The Teacher Gets Schooled

After getting bored with the mindless repetition of my "All or Nothing" campaign (which, incidentally, is gaining some steam), I decided to switch gears last night and play something interesting. Unsure of how much time I had to play before I got sleepy, I entered a 90 man play money SnG. Boy are these fun to play.

Two easy triple ups paved the way to the final table for me, both involving AK hands. The first hand gives me a picture perfect flop of AAK. The second hand:

SB: t18495 308.25 BBs
BB: t15875 264.58 BBs
Hero (UTG): t4735 78.92 BBs
UTG+1: t9655 160.92 BBs
UTG+2: t21245 354.08 BBs
MP1: t1115 18.58 BBs
MP2: t5900 98.33 BBs
CO: t2220 37 BBs
BTN: t2545 42.42 BBs

Pre Flop: (t90) Hero is UTG with Ac Kd
Hero raises to t200, UTG+1 calls t200, UTG+2 calls t200, 2 folds, CO raises to t2220 all in, 1 fold, SB calls t2190, 1 fold, Hero raises to t4735 all in, UTG+1 calls t4535, UTG+2 calls t4535, SB calls t2515

Flop: (t21220) Ad Kc 9c (5 players - 2 are all in)
SB bets t13760 all in, UTG+1 calls t4920 all in, UTG+2 folds

Turn: (t31060) 4s (4 players - 4 are all in)

River: (t31060) 9h (4 players - 4 are all in)

Final Pot: t31060
SB shows 4d Ks (two pair, Kings and Nines)
Hero shows Ac Kd (two pair, Aces and Kings)
UTG+1 shows Kh 4h (two pair, Kings and Nines)
CO shows As 8c (two pair, Aces and Nines)
SB wins t4920
UTG+1 wins t4920
Hero wins t10060
Hero wins t11160


I barely had to play another hand until we got to 6-handed at the FT.
The big stack at the FT was a major moron, often shoving his entire 30k-ish stack into a pot of 600 after the flop. Of course, he was getting good results, knocking out quite a few of the players until we got down to 3-handed play.

I was in third place, the moron in first with stacks ~ 75k/40k/20k. The moron is still shoving his entire stack, now often pre. The second place player is now lecturing him on how stupid this is, and how he should "stop being so dumb." Am I hearing this right? He wants his opponent to play better?

It bothers me when people can only play poker when their opponents only act a certain way, the way they have deemed "correct." Is there no room for adjustment in your game? Can you only succeed if your opponent plays proper, odds-driven poker? Or are you able to capitalize on your opponent's mistakes even if you don't fully understand them?

Mostly out of frustration, the lecturer was bounced and I was heads up with the moron. Adjusting my gameplay, I was able to catch a double up and work until stacks were just about even. This one would have turned the tables in my direction, but sometimes the morons just get lucky:

Hero (BB): t57155 142.89 BBs
BTN/SB: t77845 194.61 BBs

Pre Flop: (t600) Hero is BB with Ac 9c
BTN/SB raises to t77845 all in, Hero calls t56755 all in

Flop: (t114310) 8c 6h 9d

Turn: (t114310) Qd

River: (t114310) 5h

Final Pot: t114310
Hero shows Ac 9c (a pair of Nines)
BTN/SB shows Ad 7s (a straight, Nine high)
BTN/SB wins t114310

I'm hoping this bonus thing is over soon. I really miss playing SnG's and tournaments! Maybe I'll throw a few in this week to remind myself of the flavor.