"He holds more hands than a manicurist"

That’s the comment I got from one of the tilters while I made my way to 1st at a 9-person/$30 SnG last night. I had never played more than the $10 SNGs before, but since I was only going to play one game and this was my first game the whole week, I went for the $30 table. The first few hands put me on the chip lead and I pretty much cruised to the final 4 after that. On the first hand I was at the BB holding QJ offsuit and someone in middle position raised to 3x the blinds and everyone folded but me. The flop was 6Q8 and the bet to me was 1.5x the pot. I called again and another Q came on the turn. The better pushed again and I pushed back all in and got called. He was holding A8 (No chance of winning) and to make things worse for him, the river came a 6 giving me a boat and putting him out of the game.

The next big hand I won early in the game was when I was at the BB again with 67 suited and a player in 4th position raised 3x the blinds. Again everyone folded but me. To my luck, the flop came 7j7. He did a continuation bet of the pot and I put him at two over cards (maybe AQ or AJ) and just called. The turn came a 9 and he bet 3/4 of the pot and I called again. Finally on the river shows a K and he bet the pot. I re raised him putting him all in and he called. His pair of Kings and 7s (he was holding AK) was no good for my three of a kind 7s.

Overall I feel I played well, calling some raises when I knew I didn’t have the best hand but flopped the better hand and let the other person do the work for me, occasionally re-raising. I also did some good folds of AK, AQ and AJ. About 4 times I folded AK, AQ or AJ after raising before the flop and not pairing up anything on the flop and 3 of the four times, the other person showed their cards after my fold displaying trips, or top pair (I was behind all 3 times, therefore I considered those good folds). The fourth lay down I was not able to see because the person who went all in on the flop was short stacked and didn’t want to show his hand. Because I had shown a lot of strength throughout the game, displaying the best hand at showdown and occasionally showing my cards when no one called me, I won the respect of the table and I was able to steal some blinds and some pots by bluffing a few times. This also allowed me to put people on hands because I realized they would only stay on a pot if they figured they had the nutz or the best hand out there.

The bubble is where most of the time playing took place, but I knocked out the last 3 players with a boat, trips and on the heads up, with a pair of 7s. I had been playing almost every day and I had been doing ok (except that I got in trouble with the wife) but I think taking a few days off and coming back with a fresh mind really helped me increase my loot. (Are you reading this StatikKling =))