PlauZee's HU SNG Poker Blog

It’s been a while since I updated my blog. Most of u know the reason when I don’t update it more frequently. Writing about winnings and good sessions is a lot of fun. Writing about poker-news can be fun as well. Writing about losses, about more or less tilt-sessions and about dumb moves in MTTs just sux.
But May was not THAT bad. I mean losing about 8k is a lot, but still: It could be worse considering my buy-ins and I’m still way ahead for SNE pace (still top 30 of VPP-grinders 8) ). I didn’t play many SCOOP-events and focussed on the HU MTTs where I sold 50% for the $2,600-event, but busted in 2nd round. In the $250 HU MTT I lost with AK vs JJ in round one.
I’m still very unsure about the final move which cost my tourney life at the $2,600-MTT. I played a VERY aggressive, experienced HU CashGame-player who is capable to make a lot of moves and 3bets a lot. I had decent notes and knew the stats of his match in round one. It was pretty early in the match, 2nd blind-level, when he 3bet my AK and I decided to 4bet him. He didn’t think about shoving and almost insta-called from the BB. The flop came 379 rainbow. He checked, I bet about 2/3 the pot and he check-raised me to a very small amount of chips. That’s the point where I can insta-fold AK or think about the situation once again. The situation is pretty tough, at least if you think the opponent is capable of a move with a hand like 55 or any other pp. I was pretty sure he would play almost every small pp exactly like that and was preflop pretty sure he had no drawing hand, but a small pp. A lot of weaker player would just call with a pp on the flop and decide again what to do on the turn. I tried to represent a strong pp to get his smaller pp to fold.
But, I really don’t wanna find an excuse for my play and today, weeks later, I’m still pretty unsure if my move was ok or just horrible. You know, it looks pretty dumb to shove with A-high into a set of 9s…
I’m looking forward to read your thoughts on that spot.

Actual stats: -$8,124; 565,000 VPPs (112,000 in May)

Beside the poker-tables I enjoyed May a lot. I travelled a lot with my girl and enjoyed to celebrate two weddings this month. Especially the wedding of a very close friend of mine was the greatest party of the year! Have a look at the following video and you know what the first dance looked like of him and his bride (the video is not from the wedding, but their dance was 100% the same).

I haven’t played many Scoop-Events so far. I really love the very slow blind-structure a lot, but hate to play all night without winning big. Most events starts at 8pm and almost never take less than 18 hours. I should think about moving to US during events like that, European Time sucks to play them.
I only played two events so far, a very funny 6max rebuy MTT, and of course the HU Event. The HU MTTs had a buyin of $16, $160 and $1,600. In the medium and high event I busted very early what pissed me a lot! Those events are full of fishes and so-called “Pro’s” who hardly know how to play HU SNGs.

The only event where I did pretty well was the low Heads-Up event with more than 11,000 players and $16 buyin where I lost to a 3-outer in 5th hand in top256-round.
In the medium and high event I ran very bad and often had to call valuebets to see another 5-outer. Beside that I made some mistakes in building too high pots too early, cuz I was kind of over-motivated. I will analyze my game next days and will play some more small-ball-poker until next HU MTT to get used to it. Pot-control is way more important than in standard HU SNGs and definitly the key to success.

I didn’t sell any percentages for these events, but I plan to do so for the next HU MTT Scoop-Event. I will play the low and medium events with $270 and $2,600 buyin.
I will sell up to 50% of my action in the medium. If you are interested in buyin some, please contact me via msn or leave a comment.

I finished April with a very small profit of $1,400. It’s not much and way less I’m hoping for as an average monthly profit. But a month is just a month and the variance can be huge. It’s always hard to tell about “average monthly profit” in HU SNGs, cuz the profit can be so much different. It’s not only about getting bad beats, but about getting paid with made hands, finding soft games and of course the personal stamina.

Actual stats: +$1,008, 478,000 VPPs