Session #65 - Anatomy of a 5-Table Sit-N-Go

So I bought in to a 5-table sit-n-go tonight on Poker Stars while I was watching the Oilers flounder against the Sharks (actually, it was a really good game, but the Oilers lost in the end). My personal theory on sit-n-gos is to play extremely tight until the blinds hit 50/100 and 75/150. At those levels, it starts becoming worth it to steal the blinds and loosen up your play a bit. With this very tight play, I usually sit near the top of the pack by the time those levels hit (unless I get very unlucky and get sucked out) and barring any bad beats, I like to think I can make top 25% most of the time as well as make it to the money 20% of the time. One of these days I'm going to have to crunch the numbers just to see how well I really do.

This 5-table tournament worked out perfectly scripted for me. With 45 players in I was chip lead by the time we got down to 25. I only relinquished that crown for a short while when I called all-in with my 77 pre-flop, short-handed with only 10 players left in the tournament (five each on two tables) and buddy turns over AA. It took me no less than two rounds of the button to get my chips back stealing the blinds and pushing one short stack all-in.

This first screenshot is when we're down to five players and you can clearly see I'm in a dominant chip lead position which further enables me to push the blinds around. Sure I have to give some up here and then when someone catches a hand and comes over the top on me but that happens only once for every four or five steal attempts so no problems.

Now you can see the second screenshot here where we have lost a player and I dipped a bit in chips. It was around here that I made my biggest move of the tournament. The fellow to my left had AQ (and I figured he did) so I bet out a reasonable amount when the Q flops (I had JQ) and he comes over me for $6K and after a decent pause I push him all-in. He goes into the tank and comes back typing "I'm laying down my monster AQ" and throws it away! Scoop! What a score. He queried me on it and I told him I had KK. Lol! I had so many chips no one could touch me by this point.

And the third we are now heads up as two dropped in one hand:

And this is the final hand. Heads up with a massive chip lead I'm definately calling his all-in with any ace and I got lucky enough to make my flush to seal the deal.

So I take first place which was $139 minus my entry of $11 for a nice little profit.

Session Total = +$128.

Live MTD earnings are -$15 CAN.
Live YTD earnings are -$264 CAN.

Online MTD earnings are +$71 US.
Online YTD earnings are +$621.50 US.