As I try to better myself in tournament play, I obviously read a lot of blogs and forums to try to educate myself. But naturally, you have to play in order to gain experience and get even better. I'm still working on the fine points of deep stack play but I feel that generally, when I'm a short stack or when the blinds are high, my timing is pretty good. Of course, it helps to get lucky but hey, we're playing cards right?
So, last night, there was another sick beat that took a chunk out of my bankroll but I grinded hard on the cash tables to pretty much erase that deficit after several hours of play. In the meantime, I donked around some sng's and a couple of MTTs. Cashed in some but nothing worth noting... and of course, after watching the final episode of Heroes, I hunkered down to play in the MATH (Mondays at the Hoy).
Well, things didn't start off so well. I tend to be fairly tight but I also knew that that's my downfall so I wanted to open my game up a little. So I took a few stabs here and there but nothing was really connecting and I didn't get involved in big pots until this came along... Still early (double stack so we all started with 3000 chips)
FullTiltPoker Game #2480348419: Mondays at the Hoy (17511703), Table 5 - 25/50 - No Limit Hold'em - 22:26:35 ET - 2007/05/21
Seat 1: jeciimd (2,545)
Seat 2: a104l9 (3,200)
Seat 3: MiamiDon (2,815)
Seat 4: LookyMyHooky (2,915)
Seat 5: RecessRampage (2,380) <--- already a little down with few bad bluff attempts
Seat 6: NewinNov (2,530)
Seat 7: BuddyDank (4,420)
Seat 8: summer_babe (3,725)
Seat 9: Kajagugu (1,555)
RecessRampage posts the small blind of 25
NewinNov posts the big blind of 50
The button is in seat #4
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Jh Kd]
BuddyDank folds
summer_babe calls 50
Kajagugu folds
jeciimd folds
a104l9 folds
MiamiDon calls 50
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage calls 25
NewinNov checks
*** FLOP *** [8d 2c Jc]
RecessRampage bets 200 <--- bet out top pair
NewinNov folds
summer_babe folds
MiamiDon calls 200 <--- don, as we all know is a player, so I wanted to be careful after this call
*** TURN *** [8d 2c Jc] [Ad]
RecessRampage checks <--- controlling pot size
MiamiDon bets 500
RecessRampage calls 500 <--- here, I thought he was trying to steal the pot from me since I showed weakness by checking. I thought I was still good.
*** RIVER *** [8d 2c Jc Ad] [As]
RecessRampage checks
MiamiDon bets 1,100 <--- clearly a steal attempt, right?
RecessRampage calls 1,100
*** SHOW DOWN ***
MiamiDon shows [Js Ah] (a full house, Aces full of Jacks) <--- WRONG
RecessRampage mucks
MiamiDon wins the pot (3,800) with a full house, Aces full of Jacks
RecessRampage: damn...
That took a huge chunk of my stack. Now I'm down to 530 in chip stack from the starting 3000... and we're like 15 minutes into the tournament with 47 runners. Not looking good at all... I'm sitting at 42nd out of 42 remaining runners...
10:51pm - I somehow keep surviving with my meager chip stack until about 10 minutes remaining till the first break, I get A9 of hearts in the small blind. Button raises to 300 (blinds are 50/100) and I go all in for 255 more... again, short stack and this is probably as good as it gets. As the button calls I type "time to get lucky" into the chat box... he flips over AQ but I catch my nut flush on the turn and double up.
10:54pm - That propelled me to 40 out of 42 remaining. And then I go on a mini rush... UTG raises to 350 (blinds still at 50/100) and I'm sitting at UTG+2 with pocket jacks. So I push my still small stack of 1,210. Goes back around to UTG who calls with AQ. JJ holds up. Another double up. Stack at 2,570.
10:55pm - Very next hand. I find AK from UTG+1 so I raise to 350. Jeciimd (our top points player who hasn't cashed in the BBT events) who has been called by many to be maybe a little too tight pushes his stack for 1,770. I personally didn't have any opinion on him in terms of tightness (believe me, if I peg you as a tight player, then you're folding everything but AA and KK) but based on his rep, I thought at best, it was a race. But I couldn't fold and I said as much in the chat box. Actually my quote was "I'm such a donk, but I can't fold this." He flips AQ and my AK holds. My stack is now at a healthy 3,640.
10:57pm - Folded one hand and then this came up. I'm in the big blind...
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Kh]
NewinNov folds
BuddyDank folds
summer_babe folds
Kajagugu folds
willwonka raises to 300
MiamiDon folds
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage calls 200
*** FLOP *** [7h Kd Ac]
RecessRampage checks
willwonka has 15 seconds left to act
willwonka bets 500
RecessRampage raises to 2,150 <--- this is not a play I would have made a while ago but now, I wasn't sure if willwonka had the ace. I figured, if he did, then so be it. It was only half my stack at this point and I now wanted to pressure him.
willwonka has 15 seconds left to act
willwonka folds <--- phew
Uncalled bet of 1,650 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (1,650)
That took my stack to 5,290 which made me the chip leader at the table, only for a hand or two until MiamiDon won a monster pot right before the break.
11:22pm - I don't know what happened... very donkalicious moment for me. I call this guy's all in with pocket 5's on a board where there were three higher cards (turns out he had top set) so I lose 1,845 of my chip stack. However, that kinda snapped me back into playing tight again.
11:31pm - 10 minutes later, Schaubs and I go at it in this crazy hand where it was 3 handed going into the flop (after a raise and a reraise).
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qs Qd]
MiamiDon folds
LookyMyHooky folds
RecessRampage raises to 600
NewinNov folds
BuddyDank folds
Schaubs has 15 seconds left to act
Schaubs raises to 1,500
OtisDart folds
JoeSpeaker folds
smokkee calls 1,300 <--- ??? I would love to know what he had here
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
RecessRampage raises to 2,575, and is all in <--- what else can I do with QQ here?
Schaubs calls 1,075
smokkee calls 1,075
*** FLOP *** [8c 5d 5c]
smokkee checks
Schaubs bets 3,811, and is all in
RecessRampage: hmmm
smokkee: i knew u were gonna do that
smokkee has 15 seconds left to act
smokkee: damn
smokkee folds
Schaubs shows [Th Ts]
RecessRampage shows [Qs Qd]
Uncalled bet of 3,811 returned to Schaubs
*** TURN *** [8c 5d 5c] [Td] <--- NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RecessRampage: damn
*** RIVER *** [8c 5d 5c Td] [Qh] <--- YEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!
Schaubs shows a full house, Tens full of Fives
RecessRampage shows a full house, Queens full of Fives
RecessRampage wins the pot (7,825) with a full house, Queens full of Fives
RecessRampage: oh damn
NewinNov: lol
JoeSpeaker: gotdamn
The ol' suck, resuck. So much drama... lol
Well, not much happens after this but as antes kick in, it becomes imperative that I stay alive and relatively healthy. So this comes up...
11:56pm - Smokkee at this point has me covered by approx 1800 chips but we're both about average chip stack overall. Smokkee is in the small blind and I'm BB. (blinds 150/300)
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Js Qd]
everyone folds
smokkee raises to 900
RecessRampage calls 600 <--- gotta protect my blinds
*** FLOP *** [3s Kh 2c]
smokkee bets 975 <--- half the pot? I sensed weakness here so...
RecessRampage calls 975 <--- I call, to see what he does on the turn
*** TURN *** [3s Kh 2c] [Qh]
smokkee checks
RecessRampage bets 4,275, and is all in <--- if he slowplayed a king, I at least have outs if he calls but I wanted to make a statement here... if I'm wrong, I'm gone
smokkee folds <--- phew... he later claims he folded KT here... not sure if he's telling the truth though... :)
Uncalled bet of 4,275 returned to RecessRampage
RecessRampage mucks
RecessRampage wins the pot (3,925)
That was a pretty rare bluffing moment for me and that definitely helped. When the blinds start escalating in a hurry, every little bit helps, obviously.
Fast forward to 1:15am and this hand happens which is probably one of the most critical hands for me... It's down to 5 of us so we're in the money...
ullTiltPoker Game #2481723019: Mondays at the Hoy (17511703), Table 4 - 1000/2000 Ante 250 - No Limit Hold'em - 1:15:59 ET - 2007/05/22
Seat 2: TripJax (44,525)
Seat 4: OtisDart (11,919)
Seat 5: MiamiDon (23,600)
Seat 6: Mike_Maloney (40,088)
Seat 8: RecessRampage (20,868)
TripJax antes 250
OtisDart antes 250
MiamiDon antes 250
Mike_Maloney antes 250
RecessRampage antes 250
TripJax posts the small blind of 1,000
OtisDart posts the big blind of 2,000
The button is in seat #8
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to RecessRampage [Qc Jc]
MiamiDon raises to 5,500
Mike_Maloney folds
RecessRampage calls 5,500 <--- I call in position, with decent cards, and with the blinds so high and at a short handed table, I either reraise here or call but folding, in my opinion, was not an option
TripJax folds
OtisDart raises to 11,669, and is all in
MiamiDon has 15 seconds left to act
Mike_Maloney: big hand
MiamiDon folds
RecessRampage: damn
RecessRampage: don, I was hoping you'd call...
RecessRampage has 15 seconds left to act
MiamiDon: sandwich play
RecessRampage: got to
RecessRampage: I'm a donk
RecessRampage calls 6,169
OtisDart shows [Kc Kh]
RecessRampage shows [Qc Jc]
*** FLOP *** [2c 5s 7h]
*** TURN *** [2c 5s 7h] [Ts]
*** RIVER *** [2c 5s 7h Ts] [2s]
OtisDart shows two pair, Kings and Twos
RecessRampage shows a pair of Twos
OtisDart wins the pot (31,088) with two pair, Kings and Twos
MiamiDon: nh
Mike_Maloney: ouch, nh
It was 6,169 more for me to call in a pot that already had close to 25,000 in chips. As I keep replaying, I feel like it was inevitable for me to lose chips here... Would you have folded? Would you have folded to the initial raise? I would love to hear it, esp if there are ones out there who think this is a hand that I should have folded. Well, this made me a short stack so few hands later, I pushed with 6-2 of hearts (I was gonna push ATC) and got called by Otis with AJ and that ended my tournament life. However, being at 42 out of 42 at one point, it was nice to see this...
And 4th place finish in this tough company was definitely something that I am proud of...
And by the way, stop by and congratulate OtisDart for eventually taking down the whole thing.
I'm gonna be hurting tomorrow at work...
10 comments:
Outstanding finish Alan, sometimes you have to get lucky. Most of the time you have to be patient and good!
Congrats as always
Congrats on the cash!
You played the short stack extremely well. I usually consider myself an expert at it (having waaaay too much experience at it), and I can verify that you picked your spots well.
I was soooo tempted to call one of your all-ins when I had a decent hand. I am second-guessing myself like crazy today -- maybe one of two major errors in my game last night.
Congrats!
I watched pretty much the entire second half of that tourney. Thought you played great but I would have layed down the QJ suited in that one hand. It would have been one thing if you were in the big or small blind but with a raise like that....I think you have to figure you're probably down. I thought you had a decent enough chip stack at the time to be able to pick a better spot to make a move. Once Otis came over top I think you had to call with what was already in the middle. So I liked the final call, just wasn't a big fan of the initial one. Hindsight is 20/20 though.
These insane calls by people with hands like KJ/QJ continue to amaze me.. your not so down in chips that you have to push QJ especially once a player has shown some aggression.. Hey maybe QJ is the best hand your going to see in the next hour but I think you pulled the trigger too soon.
Hmmm... quite interesting. At the time, down to 5 handed, I felt like Don could be raising with anything. So I thought by calling with QJ in position, I could either bust him or steal the pot away from him, depending on the flop without committing my entire stack (ie reraise all in). Considering his raise was 2.5x BB, I thought I had good pot odds to call. But it appears that some of you didn't like that call and I respect that view. I guess it would be different if I were the aggressor (in other words if it were folded to me)? This must be where I'm still confused about "loosening up" my play a little. I felt like this was an instance of me loosening up. Sounds like others felt it was more like donkeying up. I guess the danger with playing hands like this is that it could easily be dominated... The end game is clearly where I need a lot more help (even though I clearly need help all around).
Thanks for the comments and any more additional insights will truly be appreciated! I just want to get better.
I wouldn't call it a donk move. More like it wasn't necessary since you had a decent amount of chips.
I don't like the call either. You're calling off almost a third of your stack with QJ, and as you say you have no info on the hand Don may be holding. He'll act first, so if you don't hit the board and he fires you will have to fold, and if you do hit something on the flop and he fires you'll be playing for the tournament with a hand that could well be behind (obv. not counting you hit the flop really big).
So basically you are playing your position, but when the M is so low I rather make my moves preflop, or at least being the one pressurizing.
Calling the all in is standard since your odds are so big.
Great playing the other night. Those final two tables were tough, good finish.
My power had gone out when we were down to 5 players left and I missed about 5 minutes of play...which means I missed your bust out hand.
When I made it back to the table I was amazed to see we were down to 3 players and I was still okay in chips. It was a good game...fun times...
Good game by the way...
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