A Fresh Start

Last night's blog inspired me a little bit. I had been needing to vent and talk out my frustrations for quite some time, but just never did. I kept on thinking things would eventually turn around if I kept on playing with the same mentality that I had.

After I wrote the blog last night, I decided to go and make a new name on Ultimate Bet, something that would hopefully represent a new, fresh start on 2007 and me as a poker player. I made an account and made a $100 deposit, earning 100% my deposit in bonus dollars, which can be converted to cash, which was pretty sweet. I didn't play any last night, but played in one $10 SNG when I got done with classes. I played very solid, only making one major mistake, which was actually a good play, even in retrospect, but a guy made a good call on me.

With the blinds at 10/20, I called an UTG raise of 70 with 10-10 from middle position. The button called as did one or two of the blinds. The flop came Js 10s 3h. A perfect flop for me, but a dangerous one with the flush draw, straight draw out there. One of the blinds came out and bet about half the pot. The raiser called, and I raised 4x the bet to around 400. To my delight, the button re-raised essentially all-in. The other two mucked, and I called, and he rolls over AsJh, needing two runners. I was somewhat caught by surprised when my hand held as a 95% favorite, just the way things have been running for me lately.

I won a few races and was chip-leader for the entire way until a hand with 4 people left. In SNG's, only 3 people cash, so my strategy is to play extremely tight early and aggressive late, especially when I have a chip-lead. I was raising probably 50% of the hands, as the others did not want to get involved with the huge chip-leader until they got in the money. I knocked the 4th guy out when I was forced to call with KQ against his AQ, but I won on a board of QQ9K2. The person in 3rd place was down to about 5 big blinds, so I wanted to put pressure on the guy in 2nd until the 3rd place guy went out.

I raised with A2 spades in the SB, and the BB called. The flop came K-4-3 rainbow. I bet out half the pot (600), and he raised the min. to 1200, leaving 2200 behind. I considered folding, but felt as though he could have been on a stone cold bluff or had like a King-rag, which would be tough for him to call all-in with. I went ahead and stuck it in, and he paused before making the call with K2. So he doubled through me to 8k, and I was left with 5k. After that, I knocked out the shortstack with A9 against A7, and battled hard heads up, but sort of went card-dead. I got my money in good with AQ clubs vs A4 spades, but he made a flush, and I finished 2nd for $30.

Overall, I was pleased with my play. I got a little bit of confidence back and have the feeling that I will be making good on my $100 investment. I might be going to the Slo Pitch Pub and Casino tonight with Grant to play some 3/6 or 4/8. This SNG cash helped my confidence so much. It has been a long time since I had the feeling that I was going to win when I sat down at a poker table (whether it be a virtual one or a real one) :)

That's it for me, time to do some homework before working the front desk from 6-8.

JG