I hate you Jerry Yang!

Since my last blog things have been going up and down. My $91 roll took a huge dent on Friday. I decided to play heads up no limit hold em, a game which I am good at but try not to play too often, especially online.

...2nd hand in, this happens.

I pick up QQ and raise the 3x bb, he thinks for a bit then re-raises, I push all in for $9 - he calls and flips over AK - before I could even catch my breath a K hit’s the flop and the chips were being pushed in his direction. I was quite literally crushed.

I didn’t let this deter me and continued playing, but my tilt was just getting worse. I was taking no shit from bullies and was re-raising people who I felt were stealing. This, in no limit, 5+ handed is not a good way to play - not for me anyway. I ended up being stuck for $38 at the end of the day and was quite annoyed at my unnecessary aggression.

Later in the night I played live poker - It was, Me, Bluescouse, Portdeco, Moz and Gravedigger - 5 handed and the structure was £5 No limit hold em with unlimited rebuys. I started off really badly, I re-bought about 4 times, and just weren’t catching cards. When I did catch a card, I’d be beat. It was pretty sick, I played the short stack for most of it.

..It was down to Me, Gravedigger, Portdeco and Moz, when this happened >> I have about 5 big blinds left and pick up A4 - I limp, cos I want to see a flop, and Tommy to my left moves all in, Moz folds, Portdeco folds, and well, I had to call. He flips over AQ and against my A4 I am a certain loser here. I start thinking of the excuses id be making for my poor play of the evening, but before I could rest on anything for certain, two 4s hit the board giving me a set. Everyone was joking that I was due in for some luck, but wow, this even surprised me. It was a sick beat for Gravedigger, fair dues, he was left with one chip, 1 ante. It was great though, cos he somehow fought back and became joint chip leader! It was insane.

I got my act together in the game but felt I was fighting on the ropes for the whole thing. Somehow, I made it heads up with Portdeco, again. Last time I won, so im sure he was out for some sweet revenge. He was the big stack so I didn’t have too much confidence. It went back and forth for about 8 hands and eventually I was bust. I forgot the hand that bust me, I think I through it in with 2nd pair to his top pair. Good game, good times.

We played a turbo game to end the night on, £10 freeze out, again, no limit hold em. The freeze out setup suited my style more as some of the looser players even had to play tighter. This is were I could play some poker, and great poker it was. I took an early lead through a big pot with Port and never looked back. I made some great reads, some great plays and even showed some bluffs. I won the turbo and ended the night $60 up.

However, and more to the point, during the first tourmanet, Moz raised the question…. ‘who won the world series of poker main event?’ - the table was unsure, but I was certain it was ‘Jerry Lang’ - Now, Bluescouse said it wasn’t, but I was certain it was. So we put $20 on it, and he gave me a 2.5/1 edge. So, I had to go with my instincts and bet on Jerry Lang, and it had to be LANG, nothing else. So, Gravedigger checked online, signed onto the wsop website and we checked it out and ……..yeah, you guessed it….his name is Jerry…. YANG.

What a silly ass bet that was … I’ll never forget that guys name again.

An eventful day on fulltilt

It’s been a crazy day today on full tilt. I’ve been playing the best poker of my life recently and I feel I can do no wrong. I opened and ended the day on real exciting hands. I sat at a 3 handed 0.05/0.10 pot limit hold em table with $6 to start with. My strategy was to play tight and see a lot of cheap flops. First hand I pick up KK…I raised only 2x in bb, UTG calls, sb doubles my bet. I call, UTG folds. Flop is 6K10 rainbow. I take my time, and check it to him. He quickly bets half the pot, I re-raise, he pushes…..he turns over AK…I take down the $11 pot.

Not a bad start, but I stick to my guns and continue to play tight…I eventually find myself in a heads up situation and pick up J8 off-suit. We both check and we see the a flop J7J two hearts. He checks, I decide to play it fast and quickly bet, he quickly calls. Turn is another heart, he checks, I check. River is an 8 -- he bets 3x bb - I re-raise huge. He moves all in. He turns over the nut flush and sees the bad news. Another player crushed by Hellboy.

I decide to take a break and chill down for a bit. After a relaxing a few hours I hit the 0.05/0.10 table again. It’s 4 handed pot limit and I’m being crushed, I start with $7 and jus see my stack wearing away slowly and what seems like surely. I made a few bad calls with middle pair and found myself playing hands and pots I know I shouldn’t be involved in. I’m down to about $3.30 but was almost broke at one point. At 3.30 I pick up the two snowmen 88 in the sb. It gets raised to me and I flat call, bb re-raises, original raiser re-raises, I call, bb pushes, original raiser calls, I call. And it’s 3 way all in action. I was on tilt and wouldn’t normally make this wild call, but these guys were raising every pot, so I didn’t take them very seriously. Anyways, back to the hand…..I had 88 and was up against 44 and JJ. I was surely going to lose….

Flop is 656 - I figure it’s not a bad flop as I have some outs, but it looks grim. Turn is a 7. Wow…could the sickest thing happen..no, surely not?? River …………….an 8 -- I win the main pot with a house, $9.90 or so. 44 wins side pot or whatever with a straight. Sick beat for the Jacks, but he played like a maniac, and though I thought he was going to take all my money, it was always in the back of my mind that I’ll pick up a good pair and show him the goods. It worked out great.