For once the suckouts went my way...

It wasn't pretty, and it wasn't nice...but last night was suckout city for me. Only this time I wasn't on the wrong end of it. :) No, I'm not proud of it, just glad to have made up some lost ground and money on Bodog las night. After not placing in 6 straight SNG's, I was beginning to get more than a little concerned. Got home and started making dinner last night, and fired up two $10+$1 SNG's. Played very few hands, tighttighttight, and aggressive when I had a hand. Just really wasn't catching much of anything. Over last few nights, the competition at the 5 and 10 SNG levels, has been remarkably tight. Not typically losing 2 or 3 players before blinds round 3, which had been the norm. Honestly before, if you could hit that one good pot early on you could easily coast to 3rd or even 2nd place, without much effort. Things have shifted. Unfortunately, the few bluffs I've tried, haven't worked, usually because I'd run into a monster hand. So, I've stuck to my guns, and played ultra tight aggressive. Last night though on these two tables, I had limped along, and barely survived. The field was down to 5 at each table. I caught pocket Q's on one table, and pushed hard, in excess of 5X, which was immediately called. An Ace on the flop spelled trouble for me, and although I had to wave goodbye to a lot of chips, I dropped my ladies. Now, I'm on life support. Stuck as the Big Blind, I get 3 callers, and take down the pot, which gives me a needed boost. I start paying less attention to this table and before I know what happened, we are down to three left on the table. SWEET...I'm in the money on that one, something which was very unexpected, especially when I'd earlier dipped to below 300 chips. Somehow, the two big stacks mix it up on a big hand, and voila, we're down to 2. I had little hope, and pushed in with an ACE, but got beat, but HEY I'll take the second place for the time being. Meanwhile, back on the other table, miraculously, we've gone down to 4 players, and I'm short stacked to say the least. But for some unknown reason AGAIN, a couple of the big stacks get into it again, and we go down to 3! I think I have less than 1,500 in chips now. It's just a matter of time til I'm out, but again I'll be happy to have placed. Instead, I get stuck on a big blind with a 9-3 off suit, and have to call for my last few paltry chips after being raised, since I have less than the small blind left. :( The raiser turns over K-9, so I'm toast right. Instead, I catch a 3 and double up! Next time I'm in the big blind, I get raised by the other big stack, when I'm sitting on K-10, I call for my last few paltry chips again, he turns over K-J. Flop comes off KJ2, yeah I'm dead right??? Nope, I catch Q and 9 on the turn and river. YES, these are suckouts, YES, it's awful to win that way, YES, I really did feel bad, but NO, I'm NOT giving the money back! Anyway, I'm back in the game now, and survive until one of the others goes out, giving me yet another 2nd place finish. My reign of suckouts ended after that, and it was back to just the garbage cards, and flops that I'd been seeing before. BUT, here's where I take heart. I had no business placing in either of these SNG's. BUT a lot of other players would have let desperation take over long before I did. AND they would have lost in either of these games. I don't excited until my stack is less than 10X the big blind. But frankly, I spent a large quantity of time, well below that on EACH of these tables. I'm sure both tables hated me...and I'm sure it had a big impact on them. Evidence of that lies in the fact that each time I was the big blind when we were down to 3 and 4, someone would always say something to the affect of "take him out!!!" When I would suckout, they were quick to remind me of the fact, and that I was playing terrible. However, what I was doing was surviving! I wasn't catching anything of note, and couldn't push anyone out of any pot earlier, so frankly I was taking what good fortune was coming my way.
I freely admit to the fact that I was winning with inferior hands, upfront, and it was killing everyone, but that is what did them in, and allowed me to place higher than I should have.
Bottom line, I'm still dollars short of my high point on Bodog of 167, but when after I bought into these two $10 SNG's last night I had $90 left. My 2nd place finishes put me back up to $150. So, I'm still up $100 on my initial deposit! Now, I think I'll stick to the $6 SNG's for a while, and get back to the slow steady growth. Hopefully the swing of decent up front cards, instead of the suckouts will come back my way. And allow me to play the game with a little more finesse and style. But then again, any win that puts money in the bankroll, is still a win.

Regards,

cheer_dad