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.
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