Woooooo!

October is off to a good start…

Banky posted about the league game on Thursday – I placed 3rd, after getting suuuuper short-stacked when we were five handed (my stack 300 when the blinds were 75/150) yet I managed to stay in, double up a couple times, and make it into the money. The game had 13 players with some newbies, so there was a good sense of energy and fun that we had been missing. I also was happy that I was able to pick up some tells – specifically against one of the new players.

I had KQ on the button and raised 3xBB. SB folded, new girl in the BB calls. The flop comes QJ4 rainbow. She checks, I bet about half the pot and she calls, and when putting her chips into the pot I notice that he hands are shaking like crazy. There have been times where I *think* I notice a shaky-hand tell, but this time I knew it. She checked the turn and I checked behind, and when she bet out on the river I folded right away, and she flipped over pocket Jacks (for trips). I felt so good about my fold because I paid attention, and listed to the information that was given to me.

Banky went out early, but he had a great attitude about it. I think the RC4 win (specifically that he came in first in his Limit table) really gave him some confidence and some perspective on the game.

Today was another good result:

I love the token SNGs on FullTilt…and two weeks ago I won a $75 token (I played the $8 two-table turbo, then the $24 two table). The last time I had one, I played a SNG and won, so I decided to give it another try…and I won again!

I got some nice hands early on, and on back-to-back hands took people out with pocket jacks. I was a monster chip leader, but then went card dead. I played pretty tight for awhile, and then it was 4 handed. By this time, my chip lead had eroded, and there was only one short stack. She stole pot after pot off of the other two players, and then they took each other out on AA vs A9. AA held up, and we were in the money, with equal-ish stacks.

I was able to relax then, and got my aggression back.

The hand that pretty much gave me the game was when the SB min-raised, and I pushed with 55. He insta-called and turned over AJo, and I caught a 5 on the flop. He was left with 210 chips….but battled back to over 2000, but eventually went out to the other player (the previous short stack who played the bubble perfectly) when he went all-in with K2 and got called by AQ. Q on the flop, A on the turn and we’re heads up.

Heads-up was pretty easy….a few hands back and forth. One hand that I debated about was Ac5c in the BB. She went all-in and I considered calling, but I had a big chiplead (9000 to 3000) so calling would have put us even. Banky was looking over my shoulder and said “what hand do you hope she has, A4?” and “do you think you can outplay her – if yes, don’t give her more chips”. I was pretty sure I could chip away at her stack legitimately, so I folded.

The very next hand, I pick up Ac9c and I raised 3xBB from the SB. I already knew I would call her all-in, and when I did, she showed As5s….exactly the same hand I had folded to her push the hand before. And this is the exact reason I folded….if she pushed with a better Ace, I would have been in big trouble, just like she was in now.

The flop was 8c 5d 4c, giving her a pair, and me a flush draw. The turn was the 6d, giving me a gutshot draw to go with my flush draw, and the river was the Tc giving me the flush, and the win.

I’ve felt really positively about my game lately. Decisions seem clearer and easier, and I’ve been lucky to have the results to go along with my play. Sometimes it feels like you play an excellent game, but things don’t go your way. It’s times like this, when the discipline of playing well really pays off.