A Sit-and-Go Just for the Purpose of an Update

I haven't updated this blog in a month.

Let me rank the reasons why:

1. Guitar Hero (I, II, and III)
2. Other work on the site Arabianmonkey.com
3. Work
4. Stuff around the apartment
5. School

Yet I digress- it's not like I just chose not to update. I have seriously played less that 12 hours of poker in 2008. Crazy, isn't it? I theorize that I will eventually get sick of Guitar Hero and my playing ability will plateau, leading me back to the poker table.

But since that hasn't happened yet, I purposely sat my ass down with my hand generator and this blog window specifically to write about a Sit-and-Go. So here it is, nothing fancy, just some simply hand analysis of a meat-and-potatoes $5+.50 NL Hold'em 9-player Sit-and-Go. I had to use the old hand generator because I forgot my password to the new-fangled one.


I folded through the first level. I took a flop with 66, whiffed and let it go. The table seemed pretty standard- nothing crazy happening. Then I picked up AsQs in my BB. UTG limped, so did the cutoff. SB makes it 200 to go, 5x the BB. UTG then shoves. What the fuck? Cutoff folds, SB thinks a while and calls. Easy fold for me, right? UTG must be looking for that classic limp and trap play with AA or KK. SB must have at least AK, right? It's been a while since I've played, so I guess I'm impatient. I call. SB has QQ, UTG has 88. Board bricks. I'm out. Did I say I was only going to play one tournamet? Hahahaha... LET'S TRY AGAIN!

ROUND 2

Things started out much the same, playing Texas Fold'em. I took a small pot in my SB with J9. Then in the second level a confrontation arose that nearly made this blog unworthy of posting. Check out the action...

I figured we might be racing. Shit, it was almost 2:30am- sleep isn't such a bad consolation prize.

Two hands later I woke up in the BB with AQ. The short-stacked button minraised, the SB called and I jammed it. It folded to the button, who promptly called, and I was racing again. Here's how it turned out.

With almost 4,500 chips under my belt, I was pretty set. We very quickly became 5-handed and things tightened up. I called a raise on the button with QsTs, hoping to hit a good flop against a pretty TAG player. It came down with the As and the Ks. I had a royal flush draw and a gut shot. He continuation bet, and I called, with the intention of jamming the turn no matter what fell and how he acted. The turn was an 8, giving me an extra 4 outs. He timidly checked, and I decided to push and take it down.

A little while later, this hand came up. I nearly folded the turn; I swear to God my poker senses kicked in and almost saved me some money. He made it so affordable that I had to pay him off though. The short stack played the hand perfectly.

I made it back later though. I wasn't too scared of AK here, so when I pushed I felt pretty safe. He seemed to pretend to think about a call before letting it go.

Ugh. This always seems to happen. I wish he had just folded.

You might say I had a pretty good read on the guy on my right. Check out the river action on this baby.

The blinds got higher and my opponents' stacks got smaller. Out of necessity I called the all in of the 4th place finsher, and the next hand I took out the 3rd place guy for the same reason- he was just too short stacked for me not to call.

After some back and forth heads-up action. I noticed my opponent was getting frustrated. I raised three straight hands and then picked up AA. He raised from the button, trying to steal his thunder back. I, of course, declared that this was my table and re-raised. He cold called and I checked him the flop to see if he would hang himself. Not yet. I even gave him a free river card when he opted out of suicide again. But I jammed the un-important river card and he called VERY quickly with King-high. What a bitch. Check out the hand- there's nothing better than ending a tourney with AA.

-The Gerk-

Live Games Are My Specialty

I have had no success whatsoever on the internet lately. Every time I've had a chance to make a splash in an MTT or even a 9-person Sit and Go, something terrible always happens and I bust outside of the money. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I've run QQ into KK, KK into AA, or AK into KK. I feel like even my monster hands are about to be outdrawn or counterfeited. It has been a very long time since I've felt this insecure at the poker table. I am playing scared- and scared poker is losing poker.

My Pokerstars bankroll is very, very low. Dangerously low. Like, I could very soon have no Pokerstars bankroll low. My bad run the last few weeks has absolutely destroyed me- I've switched gears, games, and playing styles and yet nothing can get me out of this internet funk. I'm not sure what I'm doing differently that is resulting in me losing money, but I need to get out of it and save myself before I lose it all.

Meanwhile, I am incredibly happy with my live game. Although I busted fast in the big K of C tournament last week, I know that I played well, and it has carried over into the weekly games I play with the guys. On Saturday we had a crew over at my apartment, playing Hold'em tournaments and NBA LIVE '07 on the Playstation 2. That night I won two out of three. On Monday, we played our usual game, and I won two out of three tournaments that night too. In fact, the only tourney I didn't win was the first one, where I was essentially coolered into busting. The blinds were 1.00/2.00, and everyone limped into me in the BB. I found AcQs, and pushed for 18.00 more. The SB folded and Derek called instantly, turning over the hand he said he had, AhAd. The flop came all spades, giving me outs, but Derek faded the turn and river to bust me. Five handed, I'm not sure what else I'm supposed to do with AQ there.

Today I worked on the website a bit and then hit the .10/.25NL tables where, once again, I could get no momentum. I'd really like to have to go back and edit this blog entry to mention an incredible victory at the tables, but I'm fairly sure that won't be necessary.

-The Gerk-