£10+0 SNG 15/5/07

Uni Bankroll

Current win/loss : -£20
Number of entries: 2
Cashes : 0

Another less than stellar performance, but it could've been much worse. At least, I don't feel I did badly, only lost one of those hands that happen every day.

Starting stacks of 3K, 10 players. Only two interesting hands. The first, I hold AQ and reraise preflop against a player I know is loose. He bets the flop of JQ7, I shove all in. He thinks for a while then folds, with encouragement from me (I'm confident I'm ahead, but also think he has something, so I'm ok with either a fold or a call). He shows KTo and rabbit hunts an 8 and a 9.

Next hand I hold 89h in second position. Under the gun limps, I limp, cut off limps, button limps, small blind folds, big blind checks. Pot of 550, I have 3500 behind, main villain, the button, has me covered by about 1200. Flop comes T84 rainbow.

The big blind, a very conservative, passive player, checks, as does the first limper. Trying to take it down, I fire off 500. Cut off folds, button raises to 1500. He's come over the top of me twice before on the flop, although this is the first time I've been betting with a genuine hand. In addition, he busted the first guy out with top two pair, where he minraised. He also minraised me both of the times he came over the top. I think at this point he has nothing, or at least not something very strong like TT or even AT. I'm thinking a big ace, a weak T or an 8.

Folds back to me and I raise back for 3K total. I'm left with 500 back, which might have been a mistake. It has no further benefit in this hand unless I hit one of my outs and get it in for a call. It's also only 5 big blinds so I'll be down to push/fold for a long time.

Otto, the villain, thinks for a long time. There's 550 from preflop, 1500 from him, 3000 from me for 5050 in the pot, and him having to call 1500. He does call, the turn is an under to my 8, we check, and the river is a king. I check, he bets me all in. I think I'm behind but I can't really fold.

He turns AK and I go home.

Later, I pondered my play. Essentially, I picked a hand to make a stand against the bully. I was ahead going in, although he had thin odds to call me if he put me on a pair with no A or K and could rely on me putting in my last 500. Had I put my last 500 in on the turn, he would not have had the odds.

Two other hands where I may have played badly.

About 15 hands in, blinds 50/100. I'm in the big blind and second to act raises to 300. Dan, the raiser, is very tight preflop, so I can put him on a range like JJ+, AQs+, AKo. It folds to me and I find AKs.

My first instinct is to raise it up. AKs is a raising hand, and if I make it something like 1200, he'll fold the unpaired hands, and maybe even JJ, QQ. He'll definitely call or come over the top with AA/KK. For the post-flop, I know he'll continuation bet if I check to him, giving me good implied odds if I hit my A or flush draw (he'd probably check behind if it was all spades). I also know that he knows I like to call in the big blind and make a bet on the flop to take control, and I know he's capable of coming over the top of me in that situation (for that reason, I'd give him a much wider range if he was in late position. He's tight, but he loves to make plays against me.) So whatever happens, I need to hit the flop in order to play this hand. Not wanting to risk a big pile of chips with a race hand, I call and check/fold when I miss the flop.

Second hand, I have AK again (actually, this was before the previous one. Never mind). I make it 150 to go (blinds of 50/50) and get called by the small blind. He's tight, passive when he misses and very aggressive when he hits. It's quite easy normally to know when you're behind. I don't know if he remembers, but two weeks ago I 3-bet him off TPTK on the flop with TPTK (which I showed, after he showed). We check the J-rag-rag flop, he bets 150 on the rag turn. I suspect I'm behind and needing to hit a K on the river, but this would be the third hand in about six that I'd raised pre-flop and given up post flop. This might be making me look like a tight player, or I might be looking like a weak-tight donkeyfish. I decide I can't fold again or my image will be trashed and I call. The river is an A. Suspecting two pair, I check, he checks behind and I show the winning hand.

I tried to justify the play to myself on the basis of image protection and my implied odds (which were nowhere near good enough, but helped). That it was a small pot was also good, as it meant my mistake, if that's what it was, was only a small one. Also, I thought that, against this particular villain, the likelihood of a bet on the end was quite low. I think I'd make the call again if I had to. Just not sure it was a good one.