Well I gave it a shot

I tried to play some 5/10 NL sessions this past weekend as a preview to when I will play them permanently. I thought I played the sessions very well, even though I finished down two buyins. There were a ton of hands that I just got sucked out on after I put someone allin after the flop or turn. Those things will happen, and it did not impact my play, which is a good thing.

So I did lose 2k for the weekend which puts me at 24.9k overall. I will attempt the 5/10 NL game again when I get to 40k-45k. I may do it as a test for a session or two when I jump over 30k, we shall see. I think it is good for you to test something out before going all the way into that new limit. The money did not impact my decisions, and I thought I played aggressively enough to be a winning player. Truth be told a different river or two and I would be at 30k instead. Oh well.

So tonight it is back to 2/4 NL. I will report again tomorrow. Best of luck to all of you.

Winning money never felt so bad!!!!!!!

Well lately I have been looking at the deep stack tourneys on Full Tilt. I really like the structure of those tourneys. I saw that they had a 35k guarantee on at 8pm last night, and I promised myself that if I won $150 playing on UB, that I would "reinvest" and enter that tourney. So in 25 minutes of 1/2 I win the $150 and I enter the Full Tilt 35k. We end up with a prizepool of 54k, and when I get to my seat who do I see to my left???? Todd Arnold (NSXT2) owner of realpokertraining.com. Since Full Tilt wont give me my money back I sit down and play. To make a looooong story short, I survive a suckout from Todd when I get him allin on the turn with his flush draw and he hits on the river. I am down under 2k in chips (we started with 3K), but I play solid poker. Somewhere in the 3rd hour I grab the chip lead, and I stay in the top 10 the rest of the way. After five hours we are at the final table of 9 people. 9th gets 1k, 1st gets 13.5k. We lose one person and then disaster strikes. I get A10 in late position and I raise up the 3k/6k blinds to 25k. The button folds, the sb calls, and the bb folds. The flop comes A86. The sb checks, and I bet out 45k and then he raises me allin. Now it costs me like 75k to win a 300k pot and I call (BIG MISTAKE). He flips over AQ and the turn brings a Queen to leave me drawing dead. If I put him on a higher ace I have to fold in that position. I was thinking he could be protecting KK or QQ, but that was dumb. So I finish 8th for $1353, my best MTT cash ever.

So I did not sleep the rest of the night. With the win my bankroll jumps to 27k. Today and tomorrow play will be VERY limited as we have family stuff to do. Sunday I should be back though. Good luck to everyone out there.

Results from 11/6

Well I did get to play last night. Boy was it aggravating though. I played in the PL Omaha Deep Stack tourney on Full Tilt last night. The only other time I have played this tourney I finished in 13th. Last night I finished 8th when I get all my money in with my opponent completely dominated. The only way he could win was to hit runner runner for a straight or hit the case Jack for a set. Also none of the cards could be a club or I would win with the nut flush. Of course he goes runner runner on me to knock me out. I did win $128, but I would have been in 2nd place had I won the hand. Oh well.

I did win some money on the cash game as well. Overall for the night my profit was about $400, which edges the bankroll over 26k. I feel like the worst is behind me now, but I need to keep focused on the cash games. I really want to be able to make the move to 5/10 NL by the end of the year and I will need to be at 40k minimum to feel comfortable.

Tunica trip report

Well I am finally back from my four day trip to Tunica. Me and a buddy of mine stayed at the Gold Strike casino in Tunica for 3 full days of poker. Of all the poker rooms in Tunica, the Gold Strike is my favorite. They really treat the poker players great, and you feel like it is more of a community than in other places. Plus the room has a good layout and it is away from the rest of the casino. There are plenty of TVs to watch, and the food is pretty good as well. Throw in a solid poker room rate of $25 during the week and $35 during Friday/Saturday plus some food comps and you are sure to have a good time.

So I played some of the cash games on Thursday and did pretty well for myself. I was up about $650 playing 1/2 NL when the tourney was going to start. The tourney was a $100+$25 buyin with $1000 added to the prize pool, and we had 68 entrants. They run it on Mondays and Thursdays. You start with 4000 in chips and 20 minute levels with the first level being 25/25. That is a great structure for a live casino, easily the best in Tunica. I finished 3rd in the tourney which netted me nearly $700 plus a $100 tourney voucher that I sold later in the weekend. The tourney lasted almost six hours!!!! After that it was time to eat something before I went to bed with my $1200 profit.

Friday I was back and played for 17 hours (I told you that I love this poker room). Unfortunately things did not go my way. First I get allin preflop with KK vs AK vs QQ. The pot is about $800. A queen on the flop and then quads on the turn did me in. An hour or so later I pick up 99 and call a $12 raise from the small blind. The flop comes 932 with two spades. I check and the raiser bets $40. I make it $140 to go, hoping to take it down right there. He reraises me allin and I call knowing he has a flush draw. Of course he flips over the AsKs and then the 5s comes on the turn. There is no help on the river and I am down another buyin of $300. To make a long story short, I go to bed up $500 for the trip.

Saturday is a new day for me, and I make a nice comeback. My first big hand comes when I call with 56o for $10 from the button after there is 5 limpers. The flop comes As4c7h. The raiser makes it $20 to call and three of us do just that. The next card is a most beautiful 3h. The raiser bets $40 and one guy raises to $100. I call and the raiser then goes allin for another $275. The guy who made it $100 folds and I call telling him that I am ahead but I am sure he has a good draw. I show him the nuts and he flips over his Ah4h for two pair and the nut flush draw. A beautiful Qs comes out and I am home free.

Another huge hand happens much later that night when I raise with KQs and I get two callers, one of them being my buddy who plays somewhat tight. The flop comes AAK and I check, the middle guy checks, and my buddy makes it $20 to go. I fold and the other guy calls. The next card is a 3 and the guy bets $50 to my buddy who calls. The river is a 2 and the guy bets $50 again and my buddy goes allin for $225. The guy goes into the tank for a long time before calling my buddy with A6. I thought for sure my buddy won this huge pot, but he flips over A4 for the losing hand. It was his last hand of the night.

My last hand for the weekend was a great one. I call a $12 raise with KcQc. There is one other caller as well. The flop comes 10cJc2s. The original bettor bets $30 and we both calls. The next card is a 3d and the guys bets $50 and again we both call. The river is a beautiful 9h. The bettor bets out $50 more and I go allin for another $175. He thinks a long time on this one and says that he believes that I missed my flush draw. I finally tell him that he is right that I missed my flush draw. He then says that he is going to call with his top two pair then. I casually flip over my two cards and tell him that lucky for me that I had a straight flush draw and that I rivered the nuts. He goes nuts as I call for some chip trays and end the weekend with that hand.

So overall for the weekend I was up $1403 including all expenses. I then get home to play with the kids and after they go to bed I pick up another $500 playing on Full Tilt to bring the bankroll up to 25.6k overall.

Best of luck to anyone that actually reads this whole post. I will be back again tomorrow.