1st time FTW

Today I got my first ever 1st place finish. Wasn't going in for the £2k UK/Ire freeroll due to prior televisual commitments, but I wanted to play some poker. I didn't really have time for the epic 7,000 man $150 freeroll on Full Tilt, so it was over to PokerStars where my coin is.

I didn't fancy a cash game, and didn't have time for a full tournament. Checking over my options, I ended up going for a $1.00 + 0.20, 1-table, NLHE sit n go with 9 players.
For those who don't know of what I speak, let me break it down for you.

NLHE - an abbreviation for No Limit Hold 'Em, a type of poker.
Sit n go - a game that will start when the number of players is reached, in this case, nine.
$1.00 + 0.20 - The buy in to play the table is $1.00, with 20c going to 'the house' for running the game.
I think 1-table and 9 players speak for itself.

The $1 entry means a total prize fund here is $9.00 with only the top 3 getting paid. 50% for 1st place, 30% for 2nd and just 20% for 3rd (giving $4.50, $2.70 & $1.80 respectively).

Play started at 19:46. A multi-national field stood between me and glory. 3 Russians, 1 each from USA, France, Moldova, Hungary plus a Mancunian with the delightful monicker of Pantsman614.

Pantsman lived up to his name and was out fairly quickly, which was good for me cos I kicked his arse to the kerb giving me a nice little chip advantage. It was a well contested game for the most of it, with the best challenge coming from lancess (Leon, France) and Tadricw (USA). It took about 20mins or so for the next player to go out, and from there they tumbled till we got to 'the bubble'.

In play at this point were me (obviously), lancess, Tadrickw and K0jAK23 from Omsk. My Russian bretheren went out in 4th. It was one of those unlucky hands. He was ahead with 2 pair, but lost to trip 6s on the river. Tadrickw was next to go, and didn't he moan about it. Bitching like a child about how PokerStars always does this to him, gives someone a full house when he's got a straight draw. Being the short stack, he was pushing a lot, stealing the blinds. The one time he pushed with a crap hand, he got called. Sorry mate. You got caught. Tough shit... deal with it.

This left me & lance. We were fairly even on chips, with me slightly ahead. Lots of folding of small blinds, bet/folds, and the odd flop where the first to bet takes it. The key hand was the 2nd to last. Stacks are $6,530k to me and, $6,970k to him with the blinds at $150/300 + $25 ante. He's on the button and me the big blind. He bets $2k. I've got ATs. I understand that this is a fairly big hand heads-up. His bet suggested a pair, possibly Queens or Kings. This makes it 50/50 for me. I feel that luck is on my side on this push all-in. Instant call. He's holding JJ. Flop comes with an A. Turn and river give him nothing so I double through. He has $440 left. Last hand and he has no choice, and has to all in. T6o. I have QTo. A 10 comes on flop and there are no 6s on the turn or river. And so... I win. lancess played well throughout and just got unlucky on that coin-toss. To be fair, it could have gone either way, but I was victorious.

It was strange. I've never been this aggressive previously, but I found I was starting to but larger sized bets in against marginal hands (good, but not that good). Maybe because I was chip leader I felt confident enough to press a little more. At one point I got so confident, I put in a bet 3x the big blind on 85 offsuit, winning me that hand. Now, 85 is a pretty crap starting hand, but my chip stack and table image was enough for me to pull it off.

So, after a little over an hours play I find myself $3.30 in profit. More importantly (really?) I played well and picked up a few things that I can, hopefully, carry over into the next game. And if I can keep this level of play up and keep hitting the money, I might be able to contest for bigger payouts. For now, though, its take it slowly. Maybe these 1-table things are more my speed, so I think I'll do a few more of these and build my bankroll up to a level where I can move up to the $2-$5 tables.

I GOT GAME... a little, anyway.