Saturday, June 03, 2006

two table sng tournament

Today I played a two table tournament. My goals were a bit higher than the three tabler from yesterday. I wanted to reach the final table and win more than one hand.

Well I managed to do that and more. I ended up in the money, finishing in second place. I'm happy with how I played and how it turned out.

I also managed to knock out three people in this tournament. Knocking people out is my favorite part of sit n' go. Here's my first low stakes knockout. Sorry if I'm using "knockout" as the incorrect term. If there is a proper term then send it along to me. Is "stack" better to use?


*********** # 7 **************
PokerStars Game #5138633414: Tournament #25836502, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2006/06/03 - 11:48:41 (ET)
Table '25836502 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
UTG (t1500)
UTG+1 (t1470)
MP1 (t2070)
MP2 (t2260)
halpgr (t1470)
CO (t1320)
Button (t1140)
SB (t970)
BB (t1300)


*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to halpgr [Ad Ks]

4 folds,
halpgr raises to t100,
CO calls t100,
2 folds,
BB calls t80

--> This is the first hand I played this tournament. I made a strong 5X BB raise with AKo from MP3.


*** FLOP (t310) *** [8d As Qh]
BB checks,
halpgr bets t160,
CO calls t160,
BB folds.

--> I hit the Ace on the flop, giving me TPTK. I bet t160, hoping to take it there. One guy folds but the other just calls. I put him on an Ace with a lesser kicker.

*** TURN (t630) *** [8d As Qh] [3d]
halpgr checks,
CO bets t1060 (All-In),
halpgr calls t1060

--> The turn looks like a blank. I checked with the intent of check raising. I was hoping that villian would think I didn't have an Ace and put a bet in. He bet more than I expected. I called, hoping my read on him was good.

*** RIVER *** [8d As Qh 3d] [6d]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
halpgr has Ad Ks (one pair, aces).
CO has Ah 2c (one pair, aces)

halpgr collected 2750 from pot

--> My read was right on. He had a dominated Ace. I took his stack and vaulted into 2nd place. I stayed near the top of the leaderboard for a while.

A while later I got my second knockout.

*********** # 55 **************
PokerStars Game #5138881592: Tournament #25836502, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level V (75/150) - 2006/06/03 - 12:25:25 (ET)
Table '25836502 2' 9-max Seat #4 is the button
UTG (t4035)
MP (t4965)
halpgr (t1970)
SB (t1065)
BB (t1500)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to halpgr [Ad Ks]

2 folds,
halpgr raises to t450,
1 fold,
BB raises to t1500,
halpgr calls t1050.

--> I've got AKo again on the button. I've got about 13 BB left so not much room to play. I raise 3X the BB. The BB reraises me and I call. I'll usually call an all in preflop with AK when I have the opponent covered, unless I think the he is an absolute rock who will only push with AA or KK. Villian seemed a bit loose and reckless to me so it was an easy call.

*** FLOP *** [5s 6d Ac]
*** TURN *** [5s 6d Ac] [Kc]
*** RIVER *** [5s 6d Ac Kc] [4s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
BB: shows [9h Jh] (high card Ace)
halpgr: shows [Ad Ks] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
halpgr collected 3075 from pot

--> Another pretty good read. He was down to 10 BB so he took his chances with J9s. My better hand held up.


Later I got my third and final knockout in the tournament.

*********** # 94 **************
PokerStars Game #5139146331: Tournament #25836502, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level VIII (200/400) - 2006/06/03 - 13:01:53 (ET)
Table '25836502 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
SB (t3405)
BB (t5165)
UTG (t5390)
MP (t2790)
halpgr (t2970)
Button (t7280)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to halpgr [7d 7s]

1 fold,
MP raises to t800,
halpgr raises to t2945,
3 folds,
MP calls t1965 (All-In).


--> I'd been in push/fold mode for a while. I'd been all in preflop around 4 times and nobody called, allowing me to keep my stack viable. On this hand I've got 77 in the CO. Down to a little over 7BB, it was time again to move all in.

The villian had also moved all in preflop a couple of times earlier. I liked that she had only raised on her turn instead of pushing. That suggested she didn't have any pocket pair. I put her on overs and decided to take my chances in the coin flip.

*** FLOP *** [4h Ad 5c]
*** TURN *** [4h Ad 5c] [Jd]
*** RIVER *** [4h Ad 5c Jd] [2c]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MP has Kc 7c (high card, ace).
halpgr has 7d 7s (one pair, sevens).

*** SUMMARY ***
halpgr showed [7d 7s] and won (6280) with a pair of Sevens

--> She wasn't as strong as I'd thought. I was glad to see K7s when she called the all in. I was even happier when no K or flush draw appeared on the board.


Going into heads up I was an underdog. Opponent had 22,000 chips and I had around 5,000. I'm not a good heads up player. Back in play money I lost sng at heads up well over half the time. So I just played it pretty loose and put my chips in and hoped for some luck.

I did have some success as opponent was also playing pretty loose. I was able to double up a couple of times with some OK play and some luck and we were about even. Then I went back a bit, bringing up this final hand.

*********** # 122 **************
PokerStars Game #5139260370: Tournament #25836502, $5.00+$0.50 Hold'em No Limit - Level X (400/800) - 2006/06/03 - 13:16:51 (ET)
Table '25836502 1' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
halpgr (t10640)
Button (t16360)

Preflop: halpgr is BB with 6h, Ad.

Button raises to t2400,
halpgr raises to t10590,
Button calls t8190.

--> He opened with a raise. He'd been playing aggressive, so I thought my A6 might be good. I reraised all in and took my chances. Turns out he had me dominated with AK. That held up and he took the tournament.

*** FLOP *** [3c 2c Jd]
*** TURN *** [3c 2c Jd] [5h]
*** RIVER *** [3c 2c Jd 5h] [2h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
halpgr: shows [6h Ad] (a pair of Deuces)
Button: shows [Kd Ah] (a pair of Deuces - Ace+King kicker)
Button collected 21280 from pot


I'm pretty happy with the result. It was a bit of a grind though. 122 hands, 1 hour 38 minutes. I think I'll try the 1 table sng next and see how that goes. I don't know if I have the time or energy to consistently play for that long. I usually play at night after the kids are in bed and the housework is done. I don't know if I can play that long when I don't start until late and have to get up early for work the next day. The 1 table tournament might finish faster.

Now with my second place finish, that puts my bankroll above my initial deposit. So technically I'm currently a winning player, at least for now.

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