Suckout City

Played an $11 3-Table SNG last night, doing pretty well by finishing in second. Overall I was pretty pleased with my play. I only made one big mistake, and was able to make moves at the right time. The crazy thing about the table was the number of suckouts I was involved in at the late stages of the table. It would have made for great TV:

I was able to start out early with this hand:

#Game No : 5214989185
Seat 1: Hammer69888 ( $644 )
Seat 2: OOAKK ( $1668 )
Seat 3: wallgd ( $1920 )
Seat 4: silverado37 ( $4065 )
Seat 5: KEVINFDNY ( $1900 )
Seat 6: Table_Saw ( $2138 )
Seat 7: EvoAAA ( $1623 )
Seat 8: Swift284 ( $1880 )
Seat 9: holdemjunkys ( $2162 )
Seat 10: mclarich ( $2000 ) (only one who hasn't been involved in a pot yet)
Trny:29005294 Level:1
Blinds(20/40)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to mclarich [ Ts Th ]
Hammer69888 raises [194].
OOAKK calls [194].
wallgd folds.
silverado37 folds.
KEVINFDNY folds.
Table_Saw calls [194].
EvoAAA folds.
Swift284 folds.
holdemjunkys folds.
mclarich calls [154].

I need the flop to hit me pretty good with this hand, hoping to avoid any face cards.
** Dealing Flop ** [ Td, Jd, 9h ]

Booyah! Can't ask much more for a flop. Even with the straight\flush draw possibilities, I'm sure someone's going to bet this flop, so I position myself for the check-raise. And the hand played out as such:
mclarich checks.
Hammer69888 checks.
OOAKK bets [500].
Table_Saw calls [500].
mclarich is all-In [1806]
Hammer69888 folds.
OOAKK is all-In [974]
Table_Saw folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ad ]
** Dealing River ** [ 7d ]
OOAKK shows [ Ks, Jc ] a pair of jacks.
mclarich shows [ Ts, Th ] three of a kind, tens.
mclarich wins 332 chips from side pot #1 with three of a kind, tens.
mclarich wins 4244 chips from the main pot with three of a kind, tens.
Player OOAKK finished in 29 place

Table_Saw had less of his stack committed, so I came with the reraise to push any diamond draws out. It's very likely he had at least one diamond. This puts me in great position early in the tournament.

Next hand, I limp with KJo from the SB, and a shortstack BB pushes all in for about 10x the BB. I don't put him on much of a hand, not even an A, and call him on his attempt to steal blinds with a marginal hand. I pair my K, and within the first level I've nearly tripled up by knocking out two players.

Nothing really happens for about 20 hands or so. I win a small pot with 63o from the BB, and I get moved to another table where only one person has a bigger stack then I do.

I miss one opportunity where I have KQo UTG and I decide not to limp in. A K hits, and the short stack doubles up with his pair of Ks against some's middle pair. Of course the short stack has KJ. A missed opportunity, but I'm rarely going to beat myself up for not playing KQo in EP.

Win a pot when I bluff 98o from the button. I get the EP limper to call and he folds to my bet on a rainbow flop of KJ4.

5 hands later, the person to my right min-raises to 800. I make it 2500 with AhJh. He calls, flop comes AQ3, two diamonds. He leads out for the min, I push, and take the pot, putting my stack at 8803.

Then this sick hand comes, which I'm just glad I wasn't a part of:


Game No : 5215259734
Seat 1: scottd113 ( $3915 )
Seat 3: Czech70 ( $5286 )
Seat 4: balloonpoker ( $5980 )
Seat 5: mclarich ( $8803 )
Seat 7: teacherof420 ( $559 )
Seat 8: ShChao ( $2984 )
Seat 10: baker100111 ( $401 )
Trny:29005294 Level:5
Blinds(200/400)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to mclarich [ Qs 6d ]
scottd113 calls [400].
Czech70 folds.
balloonpoker calls [400].
mclarich folds.
teacherof420 folds.
ShChao calls [200].
baker100111 is all-In [1]
scottd113 calls [1].
balloonpoker calls [1].
ShChao calls [1].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 7d, 3c, 2c ]
ShChao bets [900].
scottd113 calls [900].
balloonpoker folds.
** Dealing Turn ** [ 7s ]
ShChao checks.
scottd113 checks.
** Dealing River ** [ 4c ]
ShChao bets [900].
scottd113 calls [900].
ShChao shows [ 7h, Qh ] three of a kind, sevens.
baker100111 shows [ 5c, 6c ] a straight flush, six high.
scottd113 shows [ Jc, 9c ] a flush, jack high.
scottd113 wins 3600 chips from side pot #1 with a flush, jack high.
baker100111 wins 1604 chips from the main pot with a straight flush, six high.

Unbelievable that the shortstack gets the only club that can help him. Any 4 would have been fine, but that particular 4 makes it pretty sweet. This hand demonstates how the rest of the night went. Side note: Why ShChao didn't bet the turn, I don't know.

We get to the final table and the chip counts are:

Seat 1: scottd113 ( $4514 )
Seat 3: Czech70 ( $3486 )
Seat 4: balloonpoker ( $5175 )
Seat 5: mclarich ( $9203 )
Seat 10: baker100111 ( $5550 )
Seat 2: DeadwoodJack ( $7356 )
Seat 6: Black_Francis ( $1754 )
Seat 7: Auto_Air ( $16544 )
Seat 8: KEVINFDNY ( $5420 )
Seat 9: wallgd ( $998 )

Lose a pot when I raise from MP with A8o. I pair my A on the river but we just check it down - winner has AQ.

Win another pot when I limp UTG with AJo. Board comes KK7Q6, I call a turn bet and win a decent pot (other guy had JTo)

Raise from MP w\A4o, steal the blinds.

Raise again from MP w\A6o, more blinds.

10 hands later, everyone folds to the SB. He limps, I check with 10-5. Flop comes 10 9 5. He leads out with 1500, I reraise to 5000. I think reraising is the right play here, but maybe a smaller amount would have given off a steal-vibe. Either way, I'm happy with the pot and the fact that I'm not going to lose this pot to a suckout. This puts me in second with 13400.

Then, my mistake for the night:

#Game No : 5215453383
Seat 1: scottd113 ( $8396 )
Seat 3: Czech70 ( $12747 )
Seat 5: mclarich ( $12953 )
Seat 6: Black_Francis ( $6294 )
Seat 8: KEVINFDNY ( $19610 )
Trny:29005294 Level:7
Blinds-Antes(400/800-25)
scottd113 posts ante [25].
Czech70 posts ante [25].
mclarich posts ante [25].
Black_Francis posts ante [25].
KEVINFDNY posts ante [25].
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to mclarich [ 4h 5c ]
Czech70 folds.
mclarich raises [2000].
Black_Francis folds.
KEVINFDNY folds.
scottd113 calls [1200].

I'm just trying to steal the blinds again and I get a caller in the BB. Not too happy about it.

** Dealing Flop ** [ 4d, Jh, 3d ]
scottd113 bets [1100].
mclarich calls [1100].

He leads out with barely over a 1\4 of the pot. I think about putting in a reraise here but I elect to call and decide to maybe make a move on the turn.

** Dealing Turn ** [ Kd ]
scottd113 bets [941].
mclarich calls [941].

He now bets about 15% of the pot, and I'm sensing weakness. If I'm going to make a move, I should do it here. But for some stupid reason I don't.

** Dealing River ** [ 2d ]
scottd113 bets [2368].
mclarich folds.
scottd113 does not show cards.
scottd113 wins 10975 chips

Ugh, a 4th Diamond. He now leads out for more than half his stack and I'm positive I'm beat. I played this hand horribly - is it obvious I haven't read Double A's book yet?

About 4 hands later I try to make a move with K3o. WTF? And I do it in EP! Why am I donking it up all of a sudden? The SB raises it to 3200 - not even a min raise. This seems fishy, and I decide to cut my losses and fold. I had no business being in that hand. Ugh. I'm now a shortstack by over 3000 chips.

Raise UTG with 44, everyone folds.

2 hands later, UTG min raises. I have A4h in the SB, I push. I know he has to call and I'm just hoping he has something like KQ. He has something even better - 54d. I pair my A on the turn and move to second in chips.

Blinds move me down to 8600, I push with A2 in the SB, BB folds.

Down to 3 players, I raise with J8o, steal blinds.

The big stack starts to push around, min raising from the button. I push for about 12000 with JsTs, he folds.

**Suckout Alert**
Button min raises to 2400, I push him all in with 99. He calls with A7:

** Dealing Flop ** [ 6d, 5h, 4c ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Qc ]
** Dealing River ** [ 3c ]
Czech70 shows [ Ac, 7d ] a straight, three to seven.
mclarich shows [ 9h, 9s ] a pair of nines.
mclarich wins 3791 chips from side pot #1 with a pair of nines.
Czech70 wins 19766 chips from the main pot with a straight, three to seven.

Ugh. I'd rather that he just flops an A and gets it over with.

Next hand I push with 58o. BB calls. We split the pot - he has 58o as well.

Next button, I push with 53o, no callers. Back up to 6000.

**Suckout Alert**

Dealt to mclarich [ Ts Ad ]
scottd113 raises [2400].
Czech70 calls [1800].
mclarich is all-In [4816]
scottd113 folds.
Czech70 calls [3616].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 2c, 8s, 3s ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 2s ]
** Dealing River ** [ Ks ]
Czech70 shows [ Tc, Ah ] a pair of twos.
mclarich shows [ Ts, Ad ] a flush, king high.
mclarich wins 14582 chips from the main pot with a flush, king high.
mclarich: haha revenge

3 hands later I waste all my chips:

Dealt to mclarich [ Kh Td ]
scottd113 folds.
Czech70 raises [2800].
mclarich calls [2200].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 6s, Kc, 7d ]
Czech70 bets [5000].
mclarich is all-In [12382]
Czech70 is all-In [5475]
** Dealing Turn ** [ 4d ]
** Dealing River ** [ 9h ]
Czech70 shows [ Qc, Ks ] a pair of kings.
mclarich shows [ Kh, Td ] a pair of kings.
mclarich wins 1907 chips from side pot #1 with a pair of kings.
Czech70 wins 27900 chips from the main pot with a pair of kings with queen kicker.

Another suckout - I push next hand with 67o. They both call, big stack flops a pair of 2 and bets it. I hit a 6 on the turn and somehow I'm still alive.

Push from the button next hand with As8s, both fold.

**Suckout Alert**

Dealt to mclarich [ Qh 7h ]
scottd113 folds.
Czech70 raises [3000].
mclarich is all-In [5546]
Czech70 calls [3546].
** Dealing Flop ** [ Tc, 3s, 5h ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Ah ]
** Dealing River ** [ 2h ]
Czech70 shows [ Kd, 9d ] high card ace.
mclarich shows [ Qh, 7h ] a flush, ace high.
mclarich wins 15317 chips from the main pot with a flush, ace high.

It gets heads up a couple of hands later when the middle stack reraised all in preflop with 22. The big stack calls almost 12k more (more than half his stack) with Qc6c. Maybe I was an inspiration, who knows, but he turned a Q and takes the pot. Big stacks let you do that stuff I guess.

Heads up play lasts one hand:

Seat 1: scottd113 ( $45833 )
Seat 5: mclarich ( $14167 )
Dealt to mclarich [ 2h Ad ]
scottd113 raises [3000].
mclarich is all-In [12092]
scottd113 calls [10092].
** Dealing Flop ** [ 8d, 9s, Jc ]
** Dealing Turn ** [ Tc ]
** Dealing River ** [ 2c ]
scottd113 shows [ 8h, 8c ] three of a kind, eights.
mclarich shows [ 2h, Ad ] a pair of twos.
scottd113 wins 28334 chips from the main pot with three of a kind, eights.
Player mclarich finished in 2 place and received $75
Player scottd113 finished in 1 place and received $90

Overall I felt like I played well. I made a couple of bad decisions once I got a big stack, but I was able to get away from those hands before it cost me too much. The cards were in my favor tonight, but I won pots with weak hands either because I was priced to call (or it was checked to me), or because I had to push so often late in the game. I missed out on a couple of big hands by not limping in a couple times, but in doing so, I probably showed that I wasn't playing loose (then again, who knows how many players are paying attention to table image at an $11 SNG). I raised from MP with some weak aces more than I wanted to, but I played them purely with the intent of stealing the blinds. I don't have any regrets about how I played the game.