Playing Normal Again

I played in two more PLO8 Sit and Go's at Party Poker tonight and earned second place in each of them. I was more patient during these matches and was willing to wait for good hands to play rather then getting my money in bad and hoping to draw out.

In my first match I honesty did not voluntarily put money into the pot for the first 20 hands. THis was a combination of some weak holdings and multiple raises pre-flop. As a result I cashed before ever having to risk a chip! It's not impossible to have that happen during a Sit and Go but it doesn't happen often.

With the second match I was involved in more pots but I still kept things under control. I released drawing hands when I was under too much pressure and things worked out quite well. I only had to play in one all-in hand but I was ahead pre-flop and on the flop, fell behind on the turn and then rivered my flush. The chips I earned in that pot let me coast to the final three.

A pivotal hand that I played when it was three handed:

Level: 5 Blinds(200/400) - Tuesday, February 26, 20:55:52 ET 2008
Table Table 125768 (Real Money)
Seat 7 is the button
Total number of players : 3
Seat 5: InsaynePayne ( 14,485 ) (This player has been super aggressive throughout 3 and 4 handed play)
Seat 6: mark2004222 ( 1,675 )
Seat 7: JonShadow12 ( 3,840 )
Trny: 38662748 Level: 5
Blinds(200/400)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to JonShadow12 [ 4h 2d Ks Kd ]
JonShadow12 raises [1,200] (3 handed I figure I'll pick up the blinds with the raise. If not I still have a reasonable hand to play with and can afford an all-in against the short stack.)
InsaynePayne calls [1,000] (He's called lots of hands, I'm not surprised here.)
mark2004222 calls [800] (This surprises me a bit. He's low in chips so I'm pretty sure my hand may not be very strong now. I have to hit this flop hard to continue.)
** Dealing Flop ** [ 5c, Th, 9c ] (Not the best flop. Lots of hands beat me and I don't have any draws.)
InsaynePayne bets [3,600] (Damn - This puts me all in if I call but that bets smells like a small set or tw0-pair trying to keep anyone from drawing at a low.)
mark2004222 folds (With this fold, mark only has 475 chips left. I can call and probably lose or fold and almost certainly get second place. Based on my hand, my opponene and my remaining chips if I fold I decide to play it safe and fold.)
JonShadow12 folds
InsaynePayne does not show cards.
InsaynePayne wins 7,200 chips (This gives InsaynePayne a lock on the chip lead and eventually the match. At the same time though I cruised into an easy second place when I could have easily been in third with a foolish call.)

I'll take the profit and it's nice that my foolishly bad play didn't continue past 24 hours.