Second place finish in Sit & Go

I used up some gold coins earnt from playing cash games to buy myself a $3.50 sit and go ticket consisting of 18 players and a prize amount of $45 pay.  I found some success by coming second place in this mini tournament, but I was frustrated not to win having been chip leader all the way, and I even managed to get my dogged opponent heads up down to just 4,000 chips when I had 22,000.

Unfotunately I couldn't manage to get him all in when I hit a set of 33 on the flop, but he was savvy enough to fold.  It had been relatively simple to reach the heads up stage and didn't actually take that long but I think the battle between us lasted around an hour (way too long) and he was really helped by a pointless 5 minute break just when I was forcing the issue and putting him under a lot of pressure with constant raises.

Unfortunately the player had QQ when he went all in in the next hand and I instantly called with pocket 22s to give him a double up.  I was still very confident about winning as he only had 8,000, but in the end it was a regrettable move and he came back to win.

We carried on for about bout half an hour until I lost my focus (after the break) and was disappointed to lose to his pocket fours versus a not very good Q8 💎 suited.  I should have and could have won, but didn't.  Still, I think I found my new game on Pokerstars combined with cash games: sit & go's.  For the most part, it was like taking candy from a baby against some of these players to be honest!

As I said, the tournament itself from the beginning was fairly easy against very easy to read poor opposition.  All I did was sit tight and follow my pre flop strategy which I have shared with you in previous posts this month.  Here are some of the hands which helped me build a huge chip lead to about 17,000 chips.

HAND 1 

A snap call with 1010 from the big blind after a raise, my re raise against a loose player and an all in call.  Of course it is always a bit of a coin flip against AK with a big pair like 1010 but this time my hand held.

HAND 2

I knocked out the player with the second highest stack on the table, excluding me, when I flopped a set of Js.  I decided to bet small as I felt he was an aggressive player who liked to try to take down the pot early and he called.  I check raised on the turn to commit him when the T 💎 hit and then simply shoved on the river hoping he would call - he did 😄

HAND 3

This was a hand I won earlier on in the Sit & Go knocking out a loose, poor player holding A10 when he went all in preflop.

Looking forward to my next Sit & Go!

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Quick Poker quiz (with answers at the end) 

'Protecting your hand'

Q1.  What is the most costly error you can make?

Q2.  Who are the only players who routinely make this mistake?

Q3.  Another error is almost as costly.  It I still so costly that you will see someone make it on nearly every hand of a small stakes game.  What is it?

Q4.  How do you protect your hand?

Q5.  Sometimes simply betting out doesn't protect your hand.  What must you do in those circumstances to protect your hand?

Q6.  When the player directly on your right bets, what should you play?

Answers

Q1.  Folding a hand that has a strong chance to win a big pot.

Q2.  Only those that believe that making "big laydowns" is the hallmark of expert play.

Q3.  Failing to protect strong hands in large, multiway pots.

Q4.  You bet or raise, forcing players who hold weak draws to decide between folding and making an unprofitable call.

Q5.  Check-raise.

Q6.  Almost always either raise or fold.

Score: 5-6 advanced player

Score: 3-4 intermediate/good player

Score: 2-3 think again

Score: 0-1 learning and reading about the game is required