And the hits just keep on coming

It's been a brutal week playing the cash games on Ultimatebet.

I have had absolutely no luck, whatsoever. Any time I got my money in ahead I sucked out (well, except for a couple of hands late today).

I went in this evening with a starting stack of $16.80, and lost the lot within about 2 hours; taking bad beat after bad beat - flopping two pair up against a mug who chased his flush and got there on the river. Every time I had AK, AQ, KK or QQ and raised pre-flop I'd get at least one caller and the boards were horrific, with straight and flush draws everywhere. I managed to get a short-stack all in when I had A-K versus his A-J. Unfortunately his A-J was Diamonds and, of course, there was three Diamonds on the board and I've sucked out again!

It's no wonder so many internet players will play any suited Ace, the number of flushes that are made are just astronomical. I've noticed how many players buy in for the minimum ($4.00) on these tables. There aim is to sit tight until they hit a premium hand and push all-in hoping for a call and a double-up. If they bust, they simply buy in on another table for another $4.00.
It's an interesting strategy; I usuall buy in for as close to the maximum as possible, hoping that if I catch a hand I can extract the maximum. It seems like, psychologically, big stack players will call these short stacks most of the time. It's something I might experiment with - can't work out any worse than this week! At least buying in for the minimum limits your losses.

Anyway, I bought back in for another $10, desperate to try and recoup some losses. 3-4 hands in I turn a straight; I bet for value, trying not to put the other player off, but he calls and hits his flush on the river - be careful what you wish for. I'm now seriously close to losing my $10.00 rebuy, as I am down to about $3.00.

A couple of hands later I'm sitting with 9h-7c on the button. The table is only 4-handed, as everyone has shot-off. I limp in and hit a miracle 9c-9s-9d flop; this is similar to a set of quads I would have hit a few days ago, if I'd played my raggedy hand then.

It gets checked round to me and, of course, I also check. The Jc comes on the turn and I am praying someone has a J, or now has a straight or flush draw. UTG puts in a small, 10c, bet and the other two players fold. I wait as long as I can and make the call.
The river brings the 10s (so no flush), but there's a chance he's filled a straight. He bets out 40c, and I wait an eternity before pushing in my final $2.50.

Luckily, he thinks he's good, at least for a split, and makes the call. At last, I've got some value out of a decent hand.


The table quickly shuts down, with players leaving, so I move to another one, bringing my measly $6.18 with me.

First hand I catch Q-2 of hearts in middle position. UTG has limped in and there's been no other pre-flop action. I've had to post a blind when I joined the table, so I just check. It's folded round to the big blind who also checks.

The flop comes down A-2-7, all hearts. Despite there being an all suit flop about 1 in every 10 that I've seen tonight, this is the first time in about 3 weeks that I've flushed the flop.
The BB checks and the UTG pushes the rest of his chips in, about $3.

I've got the 2nd nut flush, but the way my luck has been I am convinced he also has hearts, with the King. But the chances of flush over flush are quite remote, so I want to push the BB off his hand and isolate - I go over the top and push all my remaining $6 (or so) in.

The BB calls instantly and turns over 3-5 of hearts, for a gutshot straight-flush draw. The UTG is probably devastated turning over his measly A-5 off.

Usually I would be grinning from ear-to-ear at the prospect of tripling up, but with the insane beats I've taken this week I have myself convinced the 4h is going to appear on the turn or river; in fact, I had resigned myself to that fact.

Amazingly my flush holds up and I've tripled up; no mean feat on these tables. I'm up to over $19.00 ($9.00 ahead on this buy-in, but still about $7.00 down on the day).


The table clams up with little or no action and I pick up a few blinds and lose about $1 with Jh-6h against K-J (chasing another flush that never came).

A couple of hands later I pick up the pocket rockets and put in a min-raise, trying to disguise the strength of my hand (also, I've lost about the last 5 hands where I've had a caller, so I want to see a cheap flop and go from there). The position behind me doubles the raise and everyone else folds. Now, my first instinct is to flat call and see a flop, but I decide that if my opponent has a hand I want to try and double up (we have about the same chip-stack). I triple his bet, raising to $1.20, and he instantly folds, showing 10-2 off-suit. Shame, if I'd just flat called he might have hit some part of that and I could have extracted more, bit then again he could have hit a 10-10-2 flop and my AA would have been crippled, again!!

About 10 hands later I pick up the rockets again. This time I decide to flat call, in early position, and the player behind me makes it $0.70 to go. Now, he's one of these min-buy-in players and only has another $3.15 behind, so I feel confident that he'll call an all-in - so I make it $4.00 and, sure enough, he makes the call.

I'm delighted to see A-K off (mitigates the chances of the flush). The board runs out quite harmlessly and I've added another $4.00.

I hang around for another 30 minutes or so, speculatively calling with a lot of raggedy hands, trying to trap one of the short-stacks again. Unfortunately I manage to whittle away the $4.00 I made on the AA, and decide to call it a night.

The week could have been so much better, as I lost some brutal races early in the week that could have seriously increased my stack. But, I managed to end the week only $6.75 down and my bankroll is still at a healthy $119.00 - so, here's hoping next week will bring some more luck.

Bad-beat after bad-beat

What have I done to deserve this?

Playing in the low-level cash games can be a real grind. You must have incredible patience and wait for good spots and playable hands. So, it's doubly infuriating when you get your money in good only for your opponent to come from behind and catch you on the turn, or river.

The main difference between cash games and tournaments or sit-n-go's is that there is not as much action pre-flop and plenty of action post-flop. Players seem eager to risk most or all of their chips if they hit a flop and you just have to hold on to your chair and hope it holds up. When I play in these ring games my strategy is to only call pre-flop raises with premium hands - A-big or a pocket pair.
The perfect scenario is that an opponent with a shorter stack hits a piece of the flop and shoves their stack in, this way you can pick up $4-$8 pots.

I got into this position twice last night and managed to lose on both occasions.

The first one was about 15 minutes into the session. The hand is folded round to me in the BB where I am sitting with 6s-4c. I just flat-call and the BB checks. The flop comes down 4h-6c-5d and I've hit two-pair. I put in a standard 1/2-pot bet and the BB immediately pushes all-in for their last $3.75. I figure he's got an over-pair, but could easily have had 2-3 or 7-8, but I am not going to find a better spot to try and pick up a few quid, so I call.

I am delighted to see my opponent turn over pocket-9's. Now, all I have to do is avoid a 9 on the turn, or river (so I thought). However, what followed was possibly one of the worst bad-beats I've taken in a long time. The turn is the 10c, followed bt the 10s on the river. OMG, runner-runner overpair counterfeits my two-pair and gives the hand to the other player.

Somehow, I could have lived with them hitting a two-outer on the turn or river, but to go runner-runner is just insanely sick.


I collect myself and get back to the grind of trying to pick up small pots and not get too heavily involved with marginal hands. It's about 90 minutes later and I've managed to recoup the $4, or so, that I lost with the 6-4.

I'm UTG with pocket K's and put in a standard pot sized raise, which is doubled on the button and called by the small blind. I make the call and the flop comes down Qh-6h-5h; not the best flop in the world, but at least no Ace.

I bet the pot, and the player behind immediately pushes for their last $3, or so. I've no choice but to call, and am reasonably happy to see just one pair of Q's and a flush draw.

Hope turned to dispair on the turn, with the Js, giving my opponent two-pair, the 3h on the river just added insult to injury by filling the flush. This wasn't as bad as my earlier beat, but it's annoying that a player can call a 4xBB pre-flop raise with Q-J off-suit, then push all-in after the flop with me in a totally dominating position - and get so lucky.


Again, I'm now down about $4 and it takes me about another 90 minutes of pure grind to get myself back to level, which I managed to do when I hit AK and found a very loose player pushing all in with K-2. Just short of 4 hours of slog to break even - there must be better ways to spend an evening.

Straight Flush followed by Quads

Two incredible hands in a row.

In my last entry I stated that I had been playing 5c-10c cash games at Ultimatebet. I started with a free $50 bankroll and I have managed to grow this to $87.50. It's a real grind at these levels, but I won't be moving up to the 10c-25c level until I have 500 big blinds, or $125.

Anyway, a couple of nights ago I was at a really tough table. There were a couple of players who were punishing anyone who tried to limp into a pot, so you really had to have a starting hand and come in raising. However, I found myself calling a min-raise from the big blind, with Ac-2c. Normally I wouldn't play A-2, even suited, but from the BB it seemed cheap enough to see a flop.

The flop was almost perfect; 3c-6h-4c. I've found myself with straigh, flush and straight-flush draws. I lead out with a 1/2-pot sized bet, which is only called (normally this player re-shoves or folds). It's hard to read what he's got, I'm thinking it's a decent sized pair; 8's or 9's, but could easilt be A-K or A-Q.

I hit the miracle card on the turn, 5c. Now, I am praying that he's got, or drawing to something (just not the 6c-7c). I check the turn, trying to make it look like I'm scared of the flush (representing a big pair) and, sure enough, he bets out the size of the pot.

I wait an eternity before just calling. The 8d on the river is meaningless, so I bet out half the pot. Perhaps I should have checked, as there was every chance he would have bet into me again, but instead he just folded. Now I'll never know what he had, was chasing or representing.

At least it was a decent sized pot - usually it's hard to get paid on a Straight-Flush.


Immediately following that hand, I mean the very next hand, I am sitting with 4s-9d from the small blind. There are a couple of flat-callers and it comes round to me. It's an automatic fold (bad position, bad cards, BB still to act), so instead of calling the measly 5c to see a flop I muck.

The flop comes down: 9s-9h-9c - INCREDIBLE!! What are the odds against flopping Quads the hand after making a Straight-Flush.

I was gutted, especially after the remaining players in the pot started massively betting into each other; either representing the 9, or a big pair. I could have made a mint.