SnG Revenge

If you read my blog entry "SnG Delight", you can reverse everything that I wrote for this entry. Sat down and played 3 tables of 100, 55, 50 Sit n' Go's and WON ALL OF THEM. I don't know if it was the being in the right frame of mind, or just a lot of luck at once. But, it was a very nice boost of confidence just when I was about to quit playing SnG's all together.

Quick overview of my strategy is as follows. One table I was dominating after I slow played AA and found another slow playing KK, and doubled-up early. Never looked back and wrecked the table, playing tight but aggressive after that initial lottery ticket. The other two tables I was medium stacked nearly the whole tourney and was forced to utilize the "All-In" move no less than 20 times. They were almost always strong hands AA/KK/QQ/JJ/AK/AQ, or I was re-raising in good spots pushing players off continuation bets. I also found a really nice groove by calling pre-flop raises from position, then calling continuation post-flop bets and then stealing on the turn/river when there were straight and flush options where I was pretty sure the bettor was not drawing.

All together, it was a nice reversion to the mean day, and my nearly $800 gain made up for a lot of bull$hit that I wrote about earlier. I took my winnings to the $5/10 NLHE table and sat patiently, promising myself I would just look for strong starting hands and play conservatively. After 124 hands played, I was up another $1225 and am calling it a night. Annualize that and I can quit my day job (well, not really, but it's fun to think about). The key hands in the cash game were the following:

(1) AQs playing from the small blind I called a button raise of $35. Flop comes A98. I checked and called a pot bet of $75. Turn was a blank and I bet out $200 into $225 pot. Raiser moves all-in for $450 with AT and I took it down.

(2) I semi-bluffed a $800 pot off a guy who I'm sure had AA or KK, but he was a VERY tight player and I used this to my advantage. Called pre-flop raise of $35 from late position with 7d8d. Flop of 8s9dTs gives me the open-ended straight draw and third pair. I called a $75 pot bet. Turn was a 2h, no help. Bettor led out with $200 into a $225 and I called "time".......and then just called, setting up a steal. When the 9s falls on the river, I have not improved, but there are flush and straight possibilities on the board, and I can't believe this "tight" player has made much of anything. After firing two bullets, he fires a third of $250 into $625 and I move all-in for another $700. He folded in agony and says he had AA, which I believe. More and more, I'm seeing the very good players (which I aspire to be someday) can make a lot of money calling and stealing if they can get a good read on the player and the kind of hands he/she plays. This guy was transparent, only playing very strong hands (and multi-tabling - I noticed him on at least 4 other tables), so with a board that has so many possibilities, he couldn't make the call.