My top hand of the day!

My hand
Holdem No Limit
$0.10/$0.20
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Hand Start.
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 1 : lbigdunc has $15.54
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 2 : janusmarine has $30.78
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 3 : emulator has $6.35
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 4 : jorkay has $10.15
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 5 : lomaski has $19.49
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 6 : skmcc has $3.20
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 7 : johnfl has $9.54
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 8 : Toad21 has $9.60
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : Seat 9 : syphos has $50.39
[Jun 27 14:21:26] : skmcc is the dealer.
[Jun 27 14:21:27] : johnfl posted small blind.
[Jun 27 14:21:27] : Toad21 posted big blind.
[Jun 27 14:21:27] : Game [32003] started with 9 players.
[Jun 27 14:21:27] : Dealing Hole Cards.
[Jun 27 14:21:27] : Seat 9 : syphos has Qs Qc
[Jun 27 14:21:34] : syphos called $0.20 and raised $0.60
[Jun 27 14:21:37] : lbigdunc called $0.80
[Jun 27 14:21:38] : janusmarine called $0.80
[Jun 27 14:21:39] : emulator called $0.802
[Jun 27 14:21:40] : jorkay called $0.80
[Jun 27 14:21:48] : lomaski called $0.80 and raised $3
[Jun 27 14:21:58] : skmcc folded.
[Jun 27 14:21:58] : johnfl folded.
[Jun 27 14:22:05] : Toad21 folded.
[Jun 27 14:22:22] : syphos called $3
[Jun 27 14:22:28] : lbigdunc called $3
[Jun 27 14:22:30] : janusmarine called $3
[Jun 27 14:22:36] : emulator folded.
[Jun 27 14:22:37] : jorkay folded.
[Jun 27 14:22:37] : Dealing flop.
[Jun 27 14:22:37] : Board cards [Qh 5h 7h]
[Jun 27 14:22:53] : It's your turn.
[Jun 27 14:22:53] : syphos has 10 seconds to respond.
[Jun 27 14:22:58] : syphos bet $10
[Jun 27 14:23:08] : lbigdunc called $10
[Jun 27 14:23:09] : janusmarine folded.
[Jun 27 14:23:11] : lomaski called $10 and raised $5.69 and is All-in
[Jun 27 14:23:11] : Under-Raise rules are now in effect.
[Jun 27 14:23:13] : syphos called $5.69
[Jun 27 14:23:17] : lbigdunc called $1.74 and is All-in
[Jun 27 14:23:18] : Showdown!
[Jun 27 14:23:18] : Seat 9 : syphos has Qs Qc
[Jun 27 14:23:20] : Seat 1 : lbigdunc has Ah Ac
[Jun 27 14:23:20] : Seat 5 : lomaski has Td Tc
[Jun 27 14:23:20] : Seat 9 : syphos has Qs Qc
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : Board cards [Qh 5h 7h 9s 5d]
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : Seat 5 : lomaski has Td Tc
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : lomaski has Two Pair: 10s and 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : Seat 9 : syphos has Qs Qc
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : syphos has Full House : Queens full of 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : syphos wins $7.51 with Full House : Queens full of 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : Seat 5 : lomaski has Td Tc
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : lomaski has Two Pair: 10s and 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : Seat 9 : syphos has Qs Qc
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : syphos has Full House : Queens full of 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : Seat 1 : lbigdunc has Ah Ac
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : lbigdunc has Two Pair: Aces and 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:26] : syphos wins $49.71 with Full House : Queens full of 5s
[Jun 27 14:23:31] : skmcc : nh
[Jun 27 14:23:40] : emulator : vnh
[Jun 27 14:23:40] : janusmarine : had KK
[Jun 27 14:23:41] : Hand is over.

Janusmarine claims he had KK that hand which means pocket aces, kings, queens, and tens were all dealt.

Decided to hit the daily 19k 10/1 rebuy tournament at Pokerrewards again. At the rebuy period, I had 3xbuy-in (4.5k) and was in need of a rebuy, putting me at 6k. After the first hour, I was able to push a few marginal hands and go up to 7.2k or so. After that I hit a hard dry spell, and nothing decent came up for several hands. No suited connectors, no pocket pairs, or a pair of face cards (well, JK once which allowed me to push all in and gather a few blinds). I am currently down to 2.7k (4xBB) and am waiting for a hand to push in with.

---
Pushed in with q/9 and stole a few blinds to help for another round. Currently ranked 171/184. The tournament started with 698 people, and 70 places payout.

Pushed in with j/10 suited and hit a flush...doubled up to 8k! Ended up beating A/10 and Q/Q in the hand. The flop gave me a straight draw and the turn gave me a flush draw...so the river was quite nice.
--

Finished 159th. My K/Q got destroyed by A/Q...


I was in first position and was dealth K/Q of hearts. I called the blind (800, close to 1/10th of my stack) and have one more caller in 5th position. 6th position raises to 2400(3x BB). This guy has been aggressive and lose. Everyone folds to me, and I push all in (hoping I caught him in an attempt to steal blinds + limpers). He turns over A/Q and the flop contains both a King and an Ace. I lose.

Thoughts: First, I have seem him raise a few limpers pre-flop and then give up the hand later. Usually, however, he raised it just 2xBB. So that might have been my first clue that my hand was less than stellar. Also, I just moved from the Red/orange zone to the Yellow zone, so I should have back off the marginal hand. A lesson learned for $20, but 159/698 was an okay performance. I should have been able to trek on further.

The home game was smaller than usual (only 4 people showed up - including me) so we decided to play 2 full games, 3k in chips and 15 minute blinds (10 for the second game). Due to the shorthanded tournament style, I played a bit looser than normal and aggressive. I won both games and Julie (my poker addicted girlfriend) ended up 2nd both times. I hope the next game has a few more people. A fun evening with an encouraging result.

Have been playing more $40 NL and my best hand of the day looks something like this:


Holdem No Limit
$0.10/$0.20
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Hand Start.
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 1 : corytv has $64.78
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 2 : Rocky_MG has $51.88
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 3 : DubacedaN has $7
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 4 : syphos has $39.60
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 5 : vjulysse has $9.60
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 6 : bigdopey has $39.57
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 7 : dooby84 has $2.93
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 8 : DIAMANT08 has $4.46
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : Seat 9 : MrCoakley has $37.95
[Jun 25 15:39:32] : syphos is the dealer.
[Jun 25 15:39:33] : vjulysse posted small blind.
[Jun 25 15:39:34] : bigdopey posted big blind.
[Jun 25 15:39:34] : Game [36131] started with 9 players.
[Jun 25 15:39:34] : Dealing Hole Cards.
[Jun 25 15:39:34] : Seat 4 : syphos has 7c 5c
[Jun 25 15:39:36] : dooby84 called $0.20
[Jun 25 15:40:24] : DIAMANT08 folded.
[Jun 25 15:40:25] : MrCoakley folded.
[Jun 25 15:40:33] : corytv called $0.20
[Jun 25 15:40:34] : Rocky_MG folded.
[Jun 25 15:40:34] : DubacedaN folded.
[Jun 25 15:40:34] : syphos called $0.20
[Jun 25 15:40:35] : vjulysse called $0.10
[Jun 25 15:40:35] : bigdopey checked.
[Jun 25 15:40:36] : Dealing flop.
[Jun 25 15:40:36] : Board cards [5s 5d 9c]
[Jun 25 15:40:39] : vjulysse checked.
[Jun 25 15:40:42] : bigdopey checked.
[Jun 25 15:40:45] : dooby84 checked.
[Jun 25 15:41:00] : corytv checked.
[Jun 25 15:41:07] : syphos bet $1
[Jun 25 15:41:12] : vjulysse folded.
[Jun 25 15:41:14] : bigdopey called $1
[Jun 25 15:41:14] : dooby84 folded.
[Jun 25 15:41:15] : corytv folded.
[Jun 25 15:41:15] : Dealing turn.
[Jun 25 15:41:15] : Board cards [5s 5d 9c 7h]
[Jun 25 15:41:19] : bigdopey checked.
[Jun 25 15:41:26] : syphos bet $2
[Jun 25 15:41:28] : bigdopey called $2
[Jun 25 15:41:28] : Dealing river.
[Jun 25 15:41:28] : Board cards [5s 5d 9c 7h 3c]
[Jun 25 15:41:35] : bigdopey bet $4
[Jun 25 15:41:37] : syphos called $4 and raised $4
[Jun 25 15:41:39] : bigdopey called $4 and raised $28.37 and is All-in
[Jun 25 15:41:52] : syphos : bigger full house?
[Jun 25 15:41:54] : It's your turn.
[Jun 25 15:41:54] : syphos has 10 seconds to respond.
[Jun 25 15:41:57] : syphos called $28.37
[Jun 25 15:41:58] : Showdown!
[Jun 25 15:41:58] : Seat 4 : syphos has 7c 5c
[Jun 25 15:42:00] : Seat 6 : bigdopey has 3h 5h
[Jun 25 15:42:00] : bigdopey has Full House : 5s full of 3s
[Jun 25 15:42:00] : Seat 4 : syphos has 7c 5c
[Jun 25 15:42:00] : syphos has Full House : 5s full of 7s
[Jun 25 15:42:00] : syphos wins $76.74 with Full House : 5s full of 7s (7 kicker)
[Jun 25 15:42:09] : Hand is over.

Last nights game ended up being a pretty decent tournament for me. 600 entries. $10 with rebuys. At some point, the game had an error that started to insist that everyone was disconnecting when few people were (if anyone at all). This error persisted into the rebuy period and prevented me from being able to actually rebuy! While I was a bit annoyed by this (and immediately emailed support), I was sitting at over 12k in chips (starting stack and rebuys were 1.5k) and was in the top 80 or so. Several times I came close to the edge of going bust, but was saved by a few miraculous draws.

First, I went all in with pocket 4s (when I was down to about 5k in chips) and an A/K looked me up. The flop was AK3. I was ready to shut off my computer and go home for the day when a 4 came on the river to double me up.

The other save came after I cleared the money (top 60) but would lose in the bottom rung of the payout bracket. As SB I raise a large stack 2xBB (didn't want to seem like I was trying to buy his blind with an all in and wanted to seem serious - both of which might have been a mistake). He calls and I am holding 8/9. The flop is 2/5/8. Great flop for me, I push all in. He calls and is holding 8/5. I get ready to turn off the computer and a 9 comes on the turn! It was a good time for me sucking out.

My last hand was with pocket 8s. I push in my chips in middle position. The cutoff calls me with AK and a K hits on the flop. 36th place with a payout of 76.50. Not my biggest tournament payout ($300 from winning a 100 person tournament), but getting that deep was a bit reassuring (though a few 2 card and 3 card suck outs certainly helped).

I doubt I will get too much poker in the next two days, so the next planned events are a $5 home game Friday night and plenty of small stakes no limit on the weekend.

My adventures in no limit appears to have some moderate success at winning small amounts mixed with some huge disappointments. The most frustrating problem I have had is when I have the best hand and another individual is able to draw out on me after we both go all-in.

My worse hit in the last week was last night. I have K/10 and the flop is A/Q/10. I flop the nut straight. The shortest stack goes all in for less than $20, the next player calls, and I reraise to about $40. He reraises and goes all in. This is another $40 in the pot, costing $80 total. Naturally, I call. He turns over A/Q (two pair) and the small stack has K/10 (so I will split the main pot with him/her). As you may have guessed, the turn brought another Q giving the 2nd player a full house and a pot of $180. That hurts.

This is not as bad, but has been indicative of some of the draws I have seen:



Holdem No Limit
$0.10/$0.20
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Hand Start.
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 1 : ThangLoi has $9.92
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 2 : B-Wha? has $0
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 3 : mannysid has $23.10
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 4 : syphos has $32.96
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 5 : fastdan2 has $22.43
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 6 : Mike1941 has $7.39
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 7 : jayred22 has $23.69
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 8 : mavrick79 has $8.70
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : Seat 9 : kev4 has $2.36
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : mavrick79 is the dealer.
[Jun 21 12:34:00] : kev4 posted small blind.
[Jun 21 12:34:01] : ThangLoi posted big blind.
[Jun 21 12:34:01] : Game [41634] started with 8 players.
[Jun 21 12:34:01] : Dealing Hole Cards.
[Jun 21 12:34:01] : Seat 4 : syphos has Kd Qc
[Jun 21 12:34:06] : mannysid called $0.20
[Jun 21 12:34:15] : syphos called $0.20
[Jun 21 12:34:15] : fastdan2 folded.
[Jun 21 12:34:18] : Mike1941 folded.
[Jun 21 12:34:18] : jayred22 called $0.20
[Jun 21 12:34:18] : mavrick79 folded.
[Jun 21 12:34:22] : kev4 called $0.10
[Jun 21 12:34:25] : ThangLoi checked.
[Jun 21 12:34:26] : Dealing flop.
[Jun 21 12:34:26] : Board cards [Jd Tc 8d]
[Jun 21 12:34:29] : kev4 checked.
[Jun 21 12:34:43] : ThangLoi checked.
[Jun 21 12:34:45] : mannysid checked.
[Jun 21 12:34:47] : syphos bet $1
[Jun 21 12:34:50] : jayred22 called $1
[Jun 21 12:34:56] : kev4 called $1
[Jun 21 12:35:00] : ThangLoi folded.
[Jun 21 12:35:02] : mannysid called $1
[Jun 21 12:35:02] : Dealing turn.
[Jun 21 12:35:02] : Board cards [Jd Tc 8d 5h]
[Jun 21 12:35:08] : kev4 checked.
[Jun 21 12:35:10] : mannysid checked.
[Jun 21 12:35:12] : syphos bet $3
[Jun 21 12:35:21] : jayred22 folded.
[Jun 21 12:35:22] : kev4 called $1.16 and is All-in
[Jun 21 12:35:29] : mannysid folded.
[Jun 21 12:35:29] : Showdown!
[Jun 21 12:35:29] : Seat 4 : syphos has Kd Qc
[Jun 21 12:35:31] : Seat 4 : syphos has Kd Qc
[Jun 21 12:35:31] : Seat 9 : kev4 has 2s 9h
[Jun 21 12:35:36] : Board cards [Jd Tc 8d 5h Qd]
[Jun 21 12:35:36] : Seat 4 : syphos has Kd Qc
[Jun 21 12:35:36] : syphos has Pair: Queens
[Jun 21 12:35:36] : Seat 9 : kev4 has 2s 9h
[Jun 21 12:35:36] : kev4 has Straight QJT98
[Jun 21 12:35:36] : kev4 wins $6.96 with Straight QJT98
[Jun 21 12:35:44] : syphos : of course
[Jun 21 12:35:46] : Hand is over.


Right now I am in a $19,000 guranteed tournament ($10 buy-in with rebuys). My last two tournaments have placed me either in the money (20/180) or on the bubble (22/150). So I am hoping good things for this one. Right now I have more than quadrupled my starting chip stack to 6,400. The cards have been good to me, but its a solid start regardless.

Given that I have now played poker seriously for the last six months (while playing it for years off and on), I figured it was time to start noting my adventures in the world of poker. This would be a journal to reflect on my wins and losses, and give me some perspective (besides the monetary one) of my progress as a player. Traditionally, my games have been micro-limit hold 'em and $10 sit n gos, but sinc eI am testing out new waters and playing styles, I expect to play a mix of games in the future.