Hi all,
Well I started out a month and a half ago playing ring games but they started getting a little boring. Within the past couple of weeks I played my first SNGs and have gotten pretty good at them. I think I've played about 25 of them total and I pretty much am even or up $10.00 over the course of that many of them. I would have been profitable but I "moved up" to higher SNGs so to speak and lost out 4th in both but oh well I have learned a ton and I didn't lose any money.
Anyways I've never played anything bigger than a 10 player NL ring game or a single table SNG but I really wanted to give a big NL tourney a try. So last night I signed up for a $30+3 NL Holdem at Party. There were 1090 in the tourney! Anyways first hand I hit trip 3's on the flop and someone goes all-in in front of me. I have to go all in to call and do and double up first hand cracking pocket aces....lol. Anyways the tourney was so much fun and I think I played very well. I was amazing how fast people were going out. Anyways fast forward a couple of hours and I've got 3600 chips. There are 135 people left and the top 110 get paid. I ask at the table if play starts to slow down near the money mark and one guy says "yeah, big time". He then starts asking me how I didn't know that and I say cause its my first multi tourney ever and he was shocked to hear that because he said he thought I was playing very well (I was stealing blinds and went all in reraising against the monster chip leader....with a hand of course). Anyways I just said yep.....I read alot (didn't say it was on FTR cause i didn't want to give away the secret).
Anyways as play slowed to an absolute crawl as we were only 12 spots or so away from the money I look at my chips and knew if I folded out I'd easily be inside the top 110. I figured I could even get to about 80 or 90 without playing another hand but thats not my mentatality. Everyone was making comments about being close to the money and I said "Well I don't know about you guys but if I pick up a big hand soon then I'm pushing it regardless". I figured I would need to double up a couple of times in the next few orbits to have a chance to win the whole thing.
So a few hands later I'm at 3000 chips and the BB just changed to 600. The 2nd biggest chip leader at the table with 12,000 and is 1st or 2nd to act raises 3200. This to me reeked of a big bet to steal the blinds because she had been losing some chips in the last few hands. I look down to see a JJ. I say ok.....I'm pushing it, I want a chance to win this thing. So I wait 4 minutes as the small stacks try to slowplay their way to the money and went it comes to me I go all in. Everyone else folds as I tell the table "see I told u I'd play if i had a hand". So 2nd big chip leader turns her cards over and she's got a 33 and i'm thinking "sweeeeeeet". Bottom line....she hits trips on the flop and the turn and river don't help me and i'm out in 120th. Ah sometimes poker just isn't fair but hey thats poker.
I really had fun and am so proud at how well I played. I honestly think if I had doubled up there I would've been easily top 30 with a little luck final table. Anyways sorry for such a long story but now I think I'm hooked on SNG and tournament play.....If I can be profitable at them like I am at ring games then I think I may have found my niche. And I'd like to thank all the posters here as the info on this site has made me a capable player in a short period of time.