First Report

I decided to give FullTilt one last try tonight since it's still August and the points on PokerStars reset at the beginning of every month. Tonight started out just as the last 2 nights had gone. Within an hour I found myself down about $300. I was playing 4 tables and was doing fine at 3 of them but I just couldn't beat this donk at my other table. He always had position on me and every time I raised preflop, he always called and sometimes re-raised me. Then he'd continue his aggression on the flop and turn. I never caught anything with the first 4 cards so I ended up folding each time. And then each time he'd show me a bluff and my hand was actually ahead.

Then came my worst hand against him. I raised 3.5xBB in early position with AQ and he smooth called as he had frequently done before. The flop came KQJ rainbow and I bet about 3/4 pot into him. He made the minimum raise and I called since I'd seen him do this on a bluff many times before and there was the chance he had a K to put him ahead. The turn was an Ace to give me 2 pair but I was scared by the straight possibility so I checked. He checked also so I was really clueless at this point. The river was a blank but I still checked. He bet enough to put me all in for my last $140 and I had to call since the pot was plenty big and he was a serial bluffer. Of course he turned over T9 offsuit for a flopped straight and the best hand. He played it well I guess but I'm still always shocked when someone turns over that kind of crap after a pre-flop raise - especially since he was in middle position to call my raise.

That put me down to my low point of about $300 but a few rounds later I got it back. I was in the small blind with 2 red K's. He was under the gun and made a minimum raise which he had frequently been doing. It was folded to me and I popped it to about $40 since I didn't want the BB to get a cheap flop and possibly have an Ace. The flop came a glorious K97 but had 2 hearts. I made a continuation bet of about 2/3 pot which he called. The turn was a black T and I bet the pot because he could have just about anything that would at least give him a good draw (he played almost any 2 cards). He raised me all-in at this point which kind of surprised me but I had to call. I figured if he really had J8 then I was just getting seriously unlucky against this guy. He turned over T9 offsuit again (he must love that hand) for 2 pair and I had him drawing dead. The river was another T giving us both full boats but I scooped the pot for about $500. So I was close to even at this point since a little less than half of that $500 was my money before that hand.

I started to creep back down again until my best hand of the night. This was at a different table and the donk had left the other table anyway. I had been raising a lot preflop and not winning much or getting re-raised big so I was kind of frustrated. I was in middle position with 99. After 1 limper, the guy to my right made a raise to 3xBB. Since I wanted some action, I smooth called. For the first time of the night (after about 2 hours) I finally flopped a set. I smooth called his flop bet and then raised him on the turn when the board became scary. He re-raised me all-in on the turn and I called. He turned over KK and he had only 2 outs. This time I scooped a pot of about $600 which put me up for the night to stay.

I played a couple more rounds at each table and then called it quits since I was finally ahead for the first time in 3 days. Overall this was a pretty frustrating night again. I actually had pocket Aces more times than normal but I never got any decent action on them. I guess that's better than getting them cracked like I did the previous 2 nights. I also flopped a couple of low straights but the board was always scary so I always bet out and never got any callers. Oh well, at least I won tonight. Hopefully I'll continue to have these kind of reports.