Silver Star...cold decking and getting decked

I qualified for Silver Star status on Poker Stars this month which seems to get me a whole lot of nothing. I had to miss the big Turbo Takedown on Sunday while playing golf. That seems like a decent deal for 5000 FPP's I can enter a tournament with a $1 Million prize pool and almost half the field get's paid something. Unfortunately that would be almost all of my points, but maybe it will get easier now that I have the 1.5 multiplier working for me.

They also seem to have weekly and monthly tourneys for my VIP status, but the problem is that playing a tournament with 5,000-10,000 other players could take all day. I really don't have that kind of time. I think I'll give it another month and then make a more informed decision.

I have been treading water lately. I had been doing well short stacking 1-2 NL on Stars, but losing it back in the 180 man turbos.

Last night I went back to my deep stack .50-1 NL tables. It was a swingy night due to two hands.

Here was my excellent start about 5 hands into the night:


Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: larryvq ($100)
Seat 2: Perdix80 ($108.75)
Seat 3: Malsuerte ($103) -
Seat 4: Hamad_dk ($136.25) -
Seat 5: nazkev01 ($521.75) -
Seat 6: DuckDuckFish ($98.50)


PRE-FLOP:

Hamad_dk posts small blind $0.50
nazkev01 posts BIG blind $1
Dealt To: larryvq


RAISE DuckDuckFish ($4)
CALL larryvq ($4)
FOLD Perdix80
FOLD Malsuerte
CALL Hamad_dk ($3.50)
FOLD nazkev01


FLOP:

Pot: $13


CHECK Hamad_dk
BET DuckDuckFish ($9)
RAISE larryvq ($18)
CALL Hamad_dk ($18)
RAISE DuckDuckFish ($94.50)
CALL larryvq ($76.50)
RAISE Hamad_dk ($132.25)
CALL larryvq ($1.50)


TURN:

Pot: $362.75




RIVER:

Pot: $362.75




SHOWDOWN:
Hamad_dk:

larryvq:

MUCK DuckDuckFish

larryvq collected $3 from side pot 1larryvq collected $293.5 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $299Main pot: $293
Side pot: $3
Rake: $3

Final Board:


Seat 1: larryvq showed [7d 7s] and won 296.50 with a full house, Sevens full of Sixes - Net Gain/Loss: ($274.5)
Seat 2: Perdix80 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: Malsuerte button folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 4: Hamad_dk small blind showed [Jc Qc] and lost with two pair, Sixes and Threes - Net Gain/Loss: ($-20)

Seat 5: nazkev01 big blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-1)
Seat 6: DuckDuckFish mucked [9c 9s] - Net Gain/Loss: ($-98)



Then towards the end of my session, all my profits went away in one hand:


Free hand converter brought to you by CardRunners

Seat 1: larryvq ($230.85) - ( 200.00% / 100.00% / 2.00/ 1)
Seat 2: mygirlkristy ($27.90) ( 0.00% / 0.00% / 0.00/ 1)
Seat 3: bballjm ($219) (34% / 30% / 2.8/ 50)
Seat 4: edsall78 ($44.20) ( 0.00% / 0.00% / 0.00/ 1)
Seat 5: Garrin4e ($185.50) - ( 0.00% / 0.00% / 0.00/ 1)
Seat 6: FRUIT_BAGEL ($99) - ( 0.00% / 0.00% / 0.00/ 1)


PRE-FLOP:

FRUIT_BAGEL posts small blind $0.50
larryvq posts BIG blind $1
Dealt To: larryvq


FOLD mygirlkristy
RAISE bballjm ($4)
FOLD edsall78
FOLD Garrin4e
FOLD FRUIT_BAGEL
RAISE larryvq ($14)
RAISE bballjm ($38)
CALL larryvq ($24)


FLOP:

Pot: $81.5


CHECK larryvq
BET bballjm ($45)
RAISE larryvq ($192.85)
CALL bballjm ($136)


TURN:

Pot: $455.35




RIVER:

Pot: $455.35




SHOWDOWN:
larryvq:

bballjm:


bballjm collected $435.5 from main pot

SUMMARY:
Total pot: $438 Rake: $3

Final Board:


Seat 1: larryvq big blind showed [Kd Kc] and lost with a pair of Kings - Net Gain/Loss: ($-174)
Seat 2: mygirlkristy folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 3: bballjm showed [Ad Ac] and won 435.50 with a pair of Aces - Net Gain/Loss: ($226.5)

Seat 4: edsall78 folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 5: Garrin4e button folded before Flop didnt bet - Net Gain/Loss: ($0)
Seat 6: FRUIT_BAGEL small blind folded before Flop - Net Gain/Loss: ($-0.5)


I don't really see how I could have got away from this one. If the guy had been playing a little tighter I may not have gone for the check raise on the flop, but I was miles ahead of most of this guy's range of hands. Of course it could be argued that the only hand that calls my check raise is one I lose to. However if I just lead out, I don't give him a chance to bluff on the flop. That is why this game is so interesting. There is an opportunity on every hand for endless second guessing and 20/20 hindsight.