Action Sequence

The following happened in order when we were four-handed in a Party 5/1 SNG early Thursday:

1. I'm on the button with the short stack (465) and blinds at 100/200. The cutoff (who'd gotten hyper-aggressive with decent-to-good hands when we got down to five) to my right raises to T400, I reraise all-in with Ad-Qh. The blinds fold, and the cutoff calls with 6s-5s. He flops a straight draw (9 10 7), but another 10 comes on the turn and the river misses him, giving me the pot.

2. Now I'm first to act with Qs-Jc and raise to T600. The next two players fold and Super Aggressive Guy reraises me all-in. I call and he shows fives. Flop is three hearts, but I hit a queen on the turn and a jack on the river to double up again.

3. I'm in the big blind. The shortstack to my left goes all-in for T660 under the gun. Button and SB fold. I have Qd-As. Now, he'd been sitting back, probably playing a little too tight with the blinds at what they were, so you'd think he had a big hand. But I don't think he has to have a big hand with his stack as low as it is, and he's probably trying to just take the blinds now, as they're about to increase (on the next hand, in fact). I call. He has Qs-9h and I have him dominated, busting him (and pairing my ace on the river for good measure)

4. I'm now the chip leader three-handed, and I'm in the small blind with jacks. The blinds have gone up to 150/300. Super Aggressive Guy pushes from the button. As I said, he'd been doing this a lot when the table got shorthanded, and the few times he's gotten called, he'd had what I called "decent-to-good" hands -- connected high cards, low-to-middle pairs -- and he hadn't really showed down a premium hand yet in that situation. I'm quite confident I'm ahead and call. He turns over As-7c.

Remember what happened in #2? Same thing in reverse. Flop misses him, but he pairs his 7 on the turn and spikes an ace on the river to win the pot.

Five hands later...

5. I'm the short stack again, in the big blind with T900. The button (to my left) goes all-in for about T1100. The small blind calls. I look down at 9h-9s. If nobody else has a pair, I'm way ahead. The player on the button doesn't have much more than I do, and thus I don't think he has to have a big hand to push here. Likewise, Super Aggressive Guy has a huge chip lead (about T6000) and doesn't necessarily have to have a great hand to call (I remember him calling an earlier all-in with 3-6 of hearts, for example), and I have to call T600 more to win about T2700. It's an easy call and I make it.

Button turns over Ad-Jc. SAG has 8h-Ah. I'm 53% to win. Flop comes Qs-Ks-3h, giving the button a straight draw. Turn is a 5s, giving me a flush draw and taking away one of the button's outs (the 10 of spades gives me a flush to beat his rivered straight.)

And that's exactly what happens. The 10 of spades spikes on the river and triples me up.

Pay attention. Know your surroundings. Know who you're with and what he's likely to do, then act appropriately.