SpadeClub Red Token Sit and Go
Once again I had to try and win a red poker token on SpadeClub so that I could gain entry into their monthly $30,000 prize-pool tournament. These are 9-handed sit and go’s where the winner takes all and the other 8 walk away with nothing. I have so many points on this website that I normally take the obnoxious approach to these games and try to win an all-in in the first few hands and then play with a big stack for the remainder of the sit and go. This time I decided I would try and outplay everyone. Single table sit and Go poker tournaments are notorious for being easily taken advantage of. You sit tight for the first half and then when the blinds get big you try and make accurate position plays and win all-ins with slight edges.
This game went pretty close to normal for SpadeClub. Three poker players were all-in on the first hand and someone tripled up. In my mind, I wouldn’t mind being heads up and way out-chipped as long as the blinds were still small. If these players kept on knocking each other out, I would love to get down to 2 or 3 players, even with a fewer chips, so long as it all happened quickly.
I kept folding. My starting stack of 1500 dwindled to about 1100 in about 10 minutes. There were now about 5 players left.
I had Qh 9h in the big blind and was min-raised. I called the bet and flopped a flush on a 10 high board. I checked, the raiser continue bet out for 350. I figured if I flat called, I’d still be in first position after the turn and my opponent’s action would be influenced by mine. He’d probably get a little wise to my check/flat-call and might slow down. I can’t afford to not get doubled up on this hand, and if he has any part of this flop, I want him to get sucked in now. If I flat call and then an ace or a king comes out on the turn, I risk him getting scared away by a bigger card than his pair. If he has a flush draw with the ace or king of hearts I want him to draw to it and I know he won’t fold it. I shove on him for another 600 or so and he calls. He has 10, 9 with no hearts and I double up. Now I have about 2400 in chips and I start to take advantage of weak play. I start to 3x raise on limped pots, even against the big stack, and take them down pre-flop. I am showing aggression now, and they perceive it as strong cards because I haven’t been playing the whole tournament.
