Steve T's Semi-Cohreant Ramblings

First the SnG progress. Not so good on Tuesday where I finished 6th and 6th. My first one on Wednesday ended in 9th when my KK ran into AA. Ooof. The 2nd one was not as bad and I scored a 3rd place finish putting me only down a few bucks for the night. Why not join The Mookie? Well, maybe because these 10+1 MTTs are *huge* -EV for me. Oh well, I have a good time so lets play.

For the first hour I chipped up nicely. Top 5 or 8 in chips most of the way. Felt good and solid. 41 players tonight, 5 pay. That is a tough one but better than 10%, so fair. One of the Stars’ milestone hands was dealt just after the 1st break, and no- I didn’t get my share. The 2nd hour was survival. If you read Mookie’s report, I just got lapped by the field. I never really had better than 10BB. I just kept enough to stay alive. I made the final table (first one in awhile) but was still very much hurting. When it got to the bubble, Mookie and I *combined* had less than an average stack. It looked like one of the two of us was going out 6th for $0 and the other 5th for $32 or something. As a joke, I offered to chop 5th (which really wasn’t a bad deal). Mookie did end up bubbling. Then I ran my KQ into a KT and doubled up timely. I kept chugging away and chipping up. Suddenly I was getting cards again, making the right bets, and quickly moving up. I ended heads up with drewspop and had a 3 to 1 chip lead. I only doubled him up once, but ended up sucking out hitting a 6 outer on the river to take him out. To be fair I was about 30% to win pre-flop 🙂 This is my biggest single cash online, and maybe with live as well.

You want to know how -EV these MTTs are for me? I cashed for 165 or something last night, which puts me $-1.00 over every event I have in PokerTracker (15 or something). That does not count the smaller private events which are counted as single or two table SnGs. It does feel good to have a big night though.

The one skill I have begun to work is using my breaks. Two examples from last night:

TT in mid-position, I bump it to 4BB and get someone in early position to call. The flop is Q-rag-rag rainbow. It is checked to me and I continuation bet about 1/2 the pot. I get raised 3-fold. There are not a lot of hands that beat me, but I start counting them and realize that this is bad money if I call. I fold.

Later in the night I get JJ in early position. Again 4BB bet and Mookie calls. Flop is 998 and I make it a bit more than 1/2 pot. He raises me to put me nearly in. I have to call time on this one, but I fold. He comments on how his raise was too big.

In the past I might jam with either of those two hands, especially the 2nd one. There were plenty of times when my continuation bet took the pot, so it is certainly the correct play most of the time. I just have to watch the re-raise and who is just making a move and who has the goods. Obviously either of those hands might break me and I would not have cashed last night, so it worked out for me there. What was that golden rule? It is better to win a small pot vs lose a huge one. It might be better to say it is better to let go of a small pot vs bust in a large one, but I can be a pessimist.

The big boss from Rational is here today. He is going to screw up Enchelada Thursday, so I am already unhappy.