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.

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.