Saturday, July 12, 2008

Nobody Likes Bronze Medals

Although 3rd place SNG finishes aren't as bad as finishing in 4th, it's been scientifically proven that they only suck a little bit less... basically they still suck. It's like how Jerry Seinfeld put it - silver medalists are the first losers - and from that we can assume that finishing in 3rd would make you not even good enough to beat said loser.

I've been having a rash of 3rd place finishes lately - 5 in the past 11 to be exact. Granted it's slightly better than losing money, it's still not exactly taking my bankroll to new heights. What's worse is that in a lot of these, particularly the one I just finished up, I get stuck with odd players that typically go from being super tight-passive to mega push-happy as soon as they realize I'm stealing their blinds quite easily. It seems to take much longer to play through to the end, and there are usually a few anti-climatic all-in coinflip situations in which no one gets knocked out, the chips just move around a little.

This past 3-handed session seriously lasted 114 hands with the blinds going from 60/120 to 250/500. It was fairly close for the most part, but at one time I did hold a fairly good chip lead, then things chilled out for a bit and we were all about back to even. Ended up pushing my 4.5k or so from the SB with A7o, getting called by the BB who was about even in chips (obviously a little more), and he took me out with his pocket 5's. Just sucks going through all that to have it end in such a ho-hum manner.

This one hand from earlier in the game was pretty fun to watch though...


Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 50/100 Blinds, 6 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

MP: 2,485
CO: 1,215
BTN: 2,475
Hero (SB): 2,650
BB: 3,525
UTG: 1,150

Pre-Flop: (150) 2s 4d dealt to Hero (SB)
UTG folds, MP calls 100, CO folds, BTN calls 100, Hero folds, BB checks
Flop: (350) 3d 6h 3c (3 Players)
BB checks, MP bets 350, BTN calls 350, BB raises to 900, MP raises to 2,385 and is All-In, BTN calls 2,025 and is All-In, BB calls 1,485
Turn: (7,495) Kd (3 Players - 1 is All-In)
River: (7,495) Jc (3 Players - 1 is All-In)

Results: 7,495 Pot
MP showed 9c 9d (two pair, Nines and Threes) and LOST (-2,485 NET)
BTN showed 6d 6c (a full house, Sixes full of Threes) and WON 7,475 (+5,000 NET)
BB showed 3s Ad (three of a kind, Threes) and WON 20 (-2,465 NET)


Ah, the downfalls of slowplaying pocket 9's... not really, but 6-handed I think you gotta pop it up. Button was so tight he probably would've folded and BB might have gotten out of the way too. Here's another gem with the same passive-ass button player from above...


Full Tilt Poker, $10 + $1 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 60/120 Blinds, 5 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

BTN: 1,155
SB: 7,355
Hero (BB): 2,600
UTG: 1,180
CO: 1,210

Pre-Flop: (180) Td 7c dealt to Hero (BB)
UTG folds, CO raises to 360, BTN folds, SB calls 300, Hero folds
Flop: (840) 9s 6d Kh (2 Players)
SB checks, CO checks
Turn: (840) 3s (2 Players)
SB checks, CO checks
River: (840) 7d (2 Players)
SB checks, CO checks

Results: 840 Pot
SB showed Qc Qd (a pair of Queens) and WON 840 (+480 NET)
CO showed 5s 5c (a pair of Fives) and LOST (-360 NET)


Kid seriously needs to contact FTP support and have someone tell him where his bet and raise buttons are. Of course he ended up winning, with me busting in 3rd as usual... ain't that a slice of life. Time to hit the hay. Peace.

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