First Win at $20+2 Sit-N-Go

Poker Goal for Vegas 12-16-04 $450
Total won as of 11/28/04 $183

I've recently been taking a stab at the $20 sit-n-go's on Party Poker. I have not noticed much of difference in skill level from the $10 ones. I guess the players are a little tighter in the early going.

I really like the strategy cheat sheet I picked up from the 2+2 website. It's very rare that I finish any worse than 4th using this strategy.

Here were some of the highlights from my first win:

Early going in the big blind I pick up Jack-Nine. I think there were 4 others in the pot that limped in. The flop is 8-10-Queen all diamonds. I have the 9 of diamonds. I push all in on the flop which was about twice the pot. I'm hoping no one has the made flush. I don't want to slow play and give someone a chance to draw at the flush. Plus it looks like I am protecting a pair hand like Queens or two pair. I get two callers, one who had the Ace of diamonds and he gets no help and the other had an open end straight draw which he didn't hit either, so I triple up.

Later a short stack with about 500 goes all in trying to steal my big blind. I have AA so I immediately call. He had K-9. Now I am at 4500 with 3 other players left. I briefly think about trying to bully these guys around but that seems unnecessarily risky since I can fold my way to the final 2.

I basically sit back and wait for hands. I get a couple of Ace-X hands on the button and try to steal but get reraised back, so I fold.

I knock another guy out and the other guy busts out and I am left heads up with a 2-1 chip lead. The last guy left is the guy who has reraised me a couple of times and got me to fold. He immediately goes into all in mode. The blinds are still relatively small so I can be patient. After 4 all ins in a row, I get A-4 in small blind. I just call. He raises all in and I call. He had King - 5. I get an Ace on the flop and it holds up. $100 is credited to my account.

I am trying to get a home poker game together for Tuesday. I have 4 so far so I need a couple more. Hopefully it will be as profitable as the last time.