The Pokerstars PCA event for 2011 is underway at the Atlantis in Nassau, The Bahamas. Phil Ivey is here, Joe Hachem, Moneymaker, Victor Ramdin, Joe Cada, Sergio Garcia, Erik Sidel, Tristan Wade, Michael Binger, Phil Laak and Elky Grospellier to name a few....

I went one day after work and sat down at a $1/$2 NLHE table with $400. Within 15 minutes, I had doubled up to $800. Here's how...

I got wired AA's in late position. It's gets folded around to this one woman who raises to $13. I double her raise to $26 and the LB and BB both fold. She re-raises me to $100. I re-raise her to $200 and she goes all-in for about $450. I call. She's got KK's and the flop comes A-x-x. The turn is x and the river is x and I double-up.

After a while of playing really tight poker, I got dealt JJ's. I raised to $10 and got one caller. The flop came A-4-9. I checked it and the one caller checked it. The turn brought an A. I checked and he checked. The river brought a J and I bet $40. He called and I showed him the boat. He mucked.

On another hand, I got dealt 99's in middle position. It had already been raised to $12 and 2 people called. I re-raised to $40. Got one caller and the rest folded. I was putting him on a huge hand like AA's thru QQ's, maybe A-K. The flop came 8-9-4. I checked my top set and he put out a bet of about $45. I smooth called. The turn was a 3 and I checked again. The guy goes all-in for about $150 and I called. I showed my top set and he didn't show anything, waiting for the river. The river brought another 9 giving me Quads and he mucked it, as he was very very upset with the outcome of the hand.

On another hand, I got dealt 8-9s in diamonds. I was in late position. In early position, it got raised to $20. There were 2 callers. I called based on pot-odds and the fact that I had a good hand to hit a straight or a flush. The flop came all diamonds. Everyone checked it around to me, I checked. The turn brought a blank. The initial raiser bet $75. I raised to $150 and everyone else folded. He calls. The river brought a blank and he checked it to me. I bet $100. He tanked FOREVER and then folded and I took down a nice pot.

On another hand, I was dealt a pair of 10's in the LB. It got raised to $10 and I just smooth called, as there were some super-aggressive internet players at the table now. There were 3 people in the pot. The flop comes 10-2-6 rainbow. I checked and it gets bet to $35. I smooth called and one player folds. The one kid who's in the pot is smashed from drinking and he's talking a lot of crap. Talking all this crap about Canada, and he's so great and Canada is so great, and hockey is so great. I can't wait to double up through him. So he starts talking all this crap about how strong his hand is. According to him, he's to a "HUGE" hand. So since I'm in the LB/early position with top set, I ask him what I should do. He says, "You should bet $15!" So I follow his supreme guidance and I bet the $15. He raises all-in and I call. He's so proud of his hand and feels like he's got the winner! But, to his disbelief... his set of two's is no good against my set of 10's and Mr. Canada gets a taste of some US poker! It was a nice way to finish off the night. I finished with 3x's my initial buy-in.

There's only a few more days left in the tourney/event, so I have to try and take advantage of all the cash games I can. The PCA only comes to the Bahamas once every year.

Shout out to Ken and his friend Gimbel, Lue, Carolina, Larry, the dude from Stamford, CT. and anyone else that played with me that night. Everyone I met (besides the obnoxious Canadian) were really cool individuals. Thanks for the hot chocolates too! It was freezing in the Atlantis!!!

I recently visited Fort Lauderdale, Florida to spend the weekend with my girlfriend. While I was there, I decided to play in a $2-$5 cash game at the Hard Rock in Hollywood. For whatever reason on this day, I found my self spewing money from my pockets like a guyser. I know I made a few mistakes, but in crunching the numbers I don't think the mistakes that I made where all that bad when compared to the percentages. Anyway, here is a recap of what happened. Please feel free to add any advice you might feel the need to share with me about my hads and play.

First Hand:
I was sitting in Seat #1 and taking my time watching everyone at the table. We had a few guys who were very loose and a few guys who were very tight, so I decided to make sure I played tight until I built up my stack. Unfortunately on this day, this wouldn't happen. I sat down with $400 in chips and started my session. Before long I was dealt pocket JJ's. I raised UTG for $20. Seat #2 re-raised me to $60 and he had about $300 behind it. It got folded around to me and I thought about it for a long while. With the BB being $5 and me raising to 4x's the BB and then this guy re-raising me to 12x's the BB, I got the sick feeling that my JJ's were no good so I laid them down. Now I was down to $380 in chips.

Second Hand:
I was playing really tight, consistantly folding the garbage and mediocre hands. Once again I look down at pocket JJ's. I had already laid these down earlier in my session, so this time around I fealt as though depending on who I was up against, I'd definately make a stand with them. So I raised to $30 UTG again. I get a call of $30 from Seat #5. It gets folded around to the button and he goes all-in for $150. The button was a really aggressive and loose guy so I fealt about 60% sure that I had him beat. I was definately worried about Seat #5, but since he just called my bet of $30, I really fealt as though he had something like 88's thru 10's. If he had better than that, he would've pushed the action when he had the chance to, no?. My only concern was whether or not my read on the loose-aggressive guy with the button had me beat. I thought about it for a while and only called the $150. Now some people may feel as though this was a huge mistake on my part, by not pushing all-in and forcing the other player out, but what if by some chance he had AA's? I would've just given the rest of my stack to this guy. But than again, wouldn't he have pushed when he had the chance? So I put my $150 in there and Seat #5 didn't like it at all. He hemmed and hawed forever trying to decide if he wanted to put an additional $150 in there. Based off of this information, I knew it was either AA's or 88's thru 10's. He thought about it for a long while and he called. I KNEW I had him beat with my JJ's and I had just gotten him to make a $180 mistake. Sure enough the flop comes 4c, 3c, 10s. Now here is definately where I made a mistake. I pushed the rest of my chips in there, not knowing in what type of shape I was in. I didn't know if he had hit a set, or if he really did have AA's. As soon as I pushed my chips in there with the board showing cards lower than JJ's, he insta-called. Right away I felt like "Phuck!" "ACES!" Instead, he turned over his pocket 10's to show me the two-outer he hit, cleaning me out for about $250-$300. The guy on the button had nothing and had to re-buy. I was basically left with about $50-$75 left and now the grind back was on. Everyone at the table talked about how bad I played the hand, not pushing-all in after the bet of $150. For some reason though, in my gut I knew I had Seat #5 beaten with my JJ's! Is it really my fault that he made a $180 mistake, hit a two outer which is 13-1 against and won the hand? What do you think? I feel like you can look at from both angles. Yeah, I probably should've pushed all-in after the $150, but then I just isolate myself and the button, not getting in any additional money from the other player. So do I give him a chance to make a mistake and get some dead money in there looking to hit the two-outer, or push him out and cut my losses. In my opinion, where I definately made my mistake was after the flop, recklessly pushing all-in and not knowing where I stood. But the pre-flop action, to me anyway, is questionable. Please feel free to provide some insight.

Hand Three:
I grinded my way back to about $150 and I look down at the best starting hand in all of poker! American Airlines! It got folded around to me and there was only $7 in the pot, but I raised to $30 anyway. I got 2 callers. The flop comes Ac, 2c, 3c. I have trips. I check it and Seat #4 bets $75, Seat #5 calls, I push all-in for my last $150. Seat #4 calls and so does Seat #5. Seat #4 played KJc for $30 preflop and Seat #5 played 45h for $30 preflop. One guy hits the miracle nut flush and the other hits the straight. I still had a chance to fill up to a boat, but it never happened.

How can I be so unlucky? How is it that I can have the best starting hand, get people to make mistakes, but then they always get rewarded? I don't know what the answer is, and I right now I'm lost in world of poker that doesn't make any sense.

Alot of people claim that poker is a skill game.... Obviously, there is A LOT of LUCK involved as well. No matter how great the percentages are and no matter how probable you are to win a hand, you're NEVER GUARANTEED TO WIN! I payed $400 to learn this lesson at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, FL.

As much as I hate poker today, she's like a woman that's bad for you. No matter how bad she is for you, you just can't get her out of your system and you always keep coming back for more because of the few times she makes you feel like the greatest man on the face of the earth!

<SPAN lang=EN>
Recently, I played in a PokerStars $50+$5 NLH Tournament. While playing in this tournament, I made a pretty deep run for the money and I played what I considered to be some pretty good poker. An issue that came up during the tournament, was my ability to fold some pretty big hands pre-flop, and my inability to shove pre-flop with drawing hands. I've outlined a few hands below for your review.

Honestly, I understand the concept of being "pot committed". I also understand the concept of shoving, to try and take down the SB, BB, and antes. But, I also understand the concept of surviving in a tourney, to climb the money ladder as high as possible. As I've stated before, I'm an amateur poker player, who enjoys the challenges of making tough decisions and playing as near perfect poker as possible at the table. You may agree with my opinions, and you may not. That's the beauty of poker! It's your money, and you can play with your hard earned money, however you like! If you have any comments on the below hands, please feel free to share them with me, as I'm always looking for new information to learn from.
Big Hand #1
In this hand, we're down to about 50 or so players. The blinds are 2.5K/5K and antes are 500. Before the cards come out, there's 11K in the pot. Seat 1, is sitting on 212,202 in chips. I'm in seat 2 with 72,806 in chips. Seat 3 has 161,372 in chips. Seat 4 has 85,270 in chips. Seat 5 has 181,800 in chips. Seat 7 has 78,276 in chips. Seat 8 has 60,236 in chips. Seat 9 has 75,332 in chips. As you can see, we have 2 people at this table with huge stacks and one false move and I can be put out. I've been playing pretty standard poker, raising 3x's the BB with hands like AK, AQ, and high pairs, etc...etc... On this particular hand, I get dealt AK off-suit. A good starting hand, but do I want to risk my tournament life on it, pre-flop? Would you want to?

Anyway, seats 7 and 8 are the SB and BB. The pot gets raised UTG by Seat 9 (75,332 in chips) to 20K and I call. If someone UTG is raising pre-flop, you have to give them credit for a hand, no? Seat 8 (60,236 in chips) acts after me, and goes all-in. Seat 9 goes all-in as well, and I'm sitting on AK? What would you do?

At best, I would be 50/50, up against any random pair. If someone has AA's, I'm drawing dead. If someone has KK's, I'm drawing to a 3 outer, and with 2 people all in, one of my Aces that I would need to draw to, could very well already be used, no? So with AK, I muck it and decide to let the 2 players battle it out. What do they turn over? Seat 9 had 99's, which I figured on a pair, and seat 8 showed QT off-suit. The flop came 7h 8c Tc. Giving seat 8 a pair of 10's, but giving seat 9 an open ended straight draw, and 10 outs. The turn was a 2s, and the river brought the Jc, making the straight.

Had I called, I would've never improved my hand, and I'd a been left cursing AK for not hitting. At the conclusion of this hand, I mentioned how I had laid down AK. Some observers were appalled at the fact that I folded AK, and they started making rude comments about my play. With so many people left to act behind me, I felt that calling with AK, was the best option I had, to see what everyone behind me was going to do. This would give me an indication of the strength of everyone's hands. With 2 people going all-in preflop, I just didn't feel that AK was going to be good enough to win the hand, and it proved not to be. Anyway, I found myself being the subject of criticism, and defending my reasoning.

My goal in a tournament is to fight with every last dying breath that I have, and go as deep as possible into the money, if not win the whole damn thing. Some people feel that if they're not in a position to win the tournament, than making the money doesn't matter. That's definately not my perception, as ANY time you make the money, your adding to your bankroll.

Under different circumstances, I probably would've pushed all-in with AK. This time I just didn't feel it, and my decision allowed me to move up the money ladder. Granted, it wasn't life changing money I was winning, but I proved to have the ability and discipline to lay down a hand, which allowed me to finish higher than what I would've, had I pushed all-in with AK. What do you think about this?

Big Hand #2
<SPAN lang=EN>In this hand, you guessed it! I got dealt AK AGAIN, and I mucked it. Here's why....

Seat 1 has 220,702 in chips. I'm in seat 2 with 86,806 in chips. Seat 3 has 108,664 in chips, seat 4 has 93,770 in chips, seat 5 has 160,400 in chips, seat 6 has 63,908 in chips, seat 7 has 88,056 in chips, seat 8 has 63,636 in chips, and seat 9 has 41,352 in chips. Seats 9 and 1 are the SB and BB. Blinds are 2K/4K, with a 400 ante, putting 9,600 in the pot before cards are dealt. </SPAN><SPAN lang=EN>
I'm UTG, and I get dealt Ac Kh. I raise the standard amount of 3x's the BB of 4K to make it 12K to go. Everyone folds to seat 8 and he raises 51236 to 63236 and is all-in. This guy could have a pair, he might be weaker than me, and if I call, I still need to hit. It's not an "insta-call" with say hands like 10's, JJ's or better. If I have those hands, I definately call, and whatever the outcome is, I can accept it. If this guy has less chips, say about 30K, maybe even 40K, I'd only be risking about .5 of my chips, giving me the proper odds to call, since I'd only be 50/50 to win anyway, right? But I'm not getting the proper odds, in my opinion. Who knows? Maybe I have this odds thing all backwards or something. That wouldn't be a surprise, since I'm a novice.

Anyway, if I call this guy, again, at best I'm 50/50 to win, and I'm risking a HUGE portion of my stack on a drawing hand. If I don't hit, I'm going to be absolutely crippled for the rest of the tournament. I figure I should cut my losses and serender the 12K. I still have about 74K left in chips to fight another day, no? What would you have done?
</SPAN></SPAN>