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Going all in gives you 2 options, either you’ll win a lot of chips or in the worst case you’re game is over. If it isn’t over then you’ll have to work your way up again.

When is the best time to go all in?

At the start of every tournament you’ll see some nutcases going all in with hands you’ll probably lose with 9 times out of 10. But if they win or when they go all in on the button, it could be the case that they’ll win a good amount of chips. But most of the times they’ll get out of the tournament very quickly.
I almost never call those all in’s at the start of the tournament unless I have top cards.
So to me they’re just plain stupid and don’t know what poker is about. It could be their strategy, but at the end they’ll always lose.
I see lots of people who just lost an all in and have a little stack left and go tilt. The next hand they’ll go all in and if they win, they’ll go all in again. Just to increase their stack a bit more.
This is the time you can take an advantage of the situation. If you got something in your hands, make the call. Most of the times you’ll only lose a third of your stack or even less, so it’s worth making the call as you will play against minor cards anyhow. You’ll have to be extremely unlucky to call a good hand.

But that’s not my kind of game. Before I’m going all in I’ll make sure I have the best chance of winning.  Yesterday I made a mistake against my own rules. With pocket queens I raised to let everybody know I had a good hand. 1 player called for a head to head. The flop was 789, so I still had top pair in my hands. Here’s where my mistake started. Knowing I had the highest pair, I didn’t want him to see the next card as a straight was very much possible with 789. So I went all in. He immediately called with pocket 9’s. Damn, I’m playing against trips. If I played it different I would at least had a chance to see he’s having good cards or not.
If I just raised on the flop and he would have re-raised or called me for example. If the turn was a good card to play for a straight, I could have bluffed him. It would be hard, but it’s my own error that I didn’t have the chance of doing it like this. So gone was my tournament of the day after no Queen showed up after the river.

Too bad, as I was playing pretty good, again made good call’s when I needed to, nobody really bluffed me out. I only folded once to another player’s all in, even when I was pretty certain I had the best hand, but I didn’t want to put my tournament on the line at that time.
After ending in the money again the day before I ended on the 348th place today.

Before the tournament started I played for real money also. Wednesday evening I played also, but ended 8 cents in loss. Today I made this up and leveled again.

Lesson for today, think before going all in.

Up to the next tournament.

After last Friday’s tournament I managed to get myself in the money once again.
Today I finished on the 21st position, not as good as last time when I nearly missed the final table, but I had a good game and great fun.

If you know that after 20 minutes of the tournament I only had about 450 chips left from my initial 1500, I made a great comeback. The last 2 hours I steadily played in the top 10 with a huge amount of chips. 4th place and 78000 Chips is the highest stack I had at one time. Then I made an all in call from a player for 25000 chips with my pocket Queens. He showed pocket Jacks. I was in the lead, also after the flop, but the turn gave him trips and me only 2 outs. The river sealed his win. But I still was a top 10 player after this minor loss.

Again as last time, with the money places in sight, people where waiting endlessly to make their decision for calling or folding. So it took a while before we reached the last 27 players, with me at the 11th place at that time. After the 3rd break I immediately got pocket jacks and went all in, hoping somebody called for a showdown, but they all folded.

A few more hands passed by until somebody went all in again. I felt this was the time to call for an all or nothing with my AJ suited, 52000 chips at stake. But I could triple this amount as another player called also. He showed AJ off suit. The player that went all in showed pocket Queens.
The flop didn’t help me or the other player, not even for a flush draw. The turn was a 10 and gave us a little shot for a straight. About 8 outs left, 9’s or Aces would save us from losing against pocket Queens. The river showed a 4 of clubs so game over for me and the other player, but the winner did took his place at the number 1 spot in the tournament with a bit more than 200.000 chips.

Game over for today, but I’m pretty proud about my game today, played well, didn’t make too much mistakes and definitely am improving my reading other people cards ability.

Oh yeah, before I forget, there’s one hand I can’t forget to mention here.
I received pocket aces and made a good raise on the button. The big blind went all in after this to get called by another player. My turn again. Instead of calling I raised the other calling player to go all in also to try and get the most out of the pot. He just called on the last moment.
Showdown time: my AA against 89 suited and the big blind’s pocket Aces!!!
Luckily me and the big blind splitted the pot after the river. I would hate to see me lose against 89 suited with pocket Aces.

Yesterday I also played in the tournament, also pretty good, but I just made one bad call. With KJ suited against pocket Queens. I lost and ended on the 129th place. Not bad, but as from now I’m always aiming for a spot in the Top 100, nothing less than that.

So in one week time I ended up in the money 2 times, giving me a total of $4 to play with for real, thank you Full Tilt!

How about you? Did you start with these freeroll tournaments also? Any luck?

One of the hands you should always play is AK, suited or not. In today’s tournament I only got them once. With the big blind on 240 I raised to 900, almost 1/6th of my total chips at that time. 1 player called. Flop gave me pair of aces with the highest kicker. Again I raised, but I got re-raised immediately pushing me all in. I was thinking he was trying to bluff me so I called pretty quick. He showed me pocket 9’s, not bad with my pair of aces, but very bad if you know the flop gave a 9 also. So here I am with my top pair and high kicker against 3 of a kind. In a few seconds I went from many outs to only 4 (runner-runner KK or one of the remaining A’s).
The turn gave me nothing so only 2 outs left and the river wasn’t good for me too. So far my tournament for today, finished on the 315th place.

I started out pretty good today, at first lost a bit, but the steadily worked my way up to the top 100.
Once I played 2 and 5 off suit on the big blind and one player was trying bluff me after the flop. He would have succeeded if I hadn’t have a straight draw chance. The turn gave me the straight and I checked to see what he would do. As expected he raised to get called by me. River was a K, which was good for me trying to push him all in. I made a value bet of 400 and he re-raised me with 1500. I waited a bit before going all in and putting the ball back in his camp. He certainly didn’t expect this and after 20 seconds he was pushed to fold as his time ran out.

So far the tournament, now for the real money, as you know I won $2 last Friday with my 10th place. If you don’t know, you should read my ‘In the money’ post to catch up.

Saturday I made my first appearance on a money table, which didn’t went well to be very honoust.
I started on the micro tables SB/BB $0,01/$0,02 with $1, half of my prize money. Within 36 minutes I lost it. I knew it was time to quit playing that day .

Sunday I picked up my guts again with my last $1. At the start I picked up pretty bad cards, so didn’t play at all, only losing my blinds. Then I made a few gambles but lost a few cents.
I always managed to stay around the 90 cents until I received KQ hearts. Being the small blind, I raised the big blind hoping to steal the pot. 4 players called my raise. Flop made me very happy with KKK.  I wisely checked to see who will bluff me. Player next to the big blind made a $0,21 raise, next player folds, my turn. I made a call after 10 seconds waiting and the big blind folds also. Two players left, me having the nuts. Turn was a queen, which could be good to him as this was a high card. Again after a few seconds I checked to let him think I had bad cards. He immediately raised pushing him almost all in. I quickly re-raised him for the 12 cents he had left, also telling him I could have a better hand then him. He called and when the cards were shown he even didn’t waited for the river, he immediately left the table knowing he was beaten with my four-of-a-kind kings. I actually felt bad for him afterwards, but he would have done the same to me if he had the chance.

The good news about this was that I once again had $2. A bit more actually, but I played a few more hands to see if I could make a bit more. I said to myself that I would stop playing whenever I’m reaching $2 exactly. So I did. Back at Friday level. Saturday I actually felt bad after my loss, but the next day I was the king (four times literally )

Playing for real money is something different than playing for fun.

Almost 3 weeks back I started the challenge from $0 to $1.000.000 playing poker and after my first Top 100 finish in my 3rd tournament, I started thinking, hey it won’t be long before I actually end up in the money. But the thing is don’t overestimate yourself, as one bad call or bad raise can kill your tournament in an instance.

After that 94th place I managed to get better and better results and became a regular top 100 player with almost a place in the top 50.

In yesterday’s tournament I played my best poker so far. In the beginning I made the right raises and steadily went from 1500 to 4500 something. Then my chip count went downwards for the next few hands. Then I got pocket 6’s. I limped in together with the big and small blind. Flop turned A 3 3 giving me a Full House draw, but the possibility I’m playing against an Ace. The big blind made a raise to 240, I called (maybe I should have folded here) and we’re the only 2 left now, heads-up. The turn showed a 5. I took action to see what my opponent will do. He just called my 320 raise. With a Q on the river, I made a small raise and would have folded if he re-raised. He just called and it’s a showdown. I had 2 pairs 33 66, he had the Ace and the pot. Leaving me under the 2000 chips once again.
I had to start all over working my way up, damn. Why didn’t I fold after the flop?

The only way is up.

After that beating, I was glad I still had chips left, so the next 15 minutes I watched carefully what hand I should play or not. And it proved to be the winning tactic. In no time I doubled my chip count with JQ off suit. I made a bet of 300 taking control of the table. 2 Players called. Flop paired my Queen and I went all in. A higher stack called me with 8 A. Turn gave me trips and River paired the board with the 5’s, giving me an unbeatable Full House.  I’m back in business!

For the next hour I managed to play between the 50th and 100th position in the tournament. On the big blind I got AK off suit, everybody called or raised the big blind, so my turn to act. I made a bet 1/4th of my total chip count and got re-raised. With a strong hand I went all in, knowing my opponent had to call with only 388 chips left. He called and showed QQ. Flop turned 4 4 7 and gave him 2 pairs and a chance for a Full House. This wasn’t looking good! Turn showed a 2 and the river a 7, giving me two pairs also, but lower ones. Back to the 200th something place. I can’t say I played this hand wrong, so I have nothing to complain about, he made a good bet.
Again I started to make my way up in the leader board, but this time I would stay there. In 5 hands time I went from the 200th place to the 36th place.

In the last play before the 3rd break, I made my way into the Top 20 with pocket 7’s. Flop gave me trips (8h 5c 7s). One player made a significant raise, but I re-raised her with an all-in. She called with 10 Q suited. She needed runner-runner to win from me, so my odds were very good. River showed a 5 giving me the nuts with a Full House.

From this hand forward I climbed up to the 5th place and we I only had to wait for others making mistakes. Because the last 27 players get paid in this $100 freeroll, the play slowed down by every move. I sat on a table with a very low stack and with the high big blinds I quick played my hands to push him to the blinds as fast as possible. 2 other players on my table saw this and did exactly the same. In 2 full rounds time he had to go all in and lost.
I’m in the money!
But I didn’t want to stop playing. You could see that everybody was making stupid bets. Almost on every table there was one guy/girl going all in now.  In no time just 14 players were still left in the tournament.
I wanted to reach the final table, I still was in 5th place with almost 78000 chips. But I had to fold hand after hand and whenever I made a call or raise I got re-raised to fold once more. Everybody else seems to be winning now and with only 10 players left and high blinds I was on the last spot now. This means I had to have good cards to push somebody to call my all in.
So with Qs Kd and in late position, I went all in. A very high stack called me (I would do the same in this case) with 9d Ah. Flop paired his 9 with 9c 6s 8c. Turn showed 3c. Only the river could save me a seat on the final table. But instead of showing a Queen or King a 4 turned up.
But I was very happy with my 10th place, my highest finish so far, just missing the final table.
I was rewarded $2 for this finish, one place higher and I got an extra buck

Now I can start playing real money, but also still will be playing in these freeroll tournaments as you can learn a lot from this.

My challenge can begin!!!

Today I finished the tournament with in my eyes a bad beat.

With suited AQ I raised the big blind (100) to 700 chips. 1 player called.
Flop gave me pair of aces with a high kicker. Also 6 and 8 where drawn. Again I raised, 1500 this time. My opponent didn’t call, but went all in. It was just before the break and with my top pair and high kicker I had to call. Showdown time, my pair of aces with Queen kicker against a straight draw???
The idiot called my 700 raise on the pre-flop with a 7 and a 10 in his hands??? What was he thinking?
I immediately knew my game today was over and that he’ll hit is straight. I even didn’t have to wait for the river, the turn left me with nothing than a 283rd place finish today. He hit his straight, no use of showing the river.

Until this hand, my tournament went fairly well, not giving me much chips like yesterday, but I played very well. Immediately bluffed some people with some well timed raises and called other’s bluff.
Only made one mistake that almost finished my tournament after 30 minutes, but I made a good comeback. So I’m a bit disappointed by my loss against 7 10 and that’s why I think I had a ‘bad beat’.

Oh yeah, I did subscribed myself to a Belgian poker tournament organized by a TV station here, if I get through the satellite tournament, you’ll be seeing me on TV soon

I’ll keep you updated on this one.