6 SNG $5 + .50 End 2nd 94 hands

Mixed play. Early on I made a bad play choice and was knocked down to 1050 chips. Hand 12 I was back in it with 2030 chips after hitting a straight on the Turn and being called by a player w/an Ace high pair.

Hand 44 I got lucky again. Five players left, blinds 40/80. I had pocket J's (Jc Jd) UTG/HJ and open-raised 3 BB (240), CO folded, BTN re-raised me all-in w/2135, SB & BB folded. I thought about it a bit. This was a player playing 4 sessions, so making that kind of raise he had to have something. I decided to call anyway, which put me all-in. They show pocket A's (As Ah). Uh Oh. I'm in big trouble!! Looks like I'm going out early. Flop Js 8d 9s. Ooooh, I hit a set. Will it hold up? Turn 3s. River Qd. indeed it did and I now have 2660 chips.

Hand 45. I'm BB w/8c 9c. CO open-raises all-in (player I beat last hand), BTN & SB fold. I decide to call hoping I have two good cards. He shows Ah 10s. Good; overcards, but I still have two good ones. Flop 7h 6h 10h. I hit a straight; one of those I always groan to when I lose to it, BUT it  also gives the CO a nut high heart flush draw. Turn Qd. River 5s. My straight holds!! That makes me feel good!! I'll need to remember this later when I take a bad beat on the River. :-)

By hand 47 we are on the bubble. Top stack has 4070, I'm 2nd w/3525, and the short stack has 1405. Blinds are 40/80. We aren't having much luck at knocking the short stack out until hand 82 where I have pocket K's to their pocket 9's. My K's hold up.

We start HU I'm big stack w/5695 to short stack w/3305 and blinds of 60/120. I take a hit in hand 91. I hit two pair on the flop 8's & 4's. BB pairs their 8. Turn 5d. I'm still good. River 5h. Rats. He now has 8's & 5's with a K kicker that beats me and I'm down to 1310 chips.

Hand 84. I'm BB w/Ah 5h. SB open-raises 4 BB (120) and I decide to re-raise them all-in w/my last 1370 chips. They call and show pocket 3's. I have two overcards. They hit a set on the Turn and I pair my Ace on the River. They win 1st, I have 2nd.

18 SNG Step 2 Ticket End 7th Won Step 1 ticket 112 Hands

Payout:  1-5  Step 3 Ticket, 6 - Step 2 Ticket, 7-8 Step 1 Ticket

Generally OK play but a bit weak at the end. I thought I had a good chance for a Step 2 ticket but going from 2nd to 5th or 6th was easy even when you weren't in the pot. My big downfall was trying to steal the blinds w/ A4s and getting called by the BB. Flop was 6 6 8. BB checked and I checked. Turn 2c. BB bet 1000 into the 3250 pot and I felt I had to fold. That left me w/1665 chips w/blinds of 250/500. A few hands later I went out w/K8o vs KJ9. I hit the 8 bit they hit the J on the flop. No help on the Turn or River.

2 HU $2 + .15 End 2nd 49 Hands 9/9/10

Not well played by me. Mainly hung in too  long for hands I should have folded and caused my chip stack to dwindle. Last hand where it looked like I might have a winner on the River gave the other player a straight and I was gone! A7o vs QJo  Board: 10 K 5 3 A. I rarely think about those two inside cards hitting. Then again, my chip count was low enough to go all-in pre-flop. Doubt that would have made him fold. Not much else to say about it.

2 HU $5 + .50 End 2nd 21 Hands

Similar to last HU but I don't feel as bad about it. I'm BB w/ pocket 10's (10h 10s). SB open raises 3 BB (60) and I decide t just call. Flop 9s As 6c. One over card. I check and so does the SB. Turn Ks. Rats. Now two over cards plus flush draw. I bet 60 into the 120 pot and SB calls. River Qs. Double rats!! I have the flush to 10 high, only the Js would beat me. I bet 120 into the 240 pot and SB raises me all-in w/1210. I think about it and seriously consider that he has the Js but decide to call "in case he has only a smaller spade" for the flush. Unfortunately he does have the Js and I'm down to 340 chips. I hang on for a few more hands with a push or fold mentality. Last hand I have pocket 2's. BB open raises 3 BB (60) and I decide to shove with my pocket pair. SB calls and shows Ah Kh, two over cards. Flop has an Ace, River a K and that's it for me.

Losing start for me tonight, but like I said on this session, I took the gamble knowing there was a good chance I'd lose the pot and a small change I'd win, which is better than merely wishing my cards to hold up.

2 HU $2 + .15 End 2nd 11 Hands

Basically I decided to go in where angels fear to tread. I had Qc 2s as SB and I open raised 2 1/2 BB, BB called. Flop 9s Qh Qs. Nice, I have trip Q's. BB checks and I min raise 20 into the 100 pot. BB raises me to 80 and I re-raise to 160. BB re-raises to 240 and I decide, enough of this pushing me around and re-raise all-in!! That'll teach you!!  Now I DO THINK about his also having a Q with a better kicker, I even consider that he might have Q9 for a FH but I don't let that stop me from jumping into the fire head first!! BB calls showing Kd Qd, basically what I expected he likely had. Well I could still win with a 9 or a 2. Turn Kc. Well that kills that thought. I'm drawing dead on the River. River 10h and that's all she wrote.

Poor play on my part. Not giving enough credit to his having the hand that would beat me when he bet back raising me. No good excuses for that. Is there ever????

6 SNG $5 + .50 End 1st 139 Hands

Generally I played OK, but I was a bit too passive in the HU's I feel. Anyway it was nice to have win after my other losses earlier today.

Rush 6 player .05/.10 203 Hands Down $10 Blinds ate $5.00 Rake $1.94

Got off to a nice start and was up around $7 at 55 hands. After that I had a small downswing with a bit of up around hand 109, Then a steady slide down to 0 then a quick drop to -$10. :-/ Hand 202 was the big crusher.

Hand 202. I have Ah 10h as BB w/$9.56. HJ w/$12.96 open raises 3 1/2 BB ($0.35), SB w/$30.28 calls, and I call. Flop Qh 4c Jh. I have a nut flush draw, even possible royal flush. SB & I check, HJ bets $0.80 into the $0.98 pot, SB folds and I call. Turn 10c. I pair my 10. I check & HJ bets $2 into the $2.48 pot. I feel I have to call for the flush draw. River 10s. This makes things difficult. I now have trip 10's, which is nice, but if HJ has AK they have a straight. I check and HJ bets $5 into the $6.21 pot. Darn, I hate to fold and don't, I call. BB shows pocket Q's (Qc Qs). I'd not thought about possible sets that could beat my trip 10's and if I had that might have induced me to fold as that would be two things they could easily have that would beat me. I'm down to $1.51.

Hand 203. I'm on the BTN w/Ah 8h. HJ limps in for $0.10, I raise all-in w my $1.51, SB re-raises all-in w/their $3.11, BB & HJ fold. Flop 6h 9h Ad. I hit my Ace but they hit their set. :-/ Turn 6c. I don't notice they now have a FH. River 3h. I have a nut flush and for a moment I think I've won, but the chips go to the SB. Oh, they have a FH. Bummer. Time for a break!

9 SNG $5 + .50 End 6th 45 Hands

OK play until last hand. I had pocket 10's (10c 10d) on the BTN, blinds 50/100, 1510 chips. UTG & HJ fold, CO limps in for 100, I raise to 400, SB & BB fold, CO re-raises me to 800. At this point I'm thinking he may be just seeing what my bet was and trying to knock me off it. I re-raise all-in and he calls. I wanted him to fold and wondered further what he might have, AA-JJ?, two big cards?. Well he shows pocket A's (As Ac). I did not give him credit for having that kind of a hand. Board holds up for him and I'm outta there!

2 HU $2 + .15 End 2nd 35 hands

I feel I generally played this one OK. Last hand though was questionable. I'm SB w/7d 6h. I open raise 2 BB (80) and BB calls me. Flop 3s 8c 9s. I have an open-ended straight draw. BB checks & I check. Turn 10d. I have my open ended straight but on the low side of it. BB checks again and I bet the pot of 160. BB raises me to 360. I think about it a bit and decide that he may be on a draw so I re-raise him all-in; BB calls showing 7c Jd. That combo did not enter my mind. I thought he probably didn't have JQ or he'd have raised me more. Anyway that was it for me. :-/

He was a hard player to figure out as he did a lot of 4 BB or 5 BB betting that I had to fold to, so I couldn't get much of a feel of what kind of cards he had when he bet big, thus my taking a chance with the last hand. Because of my needing to fold his big bets he was ahead of me most of this session. Hand 34 I just about got even with him for the 1st since hand 1.

6 SNG $5 + .50 End 5th 31 hands

Poor 1st hand play. Then hand 25 cost me a lot of chips. I had pocket J's. UTG & HJ limped in and I decided to also, short stack BTN of 700 raised to 699, SB & BB folded, UTG called, HJ folded and I called. Flop As Qc 5c. Two overcards to my J's. UTG bet all-in w/1696, I folded figuring my pocket J's weren't very good at that point, and BTN called. BTN showed pocket Q's, UTG pocket A's. Turn Ad. River 4ds. That left me with only 476 chips

Last hand, 31, I had pocket 5's & 601 chips as CO. UTG folded and I open-raised all-in, BTN folded, SB called and BB folded. SB showed As Qc. They hit their Q on the flop, nothing for me on the Turn or River. That was it!!

Rush 6 player .05/.10 400 Hands Up $6.19 Blinds ate $9.95 Rake $4.03

Poker can be a very frustrating game. In those 400 hands I had pocket pairs 17 times, I hit a set once on the River, and once on hand 353. The 353 hand is what can make poker so frustrating.

Hand 353. In HJ position I have pocket 8's (8d 8s) and $10.47. UTG folds, I limp in w/2 BB (.10), CO w/$24.86 raises me to $0.45, BTN and SB fold, BB w/$12.25 calls & I call. This is the 1st part of my frustration. I really didn't want to put in another $0.35 to see if I might hit my set, but I did.

 Flop 5d 8c 4h. Yeah, I finally hit a set and at the moment any other set that might have hit is smaller than mine. BB checks and I bet $1.40 into the $1.31 pot. CO calls & BB raises to $2.80. My 1st feeling is great, I'm getting some action and feel whatever BB has I can beat, so I decide to go for it and re-raise all-in under the idea, if I've got it, get the money in there. I really didn't take the time to think much about what either of the other two players might have. CO folds, one player down, one to go. BB, a bit to my surprise, calls and shows 6c 7s. THEY HIT A STRAIGHT on the flop. The frustration, after all those pocket pairs that didn't hit a set, the one that I have that finally does and where it looks like I might finally pick up a few bucks, another player hits a straight that beats me!!! After all those hands I'll be back down to 0 and down $15.20 for this session. :-/

BUT THIS IS POKER!! Turn Qs. One to go. River 4d. The poker gods smile down on me!! I River a FH and I win a nice $21.32 pot and am finally ahead for the day!! PHEW and WOW!!

The hand converted for a better visual:

Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, $0.10 BB (6 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com



saw flop | saw showdown

Hero (MP) ($10.47)
CO ($24.86)
Button ($15.97)
SB ($10.06)
BB ($12.35)
UTG ($5.92)

Preflop: Hero is MP with 8, 8
1 fold, Hero calls $0.10, CO bets $0.45, 2 folds, BB calls $0.35, Hero calls $0.35

Flop: ($1.40) 5, 8, 4 (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets $1.40, CO calls $1.40, BB raises to $2.80, Hero raises to $10.02 (All-In), 1 fold, BB calls $7.22

Turn: ($22.84) Q (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: ($22.84) 4 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Total pot: $22.84 | Rake: $1.52
Main pot: $22.84 between Hero and BB, won by Hero

Results:
BB had 6, 7 (straight, eight high).
Hero had 8, 8 (full house, eights over fours).
Outcome: Hero won $21.32

I was thinking of playing up to 500 hands, but now decide that getting to 400 will be fine. I'm lucky to be ahead and I'd like to end this session that way.

Hmmm, Interesting. The hand posted from Flop, Turn River hand converter now plays out. I also see that Poker Tracker has an option where you can see the hand with cards, but I couldn't copy that over into this blog. It pasted fine into an Outlook email.

The graphic details of the session:

Rush 6 player .05/.10 1000 Hands Up $1.67 Blinds ate $39.05 Rake $20.62

Well, at least I came out ahead in the end. :-) I was only going to play a couple hundred or so hands but got behind and wanted to win my $$$ lost back. Original plan was to see if I could win back my $11 lost on two SNG's and I came close to that after 300 hands before I went into a slide. My high point around 900 hands was $28, but I'd put in $21, so the net at that time was only $7 and then I gave a bit of it back.

One thing I always worry about when I'm play and get ahead is that I'm going to blow it and lose all my hard earned $$$. In general, that didn't happen this session. I didn't have any really big wins as about the only all-in's I could get into were with players w/$5 or less. All too often it seemed that when I had my really good cards (AA, KK), I couldn't even get called on a 2 BB open raise. I did get beat a few times when I had a weak to moderate kicker. I did better at folding when I had big bets/raises to what were decent hands for me but the board showed I could be beaten.

9 SNG $5 + .50 End 6th 49 Hands

Generally OK play up to last hand. I had pocket Q's as BB, UTG open raised 3 BB, I decided to re-raise him all-in. Now, I knew he wasn't in very many hands and likely had good cards, even KK or AA, but took my chances that maybe he only had two high cards such as AK or maybe JJ. Would have been best if I only called. Flop was Jd Qc Kd, both helped and hurt me. Turn & River were 5h 5s and that's all she wrote. I needed to back off and didn't.

6 SNG $5 + .50 End 4th 39 Hands

Except for one hand I felt I played well, including folding to big raises to my bets when the board looked like I could be beaten.

Hand 12. I'm CO w/AQo. I open raised 2 1/2 BB (100) and BB re-raises me to 240, I call. Flop Js 7c Jc. Misses me. BB checks and I bet 280 into the 500 pot and BB raises me all-in w/1770. I fold. BB shows pocket K's. Good fold.

Hand 39. I feel I played the way I should. I'm BB w/8s 2h, 955 chips, blinds 40/80. The other 3 players limp in and I call. Flop 8c 3h 7d. I have top pair. SB bets the pot of 320 and I decided to raises them all-in, they call. They show 10h 5c, one overcard. I expected them to have at least an 8 with a better kicker, or a decent bigger pair. They had neither. Turn 10s. Rats, not good for me. River 6s. I'm outta there. As I said I felt I played the hand OK and would have expected SB to fold with the cards they had on my post flop bet. Later they were to make even worse plays. Not sure what was going on as their stats were pretty decent up that point.

6 SNG $5 + .50 End 1st 165 Hands

Generally OK play. Again, likely I was a bit too passive, particularly in HU BUT the other player was very loose and had been the whole sessions, so I felt I needed to be careful what cards I played and how I bet as I could expect him to call most of the time. We got to HU at hand 62 about even in chips, I had 700 more. We took turns alternating 1st & 2nd, getting our chips down into the upper 1000 or so, then manage to flip again. He tended to slow play some big hands and I got caught by that when I had good hands but not the nuts.

2 HU $2 + .15 End 1st 57 Hands

Haven't played any HU's recently, well not much poker either, but had gotten away, a bit, from starting my day's play with a HU. Wasn't sure how I'd be playing so decided to start with a $2 HU instead of $5. Outside of maybe being a little passive I felt my play was OK. My opponent was pretty passive as well, even when they were becoming very short stacked. Last hand I was lucky on the River. I had Q3o vs Q4o. I let him bet and I called on the Flop of Q 2 T. On the Turn he min bet again and this time I raised him to 3 BB and he re-raised me to 5 BB, I called. That left him with 15 chips. River was 3 and I bet him his last 15 and fortunately I won the hand.