I was playing Texas hold’em poker with a couple of my friends in the night and I played okay.

I won the first hold’em game of the night against my other 3 friends named: Enri, OE, and PO.

In the first game I played good and the cards were landing for me.

But the second game we played that night, I did get very lucky in a couple of hands, for example look at the picture below:



First you must understand, my friend OE is an aggressive poker player and he can play/raise with any two cards.

This was an all-in hand pre-flop, my friend OE had (Pocket Jacks, J-J) and I had (Pocket 10’s, 10-10). I go super lucky and caught my 10, on the river which I had a 5% chance to catch. My friend Enri, who was dealing said he “felt the 10 coming on the river”. This was a very bad beat.

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In the hand below I was not involved in:



My friend PO, had (A-3) and Enri had (A-Q), PO (A-3) was low stack and he was dominated badly. This was an all-in hand pre-flop and on the river PO caught his 3 to make a pair.

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In the hand below:

I had A-4 offsuit, and I should have raised to make my opponents fold, but I am a conservative poker player and like to see flops. So there were 3 of us in the hand and everyone limped into the pot.

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The flop comes:



I was like “damn” I missed the flop completely, so I check and my opponent bets out and everyone folds. I should have raised pre-flop and maybe everyone would have folded depending on their hand and kicker.

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In the hand below:

I had K-8 offsuit, I did not raise with this hand with 3 players in the game, but if my hand was suited I would have raised about 4 times the big blind.

The flop came:

(8-2-5 rainbow, all cards in different suit)

I bet out to see if my opponents were going to believe they were beat and I had a good hand. They folded their hands and I took down the small pot. I bet out on this flop to trick my opponents in thinking I was trying to steal the pot. Also I was scared of them going for their straight draws.

I probably should have checked the flop to trap my opponents if anyone bet, I would have raised them. But I didn’t want the (Turn) or (River) to beat my pair of 8s, so I bet out.

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In the hand below:

I had Q-J offsuit, so as a conservative player I limped in the pot to see a flop.

The flop came:

(8-7-5 with two spades)

My opponent bet out $2,500 in tournament chips and the pot was $3,000.

I called his bet of $2,500.

The Turn came, a (9 of hearts), now there were two hearts and two spades on a scary board. So I checked and my opponent checked as well.

The River came:

a (Q of hearts), I was a little scared of the heart flush possibility, but I had top pair on the board so I knew and felt I had the best hand. So on the River I bet out $3,000 into a pot of $8,000, I probably should have bet more to make it seem like I was trying to “steal” the pot away from my opponent.

But my opponent was not confident in his hand and took a while to call my bet on the river, so he called and we both showed our hand. He had (5-3 offsuit, bottom pair). If my opponent would have been a little bit more aggressive and bet big on the Turn, I would have probably folded, but lucky for me he checked the Turn.

I took down that pot and won the hand.

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In the hand below:

I had (J-6 offsuit)

So I just limped in the pot, but my opponent maybe sensed weakness and raised pre-flop $6,000 into a pot of $4,000.

So as I was looking at the pot and my hand, it was not a difficult decision for me to fold my hand. He just did a good play, but my other option was to raise his pre-flop bet to really see if he had a good hand. If my opponent did not have a good hand, I would have won the pot, but I didn’t want to play with my horrible hand of (J-6 offsuit).

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In the hand below, I had (K-6 of spades).
I just limped in the pot, I should have probably raised with my hand of (K-6 suited) pre-flop, but choose not to.

The flop came:

(2-Q-5 all clubs), I checked and gave up on the pot. My opponent bet out and took the pot.

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In the hand below, I was not in, but my friend OE had:

(7-6 of spades) and Enri had (8-9 offsuit), the flop came (8-4-Q with two spades) Enri bet out with his middle pair and OE tried a semi-bluff and went all-in with his flush draw.

The turn came a (J of clubs) and the River came an (A of clubs) and OE missed his club flush draw.

Enri took the big pot with (his pair of 8s). Now there were only 3 of us playing in the game for the money.

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In the hand below, I had (8-5 offsuit) and I limped in the pot.

Enri raised $6,000 more into a pot of $4,000, so I folded my horrible hand. Enri showed his (9-2 offsuit), which I was surprised at his good play of raising pre-flop with a bad hand.

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In the hand below, I had (J-5 offsuit) and limped in the pot.

The flop came, (K-5-8 rainbow), so I bet out with my bottom pair of 5s and my opponents folded. I took down the pot and didn’t want to get called with my hand.

In the hand below, I had (Q-J offsuit), so I limped in the pot again playing too tight

The flop came:

(8-7-J with two clubs), I bet on the flop and my opponent raised me with his (J-9 of clubs), he had top pair with a gut shot straight draw, with a flush draw, which was a favorite over my pair of Jacks with a higher kicker because of his huge draws.

So I re-raised him all-in because I knew I had him beat, with my top pair. The Turn came a (2 of hearts) and on the River an (8 of hearts) came not improving my opponents huge draw and I took down the pot. I was fortunate to win the hand.

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In the hand below, I did not play:

But PO went all-in with (A-3 offsuit) and Enri had (pocket Q’s), PO had a little bit more chips than Enri. An Ace did not come on the board and Enri with his pocket Qs took the pot.

In the hand below, I had (J-10 offsuit), PO had (K-4 of hearts), and Enri had (pocket 6s). PO (K-4) went all-in with his last couple of chips, I with (J-10 offsuit) called his small all-in, and Enri with (6-6) raised the pot. So I folded my hand.



The flop came (Q-3-5 all diamonds), the Turn came a (2 of diamonds), this gave Enri a unbeatable hand of 6 high flush because he was the only one to have a diamond. My goofy and dumb friend OE put his big bear paw in the middle and covered the River card. So Enri won with his flush and took down the pot.

Now it was heads up between Enri and I. In the first couple of hands I was getting garbage cards and Enri was raising pre-flop and taking down the pots without seeing a flop.

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In the final hand, I messed up by not going all-in pre-flop with my hand of (A-9 offsuit). So I limped in the pot and my opponent checked his big blind with his measly (8-9 offsuit).

The flop came (10-J-Q with two spades) my opponent was in heaven, he flopped the 2nd nuts with his straight. He bet out and I called with my open ended straight draw. I was hoping for my cards to fall. The Turn came a (6 of spades) putting three spades on the board.

My opponent bet out again, I raised him and went all-in with a semi-bluff. Enri had to think about it and was afraid I might have a flush, but he called my all-in. The River came a blank (2 of hearts).



My opponent took the pot and won the tournament with his straight.

I thought my opponent had an open ended straight, or a flush draw, or bottom pair of (10s).

But he flopped the straight, which comes once in a long while, which was unlucky for me. So until next time, I will take the next tournament.

Leave a message and let me know how I can play better in No Limit Texas Hold’Em Tournaments.

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