streak is over

Finally took second place tonight and called it a night at one tourney. The poker gods still had their fun with me when I got heads up - I flopped a straight and turn and river came runner runner to allow the villain to tie the pot with one card in his hand (J3).

The key hand of the heads up, we got it all in with nearly equal stacks - I had AK, he had A9. He won the pot with quad nines. Nice. Just gotta laugh sometimes.

I felt like my handreading was doing pretty well. Here's a sample hand from early on:

Full Tilt Poker, $20 + $2 NL Hold'em Sit n' Go, 25/50 Blinds, 8 Players
LeggoPoker.com - Hand History Converter

CO: 1,650
BTN: 1,890
Hero (SB): 1,595
BB: 1,425
UTG: 1,915
UTG+1: 1,485
MP1: 1,425
MP2: 2,115

Pre-Flop: (75) A T dealt to Hero (SB)

UTG calls 50, UTG+1 folds, MP1 calls 50, 3 folds, Hero calls 25, BB checks
First limper is at 35/10 after about 20 hands. Raising with AT from the small blind is an option here, but sometimes I like to play a bigger hand from the blinds and disguise things.


Flop: (200) J 5 A (4 Players)
Hero checks, BB checks, UTG bets 200, MP1 folds, Hero calls 200, BB folds
I check my top pair into this bettor, whom I expect to bet pot (since I've seen him do this twice already). The checkraise would probably work fine here, but my run has been so bad lately that I decide to call instead. Monsters under the bed and all that.

Turn: (600) 7 (2 Players)
Hero checks, UTG checks
My check-call backfires as the flush comes. My read is that he hit either the ace or the jack on the flop, so he doesn't have a flush now. He might be one card away, though. I'm out of position, though, so I continue to play weakly. (more aggression in position, less out of position)

River: (600) 4 (2 Players)
Hero bets 300, UTG calls 300
The river is a brick (except for junk straights) and I think I have the best hand. Any ace higher than mine would have raised preflop. Ace/rag (now Aces up) is possible, and sets are always out there lurking, but my guess is that he's got a jack and will call a bet with it. Since I'm still a chickenshit, I bet half pot as a blocking bet.

Results: 1,200 Pot
Hero showed A T (a pair of Aces) and WON 1,200 (+650 NET)
UTG mucked J K (a pair of Jacks) and LOST (-550 NET)
My read ends up being good and I get value from a broadway jack.