Finally, SNG Success
PokerStars Tournament #26469899, No Limit Hold'em
Buy-In: $1.00/$0.20
45 players
Total Prize Pool: $45.00
Tournament started - 2006/06/14 - 21:39:59 (ET)
Dear bluto392,
You finished the tournament in 2nd place.
A $10.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.
Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.
Bear with me, I know that for a lot of people this isn't worth posting about, but you've got to put it into context. In the past six months that I've been playing for money, I've cashed in one SNG. I have a great run of finishing either 18th or 17th in the 45-seat structures. In fact, I'd decided that these were -EV and I haven't played them for a long time.
Here are the things that stand out that I did that helped me be successful last night:
1. Patience: I waited for the good cards. The blind levels were around 10-15 minutes, so I felt I had time to pick and choose, even at the final table.
- In the last tourney I played, I was too active at the bubble and I finished out of the money. Last night, I literally told myself to sit back and let the others who were willing to play beat each other up and I slid into the final table and, later, the money.
- I was able to stay somewhat calm when I made good hands. I hit a set of threes at one point. Usually, I'd go all-in right away. This time, I was able to coax my opponent to put all of his chips in with the second best hand.
2. Aggression: When I got good hands, I tried to make the most of them by raising.
- Also, I looked for opportunities to steal pots. There were many of these in this tournament: over 25 pots won without a showdown. My short-stack all-ins got an amazing amount of respect as well and kept my M above water at key moments.
- Yes, I know I'm not breaking any new ground here. Here's the new part: I willed myself to be more aggressive. I saw early on that I was playing really timidly, probably because I was preparing myself for the 'inevitable.' I caught myself and forced myself to put my chips out there, try to steal pots, etc.
Thanks to Surflexus, who gave me a pep-talk a few days ago. I probably wouldn't have bothered with playing an SNG if I hadn't spoken to him beforehand. I promised myself that I'd take a stab at one of those $4.40 180-seat SNG's on Poker Stars if I moneyed last night, so I'm putting that on the weekend agenda.
I really, REALLY, wanted to play in the Poker Stars blogger championship on Sunday, but I've got other Father's Day plans. It's ironic that the father doesn't get to make his own plans for Father's day, but I really have no grounds to complain. My family's great and I enjoy spending time with them. Anyway, I'm off to AC next week, so it's not like I'm exactly deprived of poker.
Happy Father's Day!
Buy-In: $1.00/$0.20
45 players
Total Prize Pool: $45.00
Tournament started - 2006/06/14 - 21:39:59 (ET)
Dear bluto392,
You finished the tournament in 2nd place.
A $10.00 award has been credited to your Real Money account.
Congratulations!
Thank you for participating.
Bear with me, I know that for a lot of people this isn't worth posting about, but you've got to put it into context. In the past six months that I've been playing for money, I've cashed in one SNG. I have a great run of finishing either 18th or 17th in the 45-seat structures. In fact, I'd decided that these were -EV and I haven't played them for a long time.
Here are the things that stand out that I did that helped me be successful last night:
1. Patience: I waited for the good cards. The blind levels were around 10-15 minutes, so I felt I had time to pick and choose, even at the final table.
- In the last tourney I played, I was too active at the bubble and I finished out of the money. Last night, I literally told myself to sit back and let the others who were willing to play beat each other up and I slid into the final table and, later, the money.
- I was able to stay somewhat calm when I made good hands. I hit a set of threes at one point. Usually, I'd go all-in right away. This time, I was able to coax my opponent to put all of his chips in with the second best hand.
2. Aggression: When I got good hands, I tried to make the most of them by raising.
- Also, I looked for opportunities to steal pots. There were many of these in this tournament: over 25 pots won without a showdown. My short-stack all-ins got an amazing amount of respect as well and kept my M above water at key moments.
- Yes, I know I'm not breaking any new ground here. Here's the new part: I willed myself to be more aggressive. I saw early on that I was playing really timidly, probably because I was preparing myself for the 'inevitable.' I caught myself and forced myself to put my chips out there, try to steal pots, etc.
Thanks to Surflexus, who gave me a pep-talk a few days ago. I probably wouldn't have bothered with playing an SNG if I hadn't spoken to him beforehand. I promised myself that I'd take a stab at one of those $4.40 180-seat SNG's on Poker Stars if I moneyed last night, so I'm putting that on the weekend agenda.
I really, REALLY, wanted to play in the Poker Stars blogger championship on Sunday, but I've got other Father's Day plans. It's ironic that the father doesn't get to make his own plans for Father's day, but I really have no grounds to complain. My family's great and I enjoy spending time with them. Anyway, I'm off to AC next week, so it's not like I'm exactly deprived of poker.
Happy Father's Day!
posted by C.L. Russo at 6/15/2006 05:19:00 AM
3 Comments:
Congrats on your cash!
Thanks!
Good job on the cash... the biggest thing is to use the other bloggers to improve your game.
I know for sure it has improved my game and helped me mix it up more often! Hoy is the superstar of picking up unwanted or only half wanted pots.
Let me know how AC goes as that is closer to me than vegas so it might be a good place to go to play.
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