Very Preliminary Numbers and Thoughts

Right now I'm happy with three SNGs at a time. I think I can play four competently, but I just had a session where I was playing three and I was quite happy with how it went - I was able to keep an eye on every table and had some sort of sense of the people I needed to watch out for. When I play four, I feel more rushed. I did find a configuration for the screen size that I liked, so I'll probably try four in the future, but I'm happy with three for now. Perhaps I'll add a fourth table in the form of a 180 man sng.

Summary of the last few days:

I played in the PTips tournament. I busted just before the FT on an ill-advised push with an underpair. (I raised UTG with 55, BB calls. Flop comes K89, he bets, and I raise AI. BB calls with KJ. Whoops.) Gerrit did say that he gave significant weight to the fact that I pushed instantly, which indicated that I'd made up my mind before the flop. I was playing pretty aggressively, and while he was thinking about his bet I decided I'd raise if he bet small. He did and I did, and he called and I busted. My thought process was something along the lines of him having an ace or middle/bottom pair (Now that I think about it, I can't see any pair holding he can concievably have that he'd lay down; A8 is the only one.) meant that he'd bet to see where he was at, and he'd fold to my raise.

I talked to Shads about it, and he pointed out that I was playing pretty LAG and wouldn't have a lot of table respect, and that when someone calls an UTG raise and bets, they're probably not doing it just for fun. That logic is better than what went through my head, and wasn't something I'd considered. I'm irritated that I hadn't, but now I will, so...good beats I guess.

I've been playing a pretty LAG style in the SNGs. I'm doing a lot of raising and playing a lot of pots. Most people at the 10+1s seem pretty passive, and I usually know where I am after the flop betting. I've been pretty good at keeping the pots small and changing betting patterns, and I'm happy with that. I'm trying to figure out how much raising I can get away with before people realize that I'm getting away with complete and utter theft.

I'm also trying to work on my 5-handed or smaller play. I'm pretty aggressive about stealing the blinds, but I tend not to raise pots with limpers in them, and I usually don't repop. I think that's a leak and that I'm not the only thief out there, but I need to get more of a feel on when to smack them down.

I leave you with this:



PokerStars Game #6651580053: Tournament #33811616, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level I (10/20) - 2006/10/16 - 01:41:51 (ET)
Table '33811616 1' 9-max Seat #7 is the button
Seat 1: Schwimmhose (585 in chips)
Seat 2: LittleLollie (2470 in chips)
Seat 3: gsm10 (2670 in chips)
Seat 4: jplusa (1420 in chips)
Seat 5: Rhodophyta (560 in chips)
Seat 6: survic11 (1400 in chips)
Seat 7: maxsweja (1470 in chips)
Seat 8: whydoit (1440 in chips)
Seat 9: WolfOnTheFol (1485 in chips)
whydoit: posts small blind 10
WolfOnTheFol: posts big blind 20
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to WolfOnTheFol [Th 5h]
Schwimmhose: calls 20
LittleLollie: folds
gsm10: folds
jplusa: folds
Rhodophyta: folds
survic11: calls 20
maxsweja: folds
whydoit: calls 10
WolfOnTheFol: checks
*** FLOP *** [Kd 5s 5d]

Big blind special.

whydoit: checks
WolfOnTheFol: checks
Schwimmhose: checks
survic11: checks
*** TURN *** [Kd 5s 5d] [2h]
whydoit: bets 40
WolfOnTheFol: calls 40
Schwimmhose: calls 40
survic11: folds

I think I might've played this a little too slowly, particularly with the diamond draw, but I thought someone might have a king and get aggressive later. The pot was miniscule anyway.

*** RIVER *** [Kd 5s 5d 2h] [As]

Oh man, that did it for someone.

whydoit: checks
WolfOnTheFol: bets 140
Schwimmhose: raises 140 to 280
whydoit: folds
WolfOnTheFol: raises 1145 to 1425 and is all-in

LOOK AT ME! I'M AN IDIOT WITH A WEAK KICKER!

Schwimmhose: calls 245 and is all-in
*** SHOW DOWN ***
WolfOnTheFol: shows [Th 5h] (three of a kind, Fives)

I lied.

Schwimmhose: shows [Ad Ks] (two pair, Aces and Kings)
WolfOnTheFol collected 1250 from pot

This amused me, particularly since I've been wondering if it might be better to limp AK from the SB/BB with two other people in the pot and I hate being out of position when I miss. I havn't done it yet, but it's something I've been contemplating.