PokerStars Recap 3/22/2010

I'm a big-time Texas Hold 'Em Poker player. My best friend and I have been playing hold-em matches for five years. We've played online and played in one live tournament. We always talk about the WSOP and watch as many events as we can to learn new strategies.

Tonight, I jumped on PokerStars for the first time in a LONG time (seriously), and actually, I had a pretty good night.

I started with 5,231 in chips. I've been higher before, but I have had two slumps during the summer on both this one and Full Tilt. I have a higher total on Full Tilt. I'll probably play it next when I'm in the mood.

I came to the first table and only put 500 in to start. I wasn't hitting anything and it quickly evaporated, so I was down to 4,731. I wasn't feeling too good about already being in the red.

I switched rooms and things quickly improved. I was nailing showdowns left and right, winning 2 hands in a row with pretty good pots (and hands), including a flopped full house and some strong two-pairs. When the crowd dwindled, I ended up leaving that room up 4,155, bringing my total count to 8,886. I was confident I could end the night with over 10,000 in chips.

The swagger continued as I switched to Mars VII. I started strong, winning a few pots here and there to pass the 10,000 total mark. But then I fell into another slump and gave up a little too much. I went all-in with King-Ace and nothing helped. I was back down to 7,886, but still ahead in total.

I laid down another 1,000 as I switched to Veritas VIII, and things looked good early as I won the first hand I played with a two-pair over a measly 7-A that didn't even hit the board. I was quickly up to 8,906 and things looked good. Then again, I had good cards at the start but nothing was hitting or I was getting beat by better hands. I left the room after losing to a full house. I ended up losing 137 in that room, and decided to call it a night after two disappointing performances.

In the end, my total now stands at 7,749, so I was +2,518 for the night. I was fairly pleased, but I felt like I was starting to get too confident and felt like I could win hands that could be beatable. At first, I was reading players like a book; eventually the more I got, the ability wore away and I started kicking myself for dumb plays.

But the stats tell a pretty good story. I played 36 of 54 hands, a solid 66%. This is about average for most players. I played 7 of 8 from the big blind, 9 of 12 from the small blind, and 20 of 34 in other positions. I started strong in the showdowns winning my first 6, but ended up only 8 for 14 (57 percent).

The way I see it, it could have been a heckuva lot better. But anytime I end up in the green, I feel like the night went pretty well. I did leave a lot on the table though. I'm just glad I gained more than I lost in the end. At least I know when to get out of the table's way. :-)

As I said, I'll probably be playing Full Tilt next time I'm in the mood. I've had my share of good runs and bad runs on that one...who knows what the next time's going to bring. But that's why I love the game, and at this point in my life, I can't imagine giving it up.