No title for this post. Couldn't think of anything revelant or clever. Had a break-even night. Played a few SNG's as art of FTP's SNG Madness promotion. Started with 7 $2.25's. Horrible. The play was akin to a bingo game and I was never able to find my rythim, or a decent hand. ended out early in all of them. Disgusted with myself at that point, but eager to shake it off and move on. So I then regged for the $2.25 doublestack tourney. All went fine until I took a punishing beat for 2/3 my stack when my KK fell to J9 suited APIF. Opponent raised 5x, one caller, I re-popped it from the SB to all-in. Origional raiser called and so did the caller. Pre-flop it looke good for me KK vs J9 vs QK. Unfortunatly the turn and river were both 9's. Ah well, I still had just under average stack and I thought I could easily rebuild.

     Then I got moved to a nother table and to my dismay I was sitting between 3 of the top 5 tourney chipleaders. And they were aggro. Still I thought "no problem, be patient, pick your spots and don't challenge the big stacks unless you got some heat." Well, sad to say I got no heat. I mean none, zip, nada. This coupled with the fact that at least one of the leaders were raising/3-betting nearly every hand and I started to get dwindled real fast.

     Now this brings me to something that I have a hard time with. Not being short stacked against monsters, but the fact that I refuse to just shove a 8-12bb stack because "I'm suppost to". I just cannot bring myself to shove with marginal (K10, A rag) hands into stacks more than 5x my own. Esp when they are calling wide trying to take out anyone who tries to rise against them. If i were in their situation, I would have done the same thing. Anyways, I eventually found myself folding every hand from 55 players on until thr bubble which was 36. My intention was not to just fold into the money. I really don't care if I bust first hand or on the bubble. Busting is busting. But like I said, I refused to just shove atc out of, I dunno, pride I guess. I blinded myself down from a bit over 14K until I was 2 off the bubble and had 2.2K, which at that time was just over 2bb's. Sad, I know. Fortunately I did catch a break when I was in the SB and miraculously the pot was not raised pf. I completed with Q 9, and the BB checked. Flop came Q high and I shoved. BB called with bottom pair and I got my double-up and then some with the antes. Now sitting on 6.5K or so, I shoved the button with AK (about damn time!) and doubled up again against A4. The bubble burst, a couple of hands later, but I was still only 16BB's deep. Short by a mile. Folded a few more rag hands and finally looked down to see the two most beautiful ladies I've seen in a long time. Shove it!

     Now this is where you think I tell you about another double-up that catapaults me to the final table. Not so. AK snapped me off with a K on the turn and I made myself a whole .96c. Sad. But then again, any profit is good profit, so at least I got something, if only a small pittance.

     So at that point in the night I was still down about $20. Still feeling good about my play in the doublestack (aside from my unremarkable finish, I did play well and was above average from the first rotation till that J9 beat), and feeling a need for vengance against the SNG Madness, I desided to play one more SNG for the night. But not the $2.25. I went to the $5.50.

     I played tight at first, feeling out my opponents. I recntly re-configured my HUD ans low and behold I had stats on most of the table. Lovely. Started slow, picking up a few small, uncontested pots. As we got down to 7 players I opened up m game a bit. My stats showed that my opponents sitting directly to my right folded over 90% to 3-bets so I took full advantage of that whenever I had A10+, 77+ KQs. Chipped up nicely for a while until finally one player had enough. Too bad for him I had 3-bet JJ to his K10 raise. Poor guy picked the wrong time and went busto. I kept on the aggression through the bubble, raising and shoving wide, (been reading alot on ICM and bubble play and wanted to put that into effect hard). Popped the bubble second in chips. CL on my left was mostly passive but overvalued and Ax hand, and the poor schmuck to my right was too scared for his own good, and I was able to take the chip lead without much fuss. Long story short it was a quick heads-up battle and I was able to end the night where I started it with the big W.

     As well as the cinfidence I got from cashing in a MTT and winning that SNG, I now only need two more wins in SNG between now and Sunday evening to quailfy for the SNG Madness freeroll. I must say I am not doing it just for the freeroll, the money from the wins will be nice too. I also found by applying a more aggressive ICM based approach near and through the bubble, I had more confidence in my plays. I will do good to remember that feeling next time I am the pitiful shorty in an MTT.

     Well, it is now nearing 6am, so I will say goodnight flolks, and good luck!