Yeah, new entry. Weird eh? I’ve been horribly lazy since returning to work two weeks ago with everything so I sorta pushed this blog to the back. With that said, as of right now new content will be coming back daily, starting with this entry.

Aussie Millions spoiler below.
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So tonight I decided to get in the poker mood myself and fired up Full Tilt. With no ring games avaliable, I decided to register for a 90 Man Double Stack Sit & Go. I really love these ones because the blinds start low and you get 3,000 chips to begin with so you have a little time to learn about your players and make some plays. A starting M of 66 = Me very happy. Let’s kick things off.

$5+0.50 90 Man Double Stack Sit & Go
90 Runners - Top 18 Spots Pay

I don’t get much in the first two levels apart from AQ which I fold on a flop of 868 to a player who min-raised preflop. He shows his 77. I’ve had enough after the first two levels. My table has two things, a combinination of really slow players (including one guy who wants to take about 30 seconds each time the action is on his, and he isn’t even multitabling!) and tight-passive players meaning the last 15 hands have been the following: limp, limp, limp, limp, check. check, check, check, check, minimum bet. fold, fold, fold, fold.

Level 3 - Blinds 25/50 - Angry, I decide to raise with . I usually don’t raise with such low pocket pairs but I have had enough and want to win a pot. The player sitting in front of me calls, as does a preflop limper in early position. The flop comes - BINGO BANGO! The limper checks and I bet out 500 into a 675 pot. Pretty quickly the player following me decides to push. Arg.. time to make a decision, which is even worse since he has me covered. Would he re-raise with a flush draw? Probably not. Two pair is a possibility, but that would mean that the case four flopped. 56s would make sense here if he was on a steal. I decide that if he’s got JJ or 88, good for him and call. He flips over for top two pair so my hand is best but he still has outs. The turn and river are both threes giving me a full house, and doubling me up. Ship It, Holla. The caller is down to just under 1000 in chips.

Level 5 - Blinds 40/80 - After folding the blinds I decide that it’s time to make a move and raise to 320 with . J8 guy from earlier somehow doubled up one and a half times and calls instantly - not a good sign. The flop comes , all over the place. Since I’m first to act I figure I need to take this down now and bet out for 560. He calls. Not good. hits on the turn. I think about what I should do.. should I make another continuation? I check, he follows. Geez, what the hell does he have? The river card is the and I half-pot again. He asks me if I will show (I actually had chat turned off and only found this out when looking at the hands later) then folds. Wow, handy!

At this stage I’m currently sitting at about 7,000 in chips and have the total table worked out so I can run riot at this table. I steal twice with 97o, first time on the button as a position raise. Second time I get called but hit a nine on the turn and take down another pot for a grand. Unfortunally I go on a bit of a downturn, losing around 1500 chips with 55 on a 3668 board when I figure I’m behind and then with JTs where I try to steal and get called by the SB who is lucky enough to not only get AKo, but to get a flop of AAQ. He showed after he bet the turn. I get AA and knock out a short stack. I have to fold QQ when I’m re-raised on a flop of KAK. I’m going up and down, I’ll lose a few pots, sit back then bring in a huge one because some guy likes to chase his draw to the river (and then miss).

Level 9 - Blinds 100/200 - I get on the button and go for a steal so I make it 600. SB calls. Flop comes , DAN-GOR-RUSS. The SB calls so I figure I’m right to make it 1000 to go. He calls. Check-call.. me no likey. Turn comes and he checks again, okay he’s slowplaying trip tens but I want to make sure. I bet out 3000, risky but there’s a change he may fold his flush draw. He calls, okay I’m fucked. Another two hits on the river and we both check. I show my A6 and get it on kicker, wtf? He had and was calling with a flush draw and nothing else, well isn’t that nice. I now have 15k and am leading the table.

Level 9 - Blinds 100/200 - Under The Gun + 1, I get and decide to limp in hopes to check-raise. The player in front of me (who only has about 2500 in front) makes it 1k to go and I know I’m winning this hand. Action is back to me and I make it another 2k on top to which he goes all in. He flips and I don’t get sucked out on.

Once the antes start I pick up a couple of small pots with some aggressive play. To make matters a little bit more challenging, I move tables where all the aggressive players are sitting in front of me. I lose a big pot when I attempt a middle position steal with Q9o, bet out on the flop and get re-raised. This happens a couple of times which annoys me. I decide to sit back and wait for premium hands.

Level 15 - Blinds 400/800 Ante 100 - I pick up on the big blind and check. A player in early position is all in off the ante for 80 chips. Flop comes , the three remaining players check. hits on the turn so I decide to make it 1600 with my flush and straight draws. Everyone instantly folds and the player who is all in has - how lucky is that. I can’t hit a card on the river but because I had two others call my blinds I get the huge side pot with bugger all - very nice.

I get AKo twice in a row, raise preflop both times and take the blinds and antes both times. Then this crazy hand occurs.

Level 16 - Blinds 500/1000 Ante 125 - On the big blind, I get - aka useless. A short stack pushes in for just over 1300 and the SB calls. I decide to try to steal and re-raise all in, figuring if I hit a flop against one person I’m winning this pot. It works, the SB folds. I flop two pair, thanks for coming out and am back up to 13k. A few short hands later I get and a short stack with about 5000 pushes preflop. I re-raise to get the BB out of the pot and he flips . King flops and I’m bitter.

I’ve got just under 7k in chips as we are moved to the final table. Four players bust in about seven hands, my stack dwindles down to about 3.6k before I decide to shove with in hopes of hitting a low flop, a flush or a straight. The flop comes out with mainly high cards and I’m eliminated like that.

I finish the tournament in 6th place for a return of $24.75. Given I was close to elimination early on when I reached the money, I’m not too upset with my result. It’s annoying having to push with a decent hand only to lose half your stack on it, which happened a couple of times tonight (twice with queens from the looks of it). All in all, I’m really happy with how I played and hopefully I’ll win one of these 90 player SNGs in the next month or so - they are really a lot of fun to play.