Patience and Position

Lately I've been a spectator to a lot of games. From friend's games to blogger's that I read - I've logged numerous hours on watching them play. I spec to offer advice for my friends on how they can strengthen their game; I watch some of the top upcoming players for my own learning purposes. From time to time I see players gain a really large stack early on, then loose it all and go on tilt which ultimately cost them the game.

Recently I was in an interesting Sit-N-Go where I doubled up early on then lost it all several hands later placing me from "massive chip leader" to the table's short stack. With patience, position, and a little luck I was able to hang on, double up, and place in the money. I'd like to recap this game to show that even after you suffer a massive chip lost and become a true underdog to win - you can still get back in the game by not going on tilt and focusing on your game 100%. This also will be an opportunity to use my newly purchased hand replayer. Without further ado, let's take a look at the SNG.

Hand 1, Blinds 15 / 30

What we know: We are a couple of hands into the SNG, but it is still very early in the game. With blinds at these levels I am not looking to get involved with a lot of pots unless I have a solid hand. So far I have been doing a lot of folding. The player in the Big Blind is the chip leader, seems aggressive. The small blind seems like a total fish. Willing to gamble on any draw or pair, he's slightly up.

Hero: 1405
Villain 1375

Starting pot is 45
Hole cards, Kd Ks

Hero raises to 95, UTG+1 folds, Villain calls, all other players fold.
Heads up action against Hero and Villain
Pot is now 235.

Our Impression: A pair of Kings is definitely a hand I will be playing. Raising under the gun 3x the BB should keep A-Small hands out of the pot, but it's early in the game so if an Ace does flop I have to be careful. If I get action on this hand I am happy. If not, I don't mind taking the blinds down. This early in the game I am not looking to get into all in decisions and large pots. We actually get one caller and we get to see a flop.

Flop: 9d Kc 9s
Hero checks, Villain bets 175, Hero calls
Pot is now 585

Our Impression: We flopped a full house, a 1 in 165 chance. Now we need to maximize our profits. With such a strong hand I am not worried about an Ace coming out on the Turn since pocket Aces would have re-raised preflop. The only cards I need to concern myself with if someone is holding a pair of nines. The percentage of that is so low, I just have to believe my hand is good. What I can hope for is that our Villain has an Ace or a King and thinks it's good. If he does he will bet if we check and we can start to build up a pot. We do check and our Villain bets. A raise here, rather than a call, might make him fold if he's holding Ace high or on a draw. A call here will hopefully induce a later bluff.

Turn: Jd [9d Kc 9s]
Hero checks, Villain Checks

Our Impression: The Turn brings no danger and we check to continue to induce a bluff. Our Villain checks.

River: 8d [Jd 9d Kc 9s]
Hero bets 300, Villain raises to 720, Hero re-raises to 1140, Villain calls and is all in

Our Impression: Our Villain checking last hand didn't help us. If we are to make any more money off this hand we need to weigh in our options to find out what would be profitable. If we check to the villain he might also check and we don't get any more money in the pot. Being that I feel we have the best hand I want to take the opportunity to get a few more dollars from my opponent. The question is how much to bet. If I bet too much I will induce a fold on a medium strength hand. If I bet to give him the odds to call with his medium strength hand I get additional money in the pot. If I bet to give him odds and he feels he has the best hand, he might reraise and we will get even more money in the pot. We actually bet 300 making the total pot 885, giving him almost 3 to 1 on his money to call. He actually reraises and I put him all in. He calls and we take down a rather large pot.

Hero shows full house, Kings full of Nines
Villain shows full house, Eights full of Nines
Hero wins 2985.

Our Impression: This was a great win for us early on. This gives us some chips to work with. Normally I tend to continue playing my solid/tight game here, even after a big win. However, after reading a resent article about being a table bully once your in the situation I am in, I decide to try a new strategy. The results are disastrous.



--------------------------------
Hand 2, Blinds 15 / 30

Hero: 2970
Villain: 1155
Opponent: 1785

Starting pot is 45.
Hole Cards: Kc 9h

Opponent post SB, Hero post BB, Villain (UTG) calls, SB calls, Hero raises to 95, Villain calls, SB folds
Pot is now 220

What we know: We haven't played the last 5 hands since we doubled up. The player UTG has been conservative since he lost a few hundred chips a few hands back. The player in the small blind likes to make bets on the flop, but folds to raises if he doesn't have anything. K-9 os is not a good hand, but may be a chance to attempt a sandwich play. The player UTG did not show strength preflop and the SB only limped in. I am going to use my stack here and the advice in the recently read article to attempt to steal. My thought before the flop is that if we miss it, and someone shows strength, we will back off and fold.

Flop: 9d 6h 7h
Hero bets 180, Villain raises to 360, Hero calls
Pot is now 940

Our Impression: The bet of 180 after the flop can be considered as a continuation bet, but it's also a probe. I raised preflop with not-so-great cards, but hit top pair with a nice kicker and a backdoor straight flush draw. Betting 180 here will hopefully take down the pot. Instead our Villain challenges us and does a one up raise to make it 360 to go. It cost me 180 to win a pot of 760 and I might have the best hand at the moment. The Villain could also be on a steal (or draw) figuring that I raised preflop with overcards and missed the board. Since a one up raise is rather weak, I call for the pot odds offering almost 4 to 1.

Turn: Qs [9d 6h 7h]
Hero checks, Villain bets 390, Hero calls
Pot is now 1720.

Our Impression: We should have bet out on the Turn if we wanted to take this hand down. Instead we checked which showed weakness and our Villain bet. His bet of 390 gives me over 3 to 1 on my money. I still do not know where I am in this hand so I call for the odds. My 9's still might be good and I really don't put my opponent on a strong hand. The Queen didn't help him even though his bet says it did. I really put him on a week hand and still attempting to steal, however I can not be certain since I took no opportunity tosee how good my hand is.

River: Qc [Qs 9d 6h 7h]
Hero checks, Villain bets 310 and is all in, Hero calls
Pot is now 2340

Our Impression: If the Queen didn't help him on the Turn, then it pairing on the river shouldn't have either. There aren't so many hands that bet us that match his play style. I don't put him on pocket 9s since I think he would raise preflop. Pocket 6's and 7's I rule out since I believe he would try to trap some and wouldn't have made the raise on the flop. Queens are reasonable but I still put him on a week hand. I put him on a 9, 6, or 7 with an overcard, or a busted draw. Really the only hand that has me worried that matches his betting is A-9. In the end, calling a bet of 310 into a pot over 2000 is a no brainer. I make the call.

Hero shows two pair, Queens and Nines - King kicker
Villain shows twp pair, Queens and Nines - Ace Kicker

Villain wins 2340.

Our Impression: Our play in this hand was horrible, but we called our opponent's hand. Originally we knew he wasn't on the greatest of hands, then we felt A-9/7/6 matches his betting perfectly. Given the odds we call and loose a pretty large portion of our stack. This was a complete amateur play by myself and I am sick of it just revisiting it.



--------------------------------
Hand 3, Blinds 40 / 80

Hero: 1480
Villain: 1120

Starting pot is 120
Hole Cards: Ac Kd

Villain post SB, Hero Post BB, all players fold to SB, SB limps, Hero raises to 240, SB raises to 1120 and is all in, Hero calls
Pot is now 2240

Hero reveals Ac Kd
Villain reveals 8s 8d

The Showdown: 9c 7s 9s 9d 6s

Hero shows Trip-Nines, Ace-King kicker
Villain shows full house, Nines full of Eights

Villain wins 2240

Our Impression: A-K os is a decent hand heads up, and since all players folded to me and the small blind, we were heads up. I was expecting to win his blind when I raised to 240. The player in the small blind has been on tilt lately and has been throwing around his chips in the last couple hands. When he raised me all in I didn't put him on too strong of a hand. My thought was that he would have raised into me with a good hand and not limped in. I call with Big Slick hoping my opponent was on some A-Q, K-Q type hand. He actually held pocket 8's and they held up. Nothing I can really do in this situation. He slow played his pair and I ended up with a decent hand to loose my money to him.



--------------------------------

Our Impression: After that last lost we are now the low stack at the table. Lets take a look at our stack in relation to the rest of the players:

Seat 1: 3430
Seat 2: Busted Out
Seat 3: 2300
Seat 4: 670
Seat 5: 2240
Hero, Seat 6: 360

The blinds are 40/80 and will be increasing shortly. It cost 120 a round, leaving us with an M of 3 and we are on the SB next hand. It's all in or nothing right now. We must double up to stay alive.


--------------------------------

Staying Alive at M 3

With such insignificant chips we really want to shove all our chips in the center if we are going to play a hand. But we can't also just post and fold while we wait for massive cards to come our way, we must also play our position.

Push 1 (360 Chips): Dealt A-2 OS and in the Small Blind. All players fold to the button who limps in. Hero shoves, BB folds, Button calls. Button shows A-9 OS. The Showdown: Qh 7c 4s 7h 4h. We get lucky and split the pot with both players having two pair, Sevens and Fours, Ace-Queen Kicker.

Push 2 (400): Dealt Ad Qd in the cutoff. UTG folds, we push all in, Button and both Blinds fold. We scoop the pot.

Push 3 (440): Dealt Ah Qh in the SB. UTG raises to 160 (blinds 40/80), players fold to Hero, Hero pushes all in, BB folds, UTG player calls. UTG shows K-9 OS. The Showdown: 4s 6s Jd 2h Ts. Hero wins 960 with Ace High.

Blinds are now 50 / 100.
Seat 1: 4140
Seat 3: 900
Seat 4: 910
seat 5: 2040
Seat 6, Hero: 960 (M of 6)

Push 4 (960): Dealt Qh Jd UTG. Push in hoping to gain blind money. Cutoff folds, Button Calls for 650 and is all in, all other players fold. Button shows 3-3. The Showdown: 4d Jh 2d 3c 2c. Button wins 1450



Our Impression: Loosing that hand was massive damage in the progress of trying to rebuild our chip stack. We are now left with 310 chips facing 50 /100 blinds and in the BB next hand. Our move to gain money for the blinds by pushing with Q-J OS was a complete failure.

Push 5 (310). Dealt Ac 3d. UTG folds, Cutoff raises to 200, All players fold to Hero, Hero raises to 310 and is all in. Cutoff calls and reveals Qc 7c. The Showdown: 6s Jc 5s Ks Jd. Hero wins 670 with Ace High.

Push 6 (620): Dealt Ac 3c and on the Button. Action folds to Hero, Hero bets 620 and is all in. SB and BB fold. Hero scoops pot and wins 150.

Push 7 (770): Dealt Kh Ts and UTG. Hero opens with 770 and is all in, all players fold. Hero scoops 150.

Push 8 (770): Dealt Kc Td and on the Button. UTG and Cutoff folds, Hero bets 770 and is all in. Blinds fold, Hero scoops 150.

Blinds are now 60 /120
Seat 1: 3230
Seat 3: 990
Seat 4: 2120
Seat 5: 1740
Seat 6, Hero: 920 (M of 5)

Attempt to Trap 1: Dealt Ah As and UTG. Hero opens pot for 240 (blinds are 60 / 120). All players fold. Hero collects 180.

Push 9 (740): Dealt Kd Qh and UTG. Hero opens for 740 and is all in. Cutoff folds, Button calls, Blinds fold. Button reveals Qd Td. The Showdown: Jh Js As Qs 9c. Players split pot with two pair; Queens and Jacks, Ace Kicker.



Our Impression: Tough split. Leaves us with 830 chips with blinds going up soon.

Blinds are now 80 / 160
Seat 1: 3290
Seat 3: 1020
Seat 4: 2060
Seat 5: 1980
Seat 6, Hero: 650 (M of 2.7)

Push 10 (650): Dealt Ks Kh and UTG. Hero opens for 650 and is all in, all players fold. Hero scoops 240.

Push 11 (650): Dealt Ks 7c on the Button. UTG and Cutoff fold, Hero pushes all in for 650, SB folds, BB calls. BB reveals Qs 6d. The Showdown: 2h 8c 8h Js Kh. Hero wins 1380 with two pair; Kings and Eights, Jack Kicker.

Our Impression: Finally a good double up for us. In my opinion this was a bad call for the BB with Q-6 OS. He only left himself with 370 chips and he is in the SB next hand. The table has become really tight so it's hard to believe he thought Q-6 OS was good.

Standard Play 1 (1380): Dealt Qs Jh and UTG. Hero opens pot for 320. Cutoff folds, Button calls for 290 and is all in, Blinds fold. Button reveals Ah 5d. The Showdown: Qh 4h Tc 4d 8c. Hero wins 820 with two pair; Queens and Fours, Jack High. Button joins the rail.

--------------------------------

Even with our M of 8 we do have enough chips to make some moves. We've knocked out both players at this table so far and we are down to 4 players, sitting 3rd in chips and 500 chips away from 2nd. Our focus now is to take advantage of the growing blinds and the tight table to scoop some chips and sneak our way to 2nd (if not 1st).

--------------------------------

Hand 4, Blinds 100 / 200

Hero: 1670
Villain: 1990
UTG: 4280
Button: 760

Starting pot is 300
Hole Cards: Qc 6s

Hero post SB, Villain post BB, UTG folds, Button folds, Hero limps, BB checks.
Pot is now 400.

What we know: The BB has been super aggressive with us since he won with his two pair, Ace-high (we had the King-high), He's been playing like a bully, pushing all in every time we make a bet preflop or on the flop. I've folded many top pairs when there has been a flush or straight draw on the board and he came over the top of my bet. Going heads up with him, before the cards are even shown, I know he will be aggressive with me.

Flop: 2s Qd Ad
Hero bets 300, Villain raises to 1300, Hero reraises and goes all in for 1570, Villain calls.
Pot is now 3540

Our Impression: We hit our Queen but we have some problems with this flop. One, our pair of Queens has a weak kicker in the hole, 6s. Two, there is an overcard to our Queen out on the board. Three, our probe bet just got reraised to put us all in. Normally this would be a fold, but lets think about this and see why calling might not be a bad idea.

1. Our opponent has been super aggressive with us when we make a raise preflop or bet the flop. He has pushed all in more then 5 times in this situation
2. Our opponent only checked his BB. This would make sense with AA, but an aggressive player might raise with A-x in attempts to end the headsup action quickly. Remember, we show no strength preflop
3. Our opponent has a great opportunity to bluff. We folded to him every time he put us in this situation, and we haven't showed much strength in this hand
4. Folding leaves us with 1270 (M of 4), calling and winning will leave us with 3540 (M of 11). So if we fold this hand we will be in all in mode again. Doubling up later only brings us to a maximum 2540 (M of 8)(not including blind deductions).

Because of the strong chance that our opponent may be bluffing, and the added support that if we win this hand we almost lock a money finish - we make the call.

Villain reveals Kd 8s (a bluff)

The Showdown: 3h 7c [2s Qd Ad]
Hero wins 3540 with a pair of Queens.

Our Impression: This ended up being a great call on our part. Over time by just playing the value of the cards this is a money loosing play. The ability to read your opponent, remember previous betting habits, and going with your gut feeling can make a play like this all the difference in your tournament. To the person sitting on the rail, this may seem like a horrible call, but that person in the same situation with the same knowledge about their opponent - this call may look like a really good one. The end result is that call places us second in chips. 3rd place is sitting at over 700, and fourth has little over 400. We should definitely make the money as long as we play smart and stay our of trouble.



--------------------------------

Summary of the Ending: The third place in chips ended up going all in a few hands and ran into our super aggressive player's K-K. The Cowboys held up and we were down to three. Shortly after Mr Aggressive pushed with K-4 suited and ran into Big Stack's A-K offsuite. Slick held up when the board came 3s Kh 7c 5s Qd.

We made it to heads up and lasted a few rounds. My opponent kept moving all in every hand. The good about this is I know he felt uncomfortable actually playing a hand against me, the bad is I got a run of crappy cards and I didn't want to risk my tournament on a hand like 5-2 OS. With the blinds 120 / 240 and a stack of 1240 I ended up making a move with JT. My opponent called with 67 OS and flopped a monster hand that gave me no chance to win.



Conclusion: The reason for this post is just as the topic indicated, have patience and play your position and you can recover from any tournament disaster. You can't go on tilt when you make a stupid play or donk move and loose money on it. Learn from the mistake then focus on what you need to do to recover. Recovering in this game took almost the whole length of the game. When my shoves were called I got a little luck and ran into some walls. Each time I tried to maximize the outcome in a positive way and keep looking at the next step I need to do to get more chips. What it comes down to is believe in yourself, your ability, and stay focus. Real winners can get back up after a hard defeat.