Destined for 2nd....

Last night was an interesting night. Another day I was not going to play but I was challenged by Kevy so I had to go play at River Club in $50 SNG to defend my honour lol.

There were 14 players. I missed the 1st hand. I got literally no cards early on but I managed to build quite a stack after making a very loose river call. I called a 5 x bb raise from a lp position player. I was on the button with ASKS. There were 3 players in the hand. Flop came K46 with 2 hearts. Original raiser bet 100, I made it 400. He called.

Turn was a 9D. He bet 600 into me. I didn't get his play at all but I made the decision he didn't have AA or KK. I decided that he had QQ or JJ and does not want to admit defeat. I flat called the 600 hoping to just slow him down. It didn't work as the river was a 2S and he came out firing for 1000. I only had 1140 left but I called based on my read on the turn. He had 77 and I took a large pot.

I the splashed around in many pots. Never had a decent hand though except for 1010 which I had to fold preflop after raising and getting 2 callers and then a UTG limper pushed all-in. I knew I had him crushed but I had 2 people behind me and had to fold. Finally I had ADJD in the SB. 2 limpers, I limp, bb checks. The flop came J107 with 2 clubs. I bet out at it, bb folded. First limper raised pot. I put him on KJ and I instantly went all-in, he called and showed QJ. My handed held and I now had a big stack.

I then went on a mission to end the game early. I lost a coin toss, ran into aces. When the final table started I was right around avg stack and had work to do.

I really did not get a playable hand in the final table early except for AKs on the button. There was a limp in front of me so I raised enough to take the pot down preflop. Somehow I managed to get very short at the 5 handed mark. My M was all the way down to around 3 but I still had enough of a stack to hurt everyone at the table. I then went on a blind stealing mission. The best hand I pushed with was 88 and it was the only hand I got called on. I managed to double up and did not need to push anymore.

I then had around 14500. The BB was around 4200 left. Blinds were 400/800 and I was SB. I pushed all-in and he insta-called. I thought I was dead because I had not looked at my cards yet. He flipped over Q10s and I look down at J7o. The flop came down 8910 and my lucky streak continues.

Now down to 3, I raised from the button with 88 hoping the shortstack in the SB would push, she did but she had AK and hit and doubled up. The only other hand I really played 3 handed was calling a raise from the BB with AKs. I really did want to re-raise here but to me AK is not a hand you have to die on. The flop came K high, my opponent bet and I put in a significant raise trying to get him to come over the top but no luck.

I waited for the other 2 to get into a huge hand and they did and then we were heads up. I was very short but managed to double up. I lost the heads up when my opponent called my all-in with 66. I had QQ and Jules hit a straight on the turn. It was impossible hand to play differently as blinds were so big, my chips had to go in with that hand.

One last thing....2nd place paid $180. Not great for a 2 table SNG with a $50 buy-in. For some strange reason the dealer asked to be tipped after the winnings were paid out. For some even stranger reason, I tipped $40. I have now decided I am never tipping again if it is asked of me to do so. I get that those new to poker do not realize that dealers work on tips however I think I am great tipper and I am definitely not new to poker. Looking at my stats over the last 2 months I have played in either River or Loft Tourneys 8 times cashing in 6 and I think I have tipped over $300 in that time. So do not ask me to be tipped.

I am actually finishing writing this on Tuesday because I did not get a chance yesterday. I still need to write about last night with a very bad 3rd place finish!!