7/27/2019 Live $550 Sit-N-Go Hand.doc

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Awhile back, I got an email about a Casino Night in Bloomington. They had a $65 MTT with about200 players, so I thought it'd be fun to go with a few friends. When I got there, I was delighted tofind that they were running a $550 and a $1100 sng. I signed up for both. Unfortunately, only the$550 ran that night and it also caused me to miss the MTT.

I had never played a live sng before, so I thought it was really fun. We started out with 2000 chipsand the blinds started at 25/25 and then moved to 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 150/300, 200/400,300/600.

In the beginning of the sng, I played extremely tight. I watched to see who the good players wereand who the bad ones were. I paid close attention to which players were loose and would pay meoff the most in later rounds.

I had built up my stack some early on and then a crucial hand came up. There were about 9players still in and I was 2nd in chips. There were 3 limpers in the pot and I was in the small blindand looked at A10 hearts. No one had limped in from early position, but I did notice the 2ndlimper was in LP and he was an extremely good player (also chip leader). I was surprised hedidn't raise in his position. The other two players were insignificant. I decided to raise the 50 blindto 250. The MP limper and the chip leader both called me.

The flop came out 6 6 7 rainbow. I bet 400 and the first limper folded. The chip leader thought for a while and raised me to about 1300. Right when he raised me, I thought about tossing my hand.I felt that he wasn't trying to steal this pot from me with nothing.

However, after I thought about it for a while I put him either a pocket pair smaller than a 10 or 89for a striaght draw. I didn't think he had 66 or 77 because with the pot already so big, there wasno reason to put in a big raise at the flop with a hand that secure. Tournament chips are preciousand at that stage in the tournament, I thought he'd rather slow play the flop with a big hand. I thenasked him how many chips he had. He had about 1800 more and I had 100 or 200 fewer chipsthan him. The pot was so big I couldn't give it up. After I finished counting my chips, I wonderedaloud "Do you really have the 6?" as if I had a high pocket pair. I made it seem like while I wascounting my chips, I was already ready to push my chips all in.

Then I said "Alright then, I'm all in," as if hoping he didn't have the six but again, representing thatI have a good hand. I think this gave me enormous fold equity. I knew he was a good player, andI knew he knew that I was a good player. I didn't think he would call me with a small pocket pair since he'd feel like a fool to the others if I really had a high pp. They would probably say, "The kidbasically told you he had AA KK or QQ and you still called him. Are you an idiot?"

This was a huge win for me; it was the most crucial hand in the sng. It made me the enormouschip leader over the others. I was semi bluffing with 6 outs, or with the best hand if he had 89. Iknow it was a risky move since he was the chip leader, but that gave me more opportunity tomake him fold since he knows that I know not to risk playing big pots with chip leaders when I am2nd in chips. It also gave him a chance to fold since he had enough chips to still play futurehands.

What players can take from this story is how aggressive play and knowledge of fold equity cangain you precious chips and pots; also, it can teach how you can add on a few words to

strengthen the image of the hand you're trying to represent.