Fish's Steps Challenge

[cnlkf]

I am a profitable bottom level ($25 or $50 NL, $11 SNG and cheap MTTs) player with a primary goal of testing the limits of my current skills and, of course, eventually improving those skills. I want to play as high as possible and against as good players as possible with minimal monetary risk. So, Party’s Steps scheme seems like the perfect opportunity. I have allocated $60 (5 step 1 buyins) toward my goal of making a step 5, and obviously the subsequent opportunity to make a big score by my standards.

I realize that this is almost certainly –EV, but the challenge is the real motivation and I believe that it will be very educational. If I make it to a step 5, I probably be the fish at the table but I'm not risking anything important so I'll take that the chance.

I started Monday night on a bad note. The first step 1 I committed the cardinal sin of trying to bluff a loose player and got short stacked with 10 players left. I had 680 chips left with 50-100 blinds and pushed first in with 77. Called by AK and lost the coinflip. I’m comfortable with this move, but would certainly appreciate any criticism.

My second try ended with an even worse play. I was in the 25 chip small blind with T930. LAG in MP raised to 150 and I pushed with 77 (again). Called by both the big blind and the original raiser. An A flopped and MP’s AK sent me packing. It was WAY too early to make that move and I am a bit ashamed that I did. I hadn’t played SNGs in a while and was still in MTT aggressively trying to get chips mode.

Finally I broke through in the third try as I got great cards early on and got paid off by a very loose and passive table and cruised into the top 4. The harsh reminders of proper tight SNG play finally sunk in in this one and I felt very good about the way I picked my spots.

Next up was the Step 2. I was pretty cold decked for the first hour, but made it to the top 10 with an 1100 chip stack. The table was extremely tight and just traded chips around for awhile. I stole a lot blinds and busted a small stack with my AQ vs. A3 to build a playable stack. From there I tried to bully the small stacks and stay away from anyone who could hurt me. I got shortstacked again from the blinds and doubling up a tiny stack with my AQ vs. KK. With the blinds approaching and 7 players left (7th got $30) I pushed with A9 and stole the blinds. The very next hand I pushed UTG with K9 and got called by a very tight player with JJ. I got lucky and hit the three outer and was then able to squeak into the top 4 and advance top step 3.

I quit there leaving me -$36 for the challenge, but reasonably satisfied that I’m making progress.

I’ll probably tackle the step 3 on Tuesday. Any advice on playing against presumably better players than I’m used to would be much appreciated, as would any general comments on this little challenge. If anyone is interested I will continue to post updates.