9 SNG $5 + .50 End 5th

Another one of those sessions where I play well for a long time then call when I know I shouldn't!! Next to last hand I had pocket 9's (9c 9d), six players, blinds 40/80, I have 2590 chips as BB, 3rd in stack size. UTG+1 open raises 3 1/2 BB (280). Rest fold to short stack w/950 who re-raises all-in. I think about it and decide I'll call as I expect he would go with an Ax and not necessarily a great hand, UTG+1 calls as well. I was hoping they would fold. Flop 3s 4c 7h. Nothing obviously dangerous to my 9's. I decide to just check as does UTG+1. Turn 8c. Again, nothing obviously dangerous to my 9's. I wonder if there could be a 56 out there but doubt it. Again I check as does UTG+1. River 6c. Rats. That is dangerous in two ways with possible straights and flushes. Not the kind of card I wanted to see. :-/ I check and UTG+1 goes all-in with their last 668 chips. I debated folding knowing there were a lot of ways I could be beat, but decide to call "just in case" they were bluffing. As so often is the case, they weren't. They had Ac  5c giving them a straight as well as nut high club flush. Short stack had Ah 10h. I'm down to 1052 chips.

I don't know if I could have got them to fold earlier if I'd gone all in on the flop, or even pre-flop, though pre-flop they did call a 920 raise. Hmm, looking at it, they did have 3.4 to 1 pot odds on that call. If I went all-in at that point they'd still have 2.9 to 1 pot odds so they still might have made the call, but would have been risking all their chips to do so.

Next hand it looks like I can get back into this session as SB I have pocket J's (Jc Jh). CO limps in for 100 and raise to 3 1/2 BB (350) (I might just as well have gone all-in as I only have 702 chips left), BB calls & CO folds. Flop 9h 5s 3s. All undercards to me and I bet all-in, BB calls showing As Kd, two overcards. Earlier I was in the same situation w/AK vs JJ and won with an Ace on the River. Turn 6s. I now have to worry about a spade flush as well as the overcards. River Ac. No spade but the winning card. Same result as my earlier hand except I'm on the losing side of this one. "What goes around comes around?" :-)

I don't feel too bad about my pocket J's being cracked, that's poker. The crucial hand was the previous one where I called on the River when I should have folded. Someday I hope to learn that lesson. Actually in some ways I have, as I am much more likely to fold these days than in my more recent past, I'm just not making those folds as often as I should.