Small woot

Sometimes my progress in poker has seemed agonisingly slow, and the milestones far apart. So little things mean a lot. I've been playing $10 sngs on Party, because I was clearing a bonus and the rake is the same for a 10 as a 5, ridiculously. I've been going okay, not having much luck, and was breakeven before today (in only a handful of games). The games are ridiculously soft, so that's no big thing.

So I have been playing a few games at Party, and a couple of 5s at PokerRoom. First up, I came third in a 10, which made me just better than breakeven, which made me happy. In a five, I limped and called a raise from the BB with 99. The flop came Jxx, rainbow and raggy. The BB checked and I bet. He called. Now, only a clueless player would raise AJ at low blinds in an sng, and you'd need to be double clueless to flatcall a bet with it here. So I'm putting him on AK/AQ, maybe a pair, and when the turn is a rag, I'm willing to get the money in. Sigh. Most times, I shut it down on the turn, because even if I'm good, I don't want a big pot, but I thought I might get paid by a big ace.

Well, if I didn't make mistakes, I'd be a robot. He turned over AJ and IGH.

Next up, I was delighted to get my chips in preflop with KK. My opponent, loose and retarded throughout, had TT, which made me even more delighted. I was a lot less delighted to see a T on the flop. At the same time I was playing a turbo, and with a bit of luck, which you need in turbos I think, particularly if the other players are tightish, which they were, I got to heads up. No luck though. The blinds were huge, so it was pretty much a crapshoot. I do a lot better when there's some play, and I can use fold equity to win a lot of pots.

I had already started another five and the ten had filled, so I was playing both while finishing the turbo. So I got a nice stack in the ten, and a not so nice one in the five, but the players in the latter seemed to want to throw chips at me, so by the time we got to the money, I was in good shape, with three of us on about the same size stack. My two opponents obliged me by going all in, and I had the luxury of throwing away a decent hand -- AT, I think -- knowing that I would be guaranteed second. The guy who won that clash had played quite LAGgy throughout, having pulled a big stack early. I had let him steal a couple of pots with minraises, and now he tried that again, and I punished him several times with resteals. I soon overhauled him, and I think that demoralises bad players, so that they lose discipline. I easily won it from there, with the other guy calling a push from my top pair with nothing at all. Meanwhile, in the ten I'd played a nice game, patient early, aggressive later, and had the luxury again of watching players with decent stacks knock each other out. A huge suckout in the money, with 55 catching its set against QQ, finally paid me back some of the bad luck I'd been suffering. I then caught the same guy stealing, calling his push with K5s with 99, which held up.

So I'm heads up at both tables, and going well. I pick up KQ in the ten and get it in. The other guy calls with K9s and of course he flushes. Now 1740 chips at t600 blinds is what we call being in very bad shape. At Party, there are 20,000 chips in play, so the guy has me more than 10 to 1 in chips.

So I pick up 84 and push. I'm pushing any two every time until I am no longer blinded out. There's no option. Of course, I'd like better cards, because he has to call here.

Or not. Unbelievable! I sometimes just cannot believe how bad the players I'm against are. I'm no Phil Ivey, fair enough, but how bad do you have to be to fold in the big blind against a guy with less than three BBs! I started cursing that I was so far behind, because this guy totally deserved to lose. Next hand, he folded. What teh fuck?

Next hand I picked up Ac9c and pushed. He folded again. Next he called in the SB and I pushed with J5. He folded again. Unreal.

Now I'm in better shape, although still on the ventilator. I fold my next hand, J4, because I am sure he will have to spite-call the next push. I figure that I can wait till the next hand to go for it again. So I pick up 54s in the BB and he minraises. There is no way I'm folding, and he might, so I stick it in. He has K8s, so my cards are live, and I river a 5 to double up.

Now I know I will win. I am still way behind, nearly 2 to 1 in chips, but I know that I will win this game. He just isn't good enough to beat me.

So a small woot for me. I won a $10 sng for the first time. It doesn't sound like much, I know, in a game that sees millions bet, won and lost every day, but in my small corner of it, it's a big thing.