down 8 5 3 and the loose player checked to me. I thought the one limper from early/mid position shouldn't have hit that flop so if I shove I should take it down and chip-up. I push but am called by the limper who played ace 8 off. I'm in trouble but hit runner runner flush to escape and almost triple up.

By the time the hourly break comes around we were down to just 5 players left and I realised I was now in second place. The chip leader had 3 times the chips I did and knocked out 2 players in one hand when he raised and flopped a straight. He then took out the 3rd placed finisher and had a HUGE chip lead 58,000 - 9,500 when the heads-up battle began.

I was more than happy with second and didn't have high expectations facing that sort of deficit and with the blinds at 1500/3000. I got dealt 4 8 off and 6 10 off first 2 hands and folded them both. Considering the state of the game, I probably should've taken my chances with the 6 10 but didn't. So in the big blind with just 1560 behind (chip lead was 62,790 to 4710) I called his push with queen 9 suited. He turned over 5 6 off and I was looking good until he flopped a 6 ... I said "gg" but spiked a queen on the river to survive. Next hand I get queen 9 again and push all-in, he calls with ace 8 off but I spike a queen on the flop and now have a playable stack of over 18,000 (he still has over 45K).

Next hand he raises from the small blind and I have ace queen off in the big blind and shove over the top. He calls turning over king 4 off, neither of us hit so I win and now have the chip lead! I don't complete the small blind on the next hand but a few hands later I'm now in a dominant chip position with 44,000 to 23,000. I complete the small blind with 9 2 suited (spades) and he checks the big blind. Flop comes down 9, 4, 5 but they're all hearts. He shoves for 19K and I call hoping to hold on, he turns over 5 6 off without a heart and I'm now on my feet fist-pumping for the win and do!!

I couldn't believe I had fought back from short-stack with about 25 players left, survived the final table bubble and fought back from the unbelievable chip position during heads-up to take down the win. To top it off I even got a run in at the gym so a winning and productive day.

Update from the last week

Since my last post things have been a bit more consistent for me. Thankfully no really bad days, just break-even or winning ones which makes a nice change.

Day 1 was profitable on the back of the satellites to the Sunday Quarter Million as I cashed in 2 out of 3 of them and the next day I cashed 3 out of 8 of them. My concern over those few days is that I was just managing min-cashes and of course bubbles in the other tournaments I was playing.

On Monday I played in the Guiness World Record Tournament on PokerStars against almost 150,000 other players. With 5 minute levels the structure certainly didn't suit my style of play and I never managed to build a big enough stack to stay ahead of the blinds. I finished in the top 25,000 players which wasn't the min-cash but the level or two above that.

As I was playing in the above event and it was an early start on the Monday I decided to also play in the Sunday Quarter Million rather than just converting the buy-in in to tournament dollars. Again, it was a massive field of 33,000 players and I was disappointed to finish just outside of the money. I'm yet to cash in this tournament and I had a good stack for much of it and was feeling good about my chances. I think I tried once or twice to get people off hands which didn't work and getting close to the bubble I ended up shoving under-the-gun with ace 9 suited. Normally its a move I wouldn't make but if I had stolen the blinds I would've been securely in the money ... not normally a concern but when I qualify through this game using FPP's any cash is a bonus. So I shove ace 9 suited and get flatted by someone in midposition and not surprisingly he turns over aces and although I have outs on the river I don't find any and fall agonisingly short.

I decided to spend the rest of the day playing and just took a break for lunch, dinner and a nap in the afternoon (because of the early start time of the first tournament). A couple of bubbles and a couple of min-cashes later and my bankroll was under $300 for the first time in ages which was a bit of a concern. Its not that I need the money its just that I'm not moving forward but feel like I've been playing well without reward.

I was just playing the $3.25 45 man tournaments and a few $2.20 180 mans. After short-stacking my way in to a final table I got some cards 4-handed and managed to survive the eliminations and get heads-up. I faced a huge chip deficit and large blinds compared to my stack so got it in first hand with king jack off ... unfortunately he had ace jack and I couldn't find a king or a ten on the river to improve. The $30 for second was a nice upswing tho especially since I was happy just to cash and surprised to make it as far as I did.

I had a few cashes around that one, felt I was playing well and near the end of the session got a win in one of the 45 mans. I went to the final table with a good starting stack and played well getting to the heads-up with a 3:2 chip lead. It was a quick heads-up battle that was over on the 3rd hand when I called a min-raise with 9, 10 off, 9 was the top pair on the flop, he shoved I called he turned over king high and my hand held.

I finally managed to final-table one of the 180 mans after bubbling or min-cashing them for seemingly so long. I often just get blinded out in these situations so I wanted to play for the win in this situation. I got pocket 7's in the hijack first hand and when it folded around to me I shoved for 4 or 5 times the blinds and was snap-called by a big stack on the button. He turned over aces and I was done, out in 9th.

So bankroll over US$360. I didn't play today and am not sure when I'll be playing next but hopefully the decent form will continue.

Quick session on PokerStars

It feels like ages since I've played online so with an hour or two to kill before I jumped on PokerStars and played some micro multi-table sit'n go's. I just checked OPR and its actually been almost two weeks since I last played.

Anyway, got some cards, played well and had two 2nd place finishes. One in a 45 man and the other in an 18 man. I went in to both heads-up battles behind in chips and couldn't get in front. I played well during the tournaments tho going deep in almost all of them. The only I didn't was the other 18 man I played when I got knocked out 9th when I shoved all-in from midposition with jacks and got called by an under-the-gun limp with pocket 2's. He of course flopped a 2 and I didn't improve.

I really need to clean up around the unit and get some work done so I'm not sure when I'll be playing online again. Bankroll is sitting just under US$460 ... very frustrating having been around the same level for the last few months.

Online frustrations

I've had a couple of frustrating sessions on Pokerstars over the last couple of days. I played for a couple of hours on Friday night and then most of the day yesterday.

Friday night started well with a 6th place in a $3.25 45 man but from there I failed to cash in the next 9 tournaments. I fell just short in a Sunday Quarter Million qualifier and bubbled 2 or 3 of the $2.20 180 mans. I ran in to a number of big hands at the wrong time. Approaching the money someone would minraise and I'd have pockets in the blinds. The plan was to call pre and then push on the flop and hope they had missed the flop or had an under-pair to the board. Unfortunately, the times I did this the opponent infact had an over-pair.

I started yesterday slowly taking a few misses before I cashed a Sunday Quarter Million qualifier. From there things went to shit as I got nothing out of the next 15 games. It felt like suck-out central ... with some seemingly horrible beats that were taking their toll on my patience.

I then cashed 3 of the next 8 games, a 7th a 6th and a 4th all in the $3.25 45 man games. After another stretch of failing to cash, I finished the night with 3 out of 4. Bubbling the final table of two 180's and finally a second place finish in a 45 man. Just before the final table I tripled my stack by taking out one player and crushing another stack when I had two all-ins in front of me and I had kings in the big blind short-handed. First player pushed with king queen off, small blind tried to isolate with pocket tens and I caught the last king on the flop to crush them both.

A couple of hands in to the final table I took out two players with pocket aces holding up against ace queen off and pocket 5's. So by this point I had a massive chip-stack in comparison to the rest of the table. Not surprisingly I went a little card dead at this point but cruised through to the final 3. Still in a good position I turned up the pressure without much luck against my opponents. By the time we got down to heads-up the other guy had a 2:1 chip lead having knocked out the last player. I OPR'd him and found out he was a good player and seemed to be showing it at the table. He had one gear heads-up and that was either all-in or fold. With his chip lead and the blinds at 1/10 of my stack the battle didn't last too long. I pushed all-in from the small blind with ace 5 off, got called by queen ten suited and he flopped a queen.

So at the bottom of yesterday my bankroll was down to the low $400's but I got it back to $470 by the end. A losing couple of days and very frustrating. I've been at this same level for the last couple of months, going up and down between $400 and $600. I feel like I'm playing well, I know at times I need to be more aggressive stealing blinds late but its hard at these levels when you get called by rubbish a lot of the time. I really feel like I have something to prove ... that I can smash this level, but its just not happening right now. As you can see from the graph below, its only the $2 games that I'm not ahead on. Sure, I'd also like to be a lot more profitable at the $3 level ... but at least I'm a little ahead.

Back in the game

Well, after almost two weeks of not playing on PokerStars, I got back in the game yesterday.

I felt I was playing well but didn't have the results at the start of the session. From the first 20 tournaments I cashed just twice and had a number of bubbles. Thankfully I then hit a purple patch cashing 4 straight games. The only downside was that I couldn't get any higher than 6th in any of them.

After a few more blanks, I finished the night with a 5th in a 180 which was a little better payout. I felt like I played it really well and it was the sort of tournament that in the past I may not have made the money or min-cashed but made some moves at the right time that got me on to the final table with a chance of a decent finish.

I played for a fair few hours yesterday and with the 5th placed finish probably only broke even. With the slow start, my bankroll actually was under $400 for the first time in months. Not good ...

After getting up early and doing some stair-running this morning, I jumped online around lunch and have pretty much played ever since. OPR hasn't caught up so I can't see all of my results. Thankfully I can see my bankroll and its back over $500 ($510 to be precise).

I played really well in another 180 man and had a considerable chip lead on the final table. I was a big chance to take it down but had some unlucky hands. Four handed I ran ace ten suited in to pocket aces and then I called a small blind shove with ace jack in the big blind, he turned over pocket 4's, I flopped a jack, fist-pumped ... and then a four on the turn, ouch! I ended up finishing 3rd which was a little disappointing.

I finally got a win in a tournament also, a $3 45 man game. Despite facing a 5:1 deficit when heads-up play began I fought back to parity and then got paid off with two pair vs middle pair. I had OPR'd my opponent, saw they weren't good and picked up they were playing very tight. So I took advantage of it, got aggressive, hit a few flops and got the win. I can't even remember when I last won a tournament so it was nice to get that monkey off the back.

I finished the night playing a few of the $2.20 satellites to the Sunday 1/4 Million. Since the tournament starts at 5am in the morning my time, the plan was to just get the win and then unregister and take the tournament money. The games are fairly soft and I'd read on the Two Plus Two poker forum that they were a good way to grow a bankroll. I qualified in three of them and was unlucky not to go 4 of 4. The only problem with them is that they're not turbo so they take a while and slow down even more near the bubble.

So it was nice to have a profitable day again. I think I probably made $70 which is ok but mainly it was good for the confidence again after poor results of late. I had a look at my SharkScope graph yesterday and it was big downward slide. Its looking a lot healthier now and my form is even listed as "hot".

Finally ... some run good!

Its been a rough month. I feel like I've been playing better but the results haven't been there. The bankroll peaked at $630 last month and has been down as low as $420 or so this month. The frustration comes from a feeling of "plateauing".

After another break-even/slightly unprofitable session last night, I posted this on Twitter:
"feel like i'm so close to killing the games but lack luck late in the tournaments"
I played 17 tournaments last night, cashing 4 but the disappointment was that my best finish was just two 5ths in the 45's. Not only that but I bubbled 3 more tournaments.

This afternoon tho was a completely different story. I had a fairly productive day at work but was in slow-down mode by 4:30 so I fired up a couple of $1.75 18 man tournaments. I finished second in one and failed to cash in the other. From there tho I went on a tear, cashing 4 straight games including two 2nd places in the $3.25 45 man tournaments.

So tonight I cashed 5 of 7 tournaments and took three 2nds. I'm not too worried about the poor winning conversion rate as I feel I played the heads-up well. In the 18 man game the guy was an extremely good player (I OPR'd him) but the other two weren't. I fought back from a huge deficit in one but my top set on the flop of a strongly raised pot got beaten by a flush draw that hit on the turn. The other I pushed with king jack off, got called by 7 9 suited, I caught a king on the flop but again the villain turned the flush.

Form on SharkScope = HOT

Good start to the day

I just got up an hour or two ago, didn't feel like breakfast as I ate a lot yesterday. I went to the gym in the afternoon, had a couple of sandwiches when I got home and then went to a friend's place to watch the AFL Grand Final, NRL Semi-Final and I was hoping to catch the first episode of Joe Hachem's The Poker Star but unfortunately that last one didn't happen. As soon as I walked in the door, the beers were cracked and the food started flowing and really didn't stop.

Anyway, I like playing poker on Sunday mornings because its the one chance I get to play in a number of the big MTT's. I late registered for one about 50 minutes late, normally I wouldn't but there was over 6000 players in it and it was only a $1 buy-in. Nothing exciting to report there, registered for another $1 buy in one and didn't do much better there either.

I've been wondering what to do with my FPP's and decided to play in a satellite to the nightly 50K guaranteed (normally an $11 buy-in). It was only 70FPP's and it was a turbo satellite which I really didn't take in to account in the early rounds. Thankfully I got some hands at the right time, picked a few other good spots and was right back in the game. There was 190'ish runners, 19 of which would qualify for the 50K. Being a turbo the blinds were high late and an ace high shove from the small blind held up and I was well in contention. The table was very tight unless they had a big hand so I was pleasantly surprised when everyone folded to my blind instead of making me taking a stand around the bubble. I used my time bank in the right spots to slow our table down and it worked well enough to get me through. The 50K starts in just over an hour so hopefully I can do something in that.

While playing that I also won a $1 45 man game. I was in a good position all the way through and despite being last in chips with about 4 to go, got some hands, took down some blinds and got out of the way when the big action started. I went in to heads-up facing a large deficit but took down a big hand or two to even the ledger. We then went back and forth for a while until he went card dead and got too passive. He was folding way too many hands when short-stacked and I was able to take advantage of it.

Headed in the right direction

After a rough last week or two on PokerStars, things seem to be heading in the right direction again. I've been pretty much breaking even for each session this week and then had a solid night yesterday.

The night started slowly, failing to cash in any of the first 6 games. The 7th however I broke through for a 2nd place in a $3 45 man game. The heads-up play was essentially over before it began as the chip leader had taken out the other stack so he had a 11:1 chip lead on me. I had to defend my big blind with king 3 suited, he had pocket tens, I caught a 3 but that was it, game over.

A few games later I got a 5th place in another 45. I was short-stack at the table and it got folded to me in the small blind so I shoved all-in to the big blind with king 5 off. He had a decent stack so could've called me with lesser hands but instead turned over ace king and I didn't improve.

After playing a number of the $2 180's and doing nothing in them, I finished well with a 4th place for $29. I was about to be big blind so I shoved all-in with king queen off, unfortunately for me the big stack was the big blind and could easily call with ace rag. Flopped an ace, I caught a queen but nothing else.

As the night was drawing to a close, I also played two $1.75 18 mans. I was out early in the first one but got second in the last one. Heads-up started with the villain having a 3:1 chip lead. I got it back to 2:1 at one point but called an all-in defending my big blind with ace 9 off, he turned over king ten off and rivered a straight to seal the win.

Unfortunately the 18 man games don't get counted on OPR so my month is still -2% ROI on there. I've had 5 straight months of positive returns so I would really like to finish this week and therefore the month strongly and get back in black. There's still plenty of time but I only have 2 wins so far this month, if I can get this to 5 or more that would really help the bankroll and my profitability. With my winning session last night, I'm back over US$500, after dipping under $440 earlier in the week.

PokerStars update ... the $500 mark

Well, I'm now in my new place at Morningside. The move from my last unit was hard work but the worst was yet to come on Monday morning when Telstra switched the office phone lines over early so the number wasn't diverted to my mobile. Not only that, the official company that moves and reconnects the phone system couldn't do the move until the week after. Thankfully I got another company to take care of it and it got done late on Tuesday evening. So after two days of no phone lines (not good for business) the new apartment is almost set up ready to go. I'm just waiting now on the ADSL to get turned on and then it'll be perfect.

Anyway, instead of unpacking and getting everything sorted, I have of course being playing poker online at PokerStars. Monday I just played 4 quick games, cashing in one and basically breaking even. Tuesday was again a fairly short session because I was waiting for the phone system guy to finish, had dinner and then started playing. Despite that tho, it was a pretty profitable one. I played just 8 tournaments, cashed 4 of them, came 3rd in a $3.25 for $21 and another 3rd in a $2.20 180 man tournament for a $43 score. This took my bankroll to about $480 which was a new high, up from the previous best of $460.

Last night was a much bigger session of 22 tournaments. I cashed in just 5 and didn't feel that I played particularly well. I'm not sure if it was a lack of concentration or what but I just wasn't on top of my game. After a slowish start to the night, I broke through in my 10th game for a 2nd place in a $3.25 45 man. I went in to heads-up facing a 2:1 deficit in chips and was a little passive not raising with ace rag and paid the price when my opponent flopped a monster and I had committed myself to the hand post-flop. After not cashing in a few tournaments after that I ended up winning a $3.25 and then finished the night with another cash. So it was nice to have some good scores despite not feeling like I was playing my best.

So after the session last night my bankroll cleared the $500 mark for the first time reaching $513. Having started at just $12, its a nice milestone to surpass. I'm hoping the $1000 mark will come within the next few months as I continue to play the slightly larger games.

In the last couple of days my ROI has improved to 31% and my win count so far this month is up to 4. According to the Official Poker Rankings, I've also climbed in to the top 3% of tournament players on PokerStars for 2009.

Here's my current SharkScope graph:

Rough night of online poker

The night before last I started to come down with cold/flu like symptoms so instead of going to a trivia night yesterday, I instead lay low and played online at PokerStars. I'm pretty sure I got the cold from a friend on Sunday so I wasn't keen to pass it on to anyone else.

Yesterday's session started off well enough. I came 5th in my second game and then 2nd two games later to break my streak of not reaching heads up. The heads-up battle was frustrating because I couldn't catch a break against someone I felt I should clearly beat. The final table had been a longer one so by the time we got to heads up the blinds were high already. I had a commanding chip lead (3:1) and we ended up getting it all-in first hand. Opponent limped in, I had ace rag in the big blind so I raised solidly and he re-raised all-in with jack 2 suited. The flop comes safe for me as did the turn and then BINK, jack on the river and our stacks are now even. It went back and forth from there until I had a 2:1 chip lead and I re-raised him all-in with ace 5 suited. He turned over ace queen off and held on to win. He ended up raising me all-in and the blinds were too big to fold and I called with queen 8 suited. He turned over 6 10 suited and rivered a straight with his 6. Frustrating ...

After those early cashes, it seemed to go down hill from there. I felt I was playing well and making the right moves mostly, but had some ugly, ugly beats.

1. Raised solidly with aces from early position, called by the player next to me and then re-raised by the player next to him. Everyone else folded, I raise all-in, the player next to me takes an age to decide and then calls, as did the re-raiser. The re-raiser turned over jacks, the guy next to me turned over 5's and I had aces. Great for me until a 5 on the river, decimating my stack.

2. Two tables left in a tournament and I have pocket kings in the big blind. Someone min raises under the gun and is called by a loose bad player right next to him. I re-raise all-in, under the gun thinks and then folds ... loose player eventually calls turning over jack ten off. Great for me ... flop is 2 2 jack, blank turn and then jack on the river. I'm out and Mr Jack-Ten off is chip leader.

3. Second level of a 90 man tournament I have aces on the button (I think). Five players limp in so I raise 5 times the blinds (probably should have gone more) and get called by all but one of them. Flop comes king, rag, rag so I lead out with a strong bet. I get re-raised by someone in earlyish position. I'm committed to the pot and I put him on king something so I re-raise all-in. He calls and turns over king jack off ... jack on the turn and I'm gone.

4. The worst of all tho was late in a tournament, two tables left I think. Someone from middle position raises solidly and is called by 2 others and I'm big blind with pocket jacks. I should've shoved but thought I'll call, see the flop and evaluate from there. Flop comes 7 5 3 (I think). Small blind bets min so I re-raise him. Other two players fold, he calls. Another 3 on the turn and he shoves all-in. I don't believe he has the 3 and am virtually sure my hand is still best so I call. He turns over pocket 2's, fist pump from me until a 2 comes on the river. I could not believe it ... I'm out and he's the chip leader. Off the top of my head, one of the worst beats I have been given. Yes, I should've shoved pre-flop or even on the flop and there's a chance he may have folded (although somehow I think he would have called at least on the flop).

There were other ugly occurences but that's enough of those stories for now. Yes, it was a rough, rough night and I'm a little scarred. I likely won't be playing on Friday and Saturday so I will tonight while I hopefully recover from this cold (and these recent beats).

July off to a flyer

Having not played online poker for the last few days, I was sort of itching to get on PokerStars tonight. Quiet afternoon at work so I shut up shop half an hour early and headed home. The original plan was to get changed and head to the gym but convinced myself it would be too packed and I would go later.

My first two tournaments didn't go too well, two 45 man tournaments that I made the final 2 tables of but couldn't get lucky at the right time and failed to cash. The next two went better and I min-cashed another 45 man finishing in 7th while I was focussed more on the final table of a 90 man tournament that I had made.

The 90 man tournament was a huge comeback as I was in trouble with about 30 players left. I ended up getting my short-stack in a 5 way pot and caught top pair on the flop, someone bet out on the turn with pocket kings and I hit another jack on the river to survive and chip up massively. I played the final table fairly well but as usual was facing a chip deficit when it came to heads up. The blinds were so high relative to the chip stacks at this stage that I had to be aggressive. I took down a large pot and had a huge lead but I couldn't my opponent to the sword. I kept pushing pre-flop with an ace in my hand and twice including the knock-out hand I got called by queen jack and he caught a jack. On the final hand it came on the river for him so I finished in 2nd. I kept getting my money in whilst ahead so I'm happy with how I played the heads-up battle.

Surprisingly, after that tournament finished I managed to walk away from the laptop and did actually go to the gym for a cardio session.

After a shower and something to eat I was back on PokerStars for a few more games. Two hours of Stars of Poker was on OneHD so I didn't plan on playing for too long. Like the afternoon games, the first 90 man tournament didn't go too well finishing 26th. The other 3 games went a LOT better tho.

I final tabled the last 3 games I played, first finishing 3rd in a 45 man tournament before getting a 1st place in another one. The final game of the night was a 90 man and thanks to a few eliminations late I came 3rd.

So out of 8 tournaments played, I cashed 5 times, won 1, second in 1 and third in 2. It had been a while (start of June) since I had actually won a tournament so it was nice to chalk up a win on the first day of the month.

Bankroll US$367

Eastgate vs Demidov: The Rematch

This morning I watched "Eastgate vs Demidov: The Rematch". In a Rocky-style build-up by PokerStars they created a rematch between the final two players in the 2008 WSOP Main Event, Peter Eastgate and Ivan Demidov.

The heads-up battle would of course be hosted on PokerStars and to replicate the situation from the WSOP final table, the players would start with the same starting stacks that they began heads-up with last year.

Click here to watch the coverage of the match on the PokerStars blog.

Three big hands (2 in a row at the end) went Demidov's way to give him the win. First was Eastgate with pocket 5's against Demidov's king queen off, the latter catching a king on the flop. Then it was Eastgate with ace two suited against Demidov's ace king off, neither hand improving to give Demidov the pot and the chip lead. Then the final hand was Eastgate with pocket 4's against Demidov with pocket tens. Demidov led all the way and caught a ten on the river for a full-house.

Congratulations to Ivan Demidov for winning the match and picking up $10,000 for his charity of choice.

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.

Night session

Going to bed now ... its 11:20pm, which is actually quite early for me when I'm playing poker. Chose not to play in the big field tournament as I really wanted to get some sleep and get to the gym in the morning. So I just played a number of $1 90 man games and one $2 90 man non-turbo game (because they go for over 3 hours).

All in all a good night. After my win this afternoon, I did very well in the $2 game, getting to the final table and then to heads up. Unfortunately I allowed the other guy to be extremely aggressive when there was 3 of us left so by heads-up he had a massive chip lead. I ended up pushing all-in post flop with middle pair but unfortunately he had me out-kicked and the game was over. Although I'm yet to come first in one of the $2 games, a $33 second prize isn't too bad.

Other than that tournament, I cashed a couple of other times with the next best being a 5th place. Bankroll now at US$350. Night