An $10 SNG on Stars last night. Had a really tight image, cos I'd hardly played a hand. The 2 or 3 hands I did play I raised 4x big blind and got big respect, either pre-flop, or to a pot-sized continuation bet on the flop.

6 ppl left, blinds were 75/150, I have 2.4k - about 3rd in chips, stacks fairly even, except for BB who is short stacked.

I'm 2nd position with A-10 off. 1st position folds, I raise 4xBB to make it 600. Hopefully everyone will fold, and maybe even A10 will be enough to take out the BB, who with only 500 chips left, might take a chance and call with any high cards.

Positions 3&4 fold to SB who requests the clock. Finally he calls. BB, as I thought, calls. I hit a 10 on the board, me and SB checked it down - he had AQ off and I took the pot with my 10's. BB was out.

Well the SB abused me - to put it mildly! I got called every fish under the sun for raising 500+ with A10.

After another round we lost 1 more and hit the bubble. On the button I have KQ off. Blinds are 100/200 with antes 50. I haven't played a single hand since The A10 Incident, and have literally given away every blind since then. 1st position folds to me, so I try a steal. I raise 6xBB to 1200. SB folds, BB goes all-in for another 1k. Well now I'm pretty much pot committed, I'm gonna lose half my stack, but I have to call.

He had A10 off. I hit a queen on the flop, won the pot and took him out.

Well...the abuse! I was an idiot for raising with KQ, and a 'stupid cnut' for calling an all-in with it. Interesting to see how people get around the swearing filters, but I got so much grief it really bothered me. The orignal guy who started it all over my A10 raise just wouldn't shut up about what a fish I am.

Few hands later I tried a steal in the SB with AJs, BB came over the top, I called, he had KJ off, I busted him. Again, ridiculous abuse for calling an all-in with AJs.

So I'm left heads up with the guy who started it all over the A10 raise. He seems to hate me, and thinks I'm the biggest fish ever.

Few hands in I raise with A5 in SB, he re-raises minimum, I call. Flop is low cards, so I bet, but there are 2 hearts. He re-raises all-in. I could be winning, if he's on a flush draw. If I'm wrong, it's only gonna cost me a third of my stack, yeah he doubles up but it's still game on. If I'm right, he's a 4 to 1 underdog.

I was right. He was on a Q high flush draw which never hit. He didn't bother to abuse me anymore, just laughed and said - ace high, he knew it, cos I'm such a dumb fish.

Well I beat him, but it's really bothered me cos I thought I was getting the hang of this poker malarky...obviously not! I haven't been called a fish by other players since I first started playing, so I kinda thought I wasn't anymore. My account always shows a healthy profit these days, I do well at SNGs - even on Stars which I find a bit harder.

Were they such bad moves? Okay I got a bit lucky here and there, but you have to take your chances once you get to the business end of SNGs. Did I really deserve all the abuse?

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Nobody ever bet enough on a winning horse
- Anonymous

I don't have a problem with any of your moves, except maybe the amount of your bet on the KQ/button steal attempt.

In the first situation, AT in EP, you have only a little over 10 M. At this point, you have to loosen your starting standards a little to stay ahead of the blinds. Plus, AT is a stronger hand at 6-handed table than at a full ring.

In the second, the KQ hand, I think it was right to raise when everyone folds to you with KQ on the button, but personally, I would have only made it 3 or 4 BBs. Six BBs screams steal to me, and it encourages a call, the opposite of what you want if you're trying to steal rather than to raise for value. Also, it sounds like the BB had about 2200 chips and represented a huge portion of your stack. If you make a smaller raise and he moves all in, then you can still get away from the hand. In your case, you were pot committed, like you said, for most of your chips with a marginally strong starting hand.

The last situation is so dependent on your read. Heads up, strong hands are very relative. You made a good read and won. That speaks for itself.

NH NEMO!

SNOOP Donky Donk is in the m'fn house!

Seriously dude, why do you care what a bunch of drunk morons who have only read Play Poker Like the Pros think? They obviously don't have a clue how to play. And you should have reported them to site support. In-fact, if you still have the trouney info, do it. That kind of abuse ruins the game and gives sites a bad reputation.

You sound like you are capable of shifting gears from tight and passive to semi-loose aggresive as the situation demands. Good play sometimes appears stupid to criminally daft.

I regularly get called names for being an idiot.

I type "Yes I suck".

And then "Does a straight beat a flush?"

And let them knock themselves out.


Criticism from idiots is a compliment.

I like all of your plays.....a bit high on the KQ steal attempt, but nothing agriegous.

Ignore the assholes. The fact that they don't understand your play should sum it up nicely as to where they are coming from.

Hi Jeffman;
Your sensitivity to abuse is not healthy for your game. Commenting on another player's quality of play is quite simply rude and moronic but allowing such comments to bother you overly much can be costly to your game.

There is no need for bad mouthing table mates to be bothering you (and/or your game) since you can stop it virually any time you wish - simply turn off their chat button! You might even want to tell the moron that you are turning off their chat - hopefully that will bother him some . Some guys that use a lot of table abuse and comments about how well you're playing are intentionally trying to put you on tilt. If you find it distrubing, shut it off before it affects your game. It's easier and less disruptive to your game than trying to match insult for insult and sinking to their level of socially challenged behavior.

And as Beavis suggested, if the abuse is way over the top or particularily foul mouthed, you can/should report it to the site support team.

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:ah :as :ad :8c :8d

Thanks MXP2004, I can see now how my raise with KQ was waaay too much, I suppose because they all thought I was an idiot, I made it more than I should have done to try and scare them off. As you mention, it usually ends up having the opposite effect!


Hehehehe! Thanks Beavis. When you put it like that I am an idiot for letting them bother me...I'm just at that stage (been playing 8 months) where I'm now winning fairly consistently and starting to think hey I'm getting the hang of this...and suddenly I'm getting abused for what I thought was reasonably good play!

Hehehe guess I need a thicker skin for poker!!!

And I do have the tourney details, you're right that Stars won't like it cos it gives them a bad name...but I don't wanna be a grass......

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Nobody ever bet enough on a winning horse
- Anonymous

great part about pokerstars there is 3 little tabs on the button next to the chat box, just click info or stats. play your game and don't listen to what other people say, time for analizing hands is after it is all said and done not in the middle of it. just click off the chat box and not pay any attention to what other people are saying

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If there wern't luck involed i guess id win everyone

The worst I've been hazed at a table (was in RL) was when I was HU against the loosest player (who got very lucky) at the table. I went all in with AQs and he called (I had him cover but barely). He flipped over Q3o and paired his 3...he kept calling me stupid for going all in with AQ...whatever...I took him down hard the next time and got my money back

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Trons
JstTrons
Toyotatruck

I agree that your raise with KQ was too large. You don't want to call an all-in with it; fortunately it was only AT though.

Putting your opponent on a flush draw was a good read (obviously), but he is not a 4:1 dog here. Even if you had paired your Ace and he only had 9 outs to the flush, he' a 2:1 dog to the river. But since he could make a pair with either of his hole cards and win the pot (assuming you don't have him dominated), that actually makes him a favorite on the flop with 15 outs.