SNG Stats For February

I went back to what I know best for the last few weeks and I can tell you it sure feels nice to actually win. 

With the BBT3 upon us I had to take a hard look at my bankroll.  I'm playing pretty thin and unless I won an event early I wouldn't last long.  With that in mind I've decided I'm not going to play any of the events unless I can win my buy in first playing SNG's.  I'm happy to report that I have already registered for the Big Game on Sunday and I plan on making some noise.

Here are my SNG graphs for the month.  I've only played 50 so far but I'm outpacing my previous ROI when I played this level in the past.

I like this finish distribution.

Changing the Rotation

I've got to put some bankroll building back into my play. The MTT's have been slowly draining my resources so it's back to SNG's play. They can be a grind but I've got to play into my strength and that is the turbo SNG. I'll be working a new rotation which will cut down on the MTT's.

Started this by playing a few steps SNG's last night at Full Tilt. Took me two step one's to win a step two token. Turned the token into a third place finish for a little profit. Feels like my game hasn't dropped off too much so I should be able to hop back in without too many growing pains.

The steps will be my focus for the short term.

OMG?!? i could be wrong

In follow up to my previous post I have to say I just listened to the most disturbing poker podcast I've ever heard. This was the Feb. 21st episode of the Pocket Fives podcast. During the interview a player not only professed the virtues of smoking pot while playing, he practically encouraged it by saying most of the top players smoke.

I've never been a real big fan of this podcast but I will now never listen to it or visit their website again. The target audience for them are teen and young adult males so I consider the interview to be wholly irresponsible. If they want to claim journalistic integrity by not censoring the interview then they also need to present the other side and point out the dangers and side effects of the drug. The interviewee himself said he hadn't smoked for a few hours so he wouldn'tbe stuttering through the process.

Most of you may say, "who cares." But I've got to tell you, as a parent, that is some scary shit.

WTF?!?

This is the most asinine advertisement I've ever seen. Brought to us by the fine state of Washington because as we all know poker leads to pot, heroine, alcohol, smoking, (bondage), and guns.

Hell I just finished shooting up and now I'm going to go shoot someone as I smoke and drink.

A Misunderstanding Spouse

My wife asked me what my bankroll was at last night. So I told her.

She was confused as to why it hadn't changed since the last time she asked me. I tried to explain to her that I had been playing mostly tournaments and not the cash games that would slowly build up.

Her response:

"What happened to winning a tournament every month? You used to win one every month. You need to win another cruise. It's time to go on another one."

If only it were that easy.

Input Wanted: Conclusion

I want to thank Klopzi, Fuel, and $mokee for replying to my call for input.

I wish Fuel would have expounded a little on his reason for folding.

In the moment of play I had the exact same thought process $mokee had. So exact it's scary. I decided to push to force out the other two players. The original player had pocket 5's for the flopped set. I hit my K on the river for a bigger set. Still didn't manage to win though because the chip leader called preflop gambling it up with Ad7d. His flopped nut flush was enough to win the hand after he called my all in re-raise.

Second guessing myself afterwards I was convinced I made the wrong play here. With four of us seeing that flop and since I wasn't re-raised a set or straight draw is very possible. That flop should have been scary even if their wasn't the three diamonds. Since I had the second nut flush draw I figured it was worth the play at the time. I'm still a little undecided on what the right course of action should have been.

I guess that's why this game hasn't been solved yet.

Input Wanted: Hand Decision

This is a hand from a tournament I played in the other night. I've been debating with myself whether I played this hand right postflop so I've decided to ask for input.

The hand occurs after were already in the money but it's still early after the money bubble.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5221922500: $5 + $0.50 Tournament (38945611), Table 16 - 600/1200 Ante 150 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:00:58 ET - 2008/02/12
Seat 1: delmop (25,759)
Seat 2: Dannydm (39,903)
Seat 3: williams1 (82,255)
Seat 4: Jhouse1968 (38,512)
Seat 5: Montezuma67 (29,326)
Seat 7: dooce_kikker (32,450)
Seat 8: Jordan4523 (29,720)
Seat 9: lifesagrind (34,505)
antes 150
dooce_kikker posts the big blind of 1,200
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to lifesagrind [Ks Kd]
lifesagrind raises to 3,600
Dannydm calls 3,600
williams1 calls 3,600
dooce_kikker calls 2,400

As you can see my raises were getting plenty of respect.

*** FLOP *** [9d Td 5d]
dooce_kikker has 15 seconds left to act
dooce_kikker bets 28,700, and is all in

This guy took all of his time to make this play. I'm next to act so I have a tough decision to make.

What do you do?

I have plenty of options here and I'm not sure I made the right one. I'm not troubled about the decision because of the outcome. I'm troubled because it was a tough spot. I also feel a little lost on what the correct play is in this position.

The Social

I've just joined the Poker Players Social Network or PPSN as it's called. Think of it as MySpace for poker players. Sign up and visit me. As always my username is lifesagrind.

Deal Or No Deal

Well I just finished watching the new poker movie Deal.

My Thoughts:

It's better than Lucky You
It must have been financed by PokerStars and The WPT
Color Of Money meets poker
Would have been better if Shannon Elizabeth got naked

Indicators

Indicator that your playing above your comfort level: How about losing 2 1/2 buyins in 621 hands. I then dropped down 2 levels and have since gone up 2 buyins in 687 hands.

Indicator that your finally hitting your groove: MTT's can be a drain on the psyche as well as the bankroll. The level of variance is well documented and my experience has been no different. The key is to feel secure in your own play and believe that you are making the correct decisions. I finally reached that feeling this week. It's taken a few weeks of play but I definitely feel I'm back in form after my extended MTT absence.

Indicator that you didn't play much in January: I received my rake back payment for January, it was $6.41. 'nuff said.