Running Hot
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Last night I was able to fit in three SNGs, with some fine success. The first SNG was a $6 9-person turbo on PokerStars while Ingoal watched. We tried to sign up for one together, but those SNGs fill up faster than a Cher concert on Castro Street! Yeah, I guess the analogy is a stretch.
Since Ingoal was in a rush and I didn't have much time to play, I decided to have some fun with the table. I played much looser than usual and talked smack the entire way. I eventually went out 7th or so with 88 against one player's KJ. The player who called my all-in preflop of 800 (the blinds were 50/100) was one of my smack talk targets. I have to admit that he probably called because of my smack talk. I would've preferred it if he folded, but it is what it is. At least I clearly had him tilting. If I could do it again, I'd simply wait for a better hand to push and he would've paid me off. Some follow up smack talk and he'd be gifting me the rest of his stack.
With that loss behind me, I took some time to myself (and wifey Kim). She eventually got on the phone, as she does. It amazes me how she can make 6 phone calls in a row, each with a different friend, gabbing away about this or that. I, meanwhile, can have a complete telephone conversation with any of my friends in less than a minute.
Seeing my opporunity, I fired up the comp and saw DP online. He had won a $15 turbo on Stars earlier, so we decided to go for another one together. Interestingly, my $6 loss more or less busted me at Stars. My SNG play there has been, how shall we put it, less than profitable. Of course, my net loss was only $50, but for my life-support bankroll, it was a pity.
With no money on Stars, I decided to reload another $50. The $15 turbo 9-person SNG was off to a fine start with DP sitting on my immediate right. Let me say this about DP and his play. DP knows what he is doing. He is selectively aggressive, and most of the time, he's right on the mark. I'd much rather act after him, no matter what the situation. That said, I didn't want him right on top of me. After all, you play most of your hands against the two players on your left and right.
As it turned out, DP and I were able to chip up early. We were both playing relatively loose due to the Turbo format and DP's natural inclinations. I used to be a looser player, and I'm starting to see/remember the benefits of that style of play. However, I also remember the shortcomings, namely the big swings. It seemed like every other orbit, I was chipleader and then back to middle or back of the pack. I blame some of that on the quickly escalating blinds, but it also had to do with limping or betting with crap cards.
It got down to 4 and DP and I were still in it. The blinds were so high that DP was the only one not in the Rule of 10 (when you have less than 10x the BB, you either push or fold). I did my best to keep out of the fray, but eventually I had no choice but to give some action. I was hurt by Q4 v K4, but I was deep enough to keep going with 2.5K or so and 200/400 blinds, 50 ante. Luck eventually ran out for the two other guys, and DP and I were the only two left. In the very first hand, I was up about 1.5:1 in chips or less, but I got A3s. DP moved all-in. It didn't matter at this point, with the marathon all-in fest I was calling. He had 57o or some other crap hand. I can't blame him for trying. I took 1st, he took 2nd. Very successful overall.
I signed on later and decided to go play another SNG. Unfortunately, time being tight, I decided I wanted to play a 6-person turbo. Stars doesn't have these for less than premium dough (I don't think) and besides, I wanted to try something different, so I went for a Rio $20 6-person SNG at Titan. I have to pimp these SNGs because I love them. 6 players, with 2 spots paying. I eventually won the thing, for a $40 profit, but gave about $15 back in the casino games (damn you three card poker!) I am once again vowing to never play the casino games again. In their defense, I won $15 on them yesterday and used that to buy into the Rio. But...NEVER AGAIN! I felt like such a donk after losing to a fucking table game.
Here we go with some pimpage action. People, if you are interested in Titan or any other new site, first go to Poker Source Online and Vegas Poker Pro. Both sites offer bonus prizes for completing promos on new sites. I highly recommend the Royal Vegas and Poker Time promos on VPP, because they take about 2 days or 1 weekend day to complete. For your trouble you get the site's cash bonus, plus VPP will send you either a $50 gift card (from Bestbuy, Amazon or Ebay), a poker DVD and book (both for one promo), a poker table top, poker chips, or a couple of other things. Free stuff is great!
You can get the same type of things from Poker Source Online, but I suggest that if you do go for PSO, you go for the PSO points (6K) because all of the prizes can be bought at the PSO Points Store for 5K, leaving you with 1K left to spend at the PSO Store along with your gift. PSO also offers Party Poker gift certificates (10,000 pts for $100, 20,000 for $200), which is great for building the bankroll. If you are using PSO, I suggest the Absolute Poker and Bodog Promos. Also, check their forum under promotions, because every month they offer bonuses to their bonuses for certain promos. So, you may be able to get 9K for doing the Party Poker promo, or some other deal. Check it out!
posted by Jordan @ 9:36 AM,
2 Comments:
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At 6:37 PM,
said...
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You meant the Rio's pay 3 players right?
Stay away from the Casino games. Poker bankroll killers!
Nice play in the larger buy-ins... -
At 9:25 AM,
said...
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Well, maybe another time when I'm not in the log-off-mode and miss the quickly filling turbo :-(
Good to hear that you did good in the $15 sng after busting out quickly in the 6+0.5...
