Single Table SNG's vs. MTT's why I chose MTT's

I have been playing MTT's just about every night, and I try to make sure I play at least 1 per night, but end up with usually 3 or 4 under my belt. I am doing small field sizes 45 or so players, and once I get efficient and proficient at that I will move up to larger fields. I have made 3 consecutive final tables in these 45 person tournaments, I have scored a 1st place finish yet because I still need to figure out how to get more chips going into the final table. The competition in these lower limit MTT's is relatively weak, wild, and unpredictable which actually makes them quite interesting at times. I am anxious to get up a few levels though.

The reason I chose MTT's over SNG's is that SNG's are not real poker, and what I mean by that is SNG's have a set strategy there are hundreds of articles published about how to win at a 1 - table SNG. Basically it comes down to blind stealing, and pushing all in when they get big enough to make it worth it. You have to change gears at the right time in SNG's, and for the most part the biggest skill to have in SNG's is chip management, and there are ICM calculators out there to help you make the correct decisions based on stack size. The main reason for this is there are a fixed amount of chips in play since it's one table, so you aren't going to get a guy moved to your table with a large stack there are only X number of chips in play period. Once the blinds get big it becomes a crap shoot even if you are the chip leader, that's why the all-in play late in SNG's is so powerful.

I am eventually going to be playing everything again from cash games, SNG's, and all variants of poker, but focusing on tournament strategy is big for me right now. I already play SNG's fairly well when I don't get bored with them, and I am decent at cash games. MTT's have always been up and down for me (Like they should), but I feel I have left some decent cashes on the table by making stupid mistakes, so I am out to iron out those glitches.

I continued playing my 5 table tournaments last night and I cashed in 4th place in the only one I played. The tournament was interesting because there was about an Hour delay because of network problems in the middle and it threw off my rhythm a little bit. Here are a few blogworthy hands:

This is an example of taking pots down with continuation bets:

nuttygoon posts the small blind of 250
Templeformer posts the big blind of 500
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to The-Marksmen
sucat folds
BIMH folds
SDPlayboy folds
gottadance71 folds
The-Marksmen raises to 1,000
nuttygoon folds
Templeformer calls 500
*** FLOP ***
Templeformer checks
The-Marksmen bets 1,000
Templeformer folds
Uncalled bet of 1,000 returned to The-Marksmen
The-Marksmen mucks
The-Marksmen wins the pot (2,250)
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 2,250 | Rake 0

Seat 9: The-Marksmen (button) collected (2,250), mucked




Here is an example of how I slow played a good flop from the small blind:


The-Marksmen posts the small blind of 60
The Random posts the big blind of 120
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to The-Marksmen
Yatesermeister calls 120
ALAMO14 calls 120
secho99 calls 120
glasscards1965 calls 120
Golden Toe2 calls 120
The-Marksmen calls 60
The Random checks
*** FLOP ***
The-Marksmen checks
The Random checks
Yatesermeister checks
ALAMO14 bets 120
secho99 folds
glasscards1965 has 15 seconds left to act
glasscards1965 folds
Golden Toe2 calls 120
The-Marksmen raises to 360
The Random has 15 seconds left to act
The Random calls 360
Yatesermeister folds
ALAMO14 calls 240
Golden Toe2 calls 240
*** TURN *** []
The-Marksmen bets 1,100
glasscards1965: Damm
The Random folds
Thinman68 (Observer): talk to me
ALAMO14 has 15 seconds left to act
ALAMO14 folds
glasscards1965: 10-Q
Golden Toe2 calls 1,100
*** RIVER *** []
The-Marksmen bets 120
Golden Toe2 calls 80, and is all in
Uncalled bet of 40 returned to The-Marksmen
*** SHOW DOWN ***
The-Marksmen shows three of a kind, Eights
Golden Toe2 mucks
The-Marksmen wins the pot (4,640) with three of a kind, Eights
Golden Toe2 stands up
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 4,640
Seat 4: Golden Toe2 (button) mucked [Qd 5d] - a pair of Eights
Seat 5: The-Marksmen (small blind) showed [7c 8h] and won (4,640) with three of a kind, Eights


Those two hands are an example of how I have been getting my chips as of late, finding a few cheap situations to limp and flopping monster, and surviving by blind stealing and stealing orphaned pots on the flop. In the past few tournaments I have played in, I have also gotten a lot of chips from players who call all-ins with flush draws and they don't hit. I didn't realize so many players can't get away from a flush draw on the flop especially early in a tournament.

Well that's all for now, thanks for the comments Zeke I am glad someone can enjoy this blog other than me.

New Focus!!!!!

My poker "career" for lack of a better term has been break even for the most part, I haven't had to invest a lot of my own money into it to keep playing. I have been fortunate to score enough wins here and there where I could keep playing, but I am not satisfied being "break even". I have been wanting to move up in levels for a long time, but can't sustain a big enough bank roll to do so.

Since, I got back from Vegas I have been reading some poker books, consulting a few of the poker communities I am a part of, and analyzing my stats and hand histories as much as possible. I figured out that I have been trying to learn Cash Games, Tournaments, Single Table SNG's, and a little bit of Omaha and Stud mixed in. That is way too many disciplines to try and learn at one time, so for the time being I am going to primarily focus on Multi-Table tournaments almost exclusively. I think my cash game play is okay enough for trips to Hard Rock, Derby, and the Tampa Dog Track where I can play and not go broke, and maybe make an okay return if things roll my way.

My tournament play has been slowly getting better, but not at the rate I would like it too. So I have been playing $5 - $20 MTT's lately online, and I have been happy with my play even though I haven't cashed much in any of them. A funny thing happened in one of them I played in I was moved to a table and I noticed a player with the name USF-Grothe, and the reason it was funny is the guy plays quarter back for the school I graduated from LOL. Here he is on Full Tilt playing a MTT on a Tuesday night, I was hoping to get in a pot with him and re-raise him just for the hell of it, but he got eliminated shortly after I got to the table. Here are some screenshots below, and the hand he went out on.







As for my results in that tournament I ended up finishing 10th, I was a bit pissed at myself because I had played really well the entire tournament and one mistake put me out of the tournament. Here is the hand I went out on:

Blinds: $200/$400

The-Marksmen (Button) -

The-Marksmen raises to $800
SB Folds
BigdogJack (BB): raises to $1200
The-Marksmen calls

The Flop:


The-Marksmen raises all in $3700
Bigdogjack calls

Bigdogjack shows:

Turn:

River:





I went broke with a pair when I didn't even need to take the risk, I had targeted bigdogjack as one of my blind stealing targets because I had stolen from him in the past. I should have trusted my instincts when he re-raised me, but he didn't re-raise me all that much and for some reason I thought I was up against Ace King. But when I pushed all-in something told me he had an over pair, it took him a long time to call which was surprising once I saw what he had. I had enough chips to last until the final table, but I was a bit to aggresive. Lesson learned.

Back from Las Vegas!!!

So, I am back in Tampa after a fun time in Vegas. Reflecting on the last few days I can only come up with positive experiences.

I found my Blackjack stride (Thanks to Adrian/Monica), and the one time I played cash I came out in the Green. A big difference between the Pocket Queens debacle last year where I lost $140 bucks in 1 hand. I think I am now addicted to Roulette even though I don't win much at it lol. I think the thrill of watching the ball roll around and come to a stop provides a rush.

After I made that deal in the 1-table satellite I bum rushed a guy holding $500 dollars in his hand, which was the exact amount of the tournament chip in my pocket. I ran up to him and said hey you buying into a tournament? Cash my chip out, and I started grabbing for the money and handing him the chip. It was a short asian guy and he was kind of mumbling and grumbling then he handed over the cash and took the chip. I said thanks and was off to count my new found green. I was walking back towards Adrian and he was looking at my like WTF??? He said do you know who that was? I was like no. He said that was Can Kim Hua a pro poker player, he made several WPT final tables and a few WSOP final tables. I was like really? I didn't even notice all I saw was the money. I looked the guy up online, he is a good damn poker player LOL. Thanks Can Kim!!!!!!!!!!

http://www.cardplayer.com/players/results/Can-Kim-Hua/176


On the last night before I was leaving for the airport, we all went to Planet Hollywood to eat at Pampas one of those Brazilian Skewer places the food was good. Then we hit the tables again for one last round of Blackjack, but we played Roulette first and didn't hit anything LOL. I was up about $75 at Blackjack and Adrian said last hand because we had to leave for the airport. Both him and Monica said put it all in, me being a little bit tipsy from drinking Adios's said what the hell and pushed all my money on the circle. There was about $175 or so in there, and the dealer starts dealing, I believe I got a 10 with the first card, and a 9 with the second one. The dealer had a Queen showing, and I was like "s*it" she's going to have 20, but she flipped over a 6 she hit and busted WOOT!!!!!!!!!! Then on the real last hand LOL, I put in $100 bet, and the dealer dealt me a 10 and a King, I thought the $100 was a lock until she flopped over a 10 and a 4 then hit and got a 7 for 21!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I flipped her 5 bucks collected my chips and left lol.

It kind of sucks to be back, and at work, but I guess all good things come to an end. We had so much fun, you guys can ask Adrian about his lasting memory of me and Blackjack from this trip LOL.

Caesar's Palace ($330 Buy-In Tournament)

I am blogging this from the airport about to head back to Tampa, so I figured I would catch up on updates. Yesterday (Monday) we played in the Caesars Palace $330 buy in tournament. Me, Adrian, Mark, and Monica all ended up at the same table, so it kind of made it difficult to obtain chips when almost half the table came there with you.

The tournamnet has a great structure 40 minute blinds, so that you have plenty of time to wait for hands if that's how you want to play. There was a guy from Hollywood there named Jose, and he talkes more than I do. Apparently he plays at the Hard Rock in Tampa all the time and knows everybody there.

Well there was a lot of folding early as our table started late because there was not dealer button and they had to find one, but I picked up and I raised to $150 (Blinds were 25/50) everyone folded and I collected the blinds. I didn't get inolved in a lot of pots as the table was somewhat passive aggressive, this guy in a Miami Dolphins Jersey kept making crazy raises sometimes 10 to 15 times the big blind. I was hoping to look down and have a monster to re-raise him with, but that didn't happen. Then I pickup under the gun, and I decide to limp. It was probably a mistake to do that but I was hoping that "Dan Marino" would raise a crazy amount so I could shove all-in on him, but he just called. Jose also called. The flop came I miss the flop completely, so I decide to check. "Dan Marino" checks as well and Jose also checks, I am getting an odd feeling about this action so far, the next card comes I decide to lead out with a bet of $350 (which was too much) to try and take control of the hand, but I had the feeling I wouldn't be seeing those chips again. "Dan Marino" instantly declares re-raise to $1500 (Overbet in my opinion), and Jose pushes all-in (Marino has him covered). I of course fold, and Marino eventually calls and shows 2-pair Queens and 9's, while Jose shows King Jack off suit for a straight. The river card doesn't improve Marino's hand and Jose doubles up.

There was a myriad of hands that Adrian, Mark, and Monica played one notable hand Mark's pocket Kings were cracked by Jose when he made a set of Jacks on the flop. Mark didn't go broke, but he lost a lot of chips.

I am then dealt under the gun once again, and I decide to play them cute and just limp. A few people follow me into the pot for the cheap price (I was hoping for a raise from Dan Marino). The action gets around to Monica who is directly on my right, and she raises it to $800 (How dare she!!!!), I decide to fold my hand as I gave her credit for at least Ace King, and everyone else folded as well.

Adrian doubled up through Jose when he made 2-Pair over Jose's top pair, then right before the break Adrian raises to $750 Jose calls!! The ironic think about this is we all had a discussion about playing hands before the break not 30 minutes before the tournament started, and we all were waiting for the chance to see Adrian display what he was talking about. Jose decides to call the $750, I forgot what the flop was but I believe Adrian led out with a bet of $1000 and Jose re-raised him all-in. Adrian deliberated and folded, then said he had AK, Jose flips over Pocket Aces what bad luck. The action in that hand is a little off but the hands were correct.

Adrian gets knocked out by Jose shortly after the break, and Mark having been crippled on a hand pushed from the short stack and was knocked out. Then re-raised Jose pre-flop, he deliberated a bit and decided to put her all-in she called and flips over while Jose shows Monica is in the lead but Jose hits one of his cards on the flop and her hand doesn't improve and she gets knocked out.

At this point I am being blinded out slowly, I am running card dead and the blinds are about to reach a critical level. I am under the gun again and I look down to see those cards looked like a million bucks to me so I shoved all in for my remaining $2675 I get one caller who has and I flop a straight to end it, I doubled up which was much needed and one of the other guys at the table actually had the same hand I did but he folded because of my all-in. Now I feel like I still need to gain about $2000 more chips to get comfortable.

I am dealt in the big blind and a player who just came to the table pushed all-in for $1925. This foreight player from Italy (who looked just like Joe Rogan lol) says "call" I don't really like calling an all-in with thi shand but I feel I may be able to push Bizzaro Joe Rogan off of his hand and isolate the all in, then even if Joe Rogan calls I am not that bad of a dog unless he has Ace King or Ace Queen, and I still have the flush and straight possibilities that could materialize. So, I shove all in which leads to it being $3500 more for Rogan to call. He thinks for a long time staring me down and I smile at him and say nice shirt, but he doesn't get it because he's foreign lol. He eventually calls and he flips over I am blogging this from the airport about to head back to Tampa, so I figured I would catch up on updates. Yesterday (Monday) we played in the Caesars Palace $330 buy in tournament. Me, Adrian, Mark, and Monica all ended up at the same table, so it kind of made it difficult to obtain chips when almost half the table came there with you.

The tournamnet has a great structure 40 minute blinds, so that you have plenty of time to wait for hands if that's how you want to play. There was a guy from Hollywood there named Jose, and he talkes more than I do. Apparently he plays at the Hard Rock in Tampa all the time and knows everybody there.

Well there was a lot of folding early as our table started late because there was not dealer button and they had to find one, but I picked up and I raised to $150 (Blinds were 25/50) everyone folded and I collected the blinds. I didn't get inolved in a lot of pots as the table was somewhat passive aggressive, this guy in a Miami Dolphins Jersey kept making crazy raises sometimes 10 to 15 times the big blind. I was hoping to look down and have a monster to re-raise him with, but that didn't happen. Then I pickup under the gun, and I decide to limp. It was probably a mistake to do that but I was hoping that "Dan Marino" would raise a crazy amount so I could shove all-in on him, but he just called. Jose also called. The flop came I miss the flop completely, so I decide to check. "Dan Marino" checks as well and Jose also checks, I am getting an odd feeling about this action so far, the next card comes I decide to lead out with a bet of $350 (which was too much) to try and take control of the hand, but I had the feeling I wouldn't be seeing those chips again. "Dan Marino" instantly declares re-raise to $1500 (Overbet in my opinion), and Jose pushes all-in (Marino has him covered). I of course fold, and Marino eventually calls and shows 2-pair Queens and 9's, while Jose shows King Jack off suit for a straight. The river card doesn't improve Marino's hand and Jose doubles up.

There was a myriad of hands that Adrian, Mark, and Monica played one notable hand Mark's pocket Kings were cracked by Jose when he made a set of Jacks on the flop. Mark didn't go broke, but he lost a lot of chips.

I am then dealt under the gun once again, and I decide to play them cute and just limp. A few people follow me into the pot for the cheap price (I was hoping for a raise from Dan Marino). The action gets around to Monica who is directly on my right, and she raises it to $800 (How dare she!!!!), I decide to fold my hand as I gave her credit for at least Ace King, and everyone else folded as well.

Adrian doubled up through Jose when he made 2-Pair over Jose's top pair, then right before the break Adrian raises to $750 Jose calls!! The ironic think about this is we all had a discussion about playing hands before the break not 30 minutes before the tournament started, and we all were waiting for the chance to see Adrian display what he was talking about. Jose decides to call the $750, I forgot what the flop was but I believe Adrian led out with a bet of $1000 and Jose re-raised him all-in. Adrian deliberated and folded, then said he had AK, Jose flips over Pocket Aces what bad luck. The action in that hand is a little off but the hands were correct.

Adrian gets knocked out by Jose shortly after the break, and Mark having been crippled on a hand pushed from the short stack and was knocked out. Then re-raised Jose pre-flop, he deliberated a bit and decided to put her all-in she called and flips over while Jose shows Monica is in the lead but Jose hits one of his cards on the flop and her hand doesn't improve and she gets knocked out.

At this point I am being blinded out slowly, I am running card dead and the blinds are about to reach a critical level. I am under the gun again and I look down to see those cards looked like a million bucks to me so I shoved all in for my remaining $2675 I get one caller who has and I flop a straight to end it, I doubled up which was much needed and one of the other guys at the table actually had the same hand I did but he folded because of my all-in. Now I feel like I still need to gain about $2000 more chips to get comfortable.

I am dealt in the big blind and a player who just came to the table pushed all-in for $1925. This foreign player from Italy (who looked just like Joe Rogan lol) says "call" I don't really like calling an all-in with thi shand but I feel I may be able to push Bizzaro Joe Rogan off of his hand and isolate the all in, then even if Joe Rogan calls I am not that bad of a dog unless he has Ace King or Ace Queen, and I still have the flush and straight possibilities that could materialize. So, I shove all in which leads to it being $3500 more for Rogan to call. He thinks for a long time and calls then he flips over the short stack flips over I am feeling good because it's a race, there is no Ace to worry about so both my cards are live against Rogan. Even if the short stack wins if my hand improves I still go up about $2000 in chips. The flop comes (YESSSS!!!) (NOOOO!!!!!) Joe Rogan jumps up and does some Italian cheer that was Gibberish LOL. I don't catch a club on the river and I am knocked out of the tournament.

Afterwards like Adrian said in his blog on it, we all went and ate freaking Pizza, I had two slices this time (I binge eat when I don't cash in a poker tournament!!!) I think I played ok, but I made a few decisions that probably werent the best move as I was playing some hands too cute not raising with them pre-flop and being too clever for my own good. But I liked the aggression I showed later even though I was knocked out, it took a lot for Bizzaro Rogan to make that call.