Royal Flush (almost)

had another pretty good session on Sunday. I was dealt AKs on my first hand but ended up folding it on the river after getting absolutely no help from the board. Then I won $1.10 with KQs on a flop of KK7, but lost most of it after being dealt AKo. I was dealt AK again a few hands later and finally won $1.05 when a another king flopped and my pair held up. Two hands later I flopped a full house with QQ and won a small pot. I only had two players call my raise pre-flop, so I checked the flop and waited until the turn to bet and one of them folded. The other one folded after I bet again on the river. I don't know what I could have done differently to build a bigger pot.

After about winning almost $1.20 during the first third of the session, I ran into some bad luck. I raised with KK from the SB and continued to apply pressure to my opponents on the turn and river only to get out drawn on the river to A2s when he made a flush. At least I didn't have to waste a bet on the river to see if he made his hand to beat me.

PokerStars 0.05/0.10 Hold'em (10 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.com FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Kh, Kd.
UTG raises, 3 folds, MP2 calls, 3 folds, Hero 3-bets, BB calls, UTG calls, MP2 calls.

Flop: (12 SB) 9c, 3d, 6h (4 players)
Hero bets, BB calls, UTG folds, MP2 calls.

Turn: (7.50 BB) 8h (3 players)
Hero bets, BB calls, MP2 calls.

River: (10.50 BB) 7h (3 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, MP2 raises, Hero folds, BB calls.

Final Pot: 14.50 BB

Results below:
BB has 3c Ad (one pair, threes).
MP2 has 2h Ah (flush, ace high).
Outcome: MP2 wins 14.50 BB.

I think I have been dealt KK in each of my last three session and have failed to win anything with them all three times. I guess that means they will win for sure the next time.

I managed to win a couple of more hands and was up over a dollar, but went through another rough patch and soon found myself even for the day. I had AQs lose the 54s, then made a straight with AJs and lost when A9 made a flush on the river.

At the end of the session I won a $1.30 pot when I made an ace high flush on the turn with KQs. If the jack of spades had been dealt on the river it would have been a royal flush, but I'll take what I can get. I finally left the table after almost 160 hands with $0.60 in winnings.

PokerStars 0.05/0.10 Hold'em (10 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comFlopTurnRiver.com (Format: Plain Text)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with Qs, Ks.
3 folds, Hero raises, MP2 calls, 3 folds, SB calls, 1 fold.

Flop: (7 SB) 7s, 7c, Ts (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, MP2 calls, SB calls.

Turn: (5 BB) As (3 players)
SB checks, Hero bets, MP2 raises, SB folds, Hero 3-bets, MP2 calls.

River: (11 BB) Kc (2 players)
Hero bets, MP2 calls.

Final Pot: 13 BB

Results below:
Hero has Qs Ks (flush, ace high).
MP2 has Ac 9c (two pair, aces and sevens).
Outcome: Hero wins 13 BB.

Current Bankroll: $228.93

Tags: Online Poker, Poker, Texas Hold'em, Free Poker Money

A Little Bit of Variance Goes A Long Way

ednesday nights session started off very well. I posted the BB and was dealt aces. Another ace on the flop strengthened my hand and I won $1.35 with my first hand. Then I lost a bit with my first UTG hand AKo vs. 64o on a 76TJT board. But when I posted the BB the second time I won it back when my pair of jacks flopped another set. After about 30 hands I was up almost $1.50. Then my pair of kings and ran up against a pair of aces and my pocket queens lost to the same players flopped straight. I won two more hands near the end of the session and finished $0.59 for the evening.

Current Bankroll: $228.33

Tags: Online Poker, Poker, Texas Hold'em, Free Poker Money

Roller Coaster Ride

played a couple of sessions of $.05/.10 Limit Hold'em on PokerStars over the past weekend. Saturday night's session was very short. When I sat down I was directly to the left of a pretty loose player but she didn't stick around very long and I didn't either. I left the table after losing $0.52.

Sunday afternoon's session lasted much longer and ended up better. I was hit with some very good cards. Very early in the session I was dealt 99 and flopped a set and won the pot after my opponents folded on the river. A few hands later I was dealt TT and flopped a set again and won the pot on the turn. I very quickly worked my way up to a $1.00 in winnings after being dealt AKs and betting on a missed flop against one opponent.

The table quickly cleared out after one PokerStars milestone hands was dealt and we played several hands shorthanded. I lost a huge chunk of my early winnings after calling a raise heads up with K4s. The flop was 44J. I raised the flop and my opponent called. The turn was another Jack and I capped the turn, then realized my opponent could have me beat with a Jack in his hands. We both checked after another Jack was dealt on the river and he show his AJs. I was a huge favorite on the flop and the turn card killed me. I could have saved myself one bet by not capping the turn. After losing that hand I was now even for the day.

A few more people joined the table and I won $1.15 after flopping top pair with ATs. Then I had my pocket Kings crushed when one of my opponent's flopped a flush with K6s. I lost a couple of more hands (with KQ and JJ) and soon found myself down almost $0.50. Then I won $0.62 with AA and was pretty close to even again. After flopping another set with TT a few hands later and winning a huge pot ($2.70) I was up almost $2.00. I won a few more hands and ended up the session with $3.11 in winnings.

I was dealt some very good cards throughout the session and hit several flops. I really like being on the good side of variance.

Current Bankroll: $227.74

Tags: Online Poker, Poker, Texas Hold'em, Free Poker Money

Persistance Pays Off

ednesday night's session did not start off very well, but it ended very nicely. I found a table with the loose player I had played with in my last session and took an open seat to his left. I made some poor decisions early in the session and dug myself a pretty good hole.

A few hands in I raised with ATs and lost when the loose UTG player completed his full house on the turn. I had a feeling that I was beat when he bet on the turn, but I thought I should call it down.

PokerStars 0.05/0.10 Hold'em (7 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comflopturnriver.com/ (Format: Plain Text)

Preflop: Hero is CO with Ah, Th.
UTG calls, 1 fold, MP2 calls, Hero raises, 1 fold, SB calls, 1 fold, UTG calls, MP2 calls.

Flop: (9 SB) 7d, 7c, 3c (4 players)
SB checks, UTG checks, MP2 checks, Hero bets, SB calls, UTG calls, MP2 calls.

Turn: (6.50 BB) 7s (4 players)
SB checks, UTG bets, MP2 calls, Hero calls, SB folds.

River: (9.50 BB) 6h (3 players)
UTG bets, MP2 folds, Hero calls.
Final Pot: 11.50 BB

Results below:
UTG has 5h 3d (full house, sevens full of threes).
Hero has Ah Th (three of a kind, sevens)

I also missed out a split pot after being dealt a pair of Queens in the SB. Maybe if I had capped this preflop things might have turned out differently. I really thought I might have been up against either aces or kings here. The BB had not done alot of raising before the flop and I had seen him just call with pocket queens a few hands earlier.

PokerStars 0.05/0.10 Hold'em (7 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comflopturnriver.com/ (Format: Plain Text)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Qh, Qd.
UTG calls, 1 fold, MP2 calls, 2 folds, Hero raises, BB 3-bets, UTG calls, MP2 calls, Hero calls.

Flop: (12 SB) Td, 7c, 4d (4 players)
Hero bets, BB raises, UTG calls, MP2 folds, Hero calls.

Turn: (9 BB) 8s (3 players)
Hero checks, BB bets, UTG calls, Hero folds.

River: (11 BB) 3s (2 players)BB bets, UTG calls.

Final Pot: 13 BB
Results below: BB has Qc Qs (one pair, queens). UTG has Ac Kh (high card, ace).

I was down almost a $1.50 and was about ready to just quit, then I won a huge pot with pocket jacks. I made the continuation bet on the flop,but even after no one raised after me, the queen on the flop bothered me. Since the pot was getting very big and I decided to check and call on the turn and river and was pleasantly suprised at the showdown.

PokerStars 0.05/0.10 Hold'em (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comflopturnriver.com/ (Format: Plain Text)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with Jh, Jd.
Hero raises, 2 folds, MP2 calls, 1 fold, CO calls, Button calls, 1 fold, BB calls.

Flop: (10.40 SB) 4c, Qh, 8c (5 players)
BB checks, Hero bets, MP2 calls, CO calls, Button calls, BB calls.

Turn: (7.70 BB) 4s (5 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, MP2 bets, CO calls, Button calls, BB calls, Hero calls.

River: (12.70 BB) 7d (5 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, MP2 bets, CO calls, Button calls, BB folds, Hero calls.

Final Pot: 16.70 BB

Results below:
Hero has Jh Jd (two pair, jacks and fours).
MP2 has Js 8h (two pair, eights and fours).
CO has Ah 8s (two pair, eights and fours).
Button has 7s 6s (two pair, sevens and fours).

I won an even bigger pot just a few hands later after flopping two pair with AJs.

PokerStars 0.05/0.10 Hold'em (9 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from http://www.flopturnriver.comflopturnriver.com/ (Format: Plain Text)

Preflop: Hero is Button with Ah, Jh.
UTG calls, 2 folds, MP2 calls, 1 fold, CO calls, Hero raises, SB calls, BB calls, UTG calls, MP2 calls, CO calls.

Flop: (12 SB) Ts, As, Jd (6 players)
SB checks, BB checks, UTG checks, MP2 bets, CO calls, Hero raises, SB folds, BB calls, UTG calls, MP2 calls, CO calls.

Turn: (11 BB) 2h (5 players)
BB checks, UTG checks, MP2 checks, CO bets, Hero raises, BB calls, UTG folds, MP2 calls, CO calls.

River: (19 BB) 6s (4 players)
BB checks, MP2 checks, CO checks, Hero checks.

Final Pot: 19 BB

Results below:
BB has Ks 5c (high card, ace).
MP2 has Js Td (two pair, jacks and tens).
CO has 4s Ac (one pair, aces).
Hero has Ah Jh (two pair, aces and jacks).

A few hands later I won $1.10 when I made a flush with Q3s from the SB and ended up leaving at the end of the orbit with $1.62 in winnings.

Current Bankroll: $225.15

Tags: PokerStars, Online Poker, Poker, Texas Hold'em, Free Poker Money

Out of Position

unday afternoon I found some time to play some poker and I did pretty well. I sat down at a pretty loose $0.05/.10 Limit Hold'em table on PokerStars. Just three hands into the session I saw the flop with KTo along with an early position player, the SB and the BB. The flop was 33T , I bet after it was checked to me and the SB and the EP player called. The 5 of hearts was dealt out on the turn and I bet again after both players checked to me and they both called. Another five was dealt out on the river, the SB bet and both the EP player and I called. I won the $0.95 pot with my two pair. A few hands later I won $0.60 after calling from the SB with T4s and two tens fell on the flop. Then I won $2.22 when I made three of a kind on the turn. I was dealt AQo in the BB and I called after a player in middle position raised. The flop was 7h Ad 9d, I bet and called a raise from the pre-flop raiser. I was worried he might have Aces. After another ace fell on the turn, I knew he couldn't have aces so I bet again and again called his raise thinking he might have AK. The river was the 4 of hearts and again I bet and called the raise. At the showdown he flipped over ATs. I didn't get involved in very many hands after that for the rest of the session and left the table with $1.73 in winnings.

I lost $1.24 during Monday night's session. I think mostly because I stayed way too long in a bad game in a bad seat. I should have left the table sooner and found a better seat. I was just too impatient and sat down too quickly before I knew where the loose players were. I lost $0.30 on an early hand and that seemed to set the tone for the rest of the session. I was dealt J8s in the BB and checked after 3 players called. The flop hit my hand hard with two jacks and a nine. I bet my three jacks and two players called. I bet and was called by only one player after a ten was dealt on the turn. The river card was a king, I bet and the other player called and showed Q9o and took the pot with his miracle straight.

Last night's session started off the same way as Monday's but I learned my lesson and moved to a better seat. Again I was impatient and sat down in a seat with a loose player two my left. He was seeing almost every flop and going to showdown with most them and won several of them. I was down almost $0.85 when I won an $0.80 pot the after being dealt KQ and hitting top pair on the flop and improving to two pair on the river. After that hand I was only down about $0.30. Then a seat opened up to the left of the loose player and I quickly took it. I won two hands against him and ended the session up $0.47.

Tonight I will have to be patient and choose my seat wisely.

Current Bankroll: $223.53

Tags: PokerStars, Online Poker, Poker, Texas Hold'em, Free Poker Money

Back to Full Ring Games

have been playing full ring games on PokerStars this week. I have lost $0.71 over the course of several sessions. During one of the sessions I was dealt about 80 hands and did not get to see very many flops but I still lost $1.58. I think I have played pretty well during the last two sessions. Both time I sat to the right of some very loose player and was able to win several huge pots by waiting for good hands. I am still learning that position is very important.

Current Bankroll: $222.52

Tags: PokerStars, Online Poker, Poker, Texas Hold'em, Free Poker Money

Heads-up Poker

discovered the $.02/.04 Heads-up Limit table on PokerStars over the weekend. I decided to play a few sessions to see what the competion was like. I did pretty well during the first session. I managed to win $1.35 from three different opponents. The first opponent I faced was the toughest, but I still managed to win about $0.14 before she left the table. The biggest pot I won was $0.96 when I made a straight with AQo on the turn against my opponents AKo. On the next hand I won $0.56 after being dealt 44 and flopping a set and nearly busted my competion. He reloaded to about $42.00 and played several more hands but I still managed to take down some large pots. I only played few hands against a third player and lost about $0.20 to him. It was a pretty good first outing in heads-up play.

I also did well during the second session, winning $0.43 from my opponent. I was dealt some very good hands and hit some very strong draws. It was pretty cool busting my opponent out heads-up. The last two sessions I did not do very well. I lost $0.67 during the third session and $0.28 during the final session. Losing the $0.28 hurt more than the $0.67, because about halfway through the session I had my opponent down to almost zero but he reloaded and managed to win it all and more back before he left.

I am not sure that I will be playing anymore of the these heads-up games. I think I did better than I expected to, but I am not sure I like the pace and the swings.

Current Bankroll: $223.23

Tags: PokerStars, Heads-up Poker, Online Poker, Poker, Texas Hold'em, Free Poker Money