Через час, оставшиеся в живых, позавидуют мертвым...

3,381 pot
Final Board:
MP3 showed and won 3,381 (1,978 net)
Hero showed and lost (-1,403 net)

23rd June 2015 Tuesday, From: Andreas Vukman №871
My opinion
I am 57 years old and I have been playing all variants of poker for more than 30 years. Stud, omaha, pot limit omaha, razz, holdem, you name it. I am a winner both live and online. I've never played on any other site than PokerStars and there I am good for about 30.000 $. I have played hundreds of thousands hands of live poker and seen some unbelievable bad beats and suckouts. Both in cash game and MTTs. Just a couple of months ago I lost a huge pot in live cash game holding straight flush on the turn against A high flush. We were all in on the turn. My opponent needed K of diamonds to beat me with Royal Flush and K of diamonds came on the river. The good news was that the club we were playing at had a bad beat jackpot so I got more money than there was in the pot. Remember that poker is a game of luck too and no matter how good you are you can be on a losing streak for years and maybe for all of your life both live and online. I have been card dead for six months now in live tournaments and can't win anything but I keep playing top solid poker although all my AA and KK get smashed by far inferior hands. I've seen Royal Flush against quads, quads against quads in live tournaments and cash games and all other one-outer suckouts. Trust me, live poker can be as cruel as online poker.
Is online poker and PokerStars rigged? We don't know because of the lack of transparency. I have never been able to get all hands dealt to all players in one PokerStars tournament. Personal hand history is not enough to see if there are patterns in bad beats, if big stacks win more when behind, if big stacks complete more flashes and straights, if big stacks hit better flops, turns and rivers with inferior starting hands, if ultra-short stacks win 95% all ins etc. I suspect there are some patterns and I am still waiting for PokerStars to prove me wrong.
So how to be a winning player on PokerStars?
I'll share with you how I do it.
1. Learn to fold. Folding premium hands is most difficult thing in poker. Why? Because folding is a defeat and it crushes your ego. "Why should I fold AA or KK on 10-5-2 rainbow flop when reraised?" - you often ask yourself. The answer is simple. You don't have the nuts. All sets and two pairs beat your one pair of AA or KK. Remember, if you don't hit the set on the flop you only have one pair. A good pair, but one pair. 567 flop is even worse, and the worst one is a flop with both straight and flush draws. I've seen so many bad players overplay their AA or KK on tricky flops, turns and rivers, losing all their chips just because they are not able to fold one good overpair. And then they cry how some donkey crushed their AA with 67 suited. I'll tell you a secret. I fold AA preflop when someone pushes all in for more than 20 percent of my stack when I am not in the money. The same with KK. I fold to most reraises. I instant fold AA and KK to a shove on a draw-heavy flop, the same with sets and two pairs. I am always trying not to gamble for more than 20% of my stack.
2. How to avoid bad beats? By controlling the action. You don't control a shit when you are all in. People who suffer bad beat after beat beat have to ask themselves how often they go all in or how often they lose control of betting size. So, avoid going all in and you will avoid bad beats. Especially bad beats on turn and river. "See the flop" is the golden rule. By betting on the flop you can avoid many bad beats on the turn and river. If you get called slow down and be prepared to fold if your hand doesn't improve. Reading the board in poker is a very complex thing.
3. Don't go on tilt, control your inner monkey and don't take things personally. Hide the chat window in the poker client. You are not there to socialize or even worse antagonize, you are there to win some money.
4. When you play multi table tournaments your primary goal is to come into the money. Don't listen to people who say "I don't care about coming into the money, I want to win the tournament." Well, I am telling you, if you want to win tournaments you first have to come into the money. Why? First of all, this makes you a winning not a losing player, you have money to play more tournaments, your confidence is growing and the most important thing: Premium hands win more when blinds are higher, people are more selective when calling, they don't often call with crap hands and you can multiply your stack in no time. That's how you win tournaments.
5. Avoid going all in with AK. With AK you are virtually always flipping a coin. Rather call and see the flop. The same with small and medium pairs.
6. Grind your way through the tournament, don't be greedy and always make sure that you have an escape plan. Keep the pots small and make them big only if you have nuts or second nuts. Sudden reraises from your opponent probably mean that you are beaten. Fold and move on.
7. Don't be a calling station. My rule is:" If I can't 3-bet I better be folding." Information about your opponent's strenght is very important in poker. If you reraise him and he calls, he is probably weak and a fish, he probably doesn't have AA or KK, and by reraising you get information about the other players at the table as well. If you only call then not only you won't know how strong your opponent is, you will get three-four more callers from behind and your strong hand will be worth nothing.
8. Don't underestimate anyone at the table. Even the worst player can get AA and take all of your chips.
9. Money management. For playing multitable tournaments I would recommend having 200 times buy-in in your PokerStars account. If you have 200 $ you can max play 1 $ tournaments. There will be bad beats, you can't avoid them, but you will feel comfortable knowing that losing 1$ is not the end of the world and that you are not busted.

Cheers and good luck all.