comme çi, comme ça

Played a couple of 50K SnGs tonight.

Early in the first one, I cracked pocket kings with pocket eights after a very short stack reraised me preflop - I'd bet 120 and it cost me 285 more to see the flop, where I made a set. I played middle suited connectors a couple of times, enough to make me not want to do it anymore... called one bet preflop and ended up calling a one-bet raise because I was already in the pot - not very tight/aggressive. :) I called the big blind with pocket sixes under the gun and folded when a guy went all in for about a third of my stack. The table was pretty tight and I called with a marginal hand on the button a couple times and managed to steal some blinds. I was crippled by a hand where I got outdrawn on the river. In the big blind at 25/50, I raised to 300 with AQo and two guys called. (Not sure why I always assume online players with gender-neutral nicknames are guys. Whatever.) The flop came J64 rainbow and we checked around. The queen turned (the second heart) and I bet 450 in first position. The next guy folded and the button re-raised all-in to 1210. I figured pocket aces or pocket kings would have been raised preflop, and if he had a queen I had a better one, plus I dominated a straight draw or a flush draw. I called and he turned over ace-eight of hearts. Excellent. I suppose I don't really need to tell you what suit came on the river. That hand took me down to 135. I quadrupled up a few hands later to 440, but got busted when I called all-in preflop with KTd and lost to a suited AJ. I think I went out 14th of 27.

I picked up some chips early in the second one for a change - caught AK on the first hand and took about 800 from a guy with pocket queens. I picked up a couple of small pots early with semi-bluffs - it was another tight table. I bet AA strong preflop and didn't get any callers but did pick up 650 in blinds and calls. Not getting any action I decided to slow play KK a while later and went all in over the top of a guy who bet the JT6 flop - he didn't call me. I didn't catch any cards for a while and was down to about 1700 at 100/200 when I caught AK in the small blind. Someone bet 600 and I raised all in. They called with 99, I caught an ace on the flop and ended up doubling up with aces full. I tightened right up at this point - I was getting close to cashing. Didn't play a pot for quite a while. Doubled up when I flopped two pair with 42s in the big blind. It was just me and the small blind - he bet 800 and I waited a second to call, hoping he would think I was reluctant. He put me all in on the turn and I called - he just had top pair. That was the last pot I won.

Looking back on the hand where I busted, I see that I busted myself by not paying close enough attention. It's funny, in the first game I was taking a lot of notes and ended up getting crippled on a hand I was favoured to win. In the second game, I was talking on the phone for a good portion of it and didn't have many notes at all. Anyway, it was down to four players and I was the short stack with 3850 at 100/200. I'd been playing super tight hoping that the next shortest stack might get busted first - there was quite a bit of difference between 3rd and 4th place - but he'd picked up some chips recently and had almost 7000. I was in the small blind and he raised to 1200 on the button. I had 66 and called. The flop came T73 with two hearts. I checked and he put me all in for my last 2625. I didn't put him on a pair and I called. He turned over nines. Oops. He called for all his chips (my chips, damnit! :D) on the next hand with KJs before the flop and busted - I guess he was playing for 3rd, too.

So, went out early in one, cashed in another, and came out ahead about 30K for the night. I'll admit I was intimidated by the 50K games going in - I was going to just play another 10K when I sat down, but I remembered Andrew's advice from last week. Gotta play the good players to get better, and presumably the good players are where the (play) money is at.

I'm pretty sure we're playing cards at Rob's this Friday night - we'll see where all of this practice has gotten us. Drunk, probably. :)