Hi, I continued playing according to my new concept the past few days at FTP: play some shoot-out tournaments for cash and combine this with shoot-outs for satellite tokens. Subsequently, try to make it in the big tournaments with these tokens.

I have to say I succeeded very well in my mission. I made some profit at the cash tournaments, among others thanks to catching a straight flush :

As you can see, I really had squadoosh on the flop and didn’t improve that much on the turn. The river really was a miracle card, but the pot only consisted of 2 BB’s (100) at that moment. As you can see below on the picture I managed to disguise my bet on the river as a bluff by overbetting the pot (betting twice the size of the pot), which made my opponent call the bet with his marginal flush.

With the $26 token I won I participated in the 21k gtd. KO tournament. From this buy-in, $20 goes into the prize pool and the other $4 is a bounty you can win by eliminating another player. I didn’t succeed to finish in the money, partially thanks to one particular hand relatively early in the tourney. However, I’m able to control my damage by sensing my opponent was strong and not overplaying my own hand:

So a standard raise in early position with AQ, three callers and I flop toppair. My continuation bet is only flatcalled by one player. The turn gives me top set but I check. Then my opponent bets about the same amount as I betted on the flop which makes me very suspicious. However, a lot of online players play AJ or AT exactly the same way so I can hardly fold. He fires again on the river, but I’m happy he makes a bad value bet with his full house, he should know I must have three aces in that spot. However, maybe more succes next time!

We’re coming closer to number 1 in my album list and what follows are the numbers 20 till 11. You’ll notice the first two of three Beatles albums in the top twenty of the list. Fans of so-called stoner rock will like Powertrip, which really has become a standard album in that scene.

20 Beatles - The Beatles (’White Album’) (1968)
19 Radiohead - In Rainbows (2007)
18 Monster Magnet - Powertrip (1998)
17 Tool - 10 000 Days (2006)
16 Simon&Garfunkel - Bridge over Troubled Waters (1970)
15 Metallica - Master of Puppets (1986)
14 White Stripes - Elephant (2003)
13 Pixies - Doolittle (1989)
12 Pearl Jam - Ten (1991)
11 Beatles - Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)

Vicarious (10 000 Days) and Keep the Customer Satisfied (Bridge over Troubled Waters)

I’m really into tournament poker the last couple of weeks and besides regular sng’s and heads-up confrontations I want to give the so-called ‘multi-table tournaments’ (MTT’s) a try. However, those tournaments ask a lot of time which I don’t always have at my disposal so I’ll still keep playing heads-up .

Now I don’t play the regular hu’s anymore (winner wins opponent’s buy-in) but prefer the shoot-out tournaments (turbo, 6$ at FTP) with 4 players where you play two ‘match rounds’ and win the entire prize pool if you win both. I compared my profits from this tourneys with my runs on regular hu’s and I happen to win reasonably more playing shoot-outs. Playing against those people helps:

I make a standard hu-raise with KJ and flop toppair. What happens subsequently appears to be an online phenomenon: some people like to lead out with the minimum bet on the flop after calling a pre-flop raise… I raise of course and get reraised. Now in these situations it’s very easy for me: just move all-in right there against those players who obviously don’t have a clue about the game. He calls and shows me the magnificent bottom pair with the powerful 5 kicker. Thank you very much. Now you also have the possibilty to play these tournaments for $6.5 instead of $6 and in this case the winner gets a $26 satellite token instead of $24 cash. With this token you can play several MTT’s with a lot of prize money and that’s my plan for the coming weeks .

In ‘preparation’ of playing these tournaments I played a $2 sng with 180 players. And guess what? I finished 4th right away, good for $36. This was prolly the most important pot in an early phase of the tournament:

I’m in the BB and am allowed to see a flop with A2 as two players in late position just limp. Again, I flop toppair and AGAIN, somebody leads out with the minimum bet. Everybody flatcalls and I raise to know where I’m up to. The minbetter runs away and SB calls. He almost certainly got to have a flushdraw so I fire again on the turn and my opponent calls again. No spade on the river so I make a last bet and my opponent appeared to have middle pair with his missed flushdraw. I was deepstack from that moment on and was able to play my best game till the final table .

Finally, here are another ten albums you should buy before you go broke so you can still listen to them while playing poker. On 28 is the first album from the heroes from Tool, who also have three of their legendary albums in this list and on 23 is Nick Cave, who I am looking forward to see live this summer .

30 Jethro Tull - Stand Up (1969)
29 Crosby Stills Nash & Young - Déjà Vu (1970)
28 Tool - Lateralus (2001)
27 Led Zeppelin - Led Zeppelin I (1969)
26 Doors - Strange Days (1967)
25 Wolfmother - Wolfmother (2006)
24 Guns ‘n Roses - Use Your Illusion II (1991)
23 Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds - Abattoir Blues (2004)
22 Neil Young - Harvest (1972)
21 Jimi Hendrix - Electric Ladyland (1968)

Reasons for Waiting (Stand Up) and There She Goes My Beautiful World (Abattoir Blues)

Last time I showed a pretty sick hand, when I catched quad fives on the river. I received an email from a reader, René from Belgium, with the history of another spicy hand and the similarities are a little bit sick . I converted the hand for you:

So René (playing as ‘BaronGussie’) is seated in an heads-up confrontation and has pocket fives. His opponent makes a standard raise and he decides to see a flop. Unlike my hand last time, he immediately flops a set, just like the other player with the pocket sixes. The turn gives him quads and it’s checked towards the river where René is happy to see his opponent díd pick up something on the board, sixes full ^^ .

I played some shorthanded tournaments myself this week, but nothing really exciting happened, no spectacular hands and no spectaculair bankroll swings . The only exciting thing appeared during a hand I wasn’t involved in. We were down to four players when:

So it’s a limper’s pot (I don’t think raising in the big blind with KJ is a useful move). Somebody minbets the all hearts flop with a suspicous minraise behind him. After moves like this I’m not investing any more chips in such pots . Turn happened to be a very spicy one, as it created a straight flush against an A high flush. Notice the player with the straight flush plays a little better on the turn than on the flop, by making a pot-sized bet, simply because he knows the other player wouldn’t have called on the flop without a big heart. I hope I’ll be involved in some exciting situations next time

The next ten albums in the ‘FAYSBBYGB’-list then, with among others the first albums from Led Zeppelin and Radiohead, who both have three albums in the list. I really recommend Fragile for all the fans of progressive rock btw!

40 Led Zeppelin  - Led Zeppelin II (1969)
39 Girls In Hawaii - From Here To There (2003)
38 Yes - Fragile (1972)
37 A Perfect Circle - Mer de Noms (2000)
36 Kraftwerk - The Man Machine (1978)
35 Nick Drake - Pink Moon (1972)
34 Radiohead - OK Computer (1997)
33 Alice Cooper - Killer (1971)
32 Traveling Wilburys - Vol.1 (1988)
31 Moody Blues - In Search of the Lost Chord (1968)

Magdalena (Mer de Noms) and Legend of a Mind (In Search of the Lost Chord)

Yes I played one of my most exciting hands, maybe thé most exciting hand ever, yesterday. Lately I’m playing some tournaments on FTP that give you the opportunity to win so-called ’satellite tokens’. For example, you play a $6+.5 sng with 18 players and the top 4 players will receive a $24+2 token. You can use this to play a satellite for a big MTT or just play a regular MTT with this buy-in, like I did.

I used a token to play in the $ 27.500 guaranteed. Now I wasn’t able to finish in the money but I did play a very interesting hand in the beginning of the tournament, giving my opponent a really bad beat. I made a nice picture for you:

It was raised preflop by the pocket sixes and a lot of people called, so did I with 55. Flop was certainly not bad for me, as I prolly still had the best hand and a gutshot straightdraw. It was checked towards me and I made a big bet, which was only called by the slowplayed pocket Sixes. Turn gave me a set and it was unlikely I was against a 3 so I fired again and was against flatcalled by the 66. I really had no clue where I was against but the river made me quads and suddenly the other player shoved all-in. Instant call .

I also witnessed a marvellous donkey-move in another tournament yesterday. It’s really sick sometimes to see the play of some people, watch:

So it’s the button versus the big blind (f*ck those texas dolly’s ). They check it all the way to the river and the the heroic big blind decides to shove all-in with two pair on a 100 chips pot. The button thanks God for having a drunk player on the table and instant calls with the nuts .

As I promised you last week, I’ll start this week with showing my favorite all-time Album List. I have named this legendary list the ‘50 Albums You Should Buy Before You Go Broke’ . Those are the ones from 50 to 41:

50 Love - Forever Changes (1967)
49 Pink Floyd - Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967)
48 Rolling Stones - Let it Bleed (1969)
47 Neutral Milk Hotel - In The Aeroplane Over The Sea (1998)
46 Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes (2008)
45 Golden Earring - Moontan (1973)
44 dEUS - The Ideal Crash (1999)
43 The Velvet Underground - The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967)
42 Eels - Electro-Shock Blues (1998)
41 Johnny Cash - American IV: The Man Comes Around (2002)

All Alone Or (Forever Changes) and European Son (The Velvet Underground & Nico)

Hi, I watched some episodes from Season 3 of High Stakes poker the other day and I really have to say this is my favorite pokershow. You don’t have to watch to all those donkeys you see in the WSOP, the plays are really outstanding most of the time and of course there are the brilliant comments from Mister Gabe Kaplan.

Now let’s watch two very interesting hands from the last episode of the season:

The first hand begins at about 3′. The French cash game player David Benyamine mixes things up by raising with J2 off and gets called by Antonio ‘the Magician’ Esfandiari with low suited connectors. Benyamine makes a standard continuation bet when he hits middle pair and then Antonio makes an interesting play: he just calls with 4 high and no single draw, just because he believes he can take this pot with some action on the next betting round. Bad news for Antonio is the fact Benyamine hits two pair on the turn and his hand is quiete disguised. Antonio continues with his plan anyway and gets reraised by Benyamine. Esfandiari is really dragged into this pot now and fires one more bullet (!) which is called by Benyamine after some consideration: he mixed his play up and hit the cards, but he isn’t sure he’s in best shape there, making this a 237k pot. Antonio gives up the hand on the river after the check in the dark from Benyamine and sees his advanced play didn’t get rewarded.

The second hand is some kind of a similar play by Brian Townsend, only this time it succeeds . The hand starts around 24′ and it’s our 1 million dollar man “Yukon” Brad Booth who raises it up preflop with Q9. Townsend calls in the small blind with A4 suited and also Patrick Antonius is in. Booth bets the flop after hitting Queens and Sixes and Townsend also just calls, planning a move on the turn. Indeed, Townsend raises Booth’s bet there, perfectly representing he has a 6, sitting in the small blind. Great play, great show .

So like I told last time, I would start playing cashgames again. I did so, and I did pretty well. I played on Pokerstars for a few days and once again: it’s absolutely a fact that you can make good profits by just playing a little bit better than your opponent. Concerning all other things, it’s just like Greg ‘Fossilman’ Raymer once said: “You don’t have to be lucky, just try to avoid getting unlucky.”

I played the shorthanded $.10/.25 tables again where I bought in for 80 big blinds ($20). I ended up on the button with two cowboys:

This really is an online classic. First there happens to be a genius at my table who decides to put in the minraise on the cut-off, which is, surprise, called by the button. I decide to get some money in the pot and take it right on the flop if an Ace doesn’t come. So I bet about 85% of the pot on the flop and only the button calls. I know there are only two options left: he has a flushdraw or he’s a classic online rookie who can’t give up his lousy toppair after he’s dragged into a pot. Anyway, no heart on the turn and I of course shove all-in, knowing he will call this bet also with a Queen and I can only hope he doesn’t have QJ, otherwise I pay him for getting lucky. He indeed calls with QT and I rake in a pot of 168 big blinds .

Finally I want to recommend you an album from the English (Birmingham) band The Moody Blues: In Search of the Lost Chord (1968). Now everybody probably knows this band from their evergreen Nights in White Satin (from their debut album), but this album contains many more interesting songs in my humble opinion. It’s a psychedelic concept album (about spiritual fulfillment) which inspired a lot of progressive rock bands later on in the seventies. The single Ride My See-Saw  still is the most outstanding song from the album, but it contains other brilliant songs like Legend of  A Mind (about LSD guru Timothy Leary) and House of Four Doors. Talking about great albums: within a week I will show you my 50 most favorite albums of all time .

I stopped playing hu-games for a couple of days now. Instead I played some longhanded tournaments on both PS and FTP. A couple of strange situations arised down there. First I saw this on FTP:

NOW WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING HERE?? So the player next to me has 4 big blinds left and limps in with JJ ?! Of course this brilliant play leads to the big blind flopping a set of nines^^. This player should really read some articles about short stack strategy in tournaments I suppose. By the way, that was the only tournament I was able to win this week on FTP… Another situation on Pokerstars:

So the button makes a standard raise and maybe I should have called there: I would have known directly where I was at with this kind of hand. Anyway, the big blind suddenly leads out on the flop and the button flat calls: I think I wouldn’t have been able to call there with only middle pair, a gutshot and a backdoor flushdraw. Of course I wouldn’t have been going anywhere on the turn and certainly not on the river… Anyway the love with tournaments is already over again and I started playing cashgames again, more about that next time.

So I’m still playing at the (turbo) hu-tables, on FTP as well as on Pokerstars now. I’m not playing the regular face to face games anymore though, but discovered something more challenging: shoot-out tournaments with 4 players. You still play heads-up, but you have to win two games in a row to win the entire prize pool of the four buy-ins.

Now I have 2 interesting hands I played in those tournaments the last few days. First on Pokerstars (click to enlarge):

So it’s still in an early phase of the game when I flop aces up after I made a little raise preflop, a standard move heads-up. I check the flop and my opponent checks behind, same thing happens on the turn when I make a full house. On the river I get quad fives and I finally lead out, but I don’t get a call. I díd make a big pot with a big hand the next day on FTP:

Now I raised it up preflop to mix things up with 63 suited on the button, I really like those hands heads-up. The flop is really fantastic: I flop the absolute nuts and have the checkmark right there against any other hand, moreover: my hand is quiete disguised. So I make a continuation bet and luckily for me my opponent has flopped toppair and doesn’t give me any credit for having made something. He reraises me all-in (you’ll see that a lot hu) and sees he’s already dead .

For the music fans I have another great album which I can truly recommend you:The Zombies - Odessey and Oracle (1968). In fact this is the only real album this original British group ever released, but it’s an absolute masterpiece. So it’s not a coïncedence that Rolling Stone ranked this album in 80th place on the ‘500 greatest albums’ list. Everybody who knows a little about music will recognize the closing track Time of the Season, but in fact the album doesn’t have a weak spot, with other brilliant songs like Care of Cell 44, Brief Candles and Changes. I hope you’ll like it!