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I just dropped out of today’s tournament on the 69th place after my AK off suit was pushed to go all in against 3 other players, AQ off suit, JJ and QQ. The flop gave me the advantage with pairing my King, but the turn gave another player trips with the Jacks. Only the river left for one more king, but it showed up the third Queen and decided the winner of this round. All my 8000 something chips lost, damn. Who could have thought that every player had cards from the top 10 starting hands?

That’s the second time today that this happened to me. Very early in the tournament I had AK suited and raised the big blind, to get re-raised to an all in. I called, knowing the tournament could be over very quickly, but I had the hands to call. 3 players in the round, me AK suited and the others with JJ and QQ.
Flop gave me nothing. Turn was very helpful with a K and putted me in the lead. The river for once was very kind to me and I tripled my chips. This made sure I could play more hands than normal, because I had the money to play with some medium hands now.

One time I got very lucky if I think about it afterwards. With AQ in my hands, the flop turned AK10, pairing my Ace and giving me a straight draw. I raised just to see what the other player left would do. He doubled my raise, but knowing my outs I quickly called him. Turn was a 7 and not dangerous unless he had pocket 7’s. Again I raised, but now around 1000 chips, now he just called my raise. The river gave me two pairs with the Q showing up, but if my opponent had a Jack my game was over.
He raised 480 and I went all in, but not thinking about the straight opportunity for my opponent, instead I was just thinking about my two pairs (AA QQ with K as a kicker). Luckily for me he folded, probably thinking I had the missing jack.

I didn’t play that many hands today, but the hands I did played till the river, I won most of the times.
I certainly had a great time today, god good hands (flop wasn’t always kind for me), made some right judgment calls and managed to get my 3rd top 100 finish in 2 weeks time. Still not my best finish till now, but again in the top 100.

If only I can get to a bit more chips in the early phase of the tournament, a money finish isn’t that far away then.  I just have to win some all in’s at the right moment, it’s that simple

A colleague from work did manage to finish on the 25th place this Monday, so he’s a step in front of me now. Congratz Werner! But I will catch up on you pretty soon!!!

Every player wants to get pocket aces to start with. They’re the best starting hands you can get in poker, but they can cost you lots of money if you don’t watch out.

I like pocket aces also, but the thing is with a pair in your hand you’ll need another card like your pair on the table to make a three-of-a-kind and with only 2 chances of doing this, you’ll definitely need some luck on the flop, the turn or the river.
If you have a low pocket pair, the flop turns all over cards, you better fold if somebody raises.  If your pocket pair is higher than the flop you’ll bet.

Today I got pocket Kings and raised to 1/6th of my chips. The player next to me folded but the 2 other remaining players called and the last one of them even went all-in. So I had to call.
My pocket kings against 4 and 8 of clubs and pocket Aces, damn.
Board turned 853, pairing my opponent’s 8 and giving him a flush draw with only 1 clubs needed.
The turn wasn’t good for anybody and the turn didn’t give me a King, but did give the flush for my opponent who for god knows what reason called an all-in with those cards.
So only 2000 chips left to play with. I managed to get to 4000 again and then it was my turn for pocket Aces.
On my turn I did a raise to 720 chips. 1 player called. Flop gave me nothing (KJ7). I’m pretty sure I was still in the lead. And if I want to play along for some while I had to double up pretty fast.
I went all-in with the thought if he call’s I’m doubling up. He called and showed 10Q, damn. So I don’t wanted to see another Ace or a 9 which would give him a straight.
The turn was a 7, so no worries. With only 4 outs left for my opponent he’d hit his Ace and I even lost with 3-of-a-kind Aces and finished on the 153rd place.

So far for the best starting hand. Afterwards, you could think, didn’t I bet enough on the pre-flop or what did I do wrong. If you got AA you always try to get the most out of it. In my unlucky case it fired back on me.
I still do like pocket aces, but I prefer to play with AK suited if it was up to me. The outs you’ll have with this hand are higher than with pocket aces.
Well you win some, you lose some. Tomorrow we’re giving it another go.

A Royal Flush (AKQJ10 suited) is the best hand you can get in Texas Hold’em.

In all the time I’m playing poker, I only managed to get it once.

In yesterday evening’s tournament I almost had one.Cards in my hand where King hearts and Jack clubs. With the flop (AQJ hearts) I already got a pair of jacks, but also a Royal Flush , a flush and a straight draw. And if one more hearts card turned up I had the nuts if the board wouldn’t pair. With +6000 chips in my account I made a 1000 chip bet to see what my opponents where up to. It seemed to me I had the best chance of winning this one.
2 players called, so I was pretty sure one of them had a hearts card in his hands. The turn made my straight with the 10 of spades, so everything was looking good. This time I wanted to get the most out of this hand so again I made a 1000 chip bet, player 1 folded, player 2 raised. Now I was sure he’s playing for the flush. Maybe he had my missing 10 of Hearts and is thinking how much bad luck can I have if my opponent had the king? Instead of just calling, I went all-in because I still thought I had the best chance of winning this one.
He called immediately to show he already had a flush with. This brought me to only 7 outs to win this. The 7 remaining hearts in the deck.  Surely I was hoping for the 10 of hearts, but any other hearts would be fine to as I wanted to win this one. It would be a fantastic breakthrough in the tournament and it could bring me to ending up in the money. So with my fingers crossed the river beats me again with a spade card. My straight lost from a flush ending me on the 348th place.
Damn, damn, damn. This could be the opportunity for a long run, but it turned out my tournament finished after just a bit less than 1 hour time.

Too bad, but better luck next time I always say. In the early beginning of the tournament I do had my share of luck when my pocket Jacks won an all-in from 3 other opponents, all with Aces and Kings and Queens. But nothing of that turned on the board, so I quadrupled my chips and took the number 11 spot in the tournament so far. The highest ranking I ever had so far.

Now I’m preparing for today’s tournament that’ll start in 5 minutes.
Wish me luck!

Today I’ve managed to get my best finish yet, with a 56th place.

In the first half hour I only could play a few hands and the flop wasn’t a good friend of me most off the cases. I just won 1 hand with a small bluff against a player with far less chips.
And with the small blind and big blind that keeps on rising every 10 minutes, I needed to win some hands, but the opposite happened, I’ve lost a hand after I needed to fold for a big raise.
So with only 370 chips left I needed a good hand quick. Then I received pocket aces and won my all-in and tripled my chips. Just before the break I received pocket Jacks and it was time to go all-in again.
2 players called, AK and 55. The flop made me trips, which pushed my opponents to need runner-runner to win from me. Again I tripled my chips and I could breathe a bit more after the break now.

20 Minutes after the 5 minute break, I received pocket Jacks again. The player in front of me went all-in so I was in doubt of calling. But if he didn’t go all-in would have done it anyway, so I went all-in also.
This time I played to much better hands, QQ and AK. Flop wasn’t of any use for anybody. The turn on the other hand gave me trips and I was leasing suddenly. Only the river left. The guy with QQ needed his Q badly or he was out. But the dealer was so nice to turn me a 7 and let me triple up once again.

Now with almost 7500 chips to play with I was in a pretty comfortable position. But my tactic of only playing good hands was paying off.
I managed to reach the 2nd break and reached the latest 100 players for the 2nd time.
And with only 76 players left I also broke my Top 100 finish from last week.

After the 2nd break, the SB and BB together with the ante’s where costing me more and more money every time. And when I got KJ off suited I raised to an all-in with 4500 chips. 1 player called with AQ.
Flop gave me two pairs but my opponent a straight draw. The turn wasn’t good for the two of us. Only the river left, it was all or nothing now, or I doubled up and was pretty sure for a top 50 finish or It ended right here. He only had 4 outs to win from me, but 1 of those four 10’s showed up giving him a straight and me a claim for the 56th place.

Some bad luck, but I also had my share in good luck today and seeing afterwards, I’m pretty happy to reach this far.  Tomorrow is another opportunity, maybe it will all come together then?

After a great start in today’s tournament, I finished on the 208th place.

The first 4 hands I got were very good, only won 1 of them though, but what a win it was.
I had A 10 of diamonds with a flop 2 3 diamonds and 10 of clubs. Turn gave me the highest flush with diamond 5. I did a small bet to get the other people involved and it worked, 2 guys followed.  River turned the 4 of diamonds giving me a straight flush. Although I was pretty nervous now that anyone of the two other players could have the 6 of diamonds and beating my straight flush, I betted all in.
1 player called and luckily for me I won, doubling me up and placing me on the 27th place for now.
A few hands later I got pocket aces and made a minor raise, to see how many would call, but I only cashed in the small and the big blinds. Too bad, but at least I didn’t lose with them.

With AJ suited in my hands I started a small bluff, but it didn’t work as 1 player called me. Flop (7 9 8) gave me a straight draw, only needed the 10. Again I raised, but was quickly called. Turn did me now good with a 3. I made a minor bet now to see what my opponent was going to do, but he just called.
With almost halve my stack in the pot, the river gave me nothing but a Ace high. By now I knew I was beaten, but I made another bet to let my opponent think I do have something in my hands. Instead of folding he raised me. So there was only 1 thing to do for me and that was folding. Even if I went all-in he called me immediately and I probably lost everything then.

Seems like my bluffing skills need a bit of tweaking today, cause 30 minutes later I went all-in with KJ again on the flop (K 5 8). 2 players called and the showdown started. 1 player showed K8 and the other pocket 5’s giving him trips. I needed runner-runner to win.  A pair of jacks would give me a higher Full House. But the turn ended my dream for finishing in the money the first time.

I played some cards well, some cards bad, but I had a lot of fun today and that’s also important.

For my site this poker journey of me is turning out very good. My visitor stats are increasing day by day and are almost up at the same rate they where a year back, so thank you for visiting me.

Are there any players from Full Tilt Poker reading this?