An SnG that just pissed me off

This is a bit of a whiny post, but a good example of the type of crap that I seem to endure way too often.

Anyway, I'm on my new reduced schedule and sit down for my ONLY SnG of the night, $10 + 1. Now, I'm not looking for rocket scientists at this level, but the play is usually pretty good. I hang around, pick up some chips here and there. Double up when I push with a flush draw (5 7 of diamonds) and hit on the turn to beat a guy with trip Aces (ouch).

After some decent play, we get down to four. There's me, an aggressive guy with a big stack (got me doubled) to my left, a decent player across, and a tighter player to my right (short stack). Well, we into this pattern where the aggressive guy begins to run over everybody, putting you all in if you don't go all in. I hit a cold run of cards and never really got anything worth pushing. I finally caught the guy once with AQ and doubled back up when he showed K 8 suited.

With blinds at 100/200, I had been leaking a bit and was down to 2800 chips (leader had 6000, 2nd 4000, and the tight guy had 2200). The tight guy had just been hanging on, not playing anything and never seemed to get any pressure from anybody. I wasn't really worried about it, I was still thinking about winning. Anyway....

I'm on the button with 6 9 of spades and take a stab betting out 700 (the aggressive guy had slowed down considerably), SB folded and the BB called. I wasn't exactly thrilled, but figured I might catch a break with the flop. I did, the flop brough 8 J 10 with two spades, open ended with a flush draw, about as good a flop as I could hope for. The BB bets out 400 and I immediately move in, figuring he'll fold and, even if he doesn't, I'm in great shape. Well, he does call with AJ and I don't catch crap and bubble out.

I seem to see this time and time again. I get down to 4 and there's one guy who comes in short and plays like a rock. He never gets pressured and seems to hit just when he needs to. I play some good poker and get busted, netting nothing, while the guy who just sat there gets paid off.

On a good note, I think that cutting down is going to help me out. I played pretty well and went deep with no real cards.

The bad, the ugly

Well, that was the good part about poker, now here's the flip side.

I guess the poker gods just wanted to give me some money so I could suffer some more, because I've been taking it in the a$$ today.

First, I play a little tournament that pays off in $100 tournament entry chips on UB. 45 entries, 2 chips. I make it down to the final 4 and move in with A 9 suited against a big stack who has put on a clinic on big stack poker. He shows 6 7 suited. flop is 3 7 7. Thanks.

THEN IT GETS BAD....

5PM $30 MTT. I play solid and hang in the middle of the pack when I get AK suited in MP. UTG limps, I make it 4X BB, button calls, UTG moves in. Now, I've watched this guy do this 2 or 3 times and he showed down junk once, so I'm suspect. I figure we're either flipping a coin or he's making a move, either way I make the call (he's barely got me covered) and he shows KQ....rag rag rag rag QUEEN.

$20 SnG. Down to 6, I get AK on the button with 2 limpers, I move in on a power play, SB calls with AQ.....yeah, Q on the turn.

$3/6 limit....this was horrible. I have KK in SB and 3 bet it. BB calls. J 2 3 flop, I bet, he calls. Turn 5, I bet, he calls. River A (ugh) I check, he bets, I make a crying call....HE HAD FUCKING 4 4.

Then I have AA in the SB and make it 3 bets again to the button who thinks about it and calls. 2 3 10 flop, I bet he calls. Turn J, I bet he calls. River 10, I bet, he raises....I pay to see.

So, I win $1000 on Friday night lose about $150 today on a myriad of horrible beats.

Just when I start to love poker, it kicks me in the nuts.

I'm seriously considering sticking to tournaments.

The good

As you may have read, I finally took down a large, online MTT Friday night. I won the UB 11PM $5 buy-in, beating 877 other people for a nice payoff of almost $1000 (cha-ching!)

It was a real journey, I'll tell you that. I got up fairly early tripling up before first break. From there I just hung around and slowly accumulated chips. I avoided coinflips and bad beats (very important). Later on, I made sure to be aggressive with good hands and steal when given the opportunity.

The big hand of the night was when we were down to 14 or so. I had around 60000 in chips with blinds at 3000/6000 and a 500 ante. I was dealt AK in the CO. Chip leader was UTG and made a minimum raise, I made it 25000 and he called. Flop brought rags and he checked, so I put him on a smallish pair. I felt it was time to pull the the trigger and moved in, he thought for while and called.

The turn brought a K and all of the sudden I'm near the top of the list. That gave me some ammo the shove around the more timid players and cruise to the final table. Actually, that's when it got a bit easier. Once we got to the final table, it seemed that everybody was picking each other off left and right. Blinds got crazy and people we moving in with suited cards, and A, etc. I caught a couple of winners at the right time and got down to heads up. The other guy was fairly aggressive and we had a good match. With blinds at 15000/30000 and 3000 ante I got 2 3 in the BB. He had been raising with just about anything and I had been a tad more selective. He raised here and I called, just in case.

Well, I got a 3 4 3 flop and I was off to the races. I made a min bet to try and draw him in. He took the bait (and then some) when he bet out 240000. Of course, I moved in to make it look like I was trying to steal and he called with 4 6. He didn't get his miracle and I was jumping around the room like a little boy having to go pee.

It was great to know that I can play this game a little bit. I'd been on a rough run and started to wonder, but now I know I have some talent for this game, anyway.

Of course, I played some more, but that's another post.

FINALLY!

It's 4:30 AM and I'm wide awake.

Why, you may ask? I just took down my first big MTT online.

Beat out 878 people in the 11PM $5 + .50 tourney at UB.

I just want to run around and giggle. I knew I'd been playing well and inching toward something and I also knew I would eventually win something. I just never expected to beat almost 900 people in a big tourney this early.

I'll recap some other time. I'm just going to celebrate for a while.

I finally had something to write about

This has been a weird month, that's for sure.

I came out of August on a tear, up $400 playing cheap NL games. Well, the very first weekend of September, I dropped about 1/2 of that back in a run of bad beats and tilting.

Fast forward a couple of weeks. I've been banging around and not accomplishing much. I made a run at a final table in a $30 buy in on UB last weekend, going out 28th. Today, I took off work and played a $10 buy in and hit paydirt, final table. I went out 10th with 99, but considering I only had 3 pocket pairs the entire day, I was really happy with how a played. It paid a whopping $40, but I was happier about the FT than anything. Then tonight, I figure I'm playing pretty well, so I play a couple of sit and go's and that's exactly what I did....sit and go. ZERO cards both times. So, I blew through all of my profit in a about an hour.

I am playing better, but on a bit of a cold streak.

I'm in this dangerous trend. I blow off some cash, sit down at a 2/4 or 3/6 game and make back everything I lost. I've done that like 5 straight times. I'm just waiting for the time I blow through what little I have left. Not playing tonight, that's for sure.

On a personal note, kind of interesting stuff going on. The big one is that the job I applied for closes tonight, so I should start hearing progress on the in the near future. I'll be honest, it won't be life-changing....but it will be darn close. It's killing me because this is a VERY specialized position (there are only 30 people in the country trained to my level), but there is competition. I feel like I have a solid shot, but we'll have to see. The other thing is that my refinance FINALLY went through. THANK GOD.....I CAN HAVE SOME CASH ON HAND AGAIN.

I'll try and do a better job of keeping this thing updated, but haven't had much to write about lately.

One of those nights....

You know what I'm talking about.

Every time you make a move, you run into a hand. You lose every coinflip.

That describes tonight. 0 for 3 in SnGs and steamed off $40 or so playing 3/6.

SnG #1
Went out early, when I make a move with AK and get called by 66.

SnG #2
Muddle around down to 1200, blinds at 30/60 and I get J 9 suited in the CO. I make it 180, SB calls.

Flop is J 9 2 rainbow. SB bets the pot, I reraise all in. He calls.

Turn A
River 2

He shows 2 9 suited. I love poker.

SnG #3
Probably the best I played. Early on I hit a set of nines and milked TWO guys almost completely out of chips. I then ran into a horrific run of J 2 and 3 9. At 50/100, I've got 3500 in chips when UTG+1 bets out 350. I look down and find the evil JJ. He's got 1000 left, so I put him all in. JJ vs. AK.

Rag-rag-rag-K-.......thanks.

Two hands later I've got QQ in UTG +2 with UTG limping. I overbet PF putting out 1000 to run out the Ax suited. UTG reraises all in (we're about even), I call.

He shows A 9 of hearts (and this is a $20 game)......do I have to go on?

Well, I'm a little hot after my ridiculous run and decide I'm going to make it back playing $3/6.

Yeah, right.

I do get up about $20 at one point but I hit a stupid run of 40 hands where I see nothing. Took a couple of stabs with suited connectors in LP, but never hit. Next thing I know, I'm down $60. I make a little back and leave the table down $40.

So far, September hasn't been anywhere near August. I'm in this rut where everytime I make a move, I run into a hand. I don't want to rock up, but I'm starting to feel like I've got to have the nuts to win a hand these days.

Blah. (WARNING - non poker stuff included)

I wish I had some exciting poker stories, but I don't

It's pretty blah around here lately. I had that horrific run this past weekend and got a little back, but not much. My latest poker lesson is on minimizing losses during bad runs. When you're not catching much, it's definitely not the time to "be creative" as that is just an invitation to disaster. I've noticed that, for me, around 22-25% of flops should be a max unless I"m catching paint and pairs on a constant basis. When I start feeling silly and playing 7 9 suited on a regular basis, well, I might need to slow down.

I've played some real grinding sessions this week. Play for 2 hours and come away up $10, those kind of sessions. No big hands, no huge beats, just grinding along. However, I have been able to get back about half of what I blew through over my bad run this weekend.

I've talked to a couple of guys and realized that I might be getting myself pot committed too early. After a couple of my ugly beats this weekend, I posted the breakdown of the hands and saw that if I hadn't been making such big bets early, then I might have been able to get away from them. Something to think about.

** ALERT! NON-POKER RELATED STUFF **

On a personal note, I'm pretty excited as my employment situation may improve a ton. Currently, I'm a network admin for the local governement. Not that bad, but I've pretty much topped out on pay and advancement is not a real option. I got word that one of the groups I work with on a daily basis has an opening. Well, I looked up the job description and it looked like it was written specifically for me.

This is a job with a ton of opportunities and the 25-40% pay increase wouldn't be bad either. Better benefits, more days off, etc. The only drawback is that the schedule is a little funky, but it's a small trade compared to everything else.

It is a federal job, so there's tons of red tape, but one of the software packages is VERY specific and theres only 20-40 people in the county who are trained to the leve I am....and they already have jobs. I am lucky enough to have a very good relationship with several people at this agency. I don't know how much that will help, but it definitely won't hurt.

Fingers crossed.

Hey, the sun came up

After last night, I was wondering.

I'm kind of chilled out and starting my grind back to work the old BR back up. Playing .25/.50 now, but don't know why because .10/.25 is soooooo easy.

A decent day overall, but I had one table that has bothered me all night. I got my first taste of "asshole teenage wannabe". I'm at a table and just playing along and this kid (yes, it was a kid) starts mouthing off at the whole table. I don't know if he was a prick or just trying to get the table to tilt. Anyway, I get involved in a hand with him when I get JJ early. I make it $2.50 to go and he calls. Flop goes 2 K Q. Obviously, I'm concerned witht his board, but I fire out a pot bet hoping to take it down there. The turn is a 10, giving me an open ender. I fire another $5 with a solid PP and a draw at a straight. He calls again. The river brings a 6 and I'm stuck for $13 in this pot with a questionable hand. With two calls, I seriously doubt I'm in the lead and check it. He fires out a 1/2 pot bet and I fold seeing it as a value bet.

I then get 20 minutes of how horrible a laydown that was and I was a pure wuss.

I made back my money and prayed for a hand to bust him with, but it never appeared.

I've played with much more annoying people and, to be honest, thought it was a good laydown given how the hand played out.

I think I'm lamenting over nothing, but it still grates on me.

Screw it, I'm going to bed.

At this moment, I'm hating some poker

What a shitty day.

I just finished a fine evening of dropping about $150 playing NL, an MTT, and 1/2 limit, with some of the worst fucking beats I can remember.

The limit was just ugly, losing around $100 playing $1/2.

Essentially, I lost most of it on 4 hands.

KK, capped PF, bet it as hard as I could, A hits the river.....guy turns over A 3 suited
Lost with trip Queens when a guy hit a 4 on the river....he had Q 4
Hit a set of jacks only to see the 9 10 hit runner runner to give a guy with K Q a straight.
AK suited, hit the A on the flop, bet it hard, 7 hits river, BB had A7

The whole day has sucked.

I played some .25/.50 early and lost my entire buy in on a hand that went like this.

I've got KQ of spades. From MP, I make it $1.50, two callers. Flop goes As 8s 2d. BB and UTG check, I bet the pot (try to pick it up there...semi bluff). BB calls, UTG folds. 5s on the turn and I make the nut flush. BB bets out $15, I move all in for $30 more, he calls.

Ah hits the river. He shows 22.....thanks.

Then, I play the $30 MTT and cruise around. Make a couple of stabs and sit at around 1100 when this hand hits.

Blinds at 30/60

I'm dealt AKs in MP. Two limpers in front. I make it 250 total. BB calls.

Flop A 8 5 rainbow.

I bet the pot, BB calls.

Turn is a J.....I move the rest of the way in, BB calls

River is a 3. BB shows 2 4.

IN A FUCKING $30 MTT, the BB calls a 250 bet with 2 4, pot bet with 2 4, AND an all in with nothing but a gutshot.

It's been that kind of day.

Not feeling the poker bug right now, that's for sure.

I'm a tad frustrated

and I can't tell if it's me, or just a little funky run.

I've decided to make a move up in the games I play and I'm now playing the .25/.50 NL games at UB. Playing pretty well, staying aggressive, making good laydowns when the board looks bad, even pulling off a bluff every once in a while. Problem is, after a week, I'm exactly where I started.
Granted, breaking even is a great way to stay in the game, but I'm used to leaving with at least a 50% profit.

I haven't really noticed a big difference in play, but it's only been a week. I have seen more limping than I expected. I guess the big thing is that I'm shocked at how many people still chase. The big problem the last couple of days is that they were catching.

The most disturbing trend lately is my total failure at tournament play...something I usually consider a strength. I don't know what's going on. It seems like when I get aggressive, I run into a hand or a maniac.

The good thing in all of this is that I haven't really lost anything. I had some real good outings in SnGs this week going 4 for 5 (1 win, 2 seconds, and a third). That kind of made up for the rough beat I took in my ring games and tournament donations.

Planning on playing quite a bit this weekend. Maybe I can turn things around.....and not blow a chunk of my BR trying.