Woo Hoo!

Took first place in a 8-Person HORSE SnG. It's nice to be back to my winning ways.

I played a very very slow and patient game to start. It was obvious that there were only 2 or 3 people at the table (myself included) who really knew how to play HORSE. It seemed people were just throwing their chips away. Obviously these people are probably more used to no limit hold em and just couldn't grasp the subtle art of a limit game. More than that though, at least one person didn't even know how to play any of the games except hold em. One guy actually asked the table how to play Omaha H/L. All I could do was groan to myself and wonder why I was stuck playing with such primitive players. I'm not trying to sound like Phil Hellmuth here, but I know that I'm a great player and I can play all the games well. Most people don't even know that there are other forms of poker beside no limit hold em. I don't understand why people would buy in to a sit and go when they don't know how to play the game. Sure, it's free money, but why would they want to waste their time?

ANYWAY... sorry for the rant. The point was, I just was very patient and waited for good hands. When I got those hands, I played them hard and got paid off big time. This type of strategy is kid's stuff when it comes to poker. I easily took an early chip lead and managed to maintain it despite the few hands I played. The biggest issue that novice players have is playing too many hands in HORSE. They only think of their bets one limit at the time, not realizing how easily it all adds up.

When we got down to four handed, two of the people left weren't even there. Fortunately, they had been chipped away pretty well already and it didn't take long to get down to heads up.

It was clear that the two of us left in heads up had been th best players at the table. My opponent was a real class act and I wouldn't mind playing with him again. He started with a 2-1 chip lead, but I knew the stack were deep and it was going to be a long battle. I prepared myself for the long grind. Usually the long grind gets on my nerves after a while, but I was ready for it this time and I stuck with it the entire way without even thinking about it. My strategy was to play small pot poker and steal the blinds/antes whenever possible. This strategy turns a slow game into and even slower one. I was fairly passive before the flop/4th street. I raised preflop only a few times in the hold em round, quite a few times more in the omaha round, but I never completed my bring in during the razz or stud rounds. I played all of my bets after the flop or 4th street, definitely if he showed weakness.

He tried to trap me a few times, but I picked off every single one. He flopped trip threes in one of the omaha rounds and I had flopped two pair. He bet, I was about to call, but then it hit me. I has almost acted without thinking and I realized just it time and folded instead. He showed me the trips.

The most notable hands were near the end in the Stud H/L rounds. I had just taken two big pots off of him, one of them was a complete bluff with J Q 10 showing and I had to fire two bullets to get him to lay it down. The other one was a hand where I started with split aces and he started with split kings. He stayed for the ride all the way until seventh street. Despite never improving to two pair, he was showing so much weakness, I had trouble putting him on anything better than a pair of kings. In the end, that's exactly what he had. He had started with split kings. He claimed that he just "had to see."

He had gotten pretty low in chips by that point (compared to the blinds) and I tried to take him out when he had a pair of 3s showing and I had three face cards. He never improved past his pair of threes, but I never improved past ace high.

Finally, I started with (4)(5)6 and two spades. Since it was high low, I was planning on playing the hand as hard as I could. He was showing a face card, so I figured I would win the low if I could just draw two more cards under 8 with 4 cards to go (without pairing of course). Since the low seemed pretty likely, I knew that I could play the hand without fear of losing what I put in. At the very least I could get back half the pot. The advantage to playing it hard is that he might also fold, giving me the whole pot. He went with me, and 4th street was a 2. Great card, almost guaranteeing me the low now and with the inside straight draw which would almost guarantee me the high too. We got all of the money in here, since he didn't have much left. He had a pair of queens. On 5th street I pulled a 10. On 6th street I pulled the 3. He was drawing dead from there and he had no low draw at all. I scooped the pot and won the game.

I played a long long heads up match, never lost my composure or patience and came back from a 2-1 chip deficit to win it all.

Lately, when I get into heads up matches, I've been losing my confidence. I get this feeling like the other player is a superstar and knows exactly what I'm thinking. I feel trapped, like there's no way that I can win. This is a very very bad thought process. I used to love heads up, the battle and the mind games. This heads up match really helped me. I'm feeling the thirst for battle again. Confidence in heads up is key... above all else, confidence is key.