Unanderra - Monday

Another slow start to the tournament tonight. I liked the table i was on however... I seemed to be the most experienced starting out. Although my chip stack did not show it. I was up and down just like a constipated persons clinger... Great analogy i know :\. I doubled up just before the break to around 1400 chips after i flopped top pair with a K J. I was then moved pretty much straight away. Right next to Johnno (Punisher) who opened up EVERY hand with a raise. He gave most of his chips away and was knocked out *he had to go*. The break was on...
The first hand i got was pocket K's. I opened up with a raise... 600 (3 times the blind)... After a few calls i was reraised all in by the big blind. Teach (the TD) was calling out "Next person out gets a free ticket into tomorrows game"... I told the guy in the big blind "Looks like your getting a ticket"... The raise was exactly the amount of chips i had left... I called and we were both all in. I turned up K K... He turned up A A... WOW! At this point im an 18% underdog... The flop was 10 8 7... 8% underdog... Turn K !!! A set of Kings!... Two tournaments in a row ive cracked Aces with a different pocket pair... the river was a 9 and i took down the pot... Im not sure if it was luck or the fact that i had the "Kings are GOLD!" guy on my table that won me the hand... I was sitting on around 7000 after the hand...
A few hands later i was in the big blind... after a few limpers i looked down at an A 10. Chances were i was ahead at this point but i had horrible position so i checked... The flop was A K 3... A pretty good flop. I led out with a bet of 300 just above the minimum... I was reraised by UTG (Under The Gun) sitting next to me (Steve)... For 500 more, 800 total. I called... The turn was another A... It looked so pretty and so horrible at the same time... Improving my hand like this may get me in trouble against a set of 3's (making a full house) for example... I led out the bet again with 300... Steve reraised all in for 3000 more... which was called by another... Now i had some real doubts about my hand... But it was hard to put people on better than a set of Aces with a 10 kicker since there was no raise preflop... An A 3 (full house) is most likely... I called... After the river card (a 7) action went check, check... I turned up my set of Aces... The other person in the hand not all in turned up middle pair (the K)... and Steve turned up A 3... The chips i had just won GOOOONE! Bad call :(
A new hand and new table later... I was dealt an A K suited... After 3 all ins behind me and the fact that i was on the short stack i called... We all turned our cards up... 8 8 vs. 8 8 (no typo) vs. Q 9 vs. A K (me) vs. A Q... I was in pretty decent shape... No chance of a set for both of the pocket 8's and im dominating the other hands... All i needed to do was hit... After a flop of 4 high i got nervous 2 4 2... 7 on the turn... 2 on the river... The pocket 8's split the pot and i was out pretty early this week.
I did stay till final table though. Ben was playing 4 handed and had just lost all but 1000 of his chip stack with an A 10 against UTG's K Q... Big blind was all in and Ben was UTG. Myself and Siggy told him "FOLD! even Aces man!". Because he was likely to move up in the placings that hand. Sure enough he folded and the big blind was knocked out... 3 handed. Ben was all in blind... He looked at an KS QS and was exited... Both players called. The flop was 9D 10S 7S... Ben had a straight draw, flush draw and 2 overs. The button pushed all in and was quickly called... Button turned up pocket 4's and small blind turned up J 10 (a pair of 10's)... The turn was a Q... He is a massive favourite... J 10 was now drawing to a K or 10 that is not a spade and pocket 4's was drawing to the two 4's left in the deck... Ben was over a 75% favourite with more than 35 cards left in the deck that could have hit which would have not only won him the pot... But it would have put him heads up for the tournament because the chip leader had the pair of 10's and would have taken second in chips out. The river a 4... Pocket 4's had made a set on the river... Ben was out in 3rd place... a $50 two outter... (difference between 2nd and 3rd is $50)

Cabbage Tree - Thursday

Firstly, I would like to say a hello to some of the satellite poker players who actively read my blog. Hello to Kimmy, Punisher, Teach and everyone else I play with every monday and thursday :). I have a lot of poker to talk about today. Tonights tournament started off slowly, I did not get many hands to play with early on. I won a total of two pots before the break which left me at 1975 worth of chips when the break began. After the break was a different story... I dealt a K 5 suited to myself and decided to play it because I had the best position you could have (on the button). After no raising from the blinds I saw a flop of QC 5C 7C... I had flopped a K high flush... The first person to act bet out with a 250 bet, it was called by the 2 others in the hand... I raised, I bumped the bet up to 800 to play... hoping the AC did not follow... everyone folded and I took down a considerably large pot.
A few hands later I was dealt pocket J's under the gun (first to act). Blinds were 100/200, so I raised to 900. A considerable amount... I was reraised in late position for 1000 more... The raiser had only 1400 chips left so I reraised all in which he quickly called... I turned up a J J and he turned up A A. I had run into a monster hand (The best pre-flop hand you can get in fact)... From this point I was a 5 to 1 under dog. Having only around a 20% chance to hit a set and even less for a straight or flush. The flop was 10... J ...7 A SET!! The turn was an 8 and river a Q... I had cracked Aces! Something ive done only twice before after almost 2 years of playing. This put me in a pretty good mood.
Later, I was dealt pocket 3's under the gun... I had just won a fair few chips and I felt I could lay it down because if I was faced with a raise making a decision would be tough... Sure enough my instincts were good, there was a raise of 2500 right after I threw my cards in the muck... A massive amount which was called by the big blind... The flop was K 7 3... Your kidding! I would of flopped another set... :\ The origonal raiser pushed all in and was called. Big blind turned over a K J and the original raiser turned over 7 7... I was relieved. I could have got in so much trouble if I had decided to play my pocket 3's and hit my set on a rainbow flo... My thought process was immediately interrupted when I saw another 3 hit the turn... WOW! I would have turned quads... I bit my tongue and continued playing.
The next hand I was in the big blind... after one limper (button) and small blind folding I looked down at a K 4 and checked. The flop was K Q 5... Top pair heads up is most likely the best hand... He checked and I threw out a pet of 600... which he called... Before the turn had hit he checked... It was another 5... I though about betting again but I was 90% sure I had the best hand and if I check he may try and bluff on the river... I checked... the river was an 8... Sure enough he threw a 2000 bet my way... which I called quickly with top pair... He turned up a 9 10... he was bluffing and I took down the pot.
Two hands later I dealt myself pocket 10's. The same guy who had been in the last hand pushed all in which I called. Even though my nemesis hand is pocket 10's. I think they must only be bad when my tournament life relies on them... Because the flop was... K 9 10... ANOTHER SET!!... All my pocket pairs seem to be tripping up tonight... His A J was miles behind... Drawing to a Q only. It did not come and I took down another big pot.
One set of blinds later I was dealt a K J in the big blind. After someone in late position pushed all in for 800 on my 600 blind I called... An easy decision... The flop was 9 Q K... Top pair... Pretty strong but I decided to check... The turn was another Q... Not a good card to see but chances were my K was still in front... The river was another K... A full house!! The guy who originally pushed all in was happy because he thought his A high was good... I bet 600 into the side pot and was folded to... I turned up my full house and won the pot.
My next button (dealer position); I was dealt a K J... There was a limp in early position so I just called. The blinds called and I dealt the flop... K 4 J... 2 PAIR!! wow im getting some good hands today. It was checked around to me... There was a diamond flush and a straight draw out there but I figured I would take my chances... I checked to disguise the strength of my hand... The turn was scary... An A... The straight had hit... There was a bet of 600... I raised when action got around to me for another 800 on top... The guy who originally raised knows my play style and folded his top pair... I was called by someone however... The river paired the board... a 4 which hurt my hand I little since the A would now have a higher 2 pair. It was checked down however and my hand was good enough to take down the pot.
Another round of blinds later I dealt myself pocket A's. Everyone had folded however so I decided to only min raise to 2000 on 500/1000 blinds. I was called by the big blind... The flop was K 5 9... rainbow (different suits)... A great flop for pocket A's... She checked... I thought about betting... But I figured she would have done so herself if she had any interest in that flop... I checked as well... The turn was a 10... She checked and I figured one free card was enough... I bet 2000 and she folded to my reluctance... I turned up my Aces and added chips to my stack.
Final table bubble...! This hand I did not play but it is just too good not to include in the blog... Milenko (sorry if I got spelling wrong) a frequent player pushed all in... he was in middle position... Action got round to the big blind... He showed me his cards... 3H 4H... not a bad hand to have some fun with but definitely not a callable hand. He showed the table and asked what he should do with them... When he flashed his cards I thought he was joking and the decision was obvious... FOLD! He then shoved all but 1000 chips into the pot and announced “call”. The table was pretty shocked... Milenko showed up a J 10... The flop was 2H 5C 9D... A decent flop for him... Although 3 4 has an open ended straight draw... The turn was a 7H... 3 4 Now has loads of outs... Any 3, 4, A, 6 or Heart. The river... An A. The straight hit and Milenko suffered a horrible beat.
FINAL TABLE!
I came to final table about 3rd in chip position with 21,000 chips. A pretty good effort... What was not a good effort was the position I chose. Under the gun. Action was under way... After losing both my blinds I was down to 15, 000. My mind set was to play tight till i make the cash and let the short stacks be eaten up by the massive blinds (2000/4000). This was not happening... The short stacks were surviving... It was not until I was back in early position that someone was knocked out... I was dealt an A Q second to act... someone was all in blinded (forced to put all their chips in because they cannot afford the blind). I flat called 6000. leaving myself with 9000... With 4 others calling I immediately regretted not pushing... The flop was a low one... 2 5 6... Uhhg no pair no draw... Everyone checked... an 8 on the turn... check,check,check,check... The river was another 8... missed everything... check,check(me), '5000', 'call'... I folded... late position turned up a pair of 5's and won the pot...
The next hand I was dealt an A K... I pushed all in for 9000... Everyone folded and action was on the big blind... for only 3000 more I did not expect him to fold... But, he almost did... He threw in the chips and turned up Q 8. Surely, my A K can hold in a 60%/40% race... The flop 8 Q 10... My A K was out drawn... I called for an A, K or J on both the turn and river but it did not come and I was knocked out... placing 8th. It was a pretty good tournament... Heaps of runners made for a final table with massive blinds but I was happy with my performance.

Unanderra - Monday

Tonight i played at Unanderra. Action was slow at my table... a lot of folding. I guess everyone was getting the same cards i was... After 40 minutes of play i finally got some playable cards... J J. I pushed all in after first to act pushed as well. First to act showed me a 2 2 and asked if i had him beat and i showed him my hand... Action was on the big blind... He thought about calling and then did so for 700 more. He tuned up 7S 8S... a suited connector. Definately big hand beaters... The flop was 10S 4S 4D... The flush draw was scary...The turn was a 6C.... The river was a KD... The flush did not hit and i tripled up. The break was then on.
After the break i was back to getting mediocre uncallable hands. I ended up getting an A J third to act after a limp in. I raised it to 1000 total leaving myself with 1300... The limper called... The flop was 10C 6C 4C. He checked and i pushed all in. I figured he did not hit and even if he had he would fold cause of the flush out there. He announced 'I call, but your probably ahead'. My read was correct he did not hit anything on the flop i just was not expecting the read he made on me... Although he did have a lot of chips so that could have influenced his call... He turned up an A Q and took down the pot.
I wanted to play another sit n' go this week and so i asked the TD (Tournament Director) if he could organise one. One was organised and we started playing. After around 10 hands i get pocket J's and raise the cost to play to 425 up from 100. I got one caller... The flop was a similar one to the last. It was 10C 7C 3C... I pushed all in... 1600 more... He called and turned up 9C 10H... He had top pair and the flush draw... It didn't come and i won the pot. I was now chip leader.
A few hands later i limped in under the gun with an A 5. The guy to my right called the guy to his right called and the guy to his right raised to 300. After 6/9 people in the hand called... i decided to call since i also already had 100 invested. The flop was A K 5... awesome flop for an A 5... I check and much to my dissapointment so did everyone else. The turn was a 7. I bet 400 and get 1 caller... on the river was an 8... i bet another 400 and got called... He turned up an A 9 and i took down a massive pot.
After getting a few more chips from spiking top pair and someone pushing on a flush draw the numbers started to decline. I was taking down some pots because of my table image (the perspective that players have of you). My table image was that i only played good hands. I was pushing with any A J or better.
We were down to 4... play was slow until there was a raise on the button... i was in the small blind and looked down at an A Q and reraised all in... he called. He turned up pocket J's and i turned up my hand. It was a coin flip... The odds at this point were probably 48%/52% he was ahead... Another club saturated flop hit the board 9C 8C 4C... It was still a coinflip at this point... The turn was a 7D... The river a KS... I did not make my hand and was knocked out in 4th position.

Home Game

Bit of a modified post for this installment. Having to post about my unusual uses for my mobile phone. Still keeping to the poker theme of this blog... I have taken photos of hands that have been dealt in home games that ive ran. This photo is of a hand that i dealt heads up.




Pocket 7's were all in and of course the A's called... The window card was a 7... a set. But the A's ended up having the nut flush draw. The draw missed on the turn... A 7 hit the river giving the pocket 7's quads.

I could change up my blog a bit because of this post. Maybe lay out some hands that i played in tournaments at home... take a photo... and post it. Maybe even have a slide show of how a hand played out.

Cabbage Tree - Thursday

Poker at the Cabbage Tree Hotel once again. I did not do too well tonight, probably the worst i have gone for a couple of months. I got to the game a bit late this week and had to wait until room opened up. The TD ended up opening another table and i sat down at that. My chip stack started to shrink... I was limping in with decent hands, flopping draws and missing them. I was on the short stack pretty early. Nothing squashes your play more than a short stack (small amount of chips). The objective of tournament poker is to knock players out and people will tend to call a players 'all in' rather than a regular bet. This is because of two things 1. It is a chance to get closer to the prize pool and 2. A player calling an 'all in' knows what this particular hand is going to cost. So there is no more betting unless there are still people in the hand. This is why a short stack must choose the hands they play very carefully, often having only one move ('all in').
In one hand there was a raise in early position, a big raise of 3200 and a call in late position. I looked down at an A 10. I would normally fold this hand after a massive raise and a call but i was the small blind with 300 out of 600 of my chips in the small blind. The best position i could be in according to the raises made would be that they both have under pairs like pocket 7's or 9's. The worst position i could be in would be that i was drawing to 1 card... my 10. This means that i was against hands like A Q or A K and i was a massive under dog. This was what i thought was most likely... After seeing someone accidentally flip over a Q 10 when he was trying to fold (this is bad because it means there is one less 10 i can draw to) i called. It turned out my position to win the hand was not as bad as i thought... I was up against pocket 8's and pocket J's. If i hit my A i would be a massive favorite to take down the pot. The flop was 2 4 6... sweat cards... i still needed to hit my A. The turn was a 3... this meant that i still needed an A to win the pot but, a 5 could hit for a 3-way split pot because everyone would have the same straight 2 to 6. On the river... a 5. Everyone took their chips back.
A few hands later i got my least favorite hand in poker... Pocket 10's. It is my least favorite hand because it is a hand that i have had when i was knocked out of many tournaments. After a few limpers i pushed all in for 800 more chips on top of the 300/600 blinds. I expected atleast one caller and i was right. What i did not expect was how strong the person who limped in was... He turned over pocket K's. With a K on the window (first card to hit the flop) i was pretty much drawing to running cards for either a straight or quads... which was very unlikely. I was knocked out with 3/6 tables left.

Unanderra - Monday

At the Unanderra Hotel again tonight. I started with some good hands early but my chip stack did not show it :(. I had limped in with an A 4, no one raised and i saw a flop. It was A J 4... a rainbow (cards are all different suits)... i check my strong hand. There is a min bet of 50 and 2 people call, I raise the bet up to 250. The original better folds and i get heads up (2 players). The turn card was a 6 and the action is checked to me. I bet a further 250 which he calls. The river is a horrible card for me... a J. So the community cards were A J 4 6 J. My 2 pair was what counterfeited by a higher pair on the board. This meant the best 5 cards i had were A A J J 6 instead of A A 4 4 J. You may think that making a better hand is a good thing in poker. In most cases this is correct however, i already had a strong hand. He could have been calling me with a J or even an A 7 and would beat me. If he had been calling me with an A with a 7 kicker his new hand would have been A A J J 7, his 7 playing and beating the 6 i was using. He checked and so did i and he turned over an A 5, we were both playing the 6 and it was a split pot.
The next hand i was under the gun (first to act) and i decided to only look at the first card i recieved just to force me to play the hand... It was a Q... i announced call. I still had not looked at my second card and the flop came 9 6 7... i looked at my cards... OH Damn! Q Q, pocket Q's. I had a really strong hand and immediately regretted not looking at my second card. I led out with a bet of 150... i was raised to 350... Most people would have reraised in my position but he could have just made 2 pair in which case i was behind... i called. On the turn came a 3, i thought about betting but then again if he did have a hand like 2 pair he would raise and i don't want to make the pot too big because his bets would get bigger. He bet 350 like i thought he would, i called. The river was an A, another card that could beat me but i did not put him on that card. I check and so does he, he turned over the nuts (best hand possible) a 10 8. He had flopped a straight which was way ahead of my Q's. I liked my play with those cards after the flop, i lost very little considering he had made a powerful hand.
Play was very slow after that hand... i limped... i folded... i lost chips. There was a lot of raising on the table i was at which made it virtually impossible to see cheap flops. I would limp in with a hand like Q J, the pot would be raised and i would have to fold. This was starting to damage my stack, to the point where i had to wait for a hand to push all my chips in with...
I had a little over 2000 in the big blind. 6 people limped and i look down at an A 6... i thought about raising but the amount of limpers was intimidating. I checked... the flop was 2 4 6. I pushed all in. I had hit the top pair and odds are people were not limping with a hand that would hit that flop. Turns out i was wrong... The shortest stack other than myself at the table pushed all in, she had 100 more than me... She turned over a 2 4, she had flopped 2 pair after limping with rubbish on a short stack. The turn was a J and the river a 9... i was knocked out earlier than usual, about halfway through the tournament.
I had to wait for some friends who were still in the tournament and the TD (Tournament Director) announced that he was going to run a Sit & Go. A Sit & Go is a side tournament where up to usually 10 people all post a buy in. The people who come in the top 2 usually get the money in a 70/30 split. I say usually because sometimes 3rd gets paid as well. I usually do pretty well in these mini games. Ive come either 1st or 2nd in my last 4. I decided to post the buy in pf $12 and play the game.
In an early hand that i played, pre-flop there was a lot of action. There was a strattle raise (betting first to act before your cards) and 3rd person to act announced he was pushing all in for 900 this hand. True to his word he pushed all in, a buddy of mine then pushed all in over the top for 2500... I looked at my cards K K. A massive hand, i pushed all in. The guy next to me sat there thinking for ages, he showed me his one A and folded... i then showed him my pocket K's and he felt better. Everyone else folds, i ask my buddy if he had pockets. He nodded and i told him "Mine are better". The guy who said he was going all in pre-flop turned over 8 3. My buddy turned over 8 8. I turned over K K and i knew i was a major favourite to win a massive pot. All i had to do was dodge an 8. There were atleast 3 8's already in play so all i had to do was dodge 1 8 left in the deck. It doesnt come. I win a massive pot.
I decided to tighten up my play. I had a massive chip lead and watched as people fell before me. Play continues and someone eventually overtakes me in the chip lead. He is sitting next to me, and pushes all in on my big blind... i looked down at J J and quickly announced "call". I turned up pocket J's and he turned up pocket 10's. As we are counting out our chips to make the pot we hear from the end of the table "Jacks win". We both missed the community cards... We both looked at the cards in surprise... We both had missed the suspense... I had doubled up.
In the end i was heads up with the same person who i won all my chips off. It was my big blind and he min raised and i called with a K 7... On a flop of J 6 8. I bet 2000 and he reraised all in. I did have a stab at the pot but im sure my K high was no good at that point. I had to fold. 2 hands after i had 1000 in the big blind and 1600 left. He pushed all in and i called without looking. I turned over a K 6 and he turned over A 4. The A hit on the flop and knocked me out. I finished the Sit & Go in 2nd place. A pretty good effort. Winning $30.

Cabbage Tree - Thursday

Tonight i played poker at the cabbage tree. Another $500 prizepool freeroll that satellite poker run. I started off slowly, folding a lot of horrible hands. I figured i would mix my play up a bit so i was under the gun (first to act) and i looked at one card. It was a J, i called before dealing the cards were even finished. When the action got around to the big blind, he pushed all in for an extra 275. I looked at my second card and it was a 3. I called since i was already invested. The flop was 3 6 J... boom 2 pair! I check it down to the river... show my hand and the big blind was disguisted at what i had called him with and i took down the pot.
Later on i get dealt 2 5 in the big blind and check for a free flop. The flop was 2 J 5... another 2 pair. The flop was rainbow (3 cards of different suits) so i checked and let someone bet into it. Sure enough someone bet 150. I instantly announced raise and bumbed it up to 600. Someone pushed all in for less than that and the two others involved in the hand called. It was a dry side pot, so i decided to check it down to the river so we could collude and knock a player out. I turned over my two pair and took down the pot. We were then on a break.
After the break i get pocket 10's and min raise under the gun. The only person who calls is the big blind. The flop is J 6 J and she bets 1000. I have played with this lady before and knew how she bets. So i announced "I know how you bet and you have the J. This is a good laydown.". I folded... Sure enough she turned over Q J... trips. The table commended me for putting her on a J with 2 already out on the flop.
Later, im involved in a hand and someone is forced all in in the big blind. I get pocket 3's in late position, i don't like that there were 3 others involved in the hand but i still called. The flop was 3C QH 9H. This girl bets 1000, the guy next to me raises and i reraise all in. The original better folded and the guy who reraised reluctantly called the 4000 extra. He had the nuts flush draw (needs one more suit to make the best possible flush) and needed one more heart. The turn was a spade and the river a club... i tripled up to around 16000 chips.
My chip stack was up and down the following 30 minutes. It was on bubble for final table and i was in the big blind. The lady next to me had 5000 chips total including 2000 in the big blind. I had 8000 chips. She just called the extra 2000, leaving her with 1000 chips left. I got an A 5 and raised... she quickly threw her last 1000 in and turned over a K 3. We both did not make a pair on the board and my A high was good enough to win. FINAL TABLE!
Over the past 3 weeks playing at both Cabbage Tree and Unanderra, Andrew (The Tournament Director) had put the cards the players flip over that decide the position you sit at on the final table, in the same order. He would put the high cards on the end which my buddy and i took advantage of and picked dealer or 1 behind. Each time saying "Thanks" to him and he gave a cheeky grin, regretting he did not mix the cards up. So, me and my buddy figured it was time for a change. We thought he would mix up the order this week cause he was bound to notice that we were both going to final table. So we picked from the middle on purpose and both got late position cards. We were right and Andrew was dissapointed cause he had put the worst positions were he would normally put the best ones. I said to jokingly to Andrew "What a read.".
So final table was slow... one hand i was involved in i had an A Q. I pushed all in.. 2 people called. I was against A 8 and 5 5. In pretty good position to take atleast the side pot (the pocket 5's did not have as much as i did). We all missed everything on the flop and the board had paired... we all missed the turn... On the river however, put another pair on the board and made the two of us without a pair a better hand with our A high... we split the pot and knocked out a player who was in front in doing so.
The next hand i got 8 8 and pushed all in again, i got two callers. The flop was 6 9 Q, two scare cards. The turn was a 7, this was ok cause now i had an open ended straight draw to go with my pair. On the river an 8 hit the board, making me a set. But there was a flush out there or if any of them who called had a 10 or a 5 i was gone. the lady behind me who knew what i had cheered when it hit but i told her that card probably was a bad thing. One guy lead out and bet into the dry side pot and this assured me that my trips was not good enough. Sure enough he turned over both the nuts straight (best possible straight) and J high flush. I was out of the tournament in 7th position again.... due to bad luck.... again.

Unanderra - Tuesday

Tonight i played at Unanderra for the second night in a row. There was a buy in of $5 for the tournament. I started off steady... winning some early pots. One hand i was involved in was very interesting. There was an under the gun strattle (betting before you get cards) of 300. There was one caller and action had come around to me.... i looked down at an A K. I min re-raise the strattle. The strattler then pushed all in over the top, the guy who originally called, called that bet and so did i. The flop was K K 6... i flopped a monster. But being a dry side pot i decided to check it and so did he... The action was checked all the way down to the river and i turned up my hand... He had a K 10 and also hit trips so if i had made a bet i would have got a lot of value out of my trips.
A few hands later i decided i was going to bluff the next hand just to shake things up a bit. I was dealt QS 2S. Sure enough i raised to 400 when the blinds were 50/100. I was behind the dealer so i was in good position to bluff at the pot. However, all 3 people after the button called my raise. The flop was JS 5S 8S... bingo, i had flopped a flush. The woman first to act led out and bet 700 which my buddy in the big blind called. I then re-raised all in, the button next to me then re-raised all in aswell. Big blind called... I turned over my flush, the button turned over 2 pair and then the big blind turned over the nuts flush. He had the A high flush compared to my Q high. This knocked me out of the tournament.
Later after the break i was able to buy back in. I sat at a new table that was made for the people buying back in. The 3rd hand i got was pocket J's, first to act makes the raise. I call striaght away. There were no over cards on the flop, the pre-flop aggressor bets 1500. I raise to 4000 and he calls. The turn is a Q which could be a card that beats my hand. First to act checks and so do i. The river is a 4th spade on the board and i remembered that both my J's were black, so i have the J high flush. First to act pushes all in and i call. He turned over the 8 high flush and i turned up my J high. It was funny because this guy was the same guy i knocked out the yesterday with my A K against his pocket 2's.
The final table was not too long after that hand. I'll skip ahead to a hand that i was big blind... There were 4 limpers (people who just call the blind) and i look down at an A J. I push all in, one person looks at his cards for ages and then shows me his pocket 2's and says 'fold'. I turned over my A J and showed him it was a coin flip.
Later on i get an A K on the button against the blinds. I push all in, small blind almost folds and then changes her mind and calls. I showed my A K and she showed me Q 5. I was the dominant favourite. She misses everything on the flop however she does have a backdoor flush draw (needs running suits to make a flush) and a club hit the turn... this was a scare card... She needed any club or a Q to win the pot and sure enough... the 6 of clubs... I was out of the tournament in 7th place. It was a good tournament in the end... I made some bad moves early on and was just unlucky in the end.... again :|

Unanderra - Monday

After the 101 class today i went out to Unanderra to play poker for satellite. I was off to a dominant start. Within the first few hands i was dealt pocket 10's, raised pre-flop in late position and got 2 callers. One scare card was present on the flop, it was a J. It was checked around to me and i led out with a bet... i was called by both people involved in the hand. The turn was a low card, action was checked to me and i bet out again. this time slightly more than the previous bet. I managed to get rid of one person but was called by the other. The river was also not scary, the only card that could beat me was a J. I had been taking note of the way this person was calling me everytime when i bet... She seemed new and was very reluctant each time. I figured if she did have that top pair she would not have been so reluctant to call. So, i thre another bet out at the river of 600. She called and turned over a pair of 7's and i won a pretty big pot.
A few hands later i had 6D's 7D's, i called the blinds, i was raised howver by someone in late position. Suited connectors are hands that are very adapting to any flop and it is very likely for you to make some kind of draw. I made a flush draw on the flop... i checked it... the pre-flop aggressor led out... the bet was callable at a mere 225. I missed my flush on the turn and had to call another 225 to catch my diamond. I hit it on the river card but, someone led out with a massive 1000 chip bet. I did not want think the hand over cause i could have convinced myself to fold so i threw my chips in without thinking. I showed my flush and it turned out i had the best hand. He had made a bluff on the river and it was unfortunate for him that the card had made me a pretty strong hand.
I was moved tables a few moments later. I was under the gun (first to act) and looked down at A K. Im starting to change my technique with mediocre - strong hands in early position. I decided to minimum raise. Min raising in early position is a great technique to use, people put you on incredibly strong hands that you want action off. So many times when i have done this, the people on the table have put my on pocket K's or A's. However, i get a re-raise of basically ALL of my chips down the other end of the table. I put him on a pocket pair, in which case it was a coin flip on who would win the hand. I called and sure enough he turned over pocket 2's. I missed everything on the flop... no draw no pair. on the turn... BANG K. I made top pair... the river missed him and i took down a pot of over 10k and was chip leader in a 40 person tournament.
There was not much action from me until later on the final table. I chose the dealer position and started to grind away with a chip count of 29 000. Hands were slow and it took ages for people to get out... We were down to 7 people. Top 6 were getting money, i was probably second in chips. I started to take advantage of how tight everyone was playing and stealing a lot of blinds by pushing all in. There was one hand however, up against the chip leader, that i was unlucky on. I was dealt an A J in the small blind and told my buddy sitting next to me that i had to raise. I made in 12k on top of the blinds and he called. The flop was A 9 Q... i made another bet of 12k with a strong hand of the top most pair. He reraised all in... i had a weird feeling about the hand but could not lay down such a strong hand. Sure enough he had me beat, floppig 2 pair with a Q 9. This knocked me out of the tournament at 7th place, i was pretty happy with the way i played, i was just unlucky in the end.

DIGC

We were separated into groups and asked to come up with a debate. Our question was to negate the concept that people construct identity online through stereotyped representation of gender. My side won the debate; hammering down on the anonymity that the web offers to the user.