Presto is Gold (Part 17)

Alternate Title: My Only Defense is "He Was Short Stacked and I Play Goot"

PokerStars $50+$5 SNG, 5 remain

Seat 1: Fuel55 (4535 in chips)
Seat 2 (1680 in chips)
Seat 3 (1695 in chips) is sitting out
Seat 7 (5110 in chips)
Seat 8: Victim (480 in chips)

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Seats 2, 3 and 7 fold
Victim raises 50 to 100 from SB
Fuel55 calls 50 with [5h 5d]

*** FLOP *** [8c 2s Jd]
Victim bets 380 and is all-in (It doesn’t really matter what he has, he has to push with such a short stack)
Fuel55 calls 380 (PRESTO IS GOLD, I CALL)

Victim shows [Qc Qd]
Fuel55 shows [5h 5d]

*** TURN *** [8c 2s Jd] [5c] (hello Mr. 2-Outer)

*** RIVER *** [8c 2s Jd 5c] [Ac]
Fuel55: shows [5h 5d] (three of a kind, Fives)
Fuel55 collected 960 from pot
Fuel55 said, "ouch"

Presto is Gold (Part 16)

PokerStars $3/$6NL, 6-max

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Fuel55 calls $6 from MP with [5d 5s]
SB calls $3
BB checks

*** FLOP *** [5c 6h 7c]
SB bets $16
BB folds
Fuel55 raises $20 to $36
SB calls $20

*** TURN *** [5c 6h 7c] [Kc]
SB checks
Fuel55 checks

*** RIVER *** [5c 6h 7c Kc] [7h]
SB checks
Fuel55 bets $30
SB calls $30

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Fuel55 shows [5d 5s] (a full house, Fives full of Sevens)
SB mucks [8h 7s] (poor guy gets unlucky to make his set on the river)
Fuel55 collected $148 from pot

Presto is Gold (Part 15)

Another Full Tilt SNG and another miracle flop with 55:

*** HOLE CARDS ***
MP raises to 180
Button reraises to 400
Fuel55 calls 340 from SB with [5c 5h]
MP calls 220

*** FLOP *** [5s Kh Qd]
MP bets 400
Button raises to 900
Fuel55 reraises to 1159, and is all in
MP calls 759
Button calls 259

*** TURN *** [5s Kh Qd] [Jd]
MP checks
Button bets 323
MP calls 323, and is all in

*** RIVER *** [5s Kh Qd Jd] [8h]
Button shows [Ah Kd] (a pair of Kings)
MP shows [Qh Ad] (a pair of Queens)
Fuel55 shows [5c 5h] (a set of Fives)

Button wins the side pot (T626) and Fuel55 wins the main pot (T4737). No explanation required ...

Presto is Gold (Part 14) (with further explanation)

Full Tilt $100+$9 Sit & Go, 6 players remain. I have a reasonable chip lead. Of the total T12,000 in play I have T6,000 and 2nd place (who is the victim here has T3,300 - the other 4 players ae close to the felt with less than 10BB each).

I have been blessed with quite a few good hands and players are scared to play me for the most part. I have shown a number of hands to reinforce that image. My Victim here is Team Atomic who is a very solid player. He can fold and he can play air with the best of them.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Fuel55 min-raises to 120 from the button with [5c 5h] (I will have position throughout this hand)
Victim calls 60 from the BB (he would raise here if he had an ace or a pair)

*** FLOP *** [9h 3c 2s]
Victim checks (for the most part I put checking here in the"weak" column)
Fuel55 bets 180 (I bet 2/3 of the pot here looking to take it down)
Victim raises to 360 (he could have a 9 or just be testing to see if I am floating him – I thinking 30% 9, 70% tester raise - he knows I will c-bet 80% of the time and the board looks pretty safe so why not try and take it down)
Fuel55 calls 180 (can't really fold for T180 more)

So we've had an interesting flop and round of betting. Remember that this is a $109 SNG - the players here are tricky and well beyond ABC poker. There aren't any draws on this board (unless he has 54) so my assumption he has to be that he has a weak 9 (A9 would have raised preflop) or he is just trying to take the pot away from weak. In either case, I think I can resteal from him given that I have position.

*** TURN *** [9h 3c 2s] [2d]
Victim bets 300 (he has to c-bet again – now up to 50/50 on whether he has a nine)
Fuel55 calls 300

OK, the turn is a scare card. If I called him (or he called me) with bottom pair things will get dicey. Victim MUST bet here given that he checkraised the flop. Team Atomic knows that for sure. He bets 1/3 the pot. Again I take this is a sign of weakness and a flat call from me has to WORRY him a lot. I think I can safely discount a 2. If he has a 3 I have him beat but I am behind a 9. Still Team Atomic will fold a weak 9 on the river to an all in. He won't go broke with a marginal pair.

*** RIVER *** [9h 3c 2s 2d] [5d]
Victim checks
Fuel55 bets 1,200 (stick in a little value bet and pray that he has a nine)
Victim calls 1,200

Victim checks the river. I figure he has given up on the pot. Luckily for me I hit my 5 and can bet without any worry of losing the hand. I bet T1200 which is 3/4 the pot. This is larger than a value bet and falls squarely is the "steal bet" category. He can call without going broke or he can fold. He decides to call and did have a weak 9 the whole way. If a 5 had not come, I would have surely pushed, putting him all in - and he could NOT have called with Q9 for his tournament life.

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Fuel55 shows [5c 5h] (a full house, Fives full of Twos)
Victim mucks [9d Qs] (bingo – nice suckout on my part)
Fuel55 wins the pot (3,990) with a full house, Fives full of Twos

I pick up a nice pot by getting lucky on the river however I firmly beleive that I would have won a smaller pot by pushing any river card since he could only call for all his chips if the river was a Q or another 9.

Oh, and did I mention that 55 is gold in my hands?

Is that enough explanation Waffles?

Presto is Gold (Part 13)

Haven't made quad fives for a while ...

PokerStars $5/10NL, 9-handed

*** HOLE CARDS ***
UTG calls $10
UTG+1 calls $10
Fuel55 raises $50 to $60 from LP with [5s 5d]
CO-1 calls $60
BB raises $19 to $79 and is all-in
UTG folds
UTG+1 folds
Fuel55 calls $19
CO-1 calls $19

*** FLOP *** [Td 6h 5c]
Fuel55 checks
CO-1 checks

*** TURN *** [Td 6h 5c] [5h]
Fuel55 bets $60
CO-1 calls $60

*** RIVER *** [Td 6h 5c 5h] [9c]
Fuel55 bets $100
CO-1 folds

*** SHOW DOWN ***
Fuel55 shows [5s 5d] (four of a kind, Fives)
BB mucks hand [9d Ac]
Fuel55 collects $374