I have my best ever result in a big free roll tournament online.

The first two hours of the free roll I have playing a cautious game just like normal. At one point I have only about 9 big blinds left. I have to move all in with my two hearts versus my rival’s small pair; a fifth heart on the river saves me.

The my luck starts to change at the two hour mark. Among the 7283 entries, only about 600 left.

I have a few opportunities to all in against my rivals and fortunately my biggest hands have held up. I climb to about 150,000 chips in total, and when I win a crucial encounter with another player with 170,000 chips, I have double up and suddenly I find that I am in the lead of the tournament with only 200 players left.

For about 30 minutes, the situation remains the same. I am quite surprised that there is no dominant player in the tournament and my stack ranks among the top few for the large part of the tournament. It is the first time ever I make the break at the three hour mark; I am lying in 7th among 70 players.

I have no good cards after the break and I slip to about 12th position with about 30 players left. I have very excited about the possibility of playing in the final table.

I have 7-9 with big blind when there is only one caller which allows me to see the flop. The flop is Q-9-7, an almost perfect flop for me. My rival reraises me and I move all in. He calls and shows Q-9; top pair and a good kicker, I do not blame him for calling me.

If I double up, I will have almost one million in chips and grab the lead once again.

The most unfortunate thing happens. A queen on the turn. I am crippled. My dream is over.

About one round later, I am forced to move all in with my pair of sevens; luck is not with me again when my rival shows a pair of kings. A very nice looking flop of 8-6-5 gives me some hope, but no help from the turn and river. I finished 19th out of more than 7000 players.

One day, I will win one of these tournaments, I promise.

I start playing online poker tonight with the idea of playing aggressively and see the result.

I play for about 30 minutes and I am down a bit; I am playing aggressively and betting out, and the other players are noticing this and many of them are playing more passively allowing me to bet out. I am waiting for the chance to take advantage of this.

Then in one hand, I have a pair of deuces. I bet out and two players called. The flop is a harmless looking 2-4-7; perfect flop for me. I bet out, one player folds and the other player reraise me. I move all and he calls quickly. He has a pair of queens. I think I am the best poker player in the world.

Until the queen comes at the turn.

You cannot win all the time. I get some more chips and I continue play. I now I will get my chips back.

I maintain my aggressive style and play a little longer. I am gradually losing some chips but I know I am setting my rivals up for the perfect play. And the play comes no too long down the road.

A player reraises my pair of aces preflop. I think he either has a pair of kings or queens or maybe ace-king. I reraise him but by just a little bit, pretending I am showing some weakness there. He thinks for a very long while and he goes all in. Of course I call instantly. He shows a pair of kings, exactly what I think he has. I am an over 80% favourite in this showdown.

A king on the flop, no ace at all. Incredible.

Poker is gambling after all, besides poker skills it helps if you have lots of luck.

I and my friend are discussing the differences between cash game and tournament playing. It is obvious that strategies for the two types of games are totally different. I am doing much better in cash game while Eric is doing better in tournament playing, and we are wondering why.

Eric spend a lot of time considering what is the optimum playing strategy in poker; he is a good player, he spends a lot of effects into ideas like pot odds and expectations on different poker plays. He has a set of rules and ideas on how to play each hand, what cards to play and what cards not to play. We think that this attributes to why he has more success in tournament play. In tournament playing, because of the huge number of entry and ever rising blinds, players are eventually forced to play a hand. Very often the decision is all in or nothing. Therefore the choice of hand to play is critical in successful tournament playing.

I spend a lot of time on the human side of poker; my poker theory is based on game theory. Humans react differently according to different situations, some players like to raise and bluff a lot, others play a very tight game and almost never bluff. They will react differently on poker tables, and I try to identify and play according to their different behavior. Sometimes it takes a long time to establish this reading, especially in tournament play when players enter and exit tables very frequently, which is making my job difficult.

We think this is like a science subject pit against a humanity subject; there is no who has a better strategy. Probably the best poker players need to be master of both subjects, but it is important for any poker player to identify and understand where in this spectrum one is.

I have the biggest success in my online tournament playing on canbet tonight; 151st among 6528 players.

Every night the website has one free roll tournament which is open to everyone that has an account; the other free roll tournaments are for players who have played on the website in the past 24 hours. Because it is free for everyone, every night about 7000 players will play in this free roll tournament, making it a very difficult game.

I know that I am better in cash games rather than tournament playing. The best poker players in the world all play in the big tournaments all over the world nowadays, and I think I need to sharpen up my tournament playing skills. So novice players like tournament playing than cash games; you cannot win consistently in high stakes cash games if you do not have the skills, but if you have a lot of luck sometimes you can go very far in a tournament. All experts say the main event at the World Series of Poker today is a lottery.

I am not sure if I will play in Las Vegas one day, but I want to do better in tournaments. The average player in general plays very poorly in tournaments, they rely very heavily on their luck to do well. Expert player plays tournaments very carefully and in a calculated manner, and I know I need to do well in this area.

Of course, the immediate reason for practicing tournament playing is the Asian Poker Tour and the APPT Macau in late August and September. I need to be there and I cannot wait to play in what is probably the biggest tournament event in Asia so far.

This hand happens at my table while I am playing at Macau. Imagine you are C, how would you feel? Would you have done something differently?

At the $10/20 table, two people calls the big blind including A. B then raises to $150, he has over $2000 in front of him. Two other players call the $150 before C. C holds a pair of fives, and he calls too. C has about $1200 in front of him.

Two players after C calls the $150 bet which makes the pot one of the biggest in the whole night already. A then does something no one expects: he raises to $300. A has about $500 in front of him.

B thinks for a long while then he pushes all in. The other players all fold to C; C folds his cards very reluctantly. The action folds to A who as expected calls the all in.

They open cards: A has a pair of aces, B has ace-jack of hearts.

The flop is K-Q-5; turn is a ten and the river is another ten. B has made his straight and A leaves the table without saying a thing. B wins a lot of money in one hand.

If C has called the all in bet, he would have won the hand with a full house. For the rest of the evening, the whole table has to listen to C complaining about how the hand is played out. C feels that A does not know how to play poker; if A has raised to $150 with his first bet instead of just calling $20 with his pair of aces, B would have just called his $150 just like everyone else, and of course C would be able to get into the hand with $150 and get his full house. Therefore, theoretically C would be the winner if A has not played his hand poorly.

Do you agree with C?

My friend Andy is in Macau today playing poker; using business as an excuse, I go to Macau to see him play there.

When I see Andy at Starworld, he has already visit the Grand Waldo poker room; he said there is no players there at all. The Starworld poker room’s business is better than I thought. Apparently there are two factors that I have missed previously: Starworld poker room has unlimited free drink including red wine and whiskey, and they use some pretty girls as service attendants to help the players to change chips.

I still do not like the Starworld poker room, it is too small and crowded. The tables are smaller than the usual size and there is not enough room for the players. After playing a while, I and Andy go to Grand Lisboa.

The Grand Lisboa poker room has made some changes too. They have moved all the tables from a part of the casino floor to a separate corner all by itself. I think it is a very good move, now the players do not have the other casino games playing besides them. They now have 11 tables in total, and they have changed all the tables to new ones with automatic card shuffling machines, speeding up the games tremendously. Now the players will not change their chips at the poker table; they will do all the money changing at the cashier window at the side. I think all the changes are good move.

I think there are less players at Grand Lisboa than before, probably some of them are now playing in the other poker rooms. It seems the battle between the three Macau poker rooms is heating up; all this could only be good news for poker player here.

I decide to stay in Macau to play at Grand Waldo one more day before returning home. I lose to the same guy at the same table.

The local boy is actually quite a nice guy, he greet each other when I sit down again at the same table. It seems he is playing here every weekend, and he is a winning player. It has been quite a good day for me at the table actually, I win two big hands against other players, knocking one of them out. Everything is well until the dreadful against the local boy.

My cards are A-J of hearts. I raise to $100 and two players call including the local boy. I and the local boy are the high stacks at the table, I have about $3700 in front of me and the local boy probably has slightly more than me.

The flop has two hearts and a diamond, ten high.

The lady goes all in with her $340, I call her quickly. The local boy then bets $1000. He is putting pressure on me once again, reminds me on my hand yesterday.

I know he probably has something, maybe a pair. There is no straight draw, I put him on two pairs the best. Even if he has a set, if I make my flush draw he will be pretty much dead. Of course, I will still worry about him getting a full house.

I have make my decision, I want to win this hand, at least to force him to gamble with me. I move all in with my $3700. He takes a very long time to make his decision, and he moves all in too. Luck is still with him. There is no hearts on the turn and river, and he has make his full house.

I do not regret making my move. I have the nut flush draw, I know I only have about 30-40% chance to win, but I have done what I need to do at the poker table, and that is to gamble. If I have make a mistake, it is that I choose to play against the wrong player. Maybe I should have play against a weaker player.

It is time for me to go home, but I will return.

A losing day at Grand Waldo poker room, no luck at all.

I hold K-3 of clubs. There is a strong local player at the table which is killing everyone, two players have busted out because of him already. He is playing aggressively and he is getting good cards. He raises to $50, the player in front of me checks, and I check to it too.

The flop is all clubs, Jack high. I have make the flush draw I need.

The local guy checks, the player in front of me bets $100. I think for a while, and I bet $200, I think if one of them has the Ace of clubs, I will be reraised.

The local boy reraises to $500, and the player in front of me moves all in very quickly. Now there is a big problem for me.

I think one of them has the Ace of clubs, very big possibility but I am not sure who. I think it is highly unlikely all three of us have two clubs in our hand. It is possible but the chance is just too remote. I don’t think the player in front of me has two clubs, he has been playing wildly and he could have anything. Maybe he has two pairs or a set.

I think the local boy probably has the Ace of clubs, I need to decide whether his other card is also a club. Maybe he is reraise to force me to gamble. I think for a very long while, and I move all in, knowing that the local boy will call me because I only have $500 left in front of me. I am praying that there will be no clubs on the turn and the river.

The turn is the nine of clubs. I know I am dead.

The local boy asked me, ‘You have two clubs?’ He turns over his clubs of Ace and ten. I am behind him all the way.

I do not think I have made the wrong move. I could only lose to one card, and this is my chance to knock the best player out. I have very good cards but his cards are even nicer. Sometimes there are situations in poker that you just have to go bust. The odds and chance is that I will be better off if I go all in here, I would have win most of the hands.

Today is just not my day.

Macau has opened a third poker room at Starworld casino. This is good news for poker players here.

I find a chance to check it out today after my business trip. It took me a while to find it; there is not too much signage in the casino that shows the way to the room. It is separated from the main casino floor, situated by itself in a corner on the second floor. One will have to go through the casino floor to get to it.

There are about 7 or 8 tables. When I and my friends arrive, there is only one table playing 10/20 dollars. I find its positioning somewhere between the Grand Lisboa room and the Grand Waldo room. I do not like the Grand Lisboa room; the tables are among the casino games, and the staff is not professional enough. However, Grand Lisboa has the benefit of being the first in the market. On weekends, their tables are always full because most of the poker players in Macau started playing there.

Grand Waldo room, being organized and managed by Pokerstars, is the best I think. Very professional and well managed, it suffers from a poor location in Cotai. Starworld probably is better than Grand Waldo in this aspect. I do not find the starworld room professional enough. They use casino chips to play poker, which I found strange. When I arrive at the Grand Waldo room, there is always staff who will approach me who will proactively offer to help me to play the game I want. I and my friends stand at the Starworld room for 15 minutes watching the single table game there, and no staff ever approach us at all.

I think most of the poker players who do not want to travel to Cotai will continue to play at Grand Lisboa, while the high stakes player will play at Grand Waldo. The Starworld poker room will need to work harder to get better business. They are hosting the Asian Poker Tour event in late August which will probably help to get more new players.

My friends are starting to switch to canbet poker, the online poker site I have been using in the past month.

Eric has been playing for pokerstars for a while, and now he is changing to canbet. Sometimes poker can be quite boring if the players and the game is dragging on slowly. Eric feels that the canbet poker software is very quick and fast, and it seems that players on canbet is more beatable than some of the ultra tight players he finds on pokerstars. This is very consistent with my philosophy in poker: you do not need to be the best poker player on earth to win in poker, you just need to be better than the players on your table.

Andy has open an account with canbet also and tonight is the first time he plays on canbet. He likes the different colours on canbet: red for all in, orange for raising, yellow for folding, etc. It is very easy to recognize what each player is doing. Overall he feels the software on canbet is very good, much better than pokerstars. He thinks the two poker softwares are like two generations of poker, one is from the olden times and one is the modern one.

I think the two of them will continue to play on canbet. And of course I have a vested interest in doing so also. If we all play together on the same table, we know each other style and way to play the game, I think it will give us a slight advantage when we are playing against the other players on our table. Seems this will be fun.

Sometimes, the key to winning in poker has to do with the players at your table only, not the cards. You can win in poker without having good card.

On my first table tonight, the players are playing very tight. You can hardly see any players re-raising each other, and most of the pots are won without seeing the river card. I bet out very aggressively and managed to take many pots without having to showdown with any opponents. My result is good, I play to a point where I feel my opponents are a bit scared of playing against me. I feel good.

There are less players at my table so after playing for about an hour, I change to another table with eight players. Same game, same limits, but a big difference.

I try to play the same game as an hour ago, and I am crushed. These players never worry about your betting and raising, they are fearless. They can go all in their $1000 when there is only $40 in the pot. Sometimes, three or four players can go all in at the same time (and one of them will hold something like 7-10 offsuit or even worse). I cannot understand, but I lost my first $1000 very quickly.

I lost two buy ins and I need to change my game immediately. I play the patience game, going back to the basics, playing only hands that are potentially winning hands. And slowly but surely, I start to get my chips back. The reckless players will hand their chips over to me without me having to do too much. I almost get back everything I lost at this table; overall, it is still a winning day for me.

There is no one winning way to play poker; there are many. The winner can use the appropriate way to win the game at the appropriate time.

Yesterday I wrote: Poker is about human, not cards. Today I play online to try to put the theory into practice.

I watch how other players play their card. I start a bit cautiously and use about 30 minutes to draw an image and a profile of the players playing at my table. It is not easy in the beginning, and players join and leave the tables, but gradually I can put them into different categories, and I base my decision on what type of player I feel they are.

I try to play more aggressive then I usually am. I think after playing for many weeks on Macau’s poker rooms, I am becoming a more aggressive player. Sometimes it is only a fine line between aggressive and wild, but I feel I now have more confidence to determine when to bet aggressive and try to take the pot. The learning comes mainly from watching how other players play; it is very obvious that the chips on the table seem to flow continuous to players who can play aggressively. I have increases the number of times I raise and fold, and I seldom call.

I watch my position very carefully. Position plays a key role in determining what to do. With position, I can often do many things and take the pot. I need to be very careful when I am out of position. For a long period of time today, I always play when I am in position, and I think I do well there.

I start my online game with $1000, and after almost three hours, I leave my table with almost $4000. This is very good. I am starting to feel that I am a better player.

My friend Mark cannot understand how and why he plays a hand at a home game.

I am sitting opposite to him and I can see everything that happens. After the flop, his opposition checks to him. His stack is about the size of the pot, and the flop is 9-J-Q. Mark is in the lead (which after discussing with him after the game I can confirm it is true) and he needs to bet big to prevent his opposition from attempting to get a straight draw.

Mark needs to push all in. I have known Mark a long time; being a good friend and a buddy in my poker game, he is and will go all in and force his opposition to fold. Mark picks up his chips and starts counting them. And then, to my dismay, he checks.

The turn is an eight. The rest is history, Mark’s rival gets the straight draw and win the pot.

Mark has been playing well but he cannot understand what happens there. He thinks it is something psychological, even before the flop he is mentally prepared to push all in but at the crucial moment he fails to do it. He has been playing well all night but that hand changes a lot; and surely enough, after that hand, his play declines and he suffers a lot of losing hands after that.

Things like these happen to all poker players. Maybe he would still win the hand even if he checks there but surely it hurts his confidence. We do not need to re-emphasize the importance of confidence in this game. With most of the hands ending before all the cards are revealed, poker has a lot to do with self confidence and courage.

Poker is about human, not cards.

I am a losing poker player and I am wondering why.

I think I am doing well in tournament play, but I am wrong. I look at my record of playing in tournament, most of the time I do well, finishing in about top one third to one quarter of the field. This is not difficult if I play tight, but by the time I reach that phase, I am usually seriously short stacked that I virtually have no chance to win the tournament at all. The winners seem to be able to play much more aggressive than I do and they can consistently take my chips away. It is difficult for me to finish in the money.

My best game is in cash tables. This is where I can play a good solid game and be able to win some money. Sometimes this income is painfully hard and requires a lot of patience, but I am slowly realizing that this is how professional poker players make a living. If some people think that poker income is easy and exciting, they have watched too much poker TV. One basically needs to wait for your opponents to make a mistake to be able to get their chips.

The biggest problem comes when I am playing short handed. I lost my chips very quickly and I do not know why. I think I am not reading my rivals good enough, or maybe I simply have too little experience doing that. Most of the time I play 10 player tables, and I do not know what to do when there are only 2 or 3 of them. Short handed games on internet are played very quickly, a bit too quick for me. It seems I do not have the correct strategy to play in this situation. I need to find a solution quickly, otherwise it will be difficult for me to advance far in tournament play.

Which goes back to the basics: more studying and more practice.

For the second day in a row I play well in a free roll tournament online.

I have discovered a very good reason to play on canbet poker. Their free roll tournament rule is such that: everyone starts with 1000 chips in the tournament, but if you have played in their poker room in the past 24 hours, you can get extra chips according to the number of raked hands you have played, up to a maximum of 3000 bonus chips. I therefore start my game with 4000 chips compared with many rivals of mine who have to start with much fewer chips than me.

To be honest, I do not play the game for the prize: if I need to defeat more than 7,700 players to win US$67, then I do not understand why I am doing this. I think the experience of playing such big tournaments online will give me valuable experience that will be very useful in the future. I am looking forward to playing other types of tournaments in the future.

Back to the game, my first hand in the tournament is QQ; someone pushed all in against me with his 99, and he becomes the first casualty in the whole tournament. I look at the tournament information board, for a very brief moment I am ranked #1 among 7760 players in terms of chip count. It is my moment of glory.

I win a few battles and towards the first break, I have about 19,000 chips, much better than average. I am contemplating when to make my next move. I lost a crucial head up with my two pairs versus a straight, and the distance between the chip leaders and me becomes very big.

With about 15,000 chips in my hand, I play my 4-5 versus the chip leader at my table who has over 75,000 chips. Flop is 5-6-8, and when a second 5 appears on the turn I know it is my time to push all in. The chip leader calls me and he has a flush draw. The dreaded fifth clubs falls on the river which ends my tournament life.

353th out of 7760 players, I am quite happy with how I play today. I know I need to play more often to get ready for the big tournaments in September.

I am playing in a freeroll tournament on canbet poker: an $500 freeroll tournament. 6508 entries, I cannot believe it.

I have never play in such a big tournament before; I mostly play cash games and live games at the casino poker rooms in Macau, but I was discussing with Andy yesterday and he suggested that it is a good experience to play in some online tournaments before trying our luck in the APPT Macau in September.

Cash games and tournament playing are very different. In cash games, patience is a big element; sometimes you are just not getting the good cards, and when some other players are in a hot streak, you just have to let them cool down first before taking them on. In tournament you cannot do that; the tournament is structured so that you are forced to play and gamble even with less than ideal cards.

Having said that, I do not think playing in tournaments are difficult, or I should say, it is not difficult to finish high up in a tournament. Within my very young tournament career, my experience says if you play tighter and just sit and wait, about half of the field will be eliminated in one way or the other before you. With decent playing tactics, it should be easy to finish in the top 25-30% of the field. However, winning a tournament will always be difficult and requires a lot of luck.

I am playing very well and maintaining myself around the top 200th place when I lost a major showdown: my AK cannot beat a pair of sevens. I am reduced to below average stack and from there on I am playing the survival game.

When there are only about 500 players left, I start to feel that maybe I have a chance to cash. Top 260 players can cash in the tournament. The blinds are increasing very quickly, and most of the short stack players are playing very tight, trying to cash if there is no chance to win. I got KQ and I decide that is my moment of truth. I push all in, and is called by a rival with A9. A nine on the flop kills my tournament life. I am out at 334th place.

Better luck next time.

Mr. X raises to $100. Mr. X is the chip leader at the table. He is playing a bit cautiously but luck is turning his way and he has win a few nice hands in the last hour. He has something nice in his hands I believe.

Mr. Y calls. Mr. Y is the chip leader at one point with over $6000. He lost two big hands to me, an AJ vs my AA, and an AK vs my JJ. I feel he is not that happy with his luck there, I feel he is playing on tilt. He could have anything, but I suspect he does not have a pair, maybe only a small pair. If he got a middle pair or above, I feel he will raise to $250 or $300. I put him on just one ace.

I got pair eights. I think for a very very long time. I hope that Mr. Y has a small pair so I have him cover, but I think it is likely he has an ace. Mr. X has a nice hand but it could be anything. If he has a big pair I am in serious trouble. I am not quite sure if my eights can beat both of them. After a very long while, I call. I have some chips in my hand and I am the last to act among them, everyone else folds. I am really hoping to see a third eight on the flop to win.

The flop is A-8-7 no flush draw. Oh my god this is almost a perfect flop for me. The eight is very good but the ace conceals my hand too.

Mr. X bets $300 very quickly. I don’t think he has pair sevens. I am sure he has an ace, maybe pair aces. Of course I am worrying that but does Mr. Y has an ace too?

Mr. Y raises to $650 pretty quickly too. OK he is not on a small pair. If he has sevens then it is perfect for me but I don’t think so. Maybe he has pair aces then? I don’t know but that will mean all four aces are in play, what is the chance of that? My trip eights is looking good. I thought about reraising to check out any pair aces out there, but I change my mind. I call. We are the three players with the most chips on the table. Oh no there will be a lot of chips in this pot for sure.

The turn is another eight. Wonderful; I try my very best to hide my emotions.

Mr. X bets $300 again. I am not hoping that he has pair aces but I don’t think so. It seems he is a bit concern about the pair eights on the table.

Mr. Y think for two seconds then go all in for his $1120. If he has pair aces it will be a dream come true for me. I count my chips and call. I have $530 left, and Mr. X has more than me.

Mr. X thinks for a very long while. I am very sure I am winning this hand, and I am praying that he will call. I am worried that my quick call there has scared him off, but I am too excited. Mr. Y is dead for sure but this is probably the only chance I have to win a very big pot.

The good news arrives; Mr. X calls. I am now thinking how to reveal my cards to make my victory looks nice.

Nothing on the river, he checks, I all in my $530 and Mr. X has committed too much money and is forced to call. He reveals AK. Mr. Y has AQ. I win over $5000 in one hand. This is one of my biggest victory in my short amateur poker player career.

My only mistake is: next time I should have a camera ready when playing poker.