ZipRake.com - Complete Hand History - $6+.50 Tier One Turbo SNG (1/6)

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Complete Hand History - $6+.50 Tier One Turbo SNG (1/6)
This is one of the shorter hand histories out of my archives - only 74 hands and from what I remember it only took about 25 minutes to wrap up. The game is a Tier One 6-handed Sit-N-Go, $6 buy-in, 50 cent fee, with 1st place getting a $26 Token with which to move up to Tier Two, and 2nd place still making some money with $10 cash. Strategy here is basically limited to one of two options - really loosen up early, hope to hit something big, and take advantage of a donk or two for an early double-up... or be patient and wait until 2-3 players have been knocked out to really start getting aggressive and hope to win a flip or two. I kind of aim for a middle ground approach, just playing solid poker, but also trying to mix up my play a little bit. I play premium hands fast for the most part, but also open raise more mediocre hands preflop. I hope for solid hands and sizeable pots early on to get an advantage, but don't try to force things if the cards are cold or if I miss flops horribly. I am willing to gamble a bit more even when I'm fairly certain that I'm in a coinflip situation or a 40/60 dog, though I try to be the one applying the pressure. Being aggressive, accumulating chips, and knocking other players out is the name of the game.

So let's get this bad boy started, and we'll start off almost right away with Hand #2. Early on here I like having the limper and front of me and hope to generate a multi-way pot, see a cheap flop, and hopefully hit a set and drag some chips from someone that goes hog wild with their top pair. The BB min-raise is only a pot-sweetener here, as is the free magic turn card. Probably could've bet a little more on the end, and I definitely wasn't expecting to see him mucking pocket Kings here. Take note of that terrible preflop play on his part. So now I have a nice little cushion of a lead, and Hand #3 was certainly a nice follow-up, but got no action there. Notice I'm not trying to overbet here, just go with a standard raise and push it in if I get reraised... I want to see all 5 cards on the board, not just miss the flop and fold.

After we lose our first player on Hand #7 I get a little looser than normal and go for a little steal in poor position on Hand #8. After getting re-raised here this is an easy fold, even if there's a fairly good chance that I'm ahead of a complete donk here. Hand #10 I have a little fun acting weak on the flop and dragging a small helping of chips, and on Hand #11 this is basically a little value bet/semi-bluff. If I get a call or raise here I'm obviously done. It's crucial to pick up little pots like these in fast games like this though. Sensing weakness and betting in general are vital. Same thing with Hand #13 - this is a standard steal/value raise. You can't be afraid of stronger hands out there. You're not worried about a call really... it's not the end of the hand for you until you see the flop. And if someone does come over the top you can escape here easily without a big blow to your chips.

Alright, fast forward to Hand #18. I'm not thrilled with the call here, and certainly not thrilled about the flop. Wary of a check-raise I decide to check behind and take a free card... which works out great aside from the 3 hearts out there. Still a bet is necessary and I manage to take a solid pot down. Now pay attention to Hand #21. You can't tell from the history, but in the game I remember the BB was checking very fast, as if auto-checking. Sure enough when I min-bet the turn they pretty much auto-folded. It became apparent to me then that the player to my immediate left was simply not there and was on auto-fold/check mode. This was a crucial observation as it helped me to steal plenty of blinds from them throughout the rest of the tournament. I also went back and checked the hand history, and they were apparently sitting out since Hand #17.

By the time we get to Hand #25 I have a very small chip lead and still a ways to go before getting down to heads-up play, so I'm still staying fairly solid when I manage to pick up a sweet big blind special. I tried to keep my bets fairly small here in order to not scare opponents away, but at the same time not too small to give hands like 9-10 and K-10 great odds to call. At the same time I wasn't totally in love with my hand but probably would have had to call down any return action. On to Hand #27, which I decided to just see for cheap with ideal position. With a flush draw and a passive BB I go ahead and bet it, and then the turn gives me the flush draw as well as an open-ended straight draw, so now I really have some outs on my side and decide to play even more aggressively. This seals the deal, and I can't not be happy winning with 10-high.

Hand #31: not sure what else I could've done to get some action here - strange and very tight limp/fold from the CO player. Hand #34 is standard steal aggresion, and on Hand #35 I'm really ready to win it. Any pair plus any flush draw in this sort of battle of the blinds is going to the felt for me. Note that on Hand #36 then I'm just taking advantage of the player to my left still sitting out.

Alright Hand #37 here I'm really going with my gut, and it could've cost me half my stack probably if I was wrong. I was thinking the BB had seen me make this play two or three times already - the button limp and leading bet in position on the flop, and was trying to weak-bluff me off of a total bluff. A mediocre top pair here is decent enough to make some moves, and I'm still ahead if he's on a flush or straight draw. Now Hand #38 I got fairly lucky on, but after my standard preflop raise there's no way I'm not putting another 250 in for a pot of 1,030, especially with my dominating stack now. Easy call and just managed to get lucky. After this hand we're down to four and I'm really in a good position to start bullying a little more, though I'd like to avoid doubling up any of the remaining players. Also keep in mind that the player to my left is still sitting out and will provide me with extra BB's. The game is essentially down to three.

Hand #46 is more of a big-bully steal. I would normally only make such a play about 20% of the time probably. Hand #47 though is an easy raise, and I would most likely call an all-in from any of the shorter stacks here. Note that these back-to-back hands are a good series of events, and personally, they're some of my favorite setups. There's nothing quite like making an obvious but successful steal of the blinds and then coming back on the very next hand with a premium holding. So the next hand, Hand #48, I'm not involved in, but we get another knockout, we're essentially down to two players, and I still have a solid lead.

On Hand #50 I'm not sure what I'm thinking. Typically this is worth a steal attempt, but I was probably just waiting for the idle player to get blinded out before really going at it. Once that's said and done and we're playing heads-up, we get to Hand #56. This is often worth a raise for me, depending upon the opponent, but there's no way I'm calling down all of his chips in this situation. Just going to be patient and wait for a better spot... such as on Hand #58, which I go ahead and make the same play with, hoping that he's really getting aggressive now that he's guaranteed some winnings and will come back over the top. He doesn't and I get his blind, no biggie. Note on Hand #63 that his min-raise did little to chase me out of the hand and gave me reasonable odds to call with pretty much any hand. I do so and elect to slow down a little. Any bet here is most likely getting a fold from me, so a series of mistakes on his part costs him another 640 chips.

Now Hand #67 is a spot where some people might say "alright, he's been doing this all-in crap a few times now, his range can't be that tight and I could very well be ahead here." That very well could've been the case, but this hand is nowhere near as strong as I would need it to be to call his 14xBB raise, especially considering that it would turn the tables on me if I lost it. Instead we take turns folding until we get to Hand #74 where I decide to just limp in and assume that he'll be a little passive and let me see the flop. Again, any pair plus any flush draw, especially with an inside straight draw and an inside straight-flush draw is going down to the felt in this heads-up situation, and I actually turn out to be a slight favorite here and manage to wrap things up.

Best of luck at the tables. ~ B.

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