Forgot the cardinal rule

of tournament poker: Survival.

I took AQo up against the big stack (I'm #2). BB SNAP called my pot-size preflop raise.

*** FLOP *** [3c Jh Qc]

SB checks
gsw61515 bets 2,600
SB calls 2,600

*** TURN *** [3c Jh Qc] [Ah]
SB checks
gsw61515 bets 5,600
SB raises to 17,000
gsw61515: KT?
gsw61515: no way

editors note: when one correctly surmises one's opponent has the nuts, one should typically fold.

gsw61515: OK
gsw61515 raises to 20,335, and is all in
SB calls 3,335
gsw61515 shows [Ac Qs]
SB shows [Ks Tc]

*** RIVER *** [3c Jh Qc Ah] [Td]
gsw61515 shows two pair, Aces and Queens
SB shows a straight, Ace high
gsw61515: gg
gsw61515 stands up

I guess I was really hoping they called with AJ and hit the other two pair.

I always considered KT a sucker hand. Especially OOP, and esp. when you're the chip leader and 2nd in chips is in position with a preflop raise....

That being said, I still think that was a fold. Down to the final 10, almost at the FT, I'm dreaming of Vegas, and I think that was a clear fold in the hopes of surviving and getting my money in in a better spot.

I fold there, I still have an OK stack - smaller than average, but about mid-pack... Winner take all event like this, though, I kinda felt I'd have to take a chance that my fear was wrong and that they too turned 2 pair.

Guess I'm not playing in the WS0P this year....

The Law of 5

I fulfilled the law of 5's in the RPT weekly tonight: came in 23rd. Got home late from work, so didn't get started until about 6:15 or 6:20. I didn't play particularly well, I waited for cards and tried to play big pots when I had big hands. Moved me up nicely, but my luck ran out.

My first big hand came with QQ:

By the turn I'm all-in, as I wouldn't have enough ammo left for the river if I get called on the turn. iam23skidoo tanks, and apparently puts me on aces according to his chat. Not surprising, as it was the first pot I put any significant amount of chips into.


Here's where I doubled-through with AA double-suited:

I raised preflop, MiamiDon calls from the small blind. The two queens hit the flop and he shoves. I just cross my fingers and pray he doesn't have a Q. I didn't think he did, as I'd seen him check-raise a number of hands from OOP, and assumed if he hit that flop he'd let me take the lead. He seemed an observant player, probably observed I was not in many hands and made c-bets almost 100% of the time if I raised preflop. That was I believe during the first hour, so if I busted then so be it. I just didn't think he'd really have pushed if he held a queen, he'd probably let me lead out.


I didn't screen-cap my 10 10 v 99 double-through in a battle of the blinds. Folded to me in the SB, and I put in a raise with 1010. Smooth-called. I didn't particularly like the flop, as I think it was suited and had a jack (and maybe a Q or an A), but trusted my read that if he was that strong he'd probably have popped it pre. I shoved, and got an INSTA call. I'm almost positive if I'm him there, I don't call my shove with 99. Again, I played so few hands that the chances of me having a big hand are pretty good. Turns out it was just big enough.

I made a few little steal-raises here and there; however, not nearly enough. Not NEARLY enough. I did get to outplay the small blind in this hand, though:


I checked my option. With the double-gut-shot straight-flush draw, I bet about 2/3 the pot on the flop when checked to, and got a call. Turn went check/check. River was checked, and I took some time, figured out how much I'd have bet if that queen helped me, and fired off 1/2 pot bet. leftylu folded.

Mostly, I folded until I got big hands, which was not often enough to stay afloat. I hovered around the average chipstack most of the time (even when i was 10 out of 50+ left, I was still right near the average chip stack!), and just didn't try to pick up enough dead money. I've loosened my cash-game playing to a comfortable level, I just don't know why I couldn't do the same in this. Hell, it's my first tournament in over a month, so I guess I should be happy with making it to the top 25%.

The end came quickly; after raising with AK sooted, there was a shove after me; folds back to me and, esp. being that low in chips, that's an instacall for me. 99 v AK; flopped a 9 which crippled me down to just over 2x's the BB. Pick up J9o next hand, might as well give it a go:


Damn river. Knocked me out here; gave a split to leftylu when her shove with A5o from the sb met my AQo in the bb and the river gave us a chop. Oh, well, that's poker.

3,600 runners; 105th place

3hrs 45 minutes of work, and I barely profit. Cheap entertainment, I guess I can call it :)

This was the $0.10 guaranteed $1,000 rebuy tourny on tilt. $0 + $0.10 to get in; 1,000 chips, rebuys are $0.50 at 1,000 chips or less, one 1,500 chip add-on for $0.50.

I played it pretty aggressive in early rounds, and only had to do one full rebuy (well, I did the initial one from the get-go to start with 2k), and did the add-on, so it cost me $2.10 to play. I had to get to 135th place to break even, and I went out in 105th place. Out of 3600 runners, I'm happy! Deepest I've ever gone in this big a field. I didn't think I'd like the rebuy deal, but I used it to my advantage, taking some extra chances early on (especially when I was just under 2K about 5 minutes before the rebuy period was over, I re-raise shoved with J10 soooted, figuring if I get called & beat then I rebuy and have as many chips as I had. I performed a nice suckout and doubled through :)

Besides that hand, which didn't have my tourny life on the line, I sucked out only once: I limped UTG with 66; one limper, small blind raises in what I think is a squeeze play, I shove when bb folds, limper folds and sb calls:


"Thank you, RNG," I said after the hand.

...unfortunately 66 is the hand that did me in at the end. No, my decision on how to play the hand is what did me in at the end. I limped in late, bb checks, bb checks a Qc10cx flop, I fire 1/2 pot, calls. Turn 4h, bb checks... what do I do? STOOOPID me shoves. Was hoping a flush draw, but nope - just Q2. Top pair / no kicker, called 3/4 of his stack against my shove - and I'd been playing SUPER-DUPER tight. Oh, well. Should be more careful there -- small pre-flop raise and that pot was mine at the beginning; if he still called and called my c-bet, I'd re-evaluate on the turn, but I should probably fold to any action, as it is I have 66.

All-in all, though, I was very happy with my play. I made some positional steals; I made some steal re-raises when the flop c-bets seemed weak... happy. As it was when I won like $1.50 in the Ferguson, I'm now unsure whether I'll play this one again. It's good practice, though, for bigger games - and for me, good to see how I feel about rebuy tournaments (which I like really - I played this last weekend, and while I didn't cash, I really like the flexibility the rebuy-period can give you. Plus it's often obvious who's trying to not do any rebuys and cash from the bear minimum, so you can use that time to take advantage of those tight-nits.).

As I've been rather disinterested in playing online this whole past week, it was a good way to get back into the swing.

Maybe I'll try one of the rebuy sit and go's to the $750K tomorrow... I was planning on hitting the Tulalip tomorrow afternoon, but I'd bag that if I get into the Sunday Major. I'm going to re-evaluate the Tulalip-thing tomorrow and see how I feel about it.

1st step to Australia

If you've ever played in the Poker After Dark, or the Aussie Givaway freeroll sit n go's on Fulltilt, then you know what these tournaments are like: typically during the first 5 hands +, there will be 3-6 all-ins, hoping to double-through quick and coast towards a finish. To survive, you've got to avoid SO many pitfalls -- like the awesome power of the Q7o which won the 1st hand 4-way all-in at my table, and other such lovely occurrences. Any resemblance to "real poker" doesn't come about until about the final two tables, where before that each move is becomes an all-in or fold by the river, with rarely an in-between.

So last night I had time to kill before my brother and his best friend flew into town, and I filled it by playing probably about 10 PAD and Aussie Giveaway freerolls, multi-tabling at least 2 at a time, and up to 4. They can be SO maddening. But after some initial frustration, you either quit playin' em, or you adjust. I adjusted.

315 runners. At one point, with 22 left, I was in 4th chip position, and won only 7 hands (and only involved in 9): 1 preflop, one on the flop, and then all 5 of my showdowns. That's right - if you're going to a showdown early in these tournaments (and pre-final table is early with these), you'd better be willing to get your whole stack in there. The last time I got deep in one of these (made 5th in one once), I played similarly: waited for big hands, pushed them when they came, and let the 64o and the K5s donk their chips to me.

I wish I could say there is some overall killer strategy for these, but really it's simple patience, and then when you get a big hand put your chips in the middle and hope for the best. I played 3 simultaneously, and one I busted around 30th, one PAD with 600+ runners I busted around 40th, and then this one I took down. Slow-playing, trapping, check-raising -- all these are way too fancy for these tournaments, where to many bottom pair is gold. Push small edges (and bottom pair is NOT a small edge). You flop the nutz, bet out, you'll probably get raised all-in, and then you call and double or triple up. Before the final 2 tables it was almost all all-in or fold poker.

Once it got down to the final two tables and I had a big stack, I was able to make some steals and re-steals against other big stacks. Final table was a waiting game -- the mid-stacks were looking to get it all in preflop, so when my 88 in the cutoff was re-raised all-in (I had him covered), it was a no brainer to call. Q6s went down to my 88 (a 3rd 8 on the river was overkill).

For the 3-way, and the HU battle, I have to once again thank riggstad for his 'coaching' during the last break during last week's Riverchasers tournament. My heads up play had suffered so much lately, and one tiny push in the right direction has been amazing for my game. We were practically even HU, but I stole some pots with naked aggression, and frustrated the heck out of my opponent with endless raises and continuation bets. Last hand was a bit dicey:

Seat 7: gsw61515 (241,068)
Seat 9: RuneStone (231,432)
gsw61515 posts the small blind of 4,000
RuneStone posts the big blind of 8,000
Dealt to gsw61515 [6c Js]
gsw61515 calls 4,000
RuneStone raises to 16,000
gsw61515 calls 8,000

I had been raising here with most any face card, but I had just stolen 3 pots in a row from him, so decided to slow down. Calling his min-raise was a no-brainer, as from what I could tell his steal attempts were weak at best.

*** FLOP *** [4h 6h Jh]

Here's where it's dicey: if he's got two hearts I'm drawin' slim... I have top two though. If he has 2 hearts he's slow-playing here, I'm sure of it -- I make so many continuation bets that he would at the very least check-raise the flop. He seemed so predictable as I watched him at the final two tables (he was on the other table, but I opened it up to "scout" the competition).

RuneStone bets 32,000
No slow play = not two hearts!
gsw61515 raises to 225,068, and is all in
massive overbet, I know; I'm trusting my read that he'd slow play hearts. In these tournaments the craziest hands will call your all-ins
RuneStone calls 183,432, and is all in
gsw61515 shows [6c Js]
RuneStone shows [7d 6d]
SWEEEET! Save for running 7's, I'm GOLD!
Uncalled bet of 9,636 returned to gsw61515
*** TURN *** [4h 6h Jh] [Qd]
*** RIVER *** [4h 6h Jh Qd] [As]
gsw61515 shows two pair, Jacks and Sixes
RuneStone shows a pair of Sixes
gsw61515 wins the pot (462,864) with two pair, Jacks and Sixes

And that, dear readers, is how you get through a complete donkfest. It took at least 14 attempts; last night about 10 attempts, when the deepest I got was about 50 of the 600+. I played 4 today, getting deep in 3 of them. I guess that's how "normal" tournament poker can go too -- huge number of barely-cashes or busto's before a big score. Guess that means I should be getting closer to the big score!!

....if only the $28K's attracted this type of play! I'm tellin' ya, though, yea you gotta get cards to win this thing, but more important I think was patience, and pushing what I thought were small edges. If I can bring that into the bigger games, I'm well on my way to bigger online tournament success.

strategy link:

...so I've said that something has "clicked" in my tournament (and sit n go) play that I couldn't really describe well. Thankfully, due to the plethora of poker blogs out there, I chanced upon a post that is a description of the brand I've been playing (to an extent). Blinders writes about The Black and White MTT Strategy, and is an excellent strategy outline.

...while I haven't gotten to it yet, the "Missing Pieces" follow-up post is sure to be a good read too...

One of these days when I'm not at work or playing or whining about some bad beats, I'll try to outline what it is I've been doing that's been working for me. It's a little different than Blinders' post, but his comes close I'd say.

Multi-table maddness

I just started multi-tabling sit n go's. First I tried 2 9-seat turbo's. One problem there was that I only decided to try the second one after like 10 minutes of the first; I think that actually hurt my performance, since blinds and all were staggered a bunch; and the time it took to get the windows set up right, to register, etc... I took 3rd in one, and the other one, where I was 2nd in chips, when tragedy struck:

I had gotten into the habbit over making huge preflop overbets with KK or AA - enough so that if a shorty called me they knew it was for their tourny life. I'm fine with that, in the turbo's they gotta start taking a chance, and I want them to feel like they can double-through right quick. Well, this time the other big stack shoves. Hoping he was just getting sick of my overbets (was really man-handling the table on the flop too), and/or picked up AK, I instacalled, and saw this:




Yea. Bummer. Doubt I could have gotten away from it; if I had made a more standard raise, and the guy came over the top, I would have had to call/shove. At the levels I'm playing I can't assume that the 4th raise means aces -- it could mean QQ, JJ, 1010, 99, A5s, AQ, AJ, A9s... given this guy didn't let on to me that I should peg him for anything other than the typical lower-limits player, and plus the fact that I had been such a bully that I thought he was trying to take control of the table from me. Oh, well.

Next, I decided to register for 3 6-seat turbo's at once. That was FUN! One of them, I literally did not win one hand- not one! And still went out 3rd! The other two I (ahem!) won! One was great - I got a decent lead fairly early, and pressured the table whenever I could. With the 6-person format only paying 2, it encouraged me to play faster, more aggressively... I played to either win or bust trying. I'll tell ya, players hate to be constantly beat-up on. I found a good balance between pressuring with big bets, and not over committing chips to the pot or willy-nilly doubling up shorties. The other one I won, though.... sweeeeeeet!!!!

The sweetest part of it is the chip count when we started heads up:

Seat 2: gsw61515 (1,150)
Seat 3: award623 (7,850)

That's right - I was outchipped almost 8-1. Remember: never count yourself out. What I had to do here was pressure whenever I could. After winning a small checked-down pot with a high card, next hand gave me A9 on the button, so I shoved. I almost expected him to call with ATC, but he actually had a hand:

Seat 2: gsw61515 (1,150)
Seat 3: Villain1 (7,850)
Villain1 posts the small blind of 150
gsw61515 posts the big blind of 300
The button is in seat #3
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gsw61515 [9s Ad]
Villain1 calls 150
gsw61515 raises to 1,150, and is all in
Villain1 calls 850
gsw61515 shows [9s Ad]
Villain1 shows [6s 6c] <--- a pair, but thankfully I have overs
*** FLOP *** [Ah 4d 8d] <--- kaBOOM!
*** TURN *** [Ah 4d 8d] [3s]
*** RIVER *** [Ah 4d 8d 3s] [Jc]
gsw61515 shows a pair of Aces
Villain1 shows a pair of Sixes
gsw61515 wins the pot (2,300) with a pair of Aces

So, one coinflip won, doubled up. Need to keep applying pressure. He knows one more double-up and we're basically even. Next hand QJo, min-raised to 600. When the flop brought a Q I shoved, he folded. Gave me a walk the next hand (side-effect of constant pressure: they're less willing to play marginal/atc-type hands). Next hand I have Qxo, raise to 900, calls. Flop is K high, Villain1 checks, I shove - FOLD. Constant pressure. I was playing to win, and win only. I pressured enough pots that I got to this point w/o a showdown since the A9o hand:

Seat 2: gsw61515 (4,450)
Seat 3: Villain1 (4,550)

Yep, by applying constant pressure, I got to even. I also, of course, got lucky that he didn't have a hand during this time (or not a hand big enough he was willing to gambool with it). But most of the flops I was shoving were ragged enough that it was doubtful he would have hit them. Once I got a few chips, too, I didn't shove anymore -- raises, and flop bets, but no shoves -- I never bet enough to be committed to a pot unless I wanted to be called. The one time he played back, I folded - he so rarely did I figured he had the goods that time. I dunno if he did.

At this point, the following hand happens:

Seat 2: gsw61515 (4,450)
Seat 3: Villain1 (4,550)
gsw61515 posts the small blind of 200
Villain1 posts the big blind of 400
The button is in seat #2
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to gsw61515 [Kc Ks] <--- yippee!!
gsw61515 raises to 1,200
Villain1 calls 800 <--- double-yippee!!
*** FLOP *** [2h 3d Qs]
Villain1 bets 2,400 <--- yes! he hit a Q & pot-committed himself!
gsw61515 raises to 3,250, and is all in
Villain1 calls 850
gsw61515 shows [Kc Ks]
Villain1 shows [9s 7h] <--- wait - where's the queen?!
*** TURN *** [2h 3d Qs] [2c]
*** RIVER *** [2h 3d Qs 2c] [5d]
gsw61515 shows two pair, Kings and Twos
Villain1 shows a pair of Twos
gsw61515 wins the pot (8,900) with two pair, Kings and Twos

This turned out to be quite an unlucky hand for my opponent. I was at first surprised to see no pair/no draw, but honestly he made a great play - if I didn't have a real hand, the stop n go here would have worked great. Unlucky for him. But this is the part where if I had raised with rags, and had no pair/no draw, I don't call him. He only had made a play at one or two other pots HU, which I conceded to him.

One of the great things about being involved in two HU matches at once was that the pressuring became instinct. I didn't think much at all; I didn't agonize over decisions -- while I concentrated on some more intricate play in the more evenly matched HU game, the short-stacked one became about pressure only: I pressed when it seemed like I should, and then used most concentration to out-maneuver the guy in the other match.

Multi-tabling seems to lead me to make more automatic decisions, letting instinct and already learned-skills take over... playing 4 limit cash games I was more successful than playing one higher limit cash game.. why? Less fancy thinking, less time to concentrate on "what ifs" and my brain gets to a bit of an auto-pilot mode, and less playing marginal starting hands (still a big weakness in my limit playing).

WANTED: tournament success

There's this one dude who seems to do quite well in large field tournaments (multiple top 10's & wins & top 3's in ftp's $28K among other things - check out his site, he's got pictures of the wins). I don't know the guy, but I'm so curious about his success. He obviously figured something out, and I want to also. I'm thinking maybe I'm too cautious, or too... I dunno... sometimes I just don't pull the trigger even when I 'm 95% sure someone's just makin' a move. I guess what I need to start doing is -- try it out. When it folds to the cut-off who raises in what's probably a steal attempt, I should try a squeeze from the blind (with something resembling a hand at least). I'm sure the more I try it, the more I'll start to see -- something. I don't know what, but I'm sure when I start putting myself in that position more often, even when I'm wrong and get felted, I'll get better at identifying what are good spots to try a squeeze/re-steal/etc...

After about a month and a half of playing hours everyday, I took the last couple days off. Was good, I think. I played a silly little turbo sit n go a little while ago, took 2nd (honestly, I blinded out 'till I was down to 1100 & 3 left; I made one raise that was shoved against, and then I doubled through a guy who probably pegged me (and rightly so by my actions) as very weak/tight when he shoved on the turn when I had rockets, and then some other dude busted out. I started heads-up with about 1200 chips; I steadily built that up to a high of 3100 at one point, and then I had terrible timing on one hand when the board paired and I shoved with 2nd pair, only to be shown a set of Kings. Oh, well.

Random fact: a teaspoon of water contains 120 drops (thanks Snapple!).

sick

I have to start trusting my instincts!!

Freeroll on UB, top 50 get a "TEC" (tournament entry chip, I think)... 1700 start, down to 800 in the first 12 minutes!! 1st hand played I got the nut flush, the river paired the board, and I fought my urge to raise the pot-sized bet from the BB. I called, and took the pot, but I was doing what I am striving to do: tight, aggressive, carefully-thought-out poker. No need to bust out this early. Last freeroll I paid close attention to was a Poker After Dark on tilt, 400 starters, and I took 5th (which got me nothing, but still...). This one was shaping up just like that: everyone pushing stupidly, marginal hands pushing and getting crushed by patient players waiting for Monsters. That was my strategy (patiently waiting), and it worked to perfection....mostly....

Another few rounds of hands are a blur, but I had pushed my 1500 up to close to 3000, when this hand takes place... in the BB with AA. UTG goes all in for ~2200, called by the big stack at the table (10K), folds to the cut off who almost calls (or is just slow with the mouse), and I of course PUSH here, fully expecting the big stack to call the extra 800 or whatever... UTG pushed with K2o, big stack pushed with KJ. Board is 7J7x7. I triple up.

Another few round later, blinds 20/40, I'm sitting around with around 8300, I wake up to KK in MP. Some limpers, and I pop it to 250. Cut-off min-raises. SB calls, guy to my right calls, I pop it again to 1.5K, trying to isolate here... all 3 call. "Woops!" I'm thinking, and say out loud to myself: "One of these guys might actually have aces." Would be hard to believe, as the only quality hand I've seen shove this deep so far was QQ. But I remind myself that I've got to be careful here, as my kings won't always hold up against 3 opponents. I also tell myself that an ace on the flop, and I'm done with this hand.

Flop comes J high, all spades... and I'm not holding one. Checked to me, so I bet.... and what do I bet?

I bet it all. I'm all in.

Gee, brilliant move. On an all-spade flop, not holding one spade, and still to act is the one stack that had me covered by almost 2-1 before the hand started, I decide to push and put my tournament life at risk, with an M that's over 100, I decide to put it all at risk.

And what does he do? Calls.

And what does he call with? As Jc.

And what does the river bring? A spade.

I almost resisted the urge to push there. Almost, though, doesn't cut it. At the beginning of the hand, I knew that I should proceed with caution. But I didn't. On a terrifying board for my hand, I pushed. And I got drawn out on.

That hand was not one that I had to go broke with. We're only in the 4th blind round; 500 runners left, and I've got a stack roughly 1.5 x's the average stack. I've still got SO much play left! Yes, I had Kings. KINGS! And I shoved on a scary board. I could have played this SO many other ways...

here's a couple:
1
smooth call the reraise preflop. Bet the flop - about 1.5K (leaves me with 6300 back) ; if I'm raised - fold. I don't have a spade, and I don't need to go broke here -- no guarantee of course I'll go broke, but my cowboys became quite vulnerable to that flop. On the turn & river check / fold (OK to call a small bet as we may be good if there's no ace out there, but anything more than 1/5 the pot will be a fold.


2
smooth call the reraise preflop. Check the flop; if it's checked, then shove the turn - unless it's another spade or an ace.


Biggest mistake, after thinking about this? Well, OK, shoving that flop was the biggest mistake, but my 2nd biggest mistake was the preflop reraise. I built a pot I felt like I couldn't get away from. I should have realized I was going to get all 3 callers with my bet - sad to say, but it wasn't big enough to be scary. My only other option that I could think of, would have been to shove preflop. I mean, I don't think that the big stack would have laid it down, so I still would have busted, but I would have been much happier about my play.

Gotta control myself!