September Quest

To avoid the monotony, it's sometimes good to set yourself a target, or a challenge. I don't usually do this, but I've seen a couple of people on ITH start them recently, so I thought I'd have a go.

So, the challenge? Well I thought of what was a realistic challenge and one that I would enjoy. I almost went for a challenge to play as many $4 180 player SNG (sit n go) tournaments as I could and see how much of a profit (if any) I could make out of them. I then decided that due to the nature of them (i.e. lots of bad players getting lucky), it was more likely to be a depressing challenge, rather than one I'd enjoy.

So instead, I decided to go for the $11+1 (9 player) single table SNGs. I usually do well at them, and was on a good run on them during August.

The plan was do play them solely on Full Tilt Poker and maybe do about 5 or 6 a night whenever I played. If I'm feeling comfortable, I'll play 2 at once. I'm hoping to play a minimum of 50 of them. I may even do as many as 100 depending on how much I play.

Well, I wish I'd started this in August as my good run seems to have come to an end. I had a very bad start. Here's how my first evening went. (Remember, only top 3 get paid prize money):

Game #1: Out in 6th. Had to play carefully as there was a very bad player on the table who would call with anything. The trouble is he just kept getting very lucky and doubling up each time. As a result, I could only push with a decent hand as no one could get him to fold.
I got short-stacked as pushed with AK. Guy on my immediate left (who had slightly less chips than me) decided than KJs was a good enough hand to risk his tournament with (what???). He of course flopped a straight. I went out shortly afterwards.

Game #2: Got KK early on and so I pushed against an early raiser. He showed QQ which I was delighted with...until a Q came on the flop. Sigh! Out in 8th.

Game #3: Tough game. Lost a load of chips early after getting reraised on the flop as I tried a couple of bluffs. Ended up pushing AQ against 99. OK, now the odds have been cut for me from massive odds-on favourite in the previous 2 games to a coin-flip. No help for me and I was out in 8th again.

Game #4: Not got any playable hands. Decided to push on a flush draw on a K high board. Got called by guy who had been slow-playing AK and I didn't hit my flush. Out in 7th. This is not good so far.

Game #5: Pick up QQ. Get 1 caller against my pre-flop raise. I push a low flop. He has KK and I don't hit the dream card that everyone seems to be catching against me. Out in 9th.

Depressed, I give up for the night.