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Every player who plays in a tournament will be playing with a short stack once in a while.
Too often I see other players going all in after a big loss. Don’t do that, poker is also all about patience.

Go all in when you think you can win, not when you’ll have to play 5 other players also. Chances that you win are very small pre-flop or you must be having a killer hand like AA or KK.

In the tournament yesterday where I finished on the 6th place out of 800 players, I played a short stack 3 times during the whole tournament.
Very early in the game I lost a game with two pair, aces and queens, against 3-of-a-kind 6. From my 1500 starting chips, only 210 were left. Because this happened a few minutes after we started, the blinds were still small, so I didn’t worry much about it. The immediate hand after this beat I got KJ suited. Not bad, but very dangerous to play. I was in late position and had a nice view at the table. 1st player called, 2nd player called, 3rd, 4th and 5th player also. When it was up to already 5 players joined the game, so I folded my KJ suited.
Why the hell should I fold King Jack suited in late position I hear you thinking?
Well, chances are very high that one of the 5 players has an ace or a queen. Or one of the 3 remaining kings or jacks are playing along also? If the flop turns an ace or a queen, I can pretty much throw my cards away. Even with a raise pre-flop Chances are great that 4 out 5 players call me, being short stacked. So in my eyes I made the best decision I could at that time. BTW, flop was 4 8 Q, turn was a J and river a 10. A good fold I made!

For the next seven or 8 plays I folded also until I got AK. 2 players in the game and I made raise to see the flop and will decide to go all in or not after the flop. Luckily for me only 1 player calls my raise. Flop paired my King which made me go all in on my turn. Other player called to see my pair and Ace kicker. After the river my stack doubled. I could play a few extra hands now and that made sure I went up in the rankings also.

True, luck is also in play, but if you lack the patience part, luck doesn’t always has a chance to reach you

For the next 2 hours I kept playing a lot of cards, even J4, 10 3 and cards like that. So I was very loose.
The thing is when you play lots of hands, your opponents don’t know if you’re bluffing or not. You’ll just have to make sure that at the time they call you, you aren’t.
Once I failed this and was a short stack again. With 50 players left in the tournament and 27 places paid, a money finish was far away.
This time the blinds where higher also and the ante’s made my stack smaller and smaller every game. Action was required. With everybody folding pre-flop I went all in with A4 suited. The big blind called me and it was a showdown. The flop gave me the advantage as I paired my Ace, but my opponent made a pair with his Jack. He didn’t hit a card on the turn or the river, so I doubled up again.
At this time I felt it was time to stop playing loose and start playing very tight. The money was a bit closer now, but not completely there. With KK just a few hands later I went all in pre-flop and luckily for me a player who lost a serious amount of chips the game before called me. He showed AQ. Paired his Ace on the flop and his Queen on the turn. Only a 3rd King could save me, but it showed a 4. Because he was very short stacked I got back almost 1/3rd of my chips and wasn’t out of the tournament.

But my luck changed into the good way now. The next 5 plays I received JJ, KQ, 46 (which I folded), AJ and QQ. The 4 games I played I won. With my pocket queens I won a monster pot. Nobody believed that I again received good cards in this short time, so almost everyone called my pre-flop raise. With a 3rd queen on the flop, I started slow-playing my trips. The player in front of me made a bet, I called and 1 player went all in. I and the initial raiser called. I won and was pretty sure to end up in the money now.

Whit some decent play the hands after, I even made it to the final table where I lost with my straight against a flush and ended up on the 6th place.

Like I said, be patience, play the cards you think you’ll have a decent chance of winning. If there are too many other players in the game, even fold good hands.  Good luck!!!

Yesterday I finished 2nd in a freeroll tournament, earning me another $12, which brings me a step closer to the $100 mark.
At starters I manage to keep my chips around the average chipcount until I got pocket Kings. After some re-raising I went all-in and took home the pot, placing me on the 24th place. Not long after this I got a bad beat on the river with two pair, aces and ten’s against trips 2.

In that hand I almost lost all of my chips, I had only 540 chips left. So tournament was as good as over for me, but with a big blind of 100 I could play some more hands, waiting for the cards I needed.
With pocket Jack’s I went all-in in mid position. 3 players called (A10, A7 and 88). Luckily for me the ace didn’t show up on the board and neither did the eight. I won a 2000 chips pot. Immediately after this hand I got AK suited (spades). The guy in front of me went all-in so I called. The blinds folded and I saw my AK suited against AK suited (clubs).
Before the flop, it was almost certain this was going to be a split flop, but with two spades on the flop my chances of winning increased. The turn came, but nothing and the river sealed my win with the 5th spade. I made a flush Ace high and doubled up my chipcount again.

In the next 10 hands everything went my way. I even didn’t have to bluff as I got a straight on the flop one time, me holding A5. I checked being in first position to see what’s going to happen. A big raise by the big blind made sure most of the players folded. 1 player called and I re-raised after taking some time to let them believe it’s a hard decision. The BB re-raised me and the other player went all-in with the few chips he had left. Then I went all-in and got called by the BB.
I showed my straight, the BB had three of a kind with 4’s and the 3rd player could make the flush if another diamond is drawn. So far I was in the lead, but a flush and a Full House would beat me easily.
But it didn’t happen, I won the pot with my flopped straight and almost tripled my chips. I was once again playing above average now.

After this I played very well, making the right decisions time after time. It wasn’t hard to fold good hands like pocket Queen’s with 5 players in the pot pre-flop. One of them went all-in, which could cost me all my chips if I called. I folded because I was damn sure one of them had an ace or a king and only a queen on the board could save me if they paired. Flop turned 4 10 A.  2 Players had an Ace and no queen turned up on the turn and the river. I was thinking in myself: “Thank God I folded my queens”. 

With only 500 players or so left, I played myself into the top 20 for the rest of the tournament.
I made the final table and managed to knock out the number 7, 6, 5 and 4. Only three players left now. We were playing with almost equal amount off chips for around 30 minutes.
Then I got A2 and checked on the big blind. The flop made me trips wit 2 3 2. The SB checked, I checked, the chip leader made a 4 times the BB raise and got called by the SB. I re-raised and they both went all-in. With my trips I made the call and saw I was playing against pocket 3’s and 45.
The card on the turn I can’t remember anymore because I made my Full House on the river with a second ace. I thought I’d won, but then it hit me, the pocket 3’s made a Full House with 3’s.
Game over and the end of the tournament. I finished 2nd because my cards beat the 3rd players cards.

Too bad I didn’t won, but I had lots of fun and I was happy about the way I played.
Next sunday I’m playing in a $5000 freeroll tournament, hopefully I’ll be playing as well as yesterday

Follow me on twitter to get live updates on how I’m doing there.

Just a few days back I talked about how close I am to breaking the $50 starting from scratch in just a bit more than 2 months. Well yesterday I’ve won myself another $2,80 in 2 freeroll tournaments.

$2 with a 20th place on Full Tilt and 80 cents on another site.

My first tournament of the day was a $1000 freeroll tournament with 342 paid places out of more than 3000 players.
I was very unlucky here as I could end up much higher if I just didn’t came out against pocket Aces with my pocket Kings. At that time I was constantly playing around a top 100 position.
With my pocket kings I made a bet 4 times the big blind and got called by 2 people. With that much money in the pot and a really bad flop for everyone unless you had 2 pair, I checked on my turn, planning to re-raise the first one to bet. The pocket Aces dude raise about half the pot size and I made it a full pot size. He called immediately.
With a Queen on the turn I was a bit afraid, but didn’t expect him to call my all in, which he did off course. Only a king could save me, but it wasn’t meant to be, I finished around the 300th place with 80 cents added to my account.

At Full Tilt later that night, I continued to play this well. I didn’t got that much good cards than earlier that day, but by playing very tight, I won about 89% of the hands that I played.
True, after they start to notice this, they all folded whenever I made a good bet or re-raised, but that was part of the plan. At one table where I played for something more than 1 hour, this was very useful. After making a bet, a continuation bet on the turn and on the river, they all folded before the showdown. And I played hands like 4 9, 3 6, 5 10, … with very good flops if you had an Ace, King or a Queen, etc…
The slogan from a commercial on TV fits this well: “In Poker it’s not about the cards you have, it’s about the cards your opponent thinks you’re having”.

Very early in this game I took my spot in the top 20 with an all-in with pocket jacks, to never get out of the top 20 during the whole tournament. Once I was sure I was in the money, I played very loose, as it was late already and was is desperate need of sleep . I told myself, that whenever somebody made a big raise, I was going all-in, no matter what cards I was holding. 2 times It worked, but the third time when I was on the big blind my all-in got called by AQ, me holding J7. I lost, finishing on a 20th place and earning me $2.

With this $2 I passed the $50 mark, one goal achieved.
Next goal is $100, hopefully in less than 2 months time.

With a bit more than 2 months playing Poker, I managed to get my bankroll above the $40, with the $50 mark in sight. I’m actually at $47,62 at the moment.

Last week I was 95 cents away from the $50 but I got a bit unlucky with my pocket Queens.
In a cash game where I just bought myself in for $2, I played a quick hand where I lost about 18 cents.
After that game I managed to win some and loose some, but never got above the $2 again. Then with pocket Queens I called a guy who just joined the table for $3 and immediately went all in. I thought or he’s bluffing or he should have KK, AA or AK. Would he risk going all in with a low pair, etc…?
Well he did, he showed pocket nines, and I was in the lead big time. After the flop I was in the lead even more as no one could made trips and a flush wasn’t possible anymore with the rainbow flop.

The turn made him trips and I needed a one of the two remaining queens in the deck to win.
The river moved my cash to his wallet as no queen turned up. Damn, so close to one of my biggest cash wins so far in a real cash game.

If you look at the image of my progress, you’ll see that I made a giant leap a few weeks back when I won $24 with a 5th place finish in a $500 tournament.
Now I’m back on my way to make up the $2 loss from a few days back.
Two days back I made money finish in a tournament and yesterday I won some money in a cash game. Today I also ended up in the money, be it just. With 364 people left and 360 paid places I went all in with my pocket Kings. I got called by 2 people. One of them had J8 in his hands and he made a straight with it on the river. Too bad for me, because winning this hand could placed me in the top 50.

I’m hoping to break the $50 mark this month and the $100 mark before august. But if I keep myself to my bankroll management, it can happen.