Video: 5-card draw cash session

I promised to upload this video almost 2 weeks ago,  but technical problems stopped me.

Now I fixed the problem and video is uploaded. I started this session with 40$ and finished with 72$.

This weekend I will upload 2 other videos.

Holdem Full Limit Session 1$/2$

I started with 25$.

I think to post of the notable hands in the blog.

10:30 Update: Hand 1: Flopped straight - win - Nice start of the session - I flopped straight and good pot came into my pocket

11:00 Update: Hand 2: A9 suited - flush draw after the flop - win -I had to wait a lot for my second good hand in this session but its came. It is working good for my discipline. Full limit Holdem is tough job.

11:05 Update: Hand 3: Another flopped straight - lose against KKKK on the turn - The flop was nice surprise - another straight. Turn came second K and it was terrible to see that the opponent has KK in his hand. My stack is back to 25$.

11:20 Update: Getting some smaller pots my stack increased to 36$

11:30 Update: I finished the session with 30$ stack and 5$ profit.

Bad run

Last two days I had really bad run. I am trying to stop complain about the bad beats but incredible streak of cracked pocket high pairs and other big hands made my life harder.

Yesterday, after the bad Monday, I decided to play some other games for relax - Stud, Stud H/L, Razz, Omaha H/L. I played some cash on low levels. It was very interesting and I noticed that these games are not so hard as I though before.

I joined 2000 FPP Omaha H/L sattelite for WCOOP and I was nice surprised that I got my points back entering into the prize pool. I was so close to the event entry (320$) but finished on 6th position.

After that I joined 1500 FPP HORSE tournament (another WCOOP qualification) and finished into the prize pool again - 8th place.

I played also 3-tables-sit-n-go for 27 players (small entry of 3.40$) and finished on 3rd position. This 3rd position gave me 38 points for the leaderboard and today I am playing another one. If I place into the money again, I could try to attack leaderboard (2o tournaments for the low orbit - 300$ for first place, about 450 points are enough for the first place).

Tonight I will play interesting tournament. The winner will receive Supernova Elite status, 2nd-27th position will receive Supernova status.

I will be glad if I have good news after this tournament.

First place in 8,80$ Double Shotout sattelite to 215$ Sunday million

I like this tournament formats.

This one, 8.80$ entry fee Double shotout is Sit-n-go tournament for 36 players. 2 rounds with shorthanded tables (6 players). I played it in Saturday night.

In round 1 I was on the table where 3 players went all-in in first hand for pot of 4,780 chips. They shown JJ, AQ suited and KT offsuit. The fun was that the weakest hand (KT offsuit) won after board of 5h9dQsJs3h and straight for him.

This hand made the table easier (4 players only) but with big favorite with over 50% of the chips.

I kept my tight image of the table and slowly increased my stack till 2,220 getting pots of 300-400 chips. At this time one more player has been busted.

In hand #25 (blinds 25/50) i got A5 suited and one player called my raise of 200 preflop. Flop was TsAsKd and I made pair of Aces with low kicker but with 2 high cards on the board. I bet 300, the other player went all in with his 1,120 chips and I called. He shown K7. Turn and river (9c & 8d) didn't help him and he was out - my stack increased to 3,515 chips and heads-up started.

No action in first 9 hands in the headsup until hand #35 when I made flush and me and my opponent had equal stacks of almost 4,500 chips.

Three hands later came the decider hand (blinds 100/200) - I got QQ and the opponent raised to 200. I re-raised him to 700 and we went all-in. He shown A7 offsuit. The flop was terrible - 6cAs3s and he got the advance. Turn helped him to make 2 pairs - 7c. But lucky river arrived - Qs and my trips won the hand. My stack increased to 8,830 against his 170 chips.

The fortune helped him to move to 930 chips until the last hand where I got A8 and I checked after flop of AcKh8c. He immediately went all-in and I got the win of Round 1.

Round 2 started with some hands where Zokki-MT was the most active and lost all of them. His stack came down to 1,000 chips. 5-6 hands later Zokki-MT went all-in with his pocket 7s against opponent's pocket tens, but lucky 7 came on the flop and Zokki-MT doubled up his stack.

Zokki-MT eliminated a player 15-20 hands later when his pocket 6's won against the opponent's pocket 4's and his stack went up to 3,600 chips.

Blinds increased to 50/100 and one other player was eliminated. 4 players remains in the tournament:
- Lucky Grudge -1,070 chips
- freestylercc - 1,675 chips 
- Wildchaps - 2,565 chips
- Zokki-MT - 3,690 chips

Zokki-MT made another move and eliminated Wildchaps, when his AK won against Wildchaps' pocket 5's.

My time came couple of hands later when with blinds of 75/150 I won with AK against Zokki's AQ and I doubled up my stack.

Blinds increased to 100/200 and I busted Lucky Grudge after all in preflop with my A5 against his T9. Board was Td4hAc5h2d.

Heads-up started and after 15 hands the key hand came. I got pair of 4's and raised 600. Zokki called. Flop was good - T52. I bet 1,000, Zokki called. Turn was  6d and we both  checked. River was 2s and Zokki decided to bluff and went all-in. After some consideration. I called. Zokki shown A4 and I won the hand and 8,840 chips. Zokki came down to 160 chips.

Zokki got some lucky hands (made straight and flush in hands were I was the leader) but the huge stack won and I got the first place and entry for the Sunday Million for 215$. I trade it for 208.55$ and made good profit of 199.75$ in this tournament.

Full ring cash playing

I decided to continue for a short term practice in full ring cash tables. The game there is giving more chances to analyse the opponents. Connectors are not the best used hands as in the shorthanded tables.

I am sure that I will not leave fully shorthanded playing, but at the moment I will stay on the full ring tables.

My first session for the day was 500 hands and the result is 43 USD profit and Winning% = 17.0 big blinds per 100 hands - great result I think. I will keep you in touch about my results for today.

10:20am Update: Second session was shorter but also successful - 165 hands and profit of 37$. The daily Winning% increased to 19.5 big blinds per 100 hands. 

3:10pm Update: Third session was 597 hands. The result was negative - 37$ loss. The daily Winning% decreased to 6.3 big blinds per 100 hands and is still good. On the ling below you can find one good hand from the session:
Hand won by straight

5:30pm Update: Fourth session was 468 hands. The result was +7$ . It was very good surprise for me, because the session started with 3 awful hands and minus 90$.Step by step I recovered and changed the situation. See below three notable hands from this session:
Lose after lucky river
Lose against Q4 hand
Don't slowplay AA
Bad bets never help

6:20pm Update: Fifth session was shorter one - 14o hands (1,870 hands total for today). Without any big pots I got 29$ profit during this session. Winning% for today is 7.5 big blinds per 100 hands and I am happy with the testing of the playing on the full ring tables.

My conclusions are that the level of players is a bit lower than the level of players which I met on shorthanded tables on same level (50NL). Tomorrow I will continue to play on this type of tables.

Cash game - switched to full ring tables today

Today I decided to try to play one session with full rings tables.

I will post some comments after the session.

Update is coming soon...

Interesting hand in the beginning of the session:
I got AJ on UTG and raised 4$. A player called to me. Flop was AJJ and we checked it and the turn. River was 5. He went all in, I called and he shown pocket 5's.  Nice pot of 56 USD came to me. Seems this opponent was angry about this hand, because in next 15 hands I tog 2 other good pots against him, all of them 40+ USD. I stand up from the table with 107 USD.

On one of the other tables I lost 30 USD in huge pot with 2 other players. I got AK, they had JJ and AA and all bets were pre-flop. Trips of Jacks won the pot - over 150 USD.

One funny hand from today

A friend of mine uploaded the hand and I decided to propose it to you.

It is cash game, 100NL and as he guessed the playing of the opponent is a result of my agressing and harrasing style on the table.

Win against 94 offsuit

Post your comments if you want.

4th place in next 12$ turbo freezout for 180 players

As I wrote in my previous post, I got good advance in the next one tournament.

I joined the final table again and again from very good position - with 85k stack. When 5 players left I got 115k stack and almost half of the chips.

One unlucky AK against the second placed player and my stack dropped to 70k

The problem hand was the last one when I got AT suited and one of the shortstacks went all-in. I called, the chip leader called too. Flop was JTx and unfortunately I called his reraise. He shown KJ and won the hand. 158$ is good payout but I knew I had more chances for this tournament.

I should work more for better success in the final tables.

7th place in 12$ turbo freezout for 180 players

I got 7th place but it was very low standing for my potential in this tournament. I joined final table as 2nd place and had comfortable stack.

After couple of unsuccessfull hands I dropped to shortstack.

I had A7suited hearts and raised to 8,000 when the chip leader re-raised me to 18,000 and I called. The flop was K52 witn only one of hearts and I didn't call the new bet from the opponent. My stack dropped to 42K - lower but still comfortable.

Next hand my AJ was the weak hand against AK shown by one of the players and my stack dropped to 26K (1500/3000/ante 300 blinds).

I played tight next 11-12 hands until I got A3offsuit and re-raised the chip leader. He shown KQ and made 2 pairs (Kings and Queens) from the board. I left the tournament on 7th position with 69$ from the prize pool.

At the moment I am playing another tournament with same format and I have 5,500 stack  (100/200 blinds) and position 13th of 76 remaining players.

I will be happy to have what to say after this tournament too.

Review of the week (July 14-20, 2008)

This week I was like an elevator - had some upswings and downswings. I finished the week with 604$ bankroll.

The new was that I tried to challenge in same other games together with NL Hold'Em and there were some results.

I will be happy if next week I reach level 750$ bankroll in PokerStars.

11,70 USD Double shotout sattelitte to 200+15 USD Sunday Million

This morning I joined 4:50am DS turbo sattelite to Sunday Million.

Four point hands made me favorite in Round 1:

The first one: I got 99 and won all-in against other two players - with pocket 7's and A6offsuite. The board QJ8-6-Q didn't help enough to anyone to get my advance in the hand and I built up to 4,695 chips stack.

The second one:  With A8suited hearts I called all-in, made after my raise to player with QQ. Flop gave me one of the needed cards K85. The turn opened more outs with 7 of hearts and flush draw. The river helped me with 8 of clubs and my trips won. Stack - 5,790 chips

The third one:  One of the other 2 players left was sitout. I got A7 offsuit on BB position and re-raised with 1,600 to opponents raise of 600. Flop was perfect for bluffing - T32. I bet 2,000. Opponent called. Turn was 3. I went all-in and he folded. After this hand my stack grown up to 10,115 chips, he was down to 2,475

The four one: Next hand I got pocket 7's and called his all-in. He shown me K2suited.  Board give him hope with 2 of clubs on the turn, but nothing else and I busted him. I got almost all chips and the only left player was sitout. So, after some hands I won the Round 1.

The payouts of the tournament are: 4 tickets to Sunday Million (215$ each), 5th and 6th place gets 35$, 7th gets 33$.

Updates for Final Table are coming soon...

On the break I am chip leader with 3,400 chips.

Two hands before the break I got AJ suited spades in hand and called 150 raise from the player of middle position. The flop was QT8 with one spades and gave me straight draw. We both checked. Turn was King of spades and made my straight plus opened flush draw. The player bet 250, I raised to 500 and he called. River was 9 of spades and I got flush nuts. The other player went all-in and shown JJ. My chances to win a ticket raised a lot.

Another player finished. 8 players are remaining. Blinds are 75/150.

OskarTheG and cashtorg went all in and Oskar shown AJ against cashtorg's KK. Ace come on the flop and cashtorg stack is down to 245 chips.  He doubled up to 590 couple of hands later.

Oskar busted the pocket nines of RTaps after preflop all-in and build up his stack to comfortable 5,800 chips. 7 players are remaining.

Goorefest lost against finjones7's full house and lef the tournament with 7th place.

One more player has been busted and we are on the bubble.

Next hand Oskar kicked finjones with AJ vs JT and tournament finished. I won the ticket for Sunday Million and can cash out it for tournament dollars.

Tournament night

My plans for tonight are to play several tournaments:

At the moment I joined:

3:38pm EST WCOOP Main Event sattelite 4+0.40 USD with rebuys

4:43pm update - I finished 40th (144 players was in the tournament) when my A9off lost against QQ, level 400/800 blinds and 9.5K stack

4:00pm EST 10+1 USD with rebuys 45K Guaranteed

5:48pm update - I finished the tournament at 966th position. In last hand with short stack and AToffsuited went all-in and A2offsuit called. 2 came on the river and I am out. 2151 players was in this tournament

4:18pm EST WCOOP Event 01 8+0.80 USD with rebuys 6-max tables

5:23pm update - I finished 12th (60 players was in the tournament). The point hand was with JJ and 22K stack against TT of the opponent - T was flopped and I was down to 9.5K - blinds were 800/1600. I got 24,80$ payout and covered the 8.80$ entry fee plus 8$ add-on with 8$ profit

4:48pm EST WCOOP Event 02 1500 FPP sattelite 5 card draw

5:38pm update - 5 players are remaining. First place is entry to the event, 2nd-5th got back the entry fee of 1,500 FPPs

5:44pm update - 4 players remaining. I am chip leader with 7,600 chips stack

5:48pm update - its time for first break and 3 players are remaining. I am on the second place

5:58pm update - I finished 3rd and got back my entry fee of 1,500 FPPs

6:oopm EST 5+o.50 USD with rebuys 35K Guaranteed

First break update - Not enough luck during the rebuy period and I finished the first hour with 5,150 chips stack - the worst starting position for rebuy tournament. I hope my luck will work better during the rest part of the tournament.

After all-in with KJ vs AK i finished the tournament on 1096th position (10 minutes before the second break).

7:00pm EST 10+1 USD freezout 20K Guaranteed

8:07pm update - I doubled up my stack to 6,130 chips till first break and my position is 519 of 1823 remaining players. 3159 player joined this tournament the places in the money are 513.

After the break I has been busted after 2 pots where I have lost.

The series of tournaments tonight was not succesfull.

Tomorrow I am planning some cash and STT tournaments during the day and 100K GTD 10+1$ freezout (with expected prize pool over 200K). And more relax... :)

2-7 Triple draw Lowball sattelite to WCOOP 2-7 Triple draw Event

Yesterday I finished the day with a tournament of 2-7 Triple draw sattelite with small entry of 2.20$ with rebuys.

I played 2 tournaments of Hold'Em before that (5.50+R with 35K GTD and 11$ freezout with 20K GTD).

In the first one I played very good and after 2:45 hours playing and 13K stack I got KK they were weak against the opponent's AA and no help from the board. Next hand I got AK suited and lost against pocket 7's - K came on the flop but the opponent rivered 7.

10 minutes later, in the freezout tournament, 5 minutes before second break I lost with AT vs another pocket 7's.

It was early morning (almost 5am) but I joined the sattelite. I didn't rebuy because there were a lot of weak players without any skills in 2-7 tripple draw and I made 3K stack fast (1K starting chips). Rebuy period finished with 7K for me and 6th place of 47 remaining players. I made add-on and after some good hands soon my stack built up to 14-15K. When I joined final table I had about 22-23K stack. 

One good pot of 25,550 chips with T8752 make my stack 35K and I got second position. 3 hands later it raised to 45K after new good hand with not so good cards - Q8743. The tournament was turbo and the player were so unpatient. Next hand another good pot came to my pocket - 42K pot with 97642 and I became as chip leader.

ALEE24  lost his short stack with T9632 against the opponent's 87543 and finished the tourney 6th.

The blinds were 4k/8k and 2 player were shortstack. Me and tongs2111 had good stacks (73K for me, 103K for tongs2111) and LocoBeware had 40k. He was our last problem before the money - first place is ticket to 215$ WCOOP event, second place is 211$ - more attractive for me.

Next hand was the most important for me. With 87432 i got 83K pot and became as a chip leader. One of the short stacks was busted, LocoBeware's stack dropped to 26K

3 hands later the other short stack has been  busted too. 

Chips were as follow: freestylercc - 128,220; tongs2111 - 71,370; LocoBeware - 33,910.

The blinds increased to 6k/12k. tongs2111 busted LocoBeware with 86542 against his T8732 and headsup started.

Actually the headsup didn't happen because my target was to get second place and 211$ cash.

I folded all the hands till the end.

Hand of the week

I played this hand during my afternoon session.

It was my first hand on this table.

I got A9 suited diamonds on BB position. Two players called the big blind, SB called too. First player reraised to 3$, the second player called and SB folded. I called.

Flop was KdTd8s and gave me flush draw nuts. I bet 1.50$, first player raised to 3$, second player called. I called too.

Turn was 8 of diamonds and completed my flush. I checked. First player bet 3.50$, I raised to 7$, second player called, first player called too.

River was Jack of hearts. I bet 14.50$ (all-in), both player called too.

When I shown my hand both of them mucked - 72 suited diamonds (lower flush) and KToffsuit (two pairs)

I collected the pot of 73.50$ and was happy to play my most succesfull hand of the day.

3+R USD sattelite to 200+15 USD Sunday Million

101 players are in. Estimated entries for Sunday Million - 5.

My strategy will be to start with rebuy in the beginning of the tournament. I am planning 1 or 2 another rebuys if need. Add-on if my stack is under 25,000 when the break starts.

Hand #4 (blinds 10/20):  I got A7off on cut-off position and raised 80 chips. Flop was K95 rainbow and I had to fold. Stack 2,890.

Hand #8 (blinds 10/20):  KK from UTG. I raised 80 and 2 players called me (one from middle position and small blind). Flop came 9c8h4c and they both called my bet of 200 chips. Turn was 4h. I bet 550 and one of the players went all-in to 1,290. The other player folded and I called. The opponent shown Q9off, the river was neutral and my stack raised up to 4,750.

Hand #9 (blinds 10/20): Another good surprise - AA on big blind. Pre-floop 3 players went all in with me. They all shown pairs - KK, 88, 66.  The board was - 972-2-J  and didn't help to anyone. Very very good. My stack after this hand is 12,190.

11:35АМ After the wild begin of the tournament, my main activity in last 20 minutes is to fold each hand. My stack is 12,015.

Hand #42 (blinds 25/50): I got QQ and raised to 600 the bet of 200 made by other player. One short stack called with less than 600 too. Flop was AK9 all spades. Both checked. Turn was Tc. The opponent bet 1,400 and I folded. Shortstack shown JJ, the other player shown AK and after neutral river won the hand. My stack is 11,340 after this hand.

The break. My stack is 11,290 chips (16th position) and after the add-on it will be 13,290 chips. 63 of 101 players are still in.

Game resumed. Top5 gets entry to Sunday Million. 6th-21th position gets 12$ payout. 22th gets 11$ payout.

Hand #62 (blinds 75/150): A8 suited from BB position. I called raise of 450. Flop was Jh6d3s and had to fold after his new bet of 600 chips. Stack 12,840.

Blinds raised to 100/200. My position is 25/51 with stack of 12,540 chips.

Hand #76 (blinds 100/200): I got AQoff on middle position. One player before me limped and I raised to 800. Stack 13,040.

Hand #78 (blinds 100/200): Gologic minraised from button, small blind called, I called too with mine 86offsuit. Flop T86 rainbow and make 2 pairs for me. SB checked, I bet 1,200, Gologic folds. SB called. Turn was King and SB folded after my 2,800 bet. Stack - 15,128

Hand #79 (blinds 100/200): I got AQ offsuit on SB position.  The button and other player called my bet of 1,000 chips. Flop made set for me QQ8. Noone called my bet of 2,500. My stack is 17,328.

Hand #82 (blinds 100/200): AQsuited from cut-off position and I raised to 1,000. The button called me, but SB went all-in. I decided to fold. The button called and shown AQoffsuited. SB had QQ. No help from the board and the guy from the button has been busted. My stack is 16,328 (position 15/41)

Hand #86 (blinds 100/200): KQsuited spades from BB position. UTG+1 raised to 600. SB called. I called too. Flop is AsJh8s. SB checked. I checked too. UTG+1 bet 800. SB went all-in. Unfortunately I called (after long thinking) and he shown me JJ. No flush came, no straight came and I am down to 748 chips . Was tough call, but with tons of outs I should to do it. With 3 big blinds stack, I should find any way to survive.

Blinds raised to 125/250/ante 25. My position is 37/37 with the little stack of 648 chips.

Hand #91 (blinds 125/250/ante 25): Q3offsuited on UTG+1 and I decided to go in action. Flop 842 and my chances are almost over. Turn 4, river 7 and I finished the tournament on 35th position. 

It was a good from strategic point of view tournament. Nice start with the perfect monsters, but this call with flush and straight draw killed me in 1 hand.

Check my blog for new posts if you like it.

Comments about my cash session this morning

My plans for today are to get more relax and to play 2 tournaments in the late evening (5+0,50 USD rebuy with 35,000 USD guaranteed prize pool and 10+1 USD freezout with 20,000 USD guaranteed prize pool).

Couple of minutes ago I started cash session on 1 table 50NL with short stack of 50 big blinds (25 USD). I will try to send some comments how the cash session is going on.

Hand #6. Nice start of the session. I got TT on UTG position and raised 2$.  A player re-raised me to 5$ and I called. Flop was Q53 rainbow. The opponent bet 5$ and I called (my expectation was for AK in his hand). Turn was 4 of clubs. He bet 10$ and I went all-in. River was 5 of clubs and he mucked his hand (AJ offsuited). The pot was 50.75$

9:54AM After 25 hands my stack is 52.70$.

10:07AM My stack dropped to 36.45$ after unlucky KJs against opponent's AA - board was K43- turn 3, river A.

10:14АМ Situation is not so good and my stack dropped to 26.70$

10:20AM Hand #62. I got KK on the button but all folded.

10:21AM Hand #63. Short stack tried to push my A6 after the flop with Ace. He just had straight draw, it didn't come and my stack grow up to 34.20$

10:23AM Hand #68. I got KQ suited on cut-off position. masa93 from small blind called my raise to 2$. Flop was Q53 rainbow. I bet 3$, masa93 raised me to 8$. I called. Turn was 2 of diamonds. masa93 bet 11$, I called. River was 5 of hearts. New bet of masa93 for 10$, and after my call he shown pocket 4's. My stack built up to 65.35$

10:29AM Hand #77. After bad river the opponent made set of Jacks against my pair of Kings and my stack is down to 56.95$

10:37AM Hand #94. Tilted player (goldenmole) came on the table couple of hands ago and started to push all in each hand. I received AK from small blind position and re-raised him to 6$. Of course, he re-reraised to 16.50$ and I pushed him all in. The board was T92-T-Q and didn't help to both of us because goldenmole shown AJ. I got the good pot of 97.90$ and my stack grown up to 105.90$

10:44AM Hand #101. After flop of two clubs I received chances for flush. My stack dropped to 94.40$ when the last club didn't come. I was lucky it didn't happens because one of the opponents shown flopped full house. My stack dropped to 94.40$

So, after 119 hands I finished my session with 92.90$. Very good result.

I am going to join 3+R sattelite for Sunday Million and will give some information how the tournament is going on in my blog later.

12+1 USD NLHE - 180 entrants

After my cash session I decided to play one of those 20-tables-sit-n-go turbo tournaments.

It is starting and I will try to write here at same time.

Level 1 - 10/20 blinds. Starting chips 1500. 18 players in the money. First place - 594 USD

Button position with QTs - I called 70 chips. Flop was Q86.  And I got 620 chips pot with pair of Queens.

Next hand I got AK suited (hearts). I made re-raise to 250 but flop was very risky - all diamonds. A player went all in and I folded.

Seems this tournament I will have a lot of job KQo - but no help from board plus very agressive player and my stack dropped to 1,590 chips.

Blinds increased to 15/30. KTs  came, I raised 120, one player called, but zdedix went all in and I had to fold.

6 hands were dealt and I saw the flop in 3 of them. It is very unusual for my style of playing.

One player min raised and I called with T9o from big blind. The flop J87 made my straight. I checked. fietsert bet 30, Petar_01 raised to 120, zdedix called him. I re-raised to 550, Petar_01 went all-in with J6. After this hand my stack build up to 2,775 chips.

Blinds increased to 25/50. My position is 20 of 151 players.

I didn't have chance for action from button and cut-off position - 54o and 83o was not the best cards to do something.
This level of  blinds finished with no action from my side.

Blinds increased to 50/100.  My stack is still 2,775 chips, still over the average stack. 137 players are still in the tournament.

53o and 83o from button and cut-off position - the situation is same as in the previous round. My stack is 2,625 chips.

Blinds increased to 75/150. My stack is 2,625 chips, 117 players are still in.
My first hand of this level was on big blind and I got T5o.  I was happy to see that small blind only called, but the flop 988 was not my favorite one.

With T8s I called from small blind. Flop KT4 and I bet 300. Noone called and my stack is back to 2,775 chips.

Blinds increased to 100/200. My stack is 2,775 chips, 97 players are still in.

T9s from the big blind position. UTG limped. Player from middle position invested almost half his stack to raise 600. I called. UTG called too. Flop AJ4 - only Jack is from my color (spades). The middle player went all in with QQ and I folded. Stack dropped to 2,075.

A8o from the small blind position. One player raised to 650 and I went all in. He folded and my stack is 3,025 after this move.

Blinds increased to 125/250/ante 25. 79 players are still in.

I raised with K5o 1000 chips from cut-off position - all folded and the stack is 3,550.

72s from big blind position. A player raised and I had to fold.

Pocket 77 on the button. Noone called blinds and I bet 1000. Small blind re-raised and we went all in. Flop 973 and I doubled up to 6,550 chips.

Blinds increased to 150/300/ante 25.  61 players are still in.

99 on big blind position. vudus min raised and one player called. I reraised to 2,100. All called. Flop was T96. I bet 2,500. vudus shown A5 and I got the hand - my stack is 9,384 chips now.

KJo from the small blind position. I raised 1,200 and the big blind player folded. With 9,834 chips I am 4th from 50 players left.

Blinds increased to 200/400/ante 50.  49 players are still in.

Small blind position came with pocket KK. OS1972 minraised from UTG+1.  Spraggs re-raised from cut-off and I went all in. Unfortunately Spraggs called and shown AA. My stack dropped to 5,799 chips.

Blinds increased to 300/600/ante 50.  41 players are still in.

A7 from UTG+1. I decided to went all-in. FulboatAAAKK called me and shown AK (what a joke with his ID). K on flop and my dreams in this tournament finished on 35th position.

11,70 USD sattelite to 215 USD Sunday Million

Today I joined 10,70+1 USD Double shotout sattelite to 200+15 USD Sunday Million.

We started 5 players on Level 1.

I decided to play actively on first level and on 6th hand I busted a player and doubled up to 2,900 chips.  After some moves I raise up my stack to 3,380 chips when I received AA. I limped and flop was Q73. GoBucks821 bets 20 chips, one other player called and I raised to 80. GoBucks821 called, the other player folded. Turn was T diamond. GoBucks821 called my bet from 180 chips. River was 4 clubs. GoBucks821 checks, and after that he called my 400 chips bet. After my showdown, he mucked his hand - 75 suited diamonds. My stack raised to 4,100 chips

After some hands I received 98o on small blinds. Noone raised and I called. Flop was 996 rainbow. I checked, the other 3 players checked too. Turn J of hearts. I bet 60, x walks x raised to 220 and I reraised to 860. GoBucks821 folded and x walks x went all in. I called. x walks x shown AJo. River was 3 of diamonds and didn't help him. x walks x left the tournament and my stack grown up to 5,680 chips.

After some nerves playing made by GoBucks821, the other player - TRAV630 busted him with AQo vs. KQo and flop 875, turn A and river 7.

Heads-up started.  After about 20 hands without any action, I received ATo on big blind and raised him to 90 (blinds 15/30). TRAV630 called.  Flop was A94. TRAV630 called my bets of 120 chips. Turn 4 of spades. I bet 210, TRAV630 called. River was Jack of diamonds. I bet 360, TRAV630 called again and mucked his hand of K9s. My stack was 6,290 chips, his 1,290.

About 15 hands later TRAV630 doubled up to 2,070 chips with his AK against mine A6 hand (we flopped Ace, but the other cards didn't help to both).

7 hands later the final hand came. I had pocket nines on small blind (level 25/50). I raised to 150, he called. Flop 763 (two spades). TRAV630 bet 150, and called my raise to 400. Turn was 9 of spades. We both checked. River was 7 of hearts and I made my full house 99977. TRAV630 bet 150 and I pushed him all-in. He called and shown pocket 5's and left the tournament.

So, I won the Level 1 and I am waiting for Level 2 at the moment.

Level 2 started. Payouts are: 2 players receives ticket to Sunday million, 3rd and 4th gets 35 USD, 5th gets the remaining 2.90 USD.

After 4 hands one player has been busted with his A8 against opponent's AJ - flop A74 and turn J. 9 players are still in.

Blinds raised to 15/30. On first hand I had 73s on big blind. One player min raised and I folded. The other one re-raised to 190 and the first player called. Flop came 742. The player who reraised went all in and the other one called. They shown AJ and AK. Turn came Jack and the player with AK has been busted. 8 players are still in the tournament.

3 hands later 22jackie22 gets 3,090 chips pot against AndrewPipkin with his KK. AndrewPipkin was down to 1,100 chips. He doubled up against Jackie soon with QQ vs. ATo - Ace didn't come this time.

Soon after that AndrewPipkin busted RistiKunn with AA vs QQ - the board card didn't changed anything. 7 players are still in. My stack is 1,460 chips.

Next hand herny25 finished the tournament - 22jackie22 busted his pocket 5's with pocket tens. 6 players are in.

The last hand of 15/30 was the last one for uflopidrop his KT was busted from AndrewPipkin's AT - flop was AT3, turn 4, river K.

Blinds increased to 25/50 with 5 players in and chip counts as follow:
- tholia (1,410 in chips) 
- freestylercc (1,340 in chips) 
- HAZZZZA (1,945 in chips) 
- 22jackie22 (4,735 in chips) 
- AndrewPipkin (5,570 in chips) 

thoila doubled up against 22jackie22 with his 76s against jackie's Q9 - two 6 on the board and thoila won the hand.

jackie almost has been busted from thoila with her AT against thoila's AK. K came on the flop, but the river made flush for jackie. thoila dropped under 1,000 chips.

Next hand jackie busted thoila. Pocket nines for thoila was not enough against jackie's AQ - Ace came on the flop. Nine didn't come on the board and thoila left the tournament on 5th position.

Couple of hands later I made some chips with my A8s against jackie. My stack raised to 2,140. Unfortunately 2 hands later HAZZZZA dropped me to 645 chips with his Q4s against mine KTo - flop was QTx.

K2 from the button was not enough against jackie's AJ and I finished tournament 4th with 35 USD from the payouts.

Review of first half of July 2008

I started the month with small bank in PokerStars - 500 USD.

My main plans were to build up slowly the bank with playing a lot of hands. It means 2 big blinds profit for each 100 played hands.

My short-term target is to cover  Supernova Status in PokerStars till the middle of August.
Later I can publish all my plans but planned hands for the month were over 218,000

In the beginning of the month PokerStars surprised me with nice promotion - double VPPs for first week of the month.  I made some changes in my plans and started with very active playing on 12 tables.

In Day 1 I covered my Silver Status. In Day 2 I was ready with my Gold Status. In the beginning of Day 4 my Platinum Status was confirmed. When the promotion finished (6th of June) I was played 42,875 hands and earned 16,396 VPP. The bank was 967 USD - a little bit (8 dollars) under my plans for bank development.

All was excellent. But came my nightmare day 7th of July when my bank dropped to 537 USD. I was over 8,000 VPPs ahead of the plan (because I played full week instead of 6 days/week - because of the promotion). And the decision came - 2 days time out (not completely but not actively with 12 tables playing).

It gave me good results and on 10th of July my bank grown back to 818 USD. I decreased the hands played each day to make fine tunning of my playing and finished first half of the month with:

- 775 USD (under the budget but at the moment its not the most important thing in my plans - I am trying to make my playing more profitable and less risky)

- 4.257 VPPs over the plan - it is important because it keeps my chances to cover Supernova Status till the middle of August.

- The count of hand played is 60,500.

Thats all for first half of the July. I am looking forward to update my blog with information for more successful results in the rest of July