Arriving back in town from my vacation and honeymoon today, I was itching to try my hand at a $10+1 NL SNG (NL = no limit, SNG = sit-and-go... for those of you late to the party). I've lost a pretty pile of cash online at the $0.5/$1 low-limit tables so far, and conversely have done fairly well at the SNG tourneys. I've committed myself to sticking with the SNGs until I can build up a respectable roll, and repay my low-limit losses.

So I deposited a quick $50 with Empire Poker, which I had been meaning to try out for some time. Check out the Empire Poker Review and FAQ, which explains how Party Poker and Empire Poker play on the same tables... and having an account with both sites allows you to take advantages of 2 sets of promotions, bonuses, and comps. FYI, you can play on both sites from the same computer. I already had an account with Party Poker, and while I was away my ISP was kind enough to change my dynamic IP, allowing me to register with Empire. (You can just sign up using a different computer at a friends house or computer lab, etc... it appears that only the IP address and username must be different.)

At any rate, I played fairly solid in the SNG... perhaps even more aggressive than I have in the past. (That might be due to a little lazy time on my vacation I spent studying Super System). I bluffed at a lot of pots when I was in good position, and backed away from a few good ones when I knew I was beat. I took a rather easy 1st place, although I ended up playing heads-up a lot longer than I should have with the chip lead I had. I kept feeling like I didn't have the cards to pull the trigger. Finally I flopped a high flush, checked, and my opponent caught a straight on 4th street (a very easy read at that point).

$50 prize - $11 buy-in/entry fee = $39 profit. Not bad for an hour's worth of fun.