Off to a good start!

That's the way, uh-huh, uh-huh, I like it.

It's been a long time since I've made it deep into a large MTT. Armed with a token, some irish coffee, and a free night to play, with the Good Doctor Mondo down in sunny F L A, I thought I'd give the FT $25k guaranteed a shot. With nearly 1700 players, the prize pool turned out to be around $39k, and I was determined to get a piece.

Anyway, I knew I'd been too passive early on in previously MTTs, so I went in with an attitude of being more aggressive, trying to steal where appropriate, but after getting shot down a few times, I again found myself somewhat short-stacked and just trying to get to the bubble. Instead of chasing dodgy draws, I patiently looked for all in opportunities, and much to my surprise, the high pocket pairs finally started coming my way. AA late position called by KK, QQ called by KJo, pairs in steal positions called by rags...next thing you know, I was 10 for 10 in showdowns, and well past the bubble. Things were looking good. I was playing super TAG, seeing only 10% of flops for the tourney, but moving up through the money. Even though I never really got off a short stack relative to remaining players, and never had an M higher than 3 or 4, it seemed, no one could knock me out. If you were gonna play me, you were going to take me out or double me up. Visions of sugar plum fairies and four-digit payouts were in my head.

Alas, it wasn't quite to be. After a strong run, I was still pretty short with 40 players left, when I woke up to 55 in the cutoff. For once, I didn't push, I simply went 4x BB. The BB, who was shorter than I was, went over the top for an additional 4k, and I called. Felt good to see his K-something offsuit, as I was winning raced. Flop was pretty, turn was prettier still, and villain nailed a K for a three outer on the river. That pot would have finally put me firmly midstack, instead of last few of who remained. But I still had chips, if only a very very few. Sadly for me, I only had them for a moment, because later in that same orbit, the following happened:

So after going 10 for 10 in showdowns (where I was ahead 9/10 times when the chips went in), I lost my final two on the cruel, heartless river. In a snap of my fingers, it was over. Still, I can't complain about turning the token into around $140, but it could have been oh so much better. As for the guy who donked off my 55 with his rivered K, he lasted about two hands after his win, utterly wasting his chips going AI with K3o (or something similar) in late position.

All in all, a good night. Much fun was had at the Mookie, and following sage advice from Smokkee and slb159, I've been playing lots of SNGs, as well. Typically, I used to stick with the $8 tokens, or more recently, the single table $6 turbos. It's been working well -- cashed in 3 of my last 4 $6 turbos, and also cashed in a $10+1 5-table. So, having reloaded for $250 to start the year, the bankroll's now up to $400 in one night. I think I like this SNG strategy. Hopefully, I can turn $6 turbo winnings into $8 token buy-ins, and then keep using the tokens the best way possible.

This weekend, it's off to sunny F L A for a wedding, so there won't be any poker action for Mondo. However, I may try to squeeze in a couple SNGs tonight while packing, if any of you low buy-in grinders wanna join me.