Faldo Finishes 5th in PokerStars 180 SNG

Valentines Day. My 29th wedding anniversary also. I got married on Valentine’s Day because I can buy two cards but only one present. This has saved me a ton of ‘buy ins’ over the years.

So, on this special morning; she got her present, her two cards and permission to shop the rest of the day – all day. Then her mother gets to be over for dinner or I take them out.

My present was I got to play poker this morning. What a deal for me.

I was in five – count them – 5 tourneys at once.

The first elimination was early in an Ultimate Bet 1 – table SNG. With (77) in the BB and calling a small blind small raise with two other callers, we see the flop [887]. The SB bets, I call, the middle guy raises all-in, the button folds and the SB moves all-in. I call confident that I will triple up and have control of this SNG. They both turn over hands with an (8) in it. But when the turn AND river is [55], I am out of there!

Nice way to start the morning.

Full Tilt decides to torture me as I am in two MTT’s with them. I have to move with (A9) and a [A95] on the flop. After a long think, the big stack calls me with (77). A [6] on the turn to worry me and a [7] on the river to kill me.

The other FT tourney is a 180 SNG also. Down to 20 players – me middle low in chips and paying 18 spots - I have (Ah Jh) in the SB. An early player two from the blind with a medium large stack makes the standard 3x raise. All fold to me and I decide to float it, hoping to hit an [A] to beat what I think is (JJ) or (QQ).

The flop is [AJ4]. Bingo! I check and see him shove it all in there. This move did not bother me in the least. He has (KK) or (QQ) my gut tells me. I call and see he is holding (AA)!

I punched myself in the gut. Nice read Stevie Wonder.

Over on PokerStars I fared better. Ran deep in a 4000 player tourney to triple my money, and I made the final table in PS 180 tourney mentioned in the title block.

The big hand in the MTSNG tourney was calling an all-in from the button when a big stack near bubble time raised it huge enough to put me all-in if I call. The pot was already good size as five players had called my raise with (TT) after they had limped in.

I read him for a straight draw with a board of [753]. He has (66) or (44) I tell myself after the flop. Everyone folded to me and I called. He did indeed hold (44).

I told my gut he still owed me, but nice attempt to make up.

The next hand was even more nub when a short-stack moved in and I called with (Kh Qh) and he only was holding (KT). These two hands moved me from 18th to 7th of twenty, and earning me the final table.

I collected 5 times my entries for my efforts.