Just played one game this evening, a 6-seater SNG on Absolute, and I came out on top; the streak continues!
It was one of the strangest games I've ever played, but one of the most rewarding at the end.
There were 2 players knocked out on the very first hand when the flop came down hitting everyone and all the chips went in - one guy had top set, another flopped 2-pair and the 3rd an up/down straight draw and a flush draw. Amazingly, the guy on the draw hit his straight on the river and we were down to 4.
2 hands later, seriously, another one bit the dust when top pair and a flush draw came up against a set (on the flop) and it all went in again - the set held up and we were down to 3 - I hadn't played a hand yet.
Now, there's one guy on 4.5k, the other on 3k and me sitting with my starting stack of 1.5k.
I made a couple of moves, knowing that these guys would want to protect their stacks, and got up to 2.5. This dwindled back to 1.8k when I pushed all-in with pocket 10's and got called by A-K (by the guy who'd tripled up first hand). The K hit the flop (inevitably) and I was all ready to call it a night when the miracle 10 hit the river. So, now I'm up to 3.6k and he's down to under 2k.
He must have been on major tilt as he went to war with the big-stack a couple of hands later, and hit the rail.
So now, I'm on 3k against 6k in a deep stack heads-up battle, with the blinds still at 10/20. Heads-up lasted about 40 mins (with the blinds at 8 mins), and I hit an amazing run of cards (as well as making some solid calls) to out-chip the other guy 8k-1k.
At this point I felt invincible and was calling his all-in's with anything, and he clawed his way back to level - then I hit a bad run of river suck-outs (like me flopping 2-pair against his overpair and him catching it on the river), and I ended up down to 2k against his 7k.
I picked up pocket 3's in the BB and when he raised I pushed. He turned up Q-J. The flop came down Q-3-Q - he'd made a set, but I'd flopped a house. I just had to fade a Jack and I was chip leader again. You can never count your chickens in this game, but it held up.
We played a dozen or so small pots and I took another 1k of his chips when we came down to the final hand. I had 5-6 in the SB and limped. He min-raised and I called. The flop came down 5-6-T. I pot bet and he pushed; I insta-called and he flipped up pocket Jacks. My 2-pair held up and after a mammoth heads-up battle I came out victorious.
I'm still smiling from ear-to-ear, as this was one of the most satisfying wins I've ever had. I suppose it was a blessing that we were down to 3-handed so quickly, as the blind were small enough that I could peel off flops and make some moves, without having to put it all on the line.
Having been short-stacked at 3-handed, to watch the big stacks take each other on was beautiful, then to come back from so far behind (twice) heads-up was one of my greatest wins.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
It's not over 'til the river
I opted for a little SNG action on Ultimate tonight and, all-in-all, it was a pretty uneventful game -until we got down to 3-handed.
I was the short-stack (my opponents had 6k and 5k repsectively, I was sitting on about 2.5k), so after making the money, and with the blinds at 100/200, I knew I had to double up quickly if I was going to have a chance to win.
I picked up pocket Queens in the small blind and decided to limp - the big stack had been very aggressive and I knew he would raise it up - he duly obliged, making it 600 to go. This was called by the button and I pushed my remaining chips into the middle.
The big-stack insta-folded and I got called by the button, who turned up Ks-Jd - this made me about a 2/1 favourite. The flop, however, was not so kind - Kh-Kc-5c and I was resigned to my fate, even saying my goodbyes and good luck's in the chat box.
I only had 2 outs and, according to my law of internet poker, the fact he had me covered meant there was no way I was getting out of this one.
I hadn't even seen the turn card, and just happened to look back at the screen as the river was dealt - Qs. Miracle, two-outer; I'd gone from being a 1/2 fav pre-flop, to about a 12/1 dog after the flop and a 24/1 dog come the river.
It just shows you, it's never over 'til the fat lady sings - miracles do happen on the river.
Unfortunately, I didn't go on to win this particular game. I doubled up the guy I'd given the bad beat to (twice), and he was back to just over 2k when he got tangled up in a hand against the big-stack and went out. This left me with a 3/1 chip deficit come heads-up and the game finished when I was holding K-T, on a flop of A-T-A - my opponent hadn't raised pre-flop, so I didn't put him on the Ace, but he duly turned up A-9 when I pushed, and he hit Quad Aces on the river, just for good measure.
Oh well, if you're going to lose might as well do it in style.
September's been good to me so far, I've cashed in every MTT & SNG that I've played, so showing a healthy profit (making up for the losses from June, through August).
Long may it continue.
I was the short-stack (my opponents had 6k and 5k repsectively, I was sitting on about 2.5k), so after making the money, and with the blinds at 100/200, I knew I had to double up quickly if I was going to have a chance to win.
I picked up pocket Queens in the small blind and decided to limp - the big stack had been very aggressive and I knew he would raise it up - he duly obliged, making it 600 to go. This was called by the button and I pushed my remaining chips into the middle.
The big-stack insta-folded and I got called by the button, who turned up Ks-Jd - this made me about a 2/1 favourite. The flop, however, was not so kind - Kh-Kc-5c and I was resigned to my fate, even saying my goodbyes and good luck's in the chat box.
I only had 2 outs and, according to my law of internet poker, the fact he had me covered meant there was no way I was getting out of this one.
I hadn't even seen the turn card, and just happened to look back at the screen as the river was dealt - Qs. Miracle, two-outer; I'd gone from being a 1/2 fav pre-flop, to about a 12/1 dog after the flop and a 24/1 dog come the river.
It just shows you, it's never over 'til the fat lady sings - miracles do happen on the river.
Unfortunately, I didn't go on to win this particular game. I doubled up the guy I'd given the bad beat to (twice), and he was back to just over 2k when he got tangled up in a hand against the big-stack and went out. This left me with a 3/1 chip deficit come heads-up and the game finished when I was holding K-T, on a flop of A-T-A - my opponent hadn't raised pre-flop, so I didn't put him on the Ace, but he duly turned up A-9 when I pushed, and he hit Quad Aces on the river, just for good measure.
Oh well, if you're going to lose might as well do it in style.
September's been good to me so far, I've cashed in every MTT & SNG that I've played, so showing a healthy profit (making up for the losses from June, through August).
Long may it continue.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Luck Changing? Finished 2nd in MTT
I've been playing very little poker over the last month, in fact I averaged 60 games a month from January to July of this year, and have only played 15 games from August until today (including tonight).
It was a 79 player MTT on Pacific888.com and I went into it with very little expectations, but hoping the rest had done me good and I could approach the tourney with a new attitude; not expecting that every good hand I get will be sucked out on. Don't get me wrong, I had my fair share of luck on the way.
I could have made an very good start, if I'd been loose enough to play 6-4 off, as I would have made Quads by the river - but there was no action in the pot anyway, so I probably would not have got paid.
My first decent hand came when I picked up pocket Jacks in the BB. The pot was raised by a very loose aggressive player in mid position, and was called two spots later. As the saying goes, there are three ways to play Pocket Jacks; all wrong. I had decided that the best move was all-in, so I pushed. It was insta-called by the initial raiser, and the other player opted to get out of the way.
I was amazed when he turned up Td-7d, maybe he was bored, or had to be somewhere, but I couldn't have hoped to see two better cards up against my J's (well, apart from 7-2 off).
He hit a Ten on the flop, and I got a little nervous, but the 4 on the turn left him with 2 outs on the river and luckily my J's held up and I doubled up.
We had gone past the first hour break and were approaching the bubble. I was sitting in the BB with J-8 off and was able to see a free flop, which came Jack-high (J-7-2), so I decided that just making the money was not good enough, I wanted to win, and pushed my remaining chips into the middle (too often I play too tight at the bubble and, although I often make it through, I'm so short of chips that I've no chance of winning). There was a couple of folds, but I was insta-called by the button, who flipped up J-7 for 2-pair. That was it, I thought my tourney was over, until I got an amazing stroke of luck on the turn, the 8h for a better 2-pair. A big suck-out and my opponent must have been seething, but it's nice to be in this side of the fence for once.
That double-up saw me through the bubble and to the final table. There was one massive chip leader (close to 60k), me with just over 20k and 3 others with around 10k-15k each. The blinds were now massive and in order to win I was going to have to steal, and if called, get lucky - that's exactly what happened.
I picked up A-7 suited in the SB and it went call, call, fold and I decided this was an ideal stealing position, so pushed. I had one caller covered and could afford to lose to them, but the big-stack decided to call and the shorter stack folded. Thankfully it was a very loose call, with Qc-Jc (I suppose he was feeling invincible with his massive stack).
Now, according to my 'law of internet poker', there was no way my hand should hold up (I had the best hand, and even had the suit covered), but up against a massive stack he should suck out almost 100% of the time. But not this time! The flop came down As-4h-7h, and I had made 2-pair and he had no draw. Another 7 on the river gave me a full house, not that I needed it, but it was nice.
I was now chip leader, and decided to let the rest of them cut each other up, and picked my spots to raise pre-flop with big hands. I never got into any trouble or called an all-in by a shorter stack. We got down to the last 3, and I could have ended it in once hand. I had K-7 suited and would have liked to have seen a flop, but there was a raise and re-raise ahead of me, so I had to lay it down. All the chips ended up in the middle and they turned up pocket Queen's and pocket Jack's respectively. Of course, the flop comes down K-K-9-T-4, and I would have won the tournament.
As it stood, my heads-up opponent now had a 3/2 chip lead. Heads-up didn't last very long, as I was card-dead. I'd raise, he's call, I'd miss the flop and c-bet and he'd come over the top. It got to the stage where he had a 4/1 chip lead and I picked up A-4 suited - of course I pushed and he called with A-8. The flop came down 8-8-J and it was all over.
It's never nice to get all the way to heads-up and lose, but I was pretty happy with the way I played. Yes, I got lucky in spots, but you need that if you're going to make it all the way. I think I was only ever all-in, with a chance of busting out, 4 times in the tourney - three hands I've highlighted here , and the very last hand.
Oh well, it's by far my best MTT result in a long while, so onwards and upwards.
It was a 79 player MTT on Pacific888.com and I went into it with very little expectations, but hoping the rest had done me good and I could approach the tourney with a new attitude; not expecting that every good hand I get will be sucked out on. Don't get me wrong, I had my fair share of luck on the way.
I could have made an very good start, if I'd been loose enough to play 6-4 off, as I would have made Quads by the river - but there was no action in the pot anyway, so I probably would not have got paid.
My first decent hand came when I picked up pocket Jacks in the BB. The pot was raised by a very loose aggressive player in mid position, and was called two spots later. As the saying goes, there are three ways to play Pocket Jacks; all wrong. I had decided that the best move was all-in, so I pushed. It was insta-called by the initial raiser, and the other player opted to get out of the way.I was amazed when he turned up Td-7d, maybe he was bored, or had to be somewhere, but I couldn't have hoped to see two better cards up against my J's (well, apart from 7-2 off).
He hit a Ten on the flop, and I got a little nervous, but the 4 on the turn left him with 2 outs on the river and luckily my J's held up and I doubled up.
We had gone past the first hour break and were approaching the bubble. I was sitting in the BB with J-8 off and was able to see a free flop, which came Jack-high (J-7-2), so I decided that just making the money was not good enough, I wanted to win, and pushed my remaining chips into the middle (too often I play too tight at the bubble and, although I often make it through, I'm so short of chips that I've no chance of winning). There was a couple of folds, but I was insta-called by the button, who flipped up J-7 for 2-pair. That was it, I thought my tourney was over, until I got an amazing stroke of luck on the turn, the 8h for a better 2-pair. A big suck-out and my opponent must have been seething, but it's nice to be in this side of the fence for once.
That double-up saw me through the bubble and to the final table. There was one massive chip leader (close to 60k), me with just over 20k and 3 others with around 10k-15k each. The blinds were now massive and in order to win I was going to have to steal, and if called, get lucky - that's exactly what happened.
I picked up A-7 suited in the SB and it went call, call, fold and I decided this was an ideal stealing position, so pushed. I had one caller covered and could afford to lose to them, but the big-stack decided to call and the shorter stack folded. Thankfully it was a very loose call, with Qc-Jc (I suppose he was feeling invincible with his massive stack).
Now, according to my 'law of internet poker', there was no way my hand should hold up (I had the best hand, and even had the suit covered), but up against a massive stack he should suck out almost 100% of the time. But not this time! The flop came down As-4h-7h, and I had made 2-pair and he had no draw. Another 7 on the river gave me a full house, not that I needed it, but it was nice.
I was now chip leader, and decided to let the rest of them cut each other up, and picked my spots to raise pre-flop with big hands. I never got into any trouble or called an all-in by a shorter stack. We got down to the last 3, and I could have ended it in once hand. I had K-7 suited and would have liked to have seen a flop, but there was a raise and re-raise ahead of me, so I had to lay it down. All the chips ended up in the middle and they turned up pocket Queen's and pocket Jack's respectively. Of course, the flop comes down K-K-9-T-4, and I would have won the tournament.
As it stood, my heads-up opponent now had a 3/2 chip lead. Heads-up didn't last very long, as I was card-dead. I'd raise, he's call, I'd miss the flop and c-bet and he'd come over the top. It got to the stage where he had a 4/1 chip lead and I picked up A-4 suited - of course I pushed and he called with A-8. The flop came down 8-8-J and it was all over.
It's never nice to get all the way to heads-up and lose, but I was pretty happy with the way I played. Yes, I got lucky in spots, but you need that if you're going to make it all the way. I think I was only ever all-in, with a chance of busting out, 4 times in the tourney - three hands I've highlighted here , and the very last hand.Oh well, it's by far my best MTT result in a long while, so onwards and upwards.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
What do you have to do to win?
I'm back after an extended break for a summer vacation and am easing myself back into the game. Played some (very) low stakes cash and SNG's a couple of nights last week, but decided to put myself back in the mix tonight, and entered a 9-seater SNG at Ultimatebet.
Things went pretty good in the beginning, as I picked up a couple of small pocket pairs early on and both turned into sets on the flop, so I quickly pad my starting stack. A few raises and calls that turn into nothing see me whittle away about 800 chips, so I'm sitting on just over 2k.
Then a couple of strange things happened; twice I got my opponents all in on the turn, twice I was behind and on both occasions I sucked out.. Now, anyone who's read many of the posts on this blog will know that I am a conspiracy theorist and maintain that it is (virtually) impossible for a shorter stacked player to get all-in against a bigger stack and have their hand hold up. Well, that stayed true for a little while, at least when I got mega lucky in these two hands.
I call a min-raise from the BB with pocket 3's and we go to the flop 4-handed. The flop comes down 2c-6d-3s and, being first to act, I check. There's a check behind me and one small bet. This is called from the button, so now I decide to spice things up and raise it to 4xbet ($160). There are two folds, and a call from the BB.
The Jc hits the turn and the BB checks and I bet about 3/4 of the pot (as there's now a flush draw out there) and he immediately moves all-in for $660 more. I have him covered, and making the call would still leave me with 20 big blinds, so I make the call. He flips over 4c-5c for a flopped straight and a turned flush draw. I'm drawing pretty thin and need either the case 3 or the board to pair. Amazingly (for me, anyway) the 2d hits the river and I've sucked out by making a Full-House.
It's the kind of nasty bad-beat that I am usually on the receiving end of, so I thank my lucky stars and rub my hands 'cos now I'm big chip leader with over 3.5k in chips.
A few hands later I pick up pocket 5's in the SB. It's folded round to the button who pushes his last $550 into the middle. I tank for several seconds then decided to isolate by pushing all-in and getting the BB out of the way so I can go heads up.
He turns over Kh-Qh, and the flop hits him immediately - Qd-Th-4c. Oh well, it was a race that I could afford to lose, but amazingly the 2c hits the turn followed by the miracle (2-outer) of the 5c on the river. I'd made my set and sucked out again, big time. Now I'm thinking I am blessed and this tourney is mine.
I play it pretty safe for a while and don't get involved with big hands. The guy 3 seats to my left had knocked a couple of players out and was sitting on over 7k, so I folded any time he was involved.
We eventually get down to 3-handed and the short-stack ($800) pushes when I have Kh-5h, and I decide he's just stealing the blinds and make the call. As it turned out I had his Kc-3c dominated and actually hit my 5 on the flop to get me to heads up about $1k behind the leader.
We joust back and forward for an eternity, and at one stage I had him out-chipped $11k - $3k, but hit a bad run of pocket Q's against his K-T, and he hit 2-pair, then my pocket J's against his Q-T and he spiked his Q.
I've got him covered by a couple of thousand chips when I we get into a raising war and all the chips end up in the middle. My A-9 versus his pocket 6's. I immediately pair up on the 9c-Ks-Qd flop and am almost counting my winnings, when the Tc its the turn and the first thought was that there was going to be a J on the river for a chop.
No, it was worse, he spiked his 2-outer, 6h on the river and I'm now crippled.
I throw my money in over the next 2-3 hands and he folds twice and calls once. I get lucky and pair up with Q-5 against his K-9 and now have enough that another double-through would put me in the lead.
He limps from the SB and I check with 8c-5d. The flop is beautiful - Jc-5h-5s and I immediately check. I decide I'm slow playing this to the max in order to get as many of his chips in as possible. He's been playing aggressive when I check and mostly I've been either folding or re-raising.
He bets out $600 and I wait a few seconds before flat calling. The flop brings the 7h, so now there's a possible flush draw, so I lead out this time. and he just calls.
The river is the 6h and I am fearing the worst, but you can't be afraid of the flush all the time so I push the rest of my chips in hoping he had a J and would call. He did call, and turned over 8d-9c for a runner-runner straight.
What is a guy supposed to do. If I'd pushed on the flop he would have folded and I'd have wasted the opportunity to try and take the chip lead, but by letting the pot get to the river he's sucked out big time.
This hand alone kind-of proves my theory. We'd been heads up for about 20 minutes and the lead was flip-flopping. This was literally the first hand we'd played fully (without being all-in pre-flop) down to the river, and the big stack sucked out on the short-stack to end the game and (as far as Ultimate are concerned) get us buying into another table.
There has to be an exception to every rule, so I suppose him sucking out with the 6 on the river earlier when I had him covered was the exception - although, he was ahead pre-flop that time.
Oh well, at least it's a cash and I can re-invest the winnings and put myself through it all again!
Things went pretty good in the beginning, as I picked up a couple of small pocket pairs early on and both turned into sets on the flop, so I quickly pad my starting stack. A few raises and calls that turn into nothing see me whittle away about 800 chips, so I'm sitting on just over 2k.
Then a couple of strange things happened; twice I got my opponents all in on the turn, twice I was behind and on both occasions I sucked out.. Now, anyone who's read many of the posts on this blog will know that I am a conspiracy theorist and maintain that it is (virtually) impossible for a shorter stacked player to get all-in against a bigger stack and have their hand hold up. Well, that stayed true for a little while, at least when I got mega lucky in these two hands.
I call a min-raise from the BB with pocket 3's and we go to the flop 4-handed. The flop comes down 2c-6d-3s and, being first to act, I check. There's a check behind me and one small bet. This is called from the button, so now I decide to spice things up and raise it to 4xbet ($160). There are two folds, and a call from the BB.
The Jc hits the turn and the BB checks and I bet about 3/4 of the pot (as there's now a flush draw out there) and he immediately moves all-in for $660 more. I have him covered, and making the call would still leave me with 20 big blinds, so I make the call. He flips over 4c-5c for a flopped straight and a turned flush draw. I'm drawing pretty thin and need either the case 3 or the board to pair. Amazingly (for me, anyway) the 2d hits the river and I've sucked out by making a Full-House.
It's the kind of nasty bad-beat that I am usually on the receiving end of, so I thank my lucky stars and rub my hands 'cos now I'm big chip leader with over 3.5k in chips.
A few hands later I pick up pocket 5's in the SB. It's folded round to the button who pushes his last $550 into the middle. I tank for several seconds then decided to isolate by pushing all-in and getting the BB out of the way so I can go heads up.
He turns over Kh-Qh, and the flop hits him immediately - Qd-Th-4c. Oh well, it was a race that I could afford to lose, but amazingly the 2c hits the turn followed by the miracle (2-outer) of the 5c on the river. I'd made my set and sucked out again, big time. Now I'm thinking I am blessed and this tourney is mine.
I play it pretty safe for a while and don't get involved with big hands. The guy 3 seats to my left had knocked a couple of players out and was sitting on over 7k, so I folded any time he was involved.
We eventually get down to 3-handed and the short-stack ($800) pushes when I have Kh-5h, and I decide he's just stealing the blinds and make the call. As it turned out I had his Kc-3c dominated and actually hit my 5 on the flop to get me to heads up about $1k behind the leader.
We joust back and forward for an eternity, and at one stage I had him out-chipped $11k - $3k, but hit a bad run of pocket Q's against his K-T, and he hit 2-pair, then my pocket J's against his Q-T and he spiked his Q.
I've got him covered by a couple of thousand chips when I we get into a raising war and all the chips end up in the middle. My A-9 versus his pocket 6's. I immediately pair up on the 9c-Ks-Qd flop and am almost counting my winnings, when the Tc its the turn and the first thought was that there was going to be a J on the river for a chop.
No, it was worse, he spiked his 2-outer, 6h on the river and I'm now crippled.
I throw my money in over the next 2-3 hands and he folds twice and calls once. I get lucky and pair up with Q-5 against his K-9 and now have enough that another double-through would put me in the lead.
He limps from the SB and I check with 8c-5d. The flop is beautiful - Jc-5h-5s and I immediately check. I decide I'm slow playing this to the max in order to get as many of his chips in as possible. He's been playing aggressive when I check and mostly I've been either folding or re-raising.
He bets out $600 and I wait a few seconds before flat calling. The flop brings the 7h, so now there's a possible flush draw, so I lead out this time. and he just calls.
The river is the 6h and I am fearing the worst, but you can't be afraid of the flush all the time so I push the rest of my chips in hoping he had a J and would call. He did call, and turned over 8d-9c for a runner-runner straight.
What is a guy supposed to do. If I'd pushed on the flop he would have folded and I'd have wasted the opportunity to try and take the chip lead, but by letting the pot get to the river he's sucked out big time.
This hand alone kind-of proves my theory. We'd been heads up for about 20 minutes and the lead was flip-flopping. This was literally the first hand we'd played fully (without being all-in pre-flop) down to the river, and the big stack sucked out on the short-stack to end the game and (as far as Ultimate are concerned) get us buying into another table.
There has to be an exception to every rule, so I suppose him sucking out with the 6 on the river earlier when I had him covered was the exception - although, he was ahead pre-flop that time.
Oh well, at least it's a cash and I can re-invest the winnings and put myself through it all again!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)