onday night I deposited $60.00 into my PokerStars account and played my first real money game on PokerStars. It was my first real money game in almost a week. I played about 150 hands of $.05/.10 Limit. I started out alright. After playing less than twenty hands I was up $1.70. Most of it was won when I flopped a set with a pair of threes and then made four of kind on the turn. Then my luck ran out and I soon found myself back to even. I was getting pretty nice starting hands, but they just kept missing on the flop. Then when my AJs finally did get a nice flop of JJ9, I lost to J9o. When the session ended I was down $0.12. Not too bad.
The Tuesday night session started out about the same way, but ended up much better. I sat down at a pretty tight table won almost $1.40 before the table died and I had to go find another table. The second table I sat at was full of much looser players, but I wasn't able to improve on my winnings. I made a couple of bad decisions and called down with some hands that I knew were beat. But I still managed to walk away with $1.20 after playing a couple of hours.
onday I played about 150 more hands to release the third $10 bonus from Party Poker. I think I did okay. I was dealt some good cards and ended up $9.75. Tuesday I played the rest of the required raked hands and released the final bonus, but ended up losing $13.50.
I am going to find a site with some smaller limits and play those for a while to see if I can't become a consistent winner. I have tried out the play money tables on PokerStars and I will probably try and play the $.05/.10 or $.10/.20 limit games there. I will have to spend more time playing the play money games before I commit to real money on Stars so I can get used to the interface.
hursday I deposited $50.00 in my Party Poker account to take advangtage of the reload bonus they offered me. My reload offer was 20% up to $100 and I needed to play 10x the bonus to release the bonus. Thursday I played about 200 hands of $0.50/1.00 Limit and ended up losing $2.75, but released the $10.00 bonus from Party Poker. I decided I would try not to focus so much on how much I was up or down and instead focus on playing the number of hands needed to release the bonus.
I think I played pretty well Thursday night and did not make too many bad decisions. Very early in the session I took down a nice sized pot from the BB with J3o. Only the button and the SB where saw the flop with me. The flop was J3x with two clubs. I bet the flop and both of my opponents called. A three on the turn filled up my boat and both opponents called again. I bet again on the river and the button raised, I reraised and he showed his is KJ of hearts. I won another pot a few hands later with another full house came in for me on the river (Aces full of fives). Near the end of the session I took a big hit when my AK went up against a BB with J7o and a Jack came down on each street.
When I logged in to Party Poker on Friday I was greeted by a pop-up window that informed that if I played another 150 raked hands by Monday I would receive another $10.00 bonus without depositing any additional money. So I played over 200 hands of Limit Hold'em and lost almost $8.00. I think I play okay. I know I made some mistakes and I could have done better and I lost a few very nice hands to hands that were a little better. During the middle of the session I was dealt QQ in the BB and raised after a couple of early and late position limpers. The flop was TTx, I bet and both limper called. They both called again on the turn when I bet. The river was a blank, I bet again and this time the EP limper raised. We both called and our opponent show KT.
About half of the hands I played on Friday were raked, so I figured I would need to play about 100 more hands on Saturday to release the second $10.00 bonus. I ended up playing about 130 hands and won $1.75. I went too far with AKo after the SB reraised preflop. After a pair of nines came on the flop I called him all the way to the river where he showed me his pocket Jacks.
Sunday morning I recieved another pop-up from Party Poker informing me that my account had been credited with the second bonus and that I could earn a third $10.00 bonus by player 200 more raked hand by Wednesday. The Sunday session did not go very well at all and really put me on tilt towards poker for the rest of the day. I played 137 hands and lost over $22.00. Maybe I should have seen where this was going to end up when I was dealt pocket kings early in the session. I raised with my kings from middle position behind two limpers. The BB and the two limpers in front of me called and I caught another king on the flop along with two clubs. The flop was checked to me and I bet and all three players called. The turn was another club, the player to my right bet, I raised and then he reraised. I called his bet on the river and he showed 74 of clubs and his ten high flush. At least he was to my right and I would be able to act after him on the rest of the hands.
I continued folding the lousy hands I was dealt and missing flops with the decent ones. It looked like my luck was about to change when I won a couple of hands at the end of the session but everyone split and left me sitting at an empty table. I think about half of the hands were raked, so at least it was a decent start to releasing the final bonus.
aturday afternoon I over 350 hands of $.50/1.00 and ended the session down $2.75. I did not play very well. I made too many very poor decisions, especially near the end of the session. I was up over $10.00 when I was dealt KK and raised before the flop and only the BB called. The flop 3Q2, I raised after the BB checked and then he raised. I called him all the way to the river, despite the fact that I was pretty sure I was beat. I just couldn't convince myself that he had actually flopped a set. At the showdown he showed a pair of dueces.
Sunday morning I managed to sneak in about 60 hands and I played better but I still lost $5.25. Sunday afternoon I played about 150 hands and lost almost $24. Even though I lost quite a bit, I think I made pretty good decisions. Early in the session I was dealt K3 of clubs in the BB and checked after two players and the SB called. The flop was A82 all club and I decided it would be best to slow play the nut flush. I checked and the player to my left bet, then I called when the action came back around to me. The turn was the 5 of diamonds and again I checked and then raised after the player behind me bet. The turn was the Ace of hearts, I bet and my opponent raised, I reraised and then called after he capped the betting. He turned over AA and stole the pot away from me. I probably should have just called his first raise on the river, but I just didn't think he had me beat. Later on I lost another huge pot after I flopped a set of dueces and my opponent made a higher set on the turn.
played about 300 hands of $0.50/1.00 on Saturday afternoon. I took some pretty bad beats early but I managed to stay cool and win some of it back. I still ended down $15.50. One of the hands that hurt me was a hand where I was dealt kings. I raised preflop after the player to my right called and the player to my left cold-called. The flop was A77 and I bet after it was checked to me and only the original caller stayed in with me. The turn was a blank and we both checked. The river was a four and I called after my opponent bet. He showed 44 for fours full of sevens. I really should have bet the turn after he checked to me, but I felt I was really pushing my luck with that ace out there.
I continued to make some bad decision and missed out on a couple of opportunities and misplayed some hands. Then near the end of the session I began to make some good decisions and hit some nice flops to recover some of what I had lost early in the session.
Sunday morning I played almost 200 hands and for most of the session I played pretty well and almost doubled my buy-in. But I made some huge mistakes at the end of the session and walked away up only $4.75. On the last hand, I was UTG and dealt AQ of hearts, I raised and only the button and the BB called. The flop was 2hKhQs, I bet after the BB check and the button raised. The turn and river cards were the Js and Ks and I bet both times and was raised each time. The button was held KJ of diamonds. I probably should have just checked and called on the river and saved myself a bet.
Tuesday night I managed to play about 200 more hands and I think I played pretty well through out the entire session. The table I was at was pretty tight and very few hands went to showdown. Most of the pots I won were pretty small. The biggest pot I won was $12 with AA against KK. I finished the session up $9.50.
I am now re-reading through the post-flop section of Small Stakes Hold'em and hope to improve my post-flop play.
onday night I deposited $60.00 into my PokerStars account and played my first real money game on PokerStars. It was my first real money game in almost a week. I played about 150 hands of $.05/.10 Limit. I started out alright. After playing less than twenty hands I was up $1.70. Most of it was won when I flopped a set with a pair of threes and then made four of kind on the turn. Then my luck ran out and I soon found myself back to even. I was getting pretty nice starting hands, but they just kept missing on the flop. Then when my AJs finally did get a nice flop of JJ9, I lost to J9o. When the session ended I was down $0.12. Not too bad.
