At first I had some bad luck with the flops, holding KK and an Ace flopped. The guy who called my raise made a small bet. The player in front of me re-raised, so I had to throw my pocket Kings away as one of them was holding an ace. The showdown proved me right, both had aces and one of them 2 pair actually.

Sometime later I got QJ suited with QJA on the flop. On my turn I made a bet, about the size of half the pot, hoping someone has an Ace, but no K 10 or 9 10. Two players called. On the turn (5s) I made a pot size bet and my opponents folded gave up their chance to win a nice pot.

I was now playing in the 700 first places with about 2000 players left. I still had to be careful not to lose everything as there were plenty of big stacks at my table.
I then started folding poor hands one by one, the hands I played I usually won, so I was playing very tight. I had to, because the blinds where killing my stack. With the paid places in sight and in early position I folded QQ just to make sure I reached the 360. Again a wise decision, 3 people in the pot, AK suited, 77 and J10. Flop JJ3. Turn a K and on the river a 7 which made the pocket 7 guy a Full House.

In the meanwhile I saw that the player in play with the least amount of chips was 0, so I made it to the 360 paid spots. In my first tournament in 3 weeks time, immediately winning some cash, nice!

Just after that I finished on the 340th place, winning me 70 cents.
I could end up much higher if my pocket Queens (got them 2 times in a row, imagine that), but this time I went all-in, for about 2 times the big blind in total. 3 players called, one holding J9 suited. He won with two pair.

Today I played a $100 freeroll and again ended up in the money. 2300 Players in the tournament, me ending on the 135th place, earning me 13 cents. Not that much, but something

My $100 goal is coming closer and closer now. 

the last 2 weeks I spend my days in Italy, near Venice. I had lots of fun, good weather and food. So a great holiday.
that’s also the reason why there’s no update on this blog for the last 2 weeks.

Since my departure to Italy I didn’t played a game of poker but I’ll be playing the tables pretty soon.

Tomorrow I also can start playing soccer again after I broke my nose 8 weeks back. I could start playing 2 weeks back, but because our trip to Italy was that close I didn’t risk playing.

So see you at the tables!!!

I had to fight my way up the leaderbord early in the game, but once I was ranked pretty high, I never lost my grip on the top 20.

Every table I moved to I ruled after 5 or 10 hands. With aggressive play other players started folding one by one. I picked up the signs I needed to make the right decision at the right time.
Like folding Q5 with QQA on the table. One player made a small bet, I called him. A third player re-raised to be re-raised himself by another player to an all in.
I wasn’t afraid of the player in front of me, neither from the first re-raiser, but I was very afraid of the last guy. Should I call or not? I had trips, but a low kicker. If he has a Queen also, chances are that his kicker will be higher than me. Or he already has a full house, with AA or AQ. With some regret I folded my Queen Five, but what a relief to see he did have AQ in his hands. There was no chance I could have won the hand if I made the call.

When we got to the last 27 players and in the money, people stopped folding and in no time only 15 players where left. I was playing around the 10th place. After 30 minutes I reached the final table for the 2nd time in 2 days time, me on the 9th place.

After around 10 minutes I won a decent pot and got ranked 6th. Then I won a monster pot and was on top of the table with 50k chips ahead of the number 2. But not for a very long time, about 15 minutes later, with only 5 players left I made a bad call. I had AK in my hands and an ace on the board after the flop. I made a small bet to see what the other players will do. 2 players just called. I was pretty sure I got the win. With a 5 on the turn, I again made a small value bet, but got re-raised by an all in. If I called this, I lost about 65% of my chips. I made the call to see he had 2 pairs (5’s and 10’s).
The river put me down to the last place once again.

At the time I played heads-up for the tournament victory, I was about 200.000 chips behind my contestant. The first 10 to 20 hands, we remained to stay status quo, but somehow I got down to only a mere 150.000 chips. Much if you compare it to the 1500 starting chips, but very little if you know the other player is playing with around 800.000 chips.

Instead of going all in pre-flop with good hands, I limped in and raised to an all-in on my turn if I paired something. All or nothing with pocket 2’s at one time, but luckily he folded.

Then with KJ in my hands, I raised to 24000 chips. He re-raised me to 75000 chips. I immediately went all in, hoping to steal a big pot, but he called with his pocket 10’s.
With a King on the flop I won the hand and left him with a bit more than 70000 chips. He started to go all in hand by hand. Because I didn’t have the cards to call him I folded and folded.
But I knew it was just a matter of time.

At the time he had around 120000 chips, I was holding AK and prepared myself to call him. I was the small blind and just called to see the flop, so I didn’t show him I had good cards. He went all in as expected and I called him.

His A5 against my AK. I was leading. With nothing useful on the flop, turn or river for him or me, I won the tournament!!!

After winning a few qualifier tournaments to another tournament, this was the first tournament I really won.
Man that felt great! I want more!!!

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!!!

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.

$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.

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.

After earning some cash in the freeroll tournaments I searched for some tips about how to control your bankroll without going broke.
Time after time I ended up with the tips from Chris Ferguson, a Poker Pro from Full Tilt who made $10.000 out of $0.

His rules are pretty simple:

1. Never buy into a cash game or SnG with more than 5% of your bankroll.

So if your bankroll is $50, your max buy-in is $2,5. If you loose 10 times, you still have $25 left.

2. Never buy into a multi table tournament with more than 2% of your bankroll.

Tournaments are tricky and you should be very careful with them. The problem is that the most money is in the Top 3 to 5 places. Finishing in the money isn’t an option as it will only earn you back the money you’ve put into it.
So a top 5 finish every 4 to 5 times you play a tournament is needed to stay playing tournaments.

That’s why you better don’t join tournaments that have a buy in more than 2% of your bankroll. ($50 bankroll = $1 buy-in)

3. If at any time in a no-limit or pot-limit game the money on the table represents more than 10% of your bankroll, leave the game when the blinds come to you.

Another thing on how to protect your bankroll is leave when you’re up. If at any given time your money on the table is more than 10% of your bankroll, LEAVE the table and collect your winnings.

Which cash games to play?
Some pro players say that you should be able to at least bet x-times the big blind before moving up a level.

This is something you have to decide for yourself.

When you’re playing the micro tables, 500 big blinds is enough to use as a multiplier.

Level 1: $0,01/$0,02 > Minimum bankroll needed = $10 ($0,02 x 500)
Level 2: $0,02/$0,05 > Minimum bankroll needed = $25
Level 3: $0,05/$0,10 > Minimum bankroll needed = $50
Level 4: $0,10/$0,25 > Minimum bankroll needed = $125

At the low tables, you can increase this number to play a bit more safer and allowing you to play more hands.
For example 600

Level 5: $0,25/$0,5 > Minimum bankroll needed = $300
Level 6: $0,5/$1 > Minimum bankroll needed = $600

Medium tables
Level 7: $1/$2 > Minimum bankroll needed = $1200
Level 8: $2/$4 > Minimum bankroll needed = $2400

...

Currently I’m playing in Level 2 at the moment and I am just a bit more than $1 away from starting in Level 3.

Whenever your bankroll goes under the minimum amount needed you have to GO BACK to a level lower an build up your bankroll again.

Following these rules will guarantee you could become the next Chris Ferguson.

Yesterday we’ve started with 1600+ people and in the first hour I played not that many hands, but I’ve won most of them.  My showdown stats gave me 80% for the 5 times it went to a showdown.

Only one time I was pretty lucky I had more chips then 1 of my other 2 people who called. On the button, I re-raised an all-in that was called by the small blind with my straight, pushing the 2nd guy all-in also. He called me, but his 2 pair didn’t put up to my straight. But the other guy showed a flush leaving me with only 1200 chips.

But in no time I was back in the lead at my table after I made a full house with my pocket eights and 4 guys called my all-in. Putting me in the money places again.

The next hour after the break I only played 4 hands to a showdown, but every time I’ve won. 3 times I doubled my chips, putting me in the top 10 with a 3rd place.

At the time we all ended up in the money I was playing around the 17th place. Now I had to make sure I don’t make any stupid mistakes to end up in the top 50, my goal.
With pocket 3’s and a 3 on table I doubled up again, putting me on the 4th place.
More and more people saw their tournament come to an end and before I knew it, there were only 20 players left. Now I made it my goal to get to the final table and end up in one of the big money spots.
With 12 players left, I had to make the most difficult decision of the tournament, before the flop somebody went all-in with more chips then me and I had pocket Jack’s.  I started thinking, should I call or not? Quickly made a short resume on how he played the hands before.
Because he played very loose and sometimes went all-in with minor hands, I made the call. It could cost me the final table or a 1st place so far.
He showed a King and a 5 of clubs. I had good odds .  With no king or clubs on the flop only a king could beat me if the turn wasn’t a 5. Turn and river didn’t paired his king or 5 so I was placing myself on the top of the table.

It can’t go wrong now. I made it to the final table a few minutes later. As from place 6 the money prices were pretty decent. The winner could win $80.

The first few hands at the final table I had to fold, but it gave me a nice view how everybody else was playing. And they all want to end up in the top 6 spot, as it seems they folded every time somebody made a good raise.
It was also a bit frustrating as nobody was willing to play, but that was in my favor as I played my game like before and re-raised every time somebody made a small bet or raise.
If they didn’t fold after the flop, I raised big after the flop, no matter what hands I had. They fold time after time.
I also knew that how I was playing now, somebody was going to call me pretty soon as I couldn’t have got good cards all the time.

Then I got my 2 best hands of the tournament AK suited and AA in the next hand. I was also in late position.
With AK I went all in after the Turn paired my King. One player called and he was out. 8 players left.
In the next hand I got AA as mentioned and I went all-in after an early player raised the pot with half his chips. He called me and showed pocket 7’s. After the river he didn’t found his third 7 and he was out also.

With 7 players left, the game got on a roll again. Number 7 and 6 where out pretty quick after this.
I only made one error in the whole tournament and sadly enough it was at the time I can’t afford to make any errors. I made an all-in bluff but was called. This took about 85% of my chips and I was in the last place of the 5.

I did manage to triple up again the hand straight after it. And with A6 in my hands I went all in again against pocket Queen’s. After the flop I paired my Ace, but on the river he made trips.
I was out on the 5th place, earning me $24.

I love Poker!!!!

The bad news was that whenever I called an all in of a stack much lower than me, I always lost. Don’t get me wrong, I always called with top cards like AK suited, QQ and AQ. And lost from 49 offsuit, JT and 47 suited. It’s like they know what cards are getting drawn. Very frustrating.

With these 3 beats, I always had to fight back to get back up in the ranking.
360 places where paid, with $580 for the winner and $5,70 for number 360. I really wanted to be one of these, but it will be for another time I think.

The way the play was know, I always had to call at least 2 times the value of the big blind and being a low stack I better had damn good hands. Luckily this worked for me every time.

Then I received KQ spades on the big blind and the button player entered the pot with 3 times the big blind. I re-raised him hoping he would fold, but he called.
With 7h 4s 3s on the flop I was pretty sure he missed his flop, I went all in to let him think I have a big pair or letting him know I have a flush draw. He called and showed me 79 offsuit?? Or he likes to play these cards like I do with 75, but this weren’t cards to play. Ok he was on the button, but after I re-raised him he should have folded.
I knew I was beaten, not by his pair of sevens, but I was pretty sure I won’t draw my king, queen or any spade. Instead he got his 9 paired on the turn and received a full house on the river with a 3rd 7.

My tournament was over, no money finish today and I’m feeling very disappointed about how this tournament was being played. This was totally no fun.

Up to the next one now!!!