Comeback Kid

Thanks to Mark at Planetgong for the comment on my last post containing a link to a 2+2 article on Sng's.It was a good read and has also prompted me to get a bit more serious about sng strategy and look for more quality writing on the topic.( Marks blog also seems a good place to start)

To the results and yesterdays got me wondering if I just like doing things the hard way.Maybe I have some kind of poker hero complex where I only play my best game after a bad run of results.I remember the heady late nights at 6 max $100-$500 where I'd be in the hole for $200 by 3am but have dragged myself back into the black before hitting the sack around 5am.

I played twelve $11 turbos at Full Tilt yesterday and made $54 despite Miami Mark knocking me out in one sng with the hammer and then nailing my own hammer hand with Q10 on the bubble of another! We may have been friends since school but there's no mercy at the tables especially when it comes to dropping the hammer.

I was heading for a breakeven day but a 1st and a 2nd in my last 2 games at FT meant a profitable outcome to my days play.I did do a little more 2 tabling and although I had a few hairy moments when heads up at one table and on the bubble at another,I did enjoy the non stop action of it all.

Time was marching on ( 4am ish) so I decided to try a couple of $25+$2 turbos at Pokerstars before bedtime.I sharkied the opposition as usual and there were several huge fish at my first table and one in particular who was playing like a manaic, but catching lucky, whilst also mouthing off in the chatbox.None of his chat was aimed at me, and I'm usually very good at ignoring it, or trying to use it to my advantage, but he was such a fish I found myself getting annoyed at him.He'd been raising most pots, and I'd been uber tight, so when it folded round to him in the small blind and he raised my big blind, I reckoned he was on a steal and I made a substantial reraise with my A2.I bet half my remaining stack as a continuation bet after completely missing the flop, and he reraised with J8 after making 2nd pair on the board.I made the donkey call and out I went.

I launched another $25 turbo but allowed the events of that last one to prey on my mind and put me off my game.This time I made a bet from early position with JJ and all folded to a tight player in late position who reraised me.Alarm bells were already going off ,the only problem being that I was ignoring them.The flop came lowish and ragged and I led out, and then faced a huge reraise for most of my stack.I said to myself that he had at least Queens,made the call,he showed his Queens and out I deservedly went after no 2 outers hit.

I came a poor 6th in the next $25 game and as the clock said it was past 6am I was going to quit but my poker hero complex said I should give myself one last shot at winning so I launched another.I can honestly say at that point I was completely at ease with the situation I was in and the pressure I had put myself under to perform better in what would be my last sng for the night.

I suppose overall there wasn't really a situation.I'm not even counting Stars money as part of my roll and it's not as if I do this for a living and the family would go hungry.It's not as if $27 itself or even the $79 I was down in total at Stars is a lot of money but somtimes I think I need the thrill of knowing it's an all or nothing ( $108 down if I lost or $4 profit if I won) situation to make me play my best.

Anyways to cut a long story ( aint they all at this blog?!) short I did win and went to bed a happy acorn at around 6.30am.The only problem was I was buzzing so much from the game I couldn't sleep...

I did get up in time to watch Rangers season from hell continue as we lost 3-2 to Dunfermline in the Scottish Cup.Unless we win the Uefa cup ( and that's not bloody likely) this will be only our second trophyless season in a row since the 1960's.At least the only way is up....

Back to work tomorrow.My sleep patterns have been so eratic over the holidays I'm probably gonna feel jet-lagged at work.Just what I need with a job dealing with complaints.

Ok,time to walk Nacho and maybe squeeze in a little poker...