Small Victories = Valuable Ego Boosts

Won the CT nightly for a massive $20 takedown. They play relatively tight-passive, and my goal is normally to run them over if possible. If that doesn't work, I know I can fold/shove better than most of the guys, and so I do fine with a shortstack.

Here's how it went: I splashed around as usual, but there's a new guy that's firing on every street, and I lose several small pots to get down to 1100. Then, no surprise, I make the same move I made against Matty earlier in the night. This time I get a bit lucky and double up. I feel less bad about this one, though, b/c the stack sizes had me committed and b/c the villain is much less solid than Matty.


Now I'm chip leader, and I really really like having a biggish stack. I win a pot on the flop with 44, steal the blinds with KQ, raise AT to a minraise plus 3bet, and sigh of relief as the flop comes down ten hi and the 3better makes a massive overshove.

I try to steal with A7 and laydown to a 3bet from a relatively loose new player. Then this pot, which I won but probably played badly.

Given that littlebu is a very strong sng player, and that we have butted heads more times than I can count in the last few months, here's what I think: 'Bu regularly stays out of my way, and I stay out of his. But we both know that the other abuses the scared players, and will sometimes take advantage of position. The fact that 'bu called on the button indicates maybe he'll try to take it away on the flop. Also, there was a hand a while back where he raised me on the flop when I hit an ace, he raised, I threebet and he folded, saying he was representing the ace.

Sure looks the same here. of course he could have 57, but i seriously doubt he'd want to play that hand against me. He could have diamonds, but not very often. And he could have AK, but I'm 79.4% sure he'd of 3bet me preflop with it. So he most likely has a smaller ace or a pair, including the set possibilities.

In other words, I probably have him crushed, in which case he'll fold to a 3bet, or he has a set/AK, in which case a 3bet is pointless. So what do I do? I shove and he folds. God I suck.

I hated this hand and file it under "playing in the blinds is booty"


Maybe I should have bet the flop, but the two to my left are erratic, and Seitz on the button is dangerous. If any of them call I'd have to check fold most turns. So I check call and he very casually bets the Ace like it ain't no thing. Oh well.

My stack is still comfortable, but now we're only a few hands out from 25/50, where the 1k stacks will start feeling heat.

I steal the blinds with 88. I time out (downloading music from ITunes doh!) and miss out AK in the blind. Littlebu had raised, and claims to have had AQ, which I guess would have gotten him broke to my shove.

We get to 25/50 and my cards get a little gross here. I 3bet a shorty with AQ and win the race against KQ. Up to 3200. The next hand I laydown AJ to a single raise from Hoffa (b/c I can't tell what the heck he's ever doing). Next hand I pick up AQ again, and 3bet seitz's open, picking up 225 in chips. Up to 3470. The next hand I get AA, and get good news as mastrbluffer and Seitz misunderestimate my massive girth.




I'm up to 4600, double the next biggest stack, who I have position on, and we're 5 handed. 3 spots pay, and osumike and hoffa are the two most likely to be worried about the bubble. On the other hand, littlebu is the one most likely (besides me) to exploit the bubble.

I steal the blinds 4 out of the next 8 pots, and hope that either a) I'm starting to put the tight players into a shell, waiting for a monster to make a stand, or b) that someone loses it and shoves A5 when I have AK. I slow down a bit, but still steal 4 of the next 11 pots preflop. Littlebu 3bets me from the blinds when I raise the hammer for the glory-show, and I reluctantly lay down.

Then resolution #2 fails me again.

In my defense, it sure looks like a pretty good flop for me. And it's a little bit unlike 'bu to make the smoothcall there. I'd guess he almost never has a 9 in his hand, and I guess I hoped he had AQ/AJ/KQ/22-44/66. Now I'm a little bit fucked with 50/100 blinds and 2300 chips. Bu will abuse, and I think erox and hoffa will play too many hands, which will make it difficult for me to maneuver.

I fold for 2 rounds...no cards and hoping to make sure they don't think I'm just steam-raising. In the meantime, erox busts and we reach the bubble. I steal with T8s, "steal" with AK, steal with QT. Bu has 4600 and the other three of us are all clustered around 2500. I think osumike will play too tight, and am not sure about hoffa, but I think he overvalues Ax hands, which is a little scary for me.

This fairly simple hand goes down, and I start to change my mind about hoffa.


He claims to have KQ, which makes the fold really easy of course. But he wonders aloud whether he should have played it at all. This makes me think he's more worried about the bubble than I thought. I take note, and look for chances to help him laydown before the money.

Hoffa minraises and I shove AK, picking up 450. I call Hoffa's raise in the BB with A9s and then shove a K84r flop, folding him out and picking up 600. I take the blinds the next two hands straight with AQ, and now I have 3400. Bu has 5400, and the two others are 2300 (osu) and 1k (hoffa).

I raise to 400 with AK and hoffa shoves his last 1200 with KT, which of course doubles him up. I'm unhappy with the result, but really happy that he's responding to my pressure by shoving such a weak hand. Now I'm shorty with 2k, at 75/150. I threebet shove 88 v osu and pick up 600. 'Bu gives me a bit of a gift by just flatcalling (instead of shoving) on this pot:


And now I'm sort of out of the woods. With 4200 chips, I feel like I'm a huge favorite to make the money with a good stack. Osu cripples hoffa in a race, and now there are three of us with 3500+ and one with 700. This hand comes up, which I found interesting:



With hoffa so short, I KNOW osu will fold nearly everything, and know that 'bu knows he should fold just about everything. But 'bu is a good thinking opponent, and may see this as an easy opportunity to pick up chips, since he knows I know he should fold almost everything. I fold, but am not completely happy about it. I would have had a pretty hard time with AQo/88 there, and am not sure what my calling range should be.

Hoffa gets it in bad again, calling off his last 550 with bottom pair v osu, and the bubble breaks.

Stacks:
me - 3860
osu - 4455
'bu - 3685

blinds are at 75/150.

Not much happens for a couple of orbits, and then I take and win a flip against 'bu with AT v 55. I'm h/u with osu. jojo: 7800, osu: 4200.

Headup lasts 6 hands woo. I 3bet on hand one with KT and he lays down. On hand two osu somehow lays down a king on a board of 54K5 rainbow when i raise the turn with 52. Three hands in a row go without a flop, and then I win a race with JJ v AQ. Thank you and good night.