Trying to Turn a Profit on Tier I SNGs

So after last mid-week's debacle of running somewhat (extremely) crappy, I had a ROI on the 8$ Tier 1 token sats of about -30%. Not terrific, considering these things are supposed to be supremely beatable.

I had a very brief amount of time to try on this evening and went 1 for 1, despite running KK into the monster AQ early. Here's your key hands (for all the hand history junkies out there .. I know I'm one):

First hand of the tourney, I get a gift from the SB.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5415442313: Tier One $8+$0.70 (Turbo) (41202240), Table 2 - 15/30 - No Limit Hold'em - 23:10:08 ET - 2008/02/26
Seat 1: ktowngamblr (1,500)
Seat 2: CheckinMyAA (1,500)
Seat 3: LemonRooster (1,500)
Seat 4: Mission74 (1,500)
Seat 5: Diamond King 2 (1,500)
Seat 6: pokinator2000 (1,500)
Seat 7: xTheory (1,500)
Seat 8: Danuska54 (1,500)
Seat 9: runnergunner (1,500)
ktowngamblr posts the small blind of 15
CheckinMyAA posts the big blind of 30
The button is in seat #9
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Jd Ad]
LemonRooster has 15 seconds left to act
LemonRooster is sitting out
LemonRooster has timed out
LemonRooster folds
Mission74 has 15 seconds left to act
Mission74 is sitting out
Mission74 has timed out
Mission74 folds
Diamond King 2 has 15 seconds left to act
Diamond King 2 is sitting out
Diamond King 2 has timed out
Diamond King 2 folds
pokinator2000 folds
xTheory folds
Danuska54 folds
runnergunner folds
ktowngamblr calls 15
CheckinMyAA raises to 120
ktowngamblr calls 90
*** FLOP *** [Ah 7s 2h]
ktowngamblr checks
CheckinMyAA bets 200
ktowngamblr calls 200
*** TURN *** [Ah 7s 2h] [Qc]
ktowngamblr checks
CheckinMyAA bets 500
Diamond King 2 has returned
ktowngamblr raises to 1,180, and is all in
CheckinMyAA calls 680, and is all in
ktowngamblr shows [As 8c]
CheckinMyAA shows [Jd Ad]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 7s 2h Qc] [6d]
ktowngamblr shows a pair of Aces
CheckinMyAA shows a pair of Aces
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (3,000) with a pair of Aces
ktowngamblr: gh
ktowngamblr stands up

Less than an orbit later, KK is no good.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5415519720: Tier One $8+$0.70 (Turbo) (41202240), Table 2 - 25/50 - No Limit Holdem - 23:16:22 ET - 2008/02/26
Seat 2: CheckinMyAA (2,915)
Seat 3: LemonRooster (1,450)
Seat 4: Mission74 (1,820)
Seat 5: Diamond King 2 (1,500)
Seat 6: pokinator2000 (1,310)
Seat 7: xTheory (1,745)
Seat 8: Danuska54 (1,260)
Seat 9: runnergunner (1,500)
xTheory posts the small blind of 25
Danuska54 posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #6
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Ks Kd]
runnergunner folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 150
LemonRooster folds
Mission74 folds
Diamond King 2 folds
pokinator2000 folds
xTheory folds
Danuska54 raises to 1,260, and is all in
CheckinMyAA calls 1,110
Danuska54 shows [Qs Ac]
CheckinMyAA shows [Ks Kd]
*** FLOP *** [As Ts 9s]
*** TURN *** [As Ts 9s] [6d]
*** RIVER *** [As Ts 9s 6d] [Ad]
Danuska54 shows three of a kind, Aces
CheckinMyAA shows two pair, Aces and Kings
Danuska54 wins the pot (2,545) with three of a kind, Aces

So that definitely takes the wind outta the old sails, but I kept on trucking. I didn't do much until I decide to gamble with a below-average stack.

Full Tilt Poker Game #5415798611: Tier One $8+$0.70 (Turbo) (41202240), Table 2 - 120/240 - No Limit Holdem - 23:39:10 ET - 2008/02/26
Seat 2: CheckinMyAA (2,040)
Seat 3: LemonRooster (1,240)
Seat 4: Mission74 (1,430)
Seat 6: pokinator2000 (1,950)
Seat 7: xTheory (3,480)
Seat 9: runnergunner (905)
pokinator2000 posts the small blind of 120
xTheory posts the big blind of 240
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to CheckinMyAA [Th Qd]
runnergunner folds
CheckinMyAA raises to 640
LemonRooster folds
Mission74 folds
pokinator2000 raises to 1,950, and is all in
xTheory folds
CheckinMyAA: sick gambooooooool .. lol
CheckinMyAA calls 1,310
pokinator2000 shows [As Js]
CheckinMyAA shows [Th Qd]
*** FLOP *** [Qh 6h Qs]
*** TURN *** [Qh 6h Qs] [7c]
*** RIVER *** [Qh 6h Qs 7c] [8d]
pokinator2000: ha
pokinator2000 shows a pair of Queens
CheckinMyAA shows three of a kind, Queens
CheckinMyAA wins the pot (4,140) with three of a kind, Queens
pokinator2000 stands up

And that was enough for me to coast to the final 6. On the token bubble it was a little worrisome. With the blinds at 200/400 and all the stacks at the table between 3000 and 5000. I was 2nd lowest stack, and in danger of being the bubble boy.

Fortunately for me, some dingus thought it would be cool to shove his #3 stack in the CO with 22. Even more fortunately, the donkknob big stack in the big blind called it off with AT. Ace on the flop and that's that. Questionable play in a satellite, IMO. Yeah, we were already in the money. But both those players could have eeeasily coasted to a token.

Works for me!

See you next time, and thanks for reading.