Getting better...

I've had a much better day at the tables after a game on Friday night. Final table of the $1 F40 SNG at PokerStars with 8 left, and money going to 6. Player 'pichichono' pushes all in from under the gun (1st player to act). I have AK off suit. I am 4th in chips and he's 1st. He's been pushing a bit without being called. AK is a good hand at any time, so I decide to call. THe cards are turned and he has a pair of 10s. So its all down to the community cards for me and they come;

2c 4d 9c, then 6c on the turn and lady river screws me over with 9d. So close, yet so far. I was kicking myself over the decision and, so, turned to the wisdom of the Hendon Mob forum, where this was justified. It wasn't a bad call, just an unlucky one.

I took Saturday off to recharge my skillage, and went back today.

Played another $1 F40 sit & go. This time I go out on the bubble, which is very anoying. I had pocket 8s, and my opponent had Aces. This time I pushed, and got called. Again it was the right move, just not a lucky one.
So... it was back to the trusty $1 1-table SNG. My favourite, you could say my speciality. My record at the moment is that I win 1 out of 3. Never place, its either come first or come nowhere. But thats OK. A win is a win, regardless. So here I am, back in the breach.

Play started at 14:53 Western European Time. Play finished at 16:15 WET. It took 1hr 18mins (including 5min break) to win the $4.50. I've been reading various articles from professionals about how best to play a SNG tournament. Quite a lot of it, I was doing anyway. But there were a few little tips I picked up that came in very handy.

There was some abuse from a Hungarian by the name of stackbang. He was an early chip leader due to a nice double up during the 1st level. However, after making a few rash calls, he found himself down to a handful of big blinds. One of my little things is that whenever we get to the bubble I always type 'bubble trouble' in the chat box. No-one likes being on the bubble, its horrible. And because this guy was on a losing streak, he gets abusive. He eventually goes out (not to me unfortunately) when his 5/10 of hearts meets pocket nines. More talk of cheating and how Stars always does this. Get a life and stop cursing bad calls.

It becomes the money seats at 16:13 WET, with me as chip leader, eslayer49 $570 less and chocsca, who I thought had played well but got unlucky a couple of times, on less than half of mine. 2nd hand in the money and chosca goes all-in. I have JJ. As you have read before, this is a bit of a tricky hand to play with 9 people. With 3, however, its a bit of a monster. I have him covered by more than 2-to-1, so I call. He has K8o, and hits an 8 on the flop. So I am now crossing my fingers, saying 'no Kings, no eights, no kings, no eights'. And I got... no kings and I got no more 8s. I am now heads up with nearly 5 times the chips of my opponent.

1st hand - I am in the small blind and I call with K9 of diamonds. eslayer checks. The flop comes A33. We both check. Turn card is another A. He checks, I bet, he folds.
2nd hand - eslayer folds the small blind
3rd hand - I call with AK. He checks. Flop; 7 spades J & Q diamonds. Check, check. 2 hearts on the turn. He checks. No flush draws. If he had the straight draw or a pair he would have bet. So I bet and he folds.
4th hand - I've got 63 off. He pushes all-in. I fold.
5th hand - I get lucky again with AK. He's only got $1,560 left and I want him to play, so I make a little min-raise to $1,200. He shoves and I call. He's got QJ. There are 4 live cards in play... and all of them miss. Making me the winner. Yay for me.

Because of the other tourneys I've played, I am only 90c in profit for the weekend... but all profit is good profit. Lets hope I can start winning 2 out of 3 now.

Zero to whatever

In order to compete in the generous freeroll with The Hendon Mob, I needed to sign on with Full Tilt Poker. As its a freebie I don't need to shell out any coin to be there. This gave me an idea. A very unoriginal idea that, I think, has been done to death. How far can I go without making a deposit of cold, hard cash? I'm not setting myself an upper limit or a timescale, only that I will play in as many freebies as I have time/patience for at Full Tilt.

The updates for this little venture will be titled 'Zero to $[x.xx]', where x.xx, rather obviously, will show how much I've made. The intention is to give regular, weekly updates. But I suppose it depends on how well, or badly, I do. Expect it to be at zero for some time kids, cos I ain't exactly the most experienced player in the world.

Pocket Jacks

Now, I'm fairly new to the actual business of playing poker for money, but I have been around the game for some time, and have picked up a few things. One of them is the danger of playing pocket Jacks.

Too big not to play, too small to guarantee being ahead. So, what to do? This is what happened to me when I backed them big.

My poker terminology was not exactly right at the first posting, but at least I know I did the right thing.