Poker Skilz: FTP SnG Victory

Was talking on the phone for an hour tonight, so I jumped on to play a $100 Sit 'n Go. Find it very therapeutic to be doing something else while playing these donk-fest SnG's. Much easier to just fold 90% of the time and pump your big hands when your busy doing something else. Funny, you'd think it would be the same thing if I'm 100% focused and playing multi-table, but it isn't. Somehow, when I'm distracted with something better to do, I make better decisions on the tables, since I will only play in position with strong hands and avoid trying stupid steal attempts that are usually my death knell.

Anyways, I won the $100 SnG for $495, which was nice. The key was winning a few small pots early and sitting back, waiting for good spots to play aggressive. There were a couple interesting situations.

First, I limped in early position with AdKd. One caller and then the BB decided to push all-in, sensing weakness, I guess. He was only 1/2 my 4,000 stack, so I called and got up to 6,000. Mental note to self. AK is the kind of hand I don't mind seeing a flop with, so there's little risk of limping in early position.

Another great play (not by me) was when I was in the big blind with KsTd. It folded around to the small blind (c. 3500 in chips) and he min-raises me (c. 6000 in chips), which I always read as a steal attempt. Instead of just popping it up right there, I called to see a flop. It comes A-high rainbow. He checks to me, I check. Turn is the (not so) beautiful K. He bets 1/3 the pot and I min-raise. He calls. River is a blank. I check, hoping he surrenders and instead he bets 1/3 of the pot again, which I call to see trip AAA's. NICE PLAY on his part, sucking out as many chips from me as possible. The key was I had 2x his chips, so I could afford calling him down.

I survived that debacle to find Ad7d on the button. There are only 4 players left and I have 4,000 chips left. I push all-in on the SB and BB who are both c.1000-1500 chips. Reasoning here is that they are both on the bubble with similar chip stacks and neither want to be the first all-in, right? WRONG. Eric Froehlich who is a "Pro" on FTP calls me from the SB with A8. What a donkey! Yes, he had me beat, but why would you risk the bubble from the SB with A8?!? He can easily fold there and give the other guy an opportunity to lose before him. Instead, the board fails to throw up over cards and he takes me down. I'm still left with c. 3,000 chips, so I'm fine. I looked up Eric on http://www.Sharkscope.com, which I highly recommend for SnG players. Here's his profit/loss record. Not much of a "Pro". He's lost over $10,000 in the last 1,500 games.