I have been playing poker regularly for over three years at Fulltiltpoker.eu online poker and have never been the “gambler” type. Normally I play rather for smaller amounts, which can go from a few cent up to 20 or 30 euro. That has to consequence that also the profits and losses keep themselves mostly within limits and do not go too strongly on the purse. And since you often have bad and good hands alternating on a normal evening, I usually swing out everything – what I lose one evening, I make up for the next.

However, a few months ago there was a poker evening which was anything but normal for me and which I won’t forget so quickly. It all started pretty common: around 7pm I logged into Fulltiltpoker.eu and sat down at a random table. My first hand that night wasn’t very good (just an ace and a seven), but because it was the first hand, I didn’t want to throw it away and play it. The stakes weren’t very high either, so I didn’t give it much thought. When the game finally went into the fourth round and the river card was played, the best I could do with it was a simple pair with a seven from the flop. Still, I stuck to it and dared to bluff. I made a double bet and could make the remaining two opponents so insecure that they dropped out and I could win the first 5 Euro of the evening with a not very good starting hand. The atmosphere was a little bit elevated. What followed was actually crazy – the whole evening I had almost only really good cards on my hand. Sometimes it was a couple of kings, then I had 10 and ace or sometimes seven and eight and then I got a straight on the river. Every time I won a round, I got a little more courageous and wanted to make the most of my incredible card luck that evening. From the initial small bets I had said goodbye quite quickly and after an hour I was already moving in the area where I started with 20 euros and then worked my way up. I had already won a good 400 Euro and my luck just didn’t seem to want to break off that evening. And then I got the Queen of Spades and the Queen of Clubs on my hand and a Queen of Diamonds was on the flop. That was just too good to be true. I went along, raised the stakes (after all, I wanted to win as much as possible with the hand) and then had only one player against me on the river. On the table there was – beside the queen of diamonds – a three of clubs, an eight of clubs, a king of clubs and a two of hearts. So it wasn’t a special river and I was sure of my victory, so I used all my winnings on the previous evening (as I said almost 400 Euro plus my starting credit of about 35 Euro) and went all in. My opponent only had the choice to play out all his credit or to fold. Had it been the other way round, I probably would have dropped out at that point, but my opponent also went All In, which surprised me a bit, as I didn’t find the cards on the table very “strong” or “happy”.

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When our two hands were uncovered, it was clear why the other player had been there. He had a two and a six in his hand – in cross! So he had a flush and I “only” had a triplet. He won the pot and I had lost my entire win of the evening in one fell swoop. At first, I would have liked to cry out loud about the nice money, but I was really stiff from the shock. It took me a few minutes to catch myself again and then I logged out for the evening. It was only gradually that I realized what had happened and of course I was disappointed, sad and angry (mainly at myself) at first, but this round and the bitter loss taught me something: in poker you should never underestimate the cards, even if they seem to be bad! Because you can never know for sure what the other player has in his hand, so you should never just keep your own cards in mind, but always think about what an opponent might be playing.

After my “shock experience” I first took a break from poker, but after three or four weeks I got back in again and regularly sat at the online tables again. I don’t play more cautiously or anything, but now I always think about what my opponent might have on his hand and weigh up how far I’m going to go so I don’t have to experience another defeat like that.

 
Experience report written by Peter M., 35 years old, from Halle an der Saale