First hand of a $10+1 SNG on Party last night, I get 77, one guy raises to 125 and there's 4 callers, I'm near the button, so I throw it all in. Comes back around and the raiser calls and so does 1 other person.

I'm up against AK(hearts) and QQ ouch

Flop is 3 K 7 with 2 hearts, Turn brings the J of hearts. River is a King.

I win 2465 on the first hand. I'm thinking I've got the money locked up right?

I get down to 4 players I have 3500, 2nd in chips has 3000, the other two are around 750 each. I get A of hearts 10 of clubs.

Flop is heads up me and 2nd in chips. Flop is As 10h Jh I check to slow play, and the guy bets into me 500, I call Turn is 8h, I again check, this time the guy pushes all in. I've been watching this guy all tournament and he loves stealing when scare cards come. I call.

He turns over 9h10s, middle pair and 4 flush.

The river? How about the Queen of hearts.

My hand flopped top two pair, improved to the nut flush, then lost to a straight flush on the river by a guy that was drawing to 2 outs. I'm down to like 500 in chips, have to take the BB, get dealt 74o and am raised all in. I fold and am blinded out.

Talk about a rough beat, especially after starting so well. I guess that shows the potential downfall to my tournament style, I play to win, not just make it in the money. I could have just blinded off chips to make the top 3 but winning these SnG's is what helps my bottom line. Plus, playing with 6500 of 8000 chips on the table with 2 other people would have been a cakewalk, as they would probably fight for second. Oh well, that's poker!

On a side note: Our new site for poker players Rake-Back.com is going strong! If you are a poker player like myself please consider joining our program, you can get literally hundreds of dollars back each month from the online card rooms.

Rake-Back.com has made arrangements with many of the most popular online poker rooms, (Party Poker, Empire Poker, Poker Room, etc.), we help the poker rooms grow and promote online poker by sending new players to their sites, in return the card rooms give us a percentage of the rake they take from the players we send to them. We feel that it is only fair to share that money with the people who paid it in the first place, YOU THE PLAYER! When you signup with one of our partners through us, we are able to track the amount of rake you contributed each month. At the end of each month, we pay you 50-75% of the money the card rooms send to us based on your level of play.

Check out the site or e-mail me for info.




--Chris Falco