Grinding it out, one day at a time

I didn’t want to play in the $2 games so I fired up a $5.50 one that had 12 players already registered and ready to donate their stacks to me! 1500 starting chips and 15 minute blinds with the first level being 10/20 moving gradually to 15/30, 25/50 but then doubling to 50/100. Not a bad structure really and with there only being 5 to a table I should have been in my element with my recent 6-max successes! Only the top 3 were paid with a distribution of 50/30/20. From the off there was one guy, from Sweden, who was thinking he was LAG but really he was just reckless and I targeted him for a double up. He loved to raise and reraise and when I was dealt KcQc I was pretty happy. I raised 3xBB and he min-raised me 7xBB more. This was his standard gameplan. For some reason I just pushed all-in thinking that even he’d be able to lay down something like 99-JJ here. He types in the gay chat “Hmmm, since I have Aces I’ll call!”. Sure enough he has black Rockets and I’m in a whole world of pain. Flop comes J6A and I am now a serious underdog to his top set. Turn is a 4 and I now need one of the four tens in the deck, making me around an 11/1 dog. River is…….you guessed it a TEN! Alleluia! I river my straight, doubled up and now had a horrendous table image, great

During the 25/50 level I had an M of around 50 still so was seeing flops when i could and raising and 3 betting and accumulating chips. Then in one hand the whole table limped and I was in the BB with JJ and raised 200% of the pot. One shortish stack UTG pushes all-in and I call. He shows me K9o FFS!! Flop brings him a King and the turn gives him 2 pair but the river brings……a JACK, and my set knocks yet another guy out! By this stage I was chip leader and really dominating but the cards were also hitting. I was paid off when I was in the BB with 84o and turned a straight to beat villain’s set and also flopped a baby flush which held up against a badly played overpair. Everything was going great, Prima must have given me one of those good accounts like JohnnyBax etc get given when they sign up to sites

On the final table there was a bit of banter and some guy said “Whoever knocks the short-stack out will win this!” to which I replied “I’ll be knocking the lot of you out, this is my game!” Cue the chat being full of comments about being a “Yorkshire twat”, a “lucky fish” and an “arrogant dickhead”, I replied telling them it’s called confidence in my game and knowing I am better than the other four guys! I don’t think an orbit passed without me raising or coming over the top of raises and they were laying down hands and pushing the chips towards me. The average stack was 4500 and I had around 8.6k when I raised 2.5xBB UTG with AdKd with the blinds at 100/200 and the villain to my immediate left pushed all-in for his remaining 3k. All fold to me and I make the call. he shows TT and the race is on. Flop doesn’t help and the turn is a brick but the river brings…..a KING! Ship your stack! One of the guys at the FT was on my starting table and commented that although I’d played well I was a “lucky son of a bitch” which I obviously agreed with! So we were now down to 3 and in the money and it was time to go hyper aggressive with my big stack as I had the win in sight. Out of the 22.5k chips in play I was holding around 12.5k, villain 1 had 6k and the other 4k. I’m dealt JJ on the button and make a 3.5xBB raise and villain 1 goes all-in for his 6k. He’s played pretty tightly and I announce that I’m prepared to race him as I think he has AK or AQ. He in fact has 99 and he can’t suck out and we’re now down to 2 with a 4.5/1 chip lead and the win in site. 2 hands in I raise with 44 and am min-raised by villain. I put him all-in and he insta-calls showing KK. Oh FFS! Flop and turn are no help but you obviously know what the river brings….a FOUR! River that two outer, Ship the $37.50 1st prize!

So the game was really enjoyable and the river cards were so kind it was untrue but overall I was pleased with my game despite the KQ vs AA hand I got my money in with the best of it each time. The standard of play was pretty weak-tight and there weren’t too many maniacs and I can definitely see myself playing in a few more of these games for sure. This one lasted about an hour and a half which isn’t too bad but investing this much time means that I’ll have to take more than my fair share of 1sts to make them worthwhile. Still getting used to the software though because the action buttons are in a strange order and the way you raise seems strange but otherwise no real complaints. I like how you can get the software to highlight a player in red if he’s folded and green if he is active which helps multitabling and the look of the site isn’t too bad. I’m going to hit the cash games tonight as Prima have a great little mini-view option which means I can easily fit 5 tables on my decrepit laptop’s screen which should be good for at least 350 hands an hour. If I get used to this mini view and the play at Prima I will 100% be leaving this site and joining one with rakeback as I should be able to hit 5000-7000 hands a week with ease and the rakeback will enable me to move up stakes quicker and make losses less painful!

Once I have rebuilt my bankroll I will definitely be sticking some back onto Full Tilt as I have discovered their 90 man, deep stack SnG’s with 10 minute blinds. FT’s blind structure was always superb but with 10 minute intervals now it is almost tailor made for me and my MTT game as it should allow me to try out a new LAGgier style that I’m trying to implement.

What ever your game I hope the river is as kind to you as it was to me!