Ten ten challenge abandoned!

To be fair, I haven't played as much poker as I did the previous week, so that could be the reason for deciding to quit this challenge.  Still it's interesting to think about how much is won and lost on individual hands, and just like the players do in chess when they mark down each move they make in a notebook, next month I will look to do the same with individual poker hands win and lost to judge which hands generate the most profit (and which lose money) for me.  That will allow me to work on my game.

So instead of discussing the ten ten challenge I'd now like to share with you the recent series of fortune and misfortune that have beset me in the world of gambling both today and on the weekend.  First of all, with another successful football bet win where I bet BIG on 3 matches it has incredibly boosted my bankroll to £490 from £130 this month which is around a 300% profit rise!  

ITS BEEN A SUCCESSFUL MONTH SO FAR...

I decided to take a huge risk here with 30% of my bankroll and chucked £100 onto this 3 match bet.  I decided if I lost I would just continue to grind it out on the poker tables.  In gambling, a calculated big risk can win a lot of money sometimes!  Burnley 1 - 0 Crystal Palace.  (I could barely look after I checked the score after returning from 5aside football). Then Wolves 1 - 1 Southampton.  Athletic Bilbao 4-0 Betis.  BOOM a win. (odds 3:1)

 Calling down a bluff with A ♣️ K ♣️ 

So with my bankroll now properly in order I jumped onto the 0.15c/0.25c $25 max buy in now I'm close to the $750 balance required to play. This time around I felt a lot more comfortable playing at this level compared to previous times and it inspires me to keep going as I have been doing this month!

My second hand in the sessions early on was A ♣️ K ♣️ from mid position which I raised to 48c before the flop and got two callers, both after me.  The flop came... 2 💎 7 ♠️ 8 💎 A very tricky flop with two opponents!  Going by my reading I decided to bet out around $3 (about the pot) with my hand as I didn't think my opponents had hit just yet as they only called before the flop.  Sure they could have a straight draw with something like 9 10 or J 10 or 6 5 and for some reason, something told me no one was going for the flush...it was unlikely anyway.

The player to my left called and the other player folded.

The turn came a 7 💎.  Of course he could have had a flush but it felt unlikely, but this wasn't certain!  It was unlikely he had anything yet as he only called on the flop, but I decided to check anyway.  He bet out into me around 4 and a half dollars.  I felt this was a semi bluff.  I called.

The river came another 7!  This was very good for me as he would fear my hand which could have turned into a full house, I didn't think he had an 8, 7 or 2 and this all made sense when he went all in. Also why bet on the turn representing the flush and then go all in when there was a full house potential representing both types of hands? It didn't make sense.  As he went all in this out the flush out of the equation. All these thoughts were swimming around in my head and my final thought was, so far I've noticed that when players are bluffing on Pokerstars, they usually go all in on the river!  It was likely he was bluffing.  So I decided to look him up with my A high and guess what...I won :)) Another boost to the bankroll.

One more note in regard to this hand.  I knew he knew what i had and that also played a big part of my decision making.  It is quite common that when you raise before the flop and low cards fall on the flop like this, some players see it a short an opportunity to bluff, thinking they are representing a made hand as they only called before the flop.  He would have put me on AK.

On to another interesting hand I was involved in yesterday, which I unfortunately lost, despite hitting my set on the flop with 4 players in altogether.  55 has both won big for me big this month and lost aswell so I'm about breaking even with it...

This was a hilarious hand.  Perhaps I shouldn't have called the pre flop re raise and from now on in I will return to playing tight and more sensible poker.  We all went in on the flop and the guy with the worst hand pre flop took down the pot as his 78 hand somehow held up versus a set of fives, KK and AA!!  Poker can be a funny game sometimes...

Bankroll start up: $170

Total now: $670

Profit/loss: +290% (ish)

Have a nice day.  Good luck on the tables.