Saturday, February 07, 2004

My First SNG Win

OK, as promised I told you I will blog the highlights of my first SNG win! Alas, it took me four chances, but using the advice from my fellow poker bloggers... I was able to school some fish and take home a first place finish. Let me start by saying that I had never played in an online SNG before Wednesday... but I do have experience playing No Limit (at weekly tourneys in Foxwoods and one time at Binion's). I have played short-handed and heads-up before (on both occassions, I came in second... once at Binion's in a super satellite last April and the other time was my serious bad beat at Foxwoods this summerwhen my A-9 lost to K-9 and I blew a shot at getting a seat at the World Poker Finals). Ok, with that said... let's get to the skinny.

My buddy Jerry sat in at my table for his first SNG. I was pumped to be at the same table as Jerry! He had seat 3 and I got seat 6. Here's the line-up:

Table Card Room Table 616 (Real Money)
Seat 6 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: GePeach (800)
Seat 2: earthdogg (800)
Seat 3: jengel180 (800)
Seat 4: darcon (800)
Seat 5: El_Tel (800)
Seat 6: paparby (800)
Seat 7: PaulyMcGrupp (800)
Seat 8: strass2 (800)
Seat 9: brianjco (800)
Seat 10: BJBECKERS (800)

To my surprise I played very tight the first three rounds, only coming out to play with pocket Jacks and I won that hand. Jerry got kncoked out in Level 3 when his A-A (pocket rockets!!) lost to a J-9 suited. The moron caught a straight on the river to mutilate Jerry's stack. He was out on the very next hand. The guy's name was darcon and I wanted to avenge friend's bad beat!!

Level 4... Blinds: 100/200

I have $540... I ran into another pocket pair... Queens! I was the little blind and I limped in. Only one other player besides the the big blind called. The big blind at that point was second in chips with $1835. The flop: 7s, Qs, 3h. I flopped a set with no overcards! I checked, big blind bet $100, other guy folded. I went all-in with a $440 bet. Big blind called! I figured he did that because he had the second biggest stack... actually he had flopped bottom two pair. His 7d-3c vs. my Q-Q... the turn: 8h and the river: Ks. Pauly doubled up against the chip leader. It was a nice play... but I thought a raise would have been the correct call. If a 3 or 7 fell on the turn or river, I would have been screwed trying to slow play the ladies.

Two hands later, I got pocket Jacks again! I was second in chips and I brought in a raise. The small blind re-raised... I thought for a second and called the short stack. My J-J vs. his 6-6. I was a winner.

Level 5... Blinds 200/400

In the big blind I found K-8 offsuit. One caller. The flop: 7s, 10c, Kd... we both checked. The turn: 5d... now I bet out $200 on my pair of Kings to make the flush draw pay! He called and on the river: 2d. Ouch... I hope he didn't make a flush. I started to pull my hair out because I should have bet out on the flop instead of giving him a free card. I checked and he went all-in for $435. I called anyway... and he turned over Q-J... of hearts! He tried to bluff at the flush and I didn't think he had it... alas, I knocked him out and my K-8o beat his Q-J suited. Bad beat for sure! I found msyelf in second place (out of three) and in the "money". At that point I said "Fuck it!" and I decided to be aggressive. I wanted to win the entire SNG! With two others remaining, I found my nemisis darcon who knocked out Jerry. He was the short stack and the chip leader had $1100 more than I did.

Over the remainder of the round, I was a thief. I stole blinds left and right and won a sweet pot with A-J.

Level 6... Blinds: 300/600

I was the chip leader at the start of Level 6, by just a $100 or so. But that was short-lived. My K-10 suited was no match for a J-6 off suit and I caught the flush on the river (I led the entire hand)... and I took a substantial chip lead... at least 3 times more than second and four times more than third. Time to be a bully.

I lost two tough hands... J-7 got beat out by 7-7 and my A-Q lost to an A-J... when the guy caught a Jack on the flop. My lead dwindled to less than $1000 in chips. I lost another big pot with A-4 suited and I lost the chip lead and was $1400 behind!! Then I made a run...

The Varkoyni... yes, I found a Qc-10c... Q-10 suited. I raised pre-flop and got one caller, the chip leader, he held Q-J suited!! The flop: 9c-10s-3h... I got top pair with a decent kicker. I bet, he called. When the 5s hit the turn, I said "Fuck it!" No one is going to draw on me... so I went all-in. He quickly called and a 6h hit the river! Whew! My pair of Tens was good enough to win (he had Q high) and I went back up to being the chip leader with more than 4x the chips as the rest of the two.

Q-8... How Sweet It Is!

Yes, I got Q-8, raised the blinds to go all-in, one called and my Q-8 beat out his 9-6 suited... and yes, I finally knocked out darcon and avenged Jerry's bad beat and cracked aces! I was not going to let that fucker win! I got $6800 to $1200. I could smell the victory.

The very next hand... Q-8 offsuit. I rasied pre-flop, he re-raised to go all-in. I called. he held A-4 offsuit. I caught a Q on the flop and an 8 on the river to take it all! Wow... Q-8 two hands in a row! And there you have it!

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