Sunday morning we had breakfast at a different spot on the Boardwalk and my French toast with bacon was considerably better then the previous day's "bad beat" eggs. I was pretty quiet throughout breakfast as I tried to think about strategies for the upcoming tournament at the Hilton. The structure sounded really good; 5000 starting chips and 30 minute blinds starting at 25/50. I had a feeling they might double the blinds every level though, because for 60+15 I couldn't imagine that they would want the tourney to go all day and night. So, it was clear that I would need to accumulate chips.

Kevin and Rich had also been having a rough go at the tables and we decided it would be best to do a 60/20/20 chop for this tournament as an attempt to hedge our bets.

We got to the Hilton with plenty of time to spare and signed up for the tourney. Rich jumped into a 2-4 limit game while Kev and I sat around watching the mini-baccarat table and talking about the trip so far. It had been a rough experience, but we were optimistic about the tourney. The field looked pretty soft.

Rich and I drew the same first table and Kevin was seated at a table behind us, where he started chirping his opponents straight away. At one point, he apparently offered to trade seats with someone else at his table for 10 bucks. The guy agreed and the floor had to be called over to stop the deal. Rich and I were just cracking up at our table!

As I predicted the structure moved very quickly. We went from 25-50 to 50-100 to 100-200-25. That's right, antes came in on the third level! So, as planned, I started running over the field early and Rich was bemoaning the fact that I had position on him. What can I say? Them's the breaks, kid!

The rest of the table featured quite the cast of characters. The guy to my right was an arrogant, wealthy "free-mason", who relished in his own "Canuck" jokes. Meanwhile, the player to my left was a sweet, middle-aged small-town man who was apparently colour-blind and had a lot of trouble distinguishing the chips. At one point he meant to call one of my bets but threw in the wrong chips and ended up accidentally raising instead. It folded back to me and I just pushed all-in with my AQo. Rich laughed at me and the colour blind man mucked his hand. It sounds like an asshole thing to do, but in fairness, the man had been warned twice already and both Rich and I appealed to the dealer when the chips went in, asking for it to simply be declared a call given the guy's disability. So, I didn't really feel bad.

Things were going well and I was building a nice stack until a few calling stations got moved to my table and I bled away some chips to them. Before I knew it, we were down to three tables and I was being moved to another table. I was UTG, six handed on my new table and with the blinds and Antes climbing I felt like if I paid one more round of blinds I would lose all folding equity, so I moved in with a suited connector, 6♦7♦. I got called in two places by pocket tens and KQo but managed to make a straight and triple up. From that point on, I was unstoppable! I bullied the timid players and trapped the calling stations to get the chip lead. When we got to the final table bubble I was merciless, raising and re-raising with reckless abandon. It was very clear that most of the players on my table did not want to bust before making the money and I re-enforced their behaviour by commenting, "there's lots of short stacks on the other table" and "wow, this is exciting, we're almost in the money."

By the time we got to the final table I had about 35% of the chips in play. There were tons of short stacks and they fell to the wayside pretty quickly. The most interesting hand at the final table came when we were three handed. The button limped, the SB completed and I checked in the BB with 8-2. I was very suspicious of the button limp, this player had generally been raising his button pretty consistently. The flop came 8-5-5 rainbow. Pretty good for my hand. The SB lead for about half the pot and my suspicions about the button made me just call instead of raising to see where I was at. The button folded and the turn came a Jack. The SB pushed immediately. I leaped off my chair! I felt like I had really misplayed the hand, the pot had gotten huge and the SB had to move in on the turn no matter what and he knew it. I counted my chips and realized that the call might lose me the chip lead, but it would still be very close and both me and the SB would have the other player way out chipped. I tanked it for quite a while and decided that the SB was capable of pushing here on a bluff (like Ace high). So, I called. He showed K8 and I failed to improve. In retrospect, I think raising the flop would have given me the information I needed and allowed me to get away from the hand.

After that hand we took a 10 minute break and I used the time to calculate a 3-way chop based upon stack sizes. The 3rd place player was quite short compared to me and the other guy and it turned out that a chop wouldn't really be worth it for him. When we got back to the table, after break, I showed everyone the numbers and the third place guy refused a deal. I don't blame him, it just wasn't worth it for him to accept. So, the first hand after the break, short-stack moves in and I call with KJo. He sows QTs and I spike my King on the flop to seal the deal. At that point, I had the chip lead with 135K in chips vs. 115K in chips, but the blinds were 5k-10k-2k and we're going to 10k-20k-3k. So I felt like it was bingo and agreed to a chop where I got 880$ and my opponent got 833$. I thought it was fair and was overjoyed at my finish.

Kev and Rich failed to cash in the tourney, but were happy to get a piece of my win. They both played very well, but the structure really forced a lot of action and they fell victim to a continued bad run of cards.

With this win, after paying Kev and Rich their share, I had a little under 1000$ and I decided that I wanted to take one more crack at the Borgata. I was gonna buy-in for 300$ and have two more 300$ buy-ins behind. But first, it was time for a nice sit down meal.

Kevin has a very finicky palette, but was adamant about finding a nice sit-down place. We asked the valet if he knew a good Italian spot and he recommended "Angelo's". We hopped in a cab and I had a delicious seafood ravioli. Unfortunately, Kevin didn't find much on the menu that he could enjoy. Knowing him as well as I do, I can assure this was by far his worse "bad beat" of the trip. Never the less, he handled it well and had some apps, while Rich and I chowed down. Rich was gracious enough to pick up the tab (thanks, dude, next one's on me) and we were soon off to the Borgata.

The Borgata was less crowded than it had been, since Monday was not a holiday. I sat at a very aggressive 2-5 table. The first hand I played saw me raising 35$ on the button with KQs and getting one limp-caller from mid-position. The flop came K high and I lead for 50$. My opponent flatted and then he lead the turn for 50$. I called and then called again when he bet 75$ on a rag river. He showed, AK and took it down. I think I lost minimum, but when your buyin is 300$, losing 210$ is substantial. I topped up to 500$ at this point, figuring a 300$ stack was insufficient for the stacks I was playing against and the level of aggression at the table.

I got no cards or a long while and eventually found myself raising on the button with pocket 4s in an unopened pot. The BB called and the flop came A-K-6, he checked and I made my con-bet. He called and I shut down, at showdown he showed 5-6 for bottom pair and I was forced o muck. The player to my left said "hmm" and the very next hand I made it 25$ to go on the CO with AJs. The player to my left, on the button, made it 75$ to go and I was sure he was re-raising very weak because of the earlier hand. I flatted him to be safe and the flop came 7-T-J with two diamonds. I check-called a 25$ bet from him and when the river came an Ace we got it all-in. He showed 89o for a flopped straight. In retrospect, I played that hand pretty badly. My first instinct pre-flop was to re-raise him. It's not something I would normally do with AJs but I had a very strong read that I could move him off his hand and I should have gone with it. Looking back that whole last session at 2-5 saw me playing scared and weak. I was at an aggressive table and I missed some opportunities because I was afraid of going home broke. After losing the AJ hand, I left the table, down about 800$ on the session.

Rich and Kev were not ready to leave yet and so I wandered around the casino and landed in the "B-Bar" at Borgata (a trendy little Casino hot-spot with beautiful people and loud music). I ordered up my favourite drink, a Godfather, which surprisingly the bar-tender knew exactly how to make. In fact, it was one of the better Godfathers I had ever had. While I sat there I contemplated the events of the last few days. The first question I asked myself was, "was this a business trip for me, or a vacation?". Looking back on my behaviour, I felt like in a lot of ways, I treated this as a business trip. I felt the need to play even when I was tired and unfocused, as if being at the table was like attending some mandatory meeting. I did nothing but eat and play poker. I never set aside any time or money for just relaxing, going out and being a tourist. I was sitting in this bar, watching everyone have a good time and party it up and I felt like I had missed out on that aspect of this trip. The next question I asked myself was, "did I have a good time" and the honest answer was, "yes". I laughed it up with some good friends and I love playing poker and seeing different card rooms, etc... Also, even though I lost in the neighbourhood of 3000$, it was all money that came from poker and it would have no real impact on my life in terms of paying the bills and so on.

I went to fetch Kev and Rich and found them both sitting at a 3-6 limit table. They convinced me to sit with them and I played well and yucked it up with the boys. Unfortunately, I witnessed Rich getting runner-runnered 3 times in the span of like 15 minutes. I realized that no matter how bad it goes for you at the table, it's always going worse for someone else. The fact that the "someone else" in this case happened to be a good friend of mine was disheartening and the last night in AC saw a bit of tension mount in the hotel room afterwards. Fundamentally you had 3 guys all of whom had been losing and taking a proverbial beating all week-end and a bit of a blow-up was inevitable. This is where I really feel like we should have done something other than play poker all week-end. The good news is that all matters were resolved quite amicably and the ride home was pleasant.

I know this, when I take my next poker vacation, I am going to make sure it really is a "vacation" and set aside time and money for something other than poker. I won't force myself to play and if things don't go my way, I'll just find something else to do for a while.

Overall, it was a good experience and I'll definitely go back some day. For now, I have the WSOP to look forward to as I follow my friend Marc Karam on his quest for a bracelet. Thanks for reading my 3-part odyssey, hopefully it helps you on your own poker journeys as well.

After donating the last bit of gambling money I had budgeted for the day to a ridiculous spinning wheel, I headed back to the hotel alone. When I got there, I took a shower to wash off the bad beats and the bad play and went to bed. Kevin and Rich stormed in a few hours later with nothing good to report.

Saturday morning after we awoke we decided a real breakfast was in order. So we got ready and headed down to the boardwalk. We found a diner with an all day breakfast and Rich and I were treated to the worst eggs we've ever eaten. Despite the quality of the food, all three of us managed to laugh and share bad beat stories. Rich was getting brutalized at the limit tables and Kevin wasn't having much luck either. At this point I had no aspirations of getting even for the trip. I just wanted to book a winning session and get my confidence back. We walked along the boardwalk and found ourselves in the Tropicana's poker room. If the Taj was aged, the Trop was ancient. It was a small, dark, cramped room with a bunch of old fossils at every table. Neither Kevin or I had any desire to play there. Rich eventually agreed and we headed further down the boardwalk to the Hilton.

The Hilton poker room was small, clean and well kept. Nothing special, but a decent room none the less. The crowd seemed to be mostly regulars though and they had no 2-5 games going. But Rich and Kevin were contemplating signing up for their 2pm tourney. 5000 in starting chips with 30 minute blinds starting at 25-50 seemed like a good deal for a 60+15. I wasn't really in the mood for a tourney so I put my name on the interest list for 2-5 and then Rich picked up a complimentary magazine from their bin and said, "Hey isn't this your issue?". Sure enough, there was Gavin Griffin in all his pink haired glory on the cover of an advanced copy of CardPlayer magazine and inside was my piece on Myst talking about Monte Carlo. It was great to see my name listed as an author inside the pages of a "big time" publication like CardPlayer and it lifted my spirits a bit. The article came out great! While I was reading it though, Rich and Kevin realized that today's tourney was actually a 200+25 and they didn't want to play. I suggested we return to the Borgata and then consider playing the 60+15 on Sunday instead. They agreed and we were off to find a cab.

When we got to the Borgata, I made a b-line to the poker room like a man on a mission. I was determined to play well and book a winning session. I played for 13 hours at a fast and loose table. I just waited for opportunities to show down the best hand in big pots and tried to catch people overplaying their cards. I was doing well and then came the following hand.

I looked down at QQ in middle position and made it 35$ to go. The button and the cut-off both called. The flop came 2-3-4 with 2 clubs and I lead out for 85$. The cut-off folded and the button called. The turn came a 5 of clubs. I bet 120$ and the button moved all-in for 200$ more. I went into the tank. Basically, the board is about as disgusting as they come. Virtually any drawing hand that the button calls me with hit the turn. But this player was all about aggressive, suicidal bluffs. I had already called him down with a bottom end straight on a 3-card flushing board and been correct. I knew he was capable of sticking his chips in with almost nothing, just based on the board texture. I had the clock called on me. I was really taking my time to make the decision, sweating him out. I didn't let the clock phase me. I just examined my opponent and started stacking my chips. He did not want me to call and when it started to look like I was going for it, he gave me a pretty strong physical tell that sealed the deal. I moved my chips in and he looked sick. He started to say, "I just have... " as the dealer dealt the final card, a red 7, "... two pair!" and he showed me the 5-7 of spades in his hand for yet another sickening river suck out. I did not handle this one very well. I slammed my cards face up on the table and said, "how fucking sick a call is that, I mean what the fuck!" and I stormed off.

I'm really not proud of the way I dealt with that beat, but I am happy that I was able to focus and come to the right decision in a pretty difficult spot. I was able to collect myself and return to the table, calm and ready to play. I still had a little over a buy-in in my stack even after that last hand so I went back to the grind. My string of lousy cards continued but I managed to stave off the "poker slots" phenomenon until I finally looked down at AA on the button. What a site for soar eyes! There was a raise to 15$ early and two callers, so I re-popped it to 60$ and got one caller in late position. The flop came Q-7-4 and the caller check-raised me all in after I bet 150$, I had over 400$ behind and I had him cover by about 60$, so his all-in was for about 340$ more. I sat there and tried to analyse the situation. It was a rainbow board and I had only ever seen him slow play his monsters. That bet from that opponent really made no sense to me. After some thought, I reasoned that he had to be bluffing. I called. The turn brought a 6 and the river another Queen. He proudly said, "boat!" and flipped over Q-6. Once again, I had made the right read and was ahead when the money went in only to get sucked out on and lose most of my stack. I picked up my 60$ and left the table fuming. I walked by Kevin shaking the meager stack of chips in my hand and said, "money saved is money earned, right?" and I just kept walking. He called me back over to him and said, "No 'click, click, click'" referring to my "wheel of misfortune" adventure from the previous night. I told him not to worry, I wouldn't be doing that again. He said he had managed to get unstuck a little and was ready to leave. We convinced Rich to come back with us too and went out to hail a cab.

We got to our room around 10:30pm and by the time we got back in, the boys were ready to go out and gamble again. I had cooled off on the cab ride, but my bankroll for the trip had severely dwindled. The boys convinced me to come with them to the Taj and play some 1-2. So, off we went again.

I sat down at a 1-2 table and basically ran over the game. It was as if all these players had started reading the same poker book and they were all on about Chapter three, while I was doing stuff from Chapters four and fine and robbing them blind in the process. They let me exploit position, float flops, lead draws, control pot sizes, it was wonderful. I quickly built my stack to just over 500$ before any of them caught on and then disaster struck. It was well after 2am, I was tired and started lose focus and they merged our table with another one. The new players just called me down and I quickly lost back most of my profit, because my lack of focus didn't allow me to switch gears soon enough to stop the bleeding. Nevertheless, I ended the session with a bit of a profit (about half a buy-in) and I was feeling a bit better. We headed back to bed so we'd be rested for Sunday, which by now we had decided was gonna be tourney day at the Hilton.

For about a year or so my friend Kevin and I had bandied about the notion of embarking on a road trip to Atlantic City. We both love live poker and road trips with friends — even ones as long as a trek from Ottawa to A.C. — can be lots of fun. So, it only made sense that we would eventually find our way down to the east coast's poker Valhalla. We decided that this past long weekend would be the perfect time to go and we took Thursday afternoon and all of Friday off work so we could get the most out of our trip. We also picked up a third card nut in the form of our buddy Rich to join us in our little excursion.

In preparation for this trip, Kevin and I had made a few trips to the Akwesasne Casino near Mesena just south of the border. We had both done well at 1/2 and 2/5 NL respectively. I found the 2/5 game at Akwesasne pretty easy to beat and started building a nice little bankroll for our trip. Last weekend, I took it a step further and joined some friends at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York. I did well there too and my confidence was at an all time high. I was making great reads and playing quite well. The only thing that bugged me about my play in Turning Stone was that when I found myself in a situation where I was clearly the second best player at the table, I tended to go after the best player at the table far more than I should have. It was an ego thing and, in general, there is no room for ego when you are trying to make the most profitable decisions on the felt.

We left the city around 3pm and the drive to Atlantic City was relatively uneventful. We stopped for dinner at Pizza Hut along the way and by about 11pm the horizon slowly began to reveal an impressive array of hotels and casinos. The bright mesmerizing lights were like the shimmering and jingling of a set of keys overhead and we were like babies gazing up with shear joy at the wonderful sights and sounds. We were giddy. The excitement in the car was palpable and even Kevin, who had earlier been the voice of reason and made a very convincing argument for just checking into the hotel and hitting the casino's early and fresh the next morning, had succumb to the lure of the bright lights.

In that moment as we approached the city, the atmosphere was fraught with portent. Our big score could be waiting for us in one of those casinos. We were on the precipice of a great adventure and we all felt that an untold fortune may be within reach. Of course, this is all pretty silly. I mean we are three rational, intelligent human beings and we know that poker has its ups and downs and that to expect a huge windfall from one week-end is wholly unrealistic. Nevertheless the barrage of imagery and marketing surrounding places like Atlantic City that we've all been exposed to certainly did their job effectively as we "oohed" and "aahhed" at the fast approaching epicentre of gambling goodness.

By about 12:30am, we found ourselves in the poker room at one of Atlantic City's oldest and best known Casinos, the Trump Taj Mahal. The room was enclosed in glass and featured at least 35 tables and everything from the felt and the chairs to the staff and the patrons felt aged and worn. Kevin signed up for 1/2 NL, Rich for 2/4 limit and myself for 2/5 NL. I was called to a table at around 1am. I sat down with a crowd of mostly regulars, all of whom had pretty big stacks. It was clear that the fish had all been devoured by now and all that was left were local grinders and visiting degenerates, who know a thing or two about the game. I was exhausted after the long trip and it was silly of me to even be there. Whithin a few hours I had managed to lose a little more than a buy-in and it was clearly time to go. I don't remember any hands from that session, but I know I certainly wasn't at my best and I'm sure the losses were due to my fatigue more than anything else. In fact, all three of us were tired and we all lost money that night.

Kevin woke me the next day with a crusty muffin and a stale danish from the complimentary "continental breakfast" in the lobby of our hotel. The Super 8, just off the boardwalk where we were staying was pretty "ghetto", but hey we were there to gamble, so luxury accomodations were not necessary. To our surprise, Rich was nowhere to be found. We got a call from him shortly after breakfast letting us now that he had made his way to Ceasar's Palace and was doing well in a limit game there. We got ready and headed out to join him.

Ceasar's has one of the newer poker rooms in Atlantic City and it's a nice place, but considerably smaller than the Taj's room. I found the tables a little smaller than usual and the action line left very little space for stacking and staging your chips. I sat at a 2/5 NL game and having slept, I was playing quite well. It wasn't long before I had doubled my buy-in and then I lost a hand or two to get me to about 850$ when the following occurred.

The hijack open-raised for 35$ and was called by the cut off and the button. I looked down at AK in the small blind and re-popped it 135$, figuring I could pick up the dead money. To my surprise, the BB flat called me, leaving himself only 200$ behind. The rest of the field folded and the flop came K-3-4 rainbow. I put the BB all in right away, since there was already over 300$ in the pot. He insta-called me and after the turn and river brought rags, I was expecting him to show me pocket aces. Needless to say I was flabergasted when he revealed 3-4 suited for a flopped two pair. This was to be the first of many examples of the worst poker I have ever seen played anywhere in my life. I mean the guy called 130$ cold with 4 high! After that hand, I decided it was best to just take my profit — a whopping 55$ — and get the hell out of there before I steamed off my whole stack. Besides, the boys were hungry and it was time for lunch.

We decided to head to the Borgata and eat there. We hopped in a cab and made our way to Atlantic City's newest and by far nicest property. The Borgata is leaps and bounds ahead of any other place we saw in A.C. It's very upscale, filled with beautiful people and modern decor and the poker room is just out of this world. It is massive, with what seems like over 100 tables, all clean and new. There is an abundance of staff (managers and floorpeople) to help you out. The chairs are super comfy and have height adjustment and wheels for mobility, with a thick foam seat and no arm rests to accomodate even the most rotund of patrons.

The clientelle was considerably younger, filled with "online pros" and brand-name gangstars with their oversized jewellery and hip-hop attire. The 2/5 game I sat in was fast and loose, the players were terrible and I watched pots swell to over a thousand dollars where the winning hand was just top pair, good kicker. I played conservatively and tried to set mine, I got dealt small pairs often enough, but never hit my set. I was able to keep my stack relatively even, picking up small pots when I could. Then came a hand where I got dealt KK under the gun. I open-raised to 35$ and got two callers including the big blind. The flop came Q-J-4 with two diamonds. I lead for 100$ and the BB called. The turn brought an offsuit 9 and the BB checked. I bet another 100$ and he moved in for another 240$. I had about 300$ behind so I was basically put to a decision for my whole stack. It was a scary board and I only had one pair, but I had been playing with this guy for a while and the only reason he had a stack was because he'd been caught bluffing a few times and sucked out. Everything about his demeaner made me think he was bluffing and really didn't want a call. I finally shoved my chips in and the river brought an offsuit Ace. I showed him my pocket kings and he said, "You're good." I was relieved for a split second until he followed it up with "Oh no. Wait. That's right. I forgot. I have an Ace". He flipped over A-8 off suit for a busted gutshot with a rivered pair of aces. I said, "Oh my God... are you serious?!" and stormed off to take a walk around the Casino and cool off.

When I returned, the player who had beaten me with the Ace apologised profusely, explaining that he was so focused on his straight draw that he totaly forgot he had the Ace. I told him I wasn't mad at him, more at the suituation. I knew he didn't do it on purpose and when I have that good a read on someone, the last thing I want to do is make him leave by berrating or embarassing him.

I reloaded and eventually managed to get all my chips in on the turn with top two versus some kid holding top pair and a 6 high flush draw who called 300$ into a 240$ with one card to come only to nail his flush and proceeded to clap his hands and do a little dance before stacking my chips into his massive stack and calling it quits for the day. I went for another walk.

When I came back and reloaded, I really didn't play well at all. I got caught up in what I call "poker slots"; put in your nickel with any two cards from any position and hope to hit a miracle flop. I blead away most of my chips and after another bad beat, I took my last 37$ off the table and walked away feeling like total garbage. I passed the big spinning wheel on my trip around the casino and plopped my last few chips on the 1$ spot. The spinner looked at me and said "All-in?". I guess she's seen a million dejected poker players come by and do the same thing. I just shrugged as she gave the wheel a spin. Click, click, click, click .... it landed on the 1$ spot and then, in what seemed like an eternity the wheel crawled forward for one final click into the 2$ spot. My chips were promptly removed from the board and I just shook my head, baffled by my own stupidity for giving away what could have been a decent meal on the spin of a stupid wheel. I felt like just another sucker with broken dreams and empty pockets and it was only the second day of our trip.

In reality, my pockets were not empty at all. I still had money to play, but I had taken a pretty big hit both emotionally and psychologically. My confidence was down and my optimism about this trip was dwindling.

I haven't written anything in a while because most of my time has been spent working at my day job or on other writing assignments. It also doesn't help that I went on a pretty bad losing streak since Turning Stone. I actually stopped playing cash games for a while and started focusing on the 20$ PokerStars 180 man sit and go tournaments. I played 30 of those and managed to take down a 1st, a 2nd, and a 3rd place victory. They are fun tournaments, but they require a reasonable time investment and it's very easy to get bad beat out of them. I found that making a few key adjustments to my game, really helped me do consistently well. I've heard from a lot of people that play these regularly that the secret is to play really aggressive poker. So for the first few I followed that advice and then it dawned on me that I am by nature a total maniac. So, maybe the key for me would be to actually tighten up. Well, let me tell you, that did the trick. I just let people pay me off and cut down on the amount of "glorious moves" I made. I also changed the way I play medium pairs. Generally in a cash game I like to set mine with them. But in a tournament, unless the stacks are very deep, I have found that set mining is not the optimal strategy. So I either open raise or open fold depending on my table, position, chips, etc... and I generally fold them to a raise (again depending on position, opponent, table, chips, etc...).

I ended up cashing out some of the Stars money (about 500$) and then of course I went on the inevitable bankroll mismanagement roller coaster that I always go on and lost a chunk of it in NL Holdem cash games and Pot Limit 2-7 triple draw cash games. 2-7 triple draw is the devil by the way. I believe there is a lot of money to be made on Stars in that game because the players are generally awful, but I had a terrible run and just didn't have the bankroll to handle it.

Meanwhile, my buddy Marc Karam (aka "Myst") won a million Euros for taking second place in Monte Carlo. A big kudos to him for that one! There's a party in his honour this coming Wednesday and it should be a great time. If you're in Ottawa you should check it out. Details are on JackSeven.ca and on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2263578694.

I wrote a piece about Marc's win for the Eurolinx website (his sponsor) and they paid me through my Eurolinx account (thanks Jo!). I also took 3rd place in a J7 tourney on Eurolinx and had some money in my account from funds exchanges with other players (usually Stars money for Eurolinx money). So I started playing 1/2 NL Holdem and I have simply been crushing the game, winning 2-3 buyins per session. I forgot how truly awful the Eurodonx are and I it just doesn't make sense to play online NL Holdem cash games anywhere else. Not sure why even bother playing Holdem on Stars. There is no comparison. Anyway, I guess I've rambled on enough. I'll leave you with a screenshot from a recent session on Eurolinx to illustrate my point.

Labels: Cash Games, Eurolinx, Marc "Myst" Karam, Online Poker, Poker Stars, Tournaments