Hella Hold'em

Wasn't it just last week that I was jumping for joy over hitting the century mark at Party Poker? Well, hold on to your hats, kids. Full Tilt has done me right, and today I hit $200+ for the first time in my online poker career. Wahooo! (That, and I still have $140 sitting over at Party!)

So happy, so happy!

I met both of my goals for today. I cleared the first ten bucks of my FTP bonus, and hit the $200 mark in my account.

How? Well, I mostly had to single-table at $.50/1.00 due to not enough people to double-table. I had a couple chances to play a second table shorthanded, but those tables broke up quickly. So, since single-tabling has suddenly become "not enough action" for me, I opened up a $5+.50 SnG.

I actually don't much like double-tabling between a limit ring game and a NL tourney, because one always seems to take a backseat. Maybe it's because my brain doesn't flip flop well between limit and no-limit. I don't know. It worked out well for me today though, because I was able to dig myself out from the $5 deficit I was sitting on at the limit table, and [drumroll please...]

I won the SnG. Wooohoooo!

Good times. I wasn't catching particularly good cards. I won a hand early that put me up 500 chips or so, and with that I was able to ride out the cold streak while several people got knocked out. I resisted the urge to play the marginal hands that I was playing in the loose ring game. I just had to keep telling myself that those suited connectors play well against lots of opponents... not against one or two. I kept folding folding folding, until I'd catch a nice hand. I was able to take two people out on my nice hands.

The first was AKo from the button, which I just called with 3 other callers. (I know - the voice in my head was saying, "you freaking pussy!" - there, I typed it, in all of its vulgarity. Sorry to offend. I have a potty mouth. But typing "wussy" is just so lame!). The flop came KK9. I knew if I bet out, everybody would fold. Since we had a rainbow going on, I slow played it. Turn came an Ace. Oh my goodness. It checked around again, and we had 2 clubs on board now. I prayed for a third club and someone to make a flush. River came a 9, and the chip leader (he had just a few more chips than me) was holding a 9. He bet out, I re-raised, and he went all in. Of course I called, feeling guilty as sin. I won the hand, then took his remaining 120 chips on the next hand when my 4-7 clubs hit the flush.

I actually apologized to the guy for slowplaying as crazy as I did, but he confirmed my suspicion that if I'd have bet out any earlier, he'd have folded. The other two guys agreed. I got quite the congratulations from the group on my play of that hand (even from the guy that was knocked out).

Slowplaying is one of those things that I liken to playing with fire. When it works, you appear to have made a brilliant play, and (more often the case) when it doesn't, you get burnt to a crisp.

I ended up heads up against a player who really didn't play very well, according to the notes I'd taken on him to that point. Any ace or face kind of guy, and very predictable in his betting patterns. What I feared is that he'd suck out on me with some of the goofy cards he was playing. I had 10k chips to his 3,500. We went back and forth for a good ten minutes or so, until I picked up a Q6 and hit the devil's trips on the flop. Slow-played again, and took half his stack when the river came a K and he went all nuts with his TP. I took him out with A5 hearts, when an Ace and two hearts hit the flop. I bet out half his stack, he went all in, and I called. He actually had me beat at that point with a J7 two-pair, but the river blessed me with a 5 and my two pair beat his.

First place was good for $22 or something like that.

And that is how I got to the 200 mark.

I'm giddy happy (or maybe that's the fever kicking in). Time to go eat some more Halls and veg out on the couch. I'm so not good at being sick, but it's not as bad when I'm getting paid to be sick :)

I love Full Tilt Poker!