I forgot that rule. When the calling station bets it out, it means he has something.
Fold Equity
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
I’m usually super tight and aggressive in tourneys. I’ll often fold very nice hands just so that I can stay alive on the off chance that someone has a truly boss hand.
I just busted out of a tourney in third place, and did so on what I think was a proper ATC push. Here’s the situation. We had just burst the bubble to go four-way. I and the stack directly across from me are tiny, and the other two stacks are giant. The other tiny stack is the BB, and I’m the button. UTG folds. I push my 3BB all-in with ATC. Here’s why. I figured that I had a lot of fold equity in the BB, since I could potentially bust out the other tiny stack, and he would prefer to fold instead of bust out unless he had a premium hand. I think I judged correctly. Unfortunately, the SB called me down with A8 and I lost.
And Again
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
In a second tourney, I was approaching Stupidtown Station, having only about ten big blinds. I just got queens, pushed all in, and everybody folds. Then I get aces on the next hand and push all-in again. I must be crazy right? Of course I get a caller, eights, and I more than double up. Now I’m in third place.
Tournament poker is like living in a pizza oven. If you can just stay alive for long enough, eventually you’ll catch fire.
I Love It When A Plan Comes Together
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Sometimes it seems like suckouts happen to me more often than they should. And I know that’s just the tilt talking, but it does feel that way. For that reason, it’s especially gratifying when everything works out exactly the way it should, and does so in grand form.
In the very first hand of a tourney, I’m UTG with rockets. I don’t want to spook anybody, so I limp them. Based on experience in these things, some donkus will raise for no good reason. I get a caller, and then a donkus does raise. The donkus is reraised by der uber-donkus. When the action comes back around to me we’re four-way and we havn’t even seen a flop yet, and I can still reraise, which I do, to about a third of my stack. I raise to that amount because if I get even one caller at this point, my all-in on the flop would be about a pot bet, and would probably get called.
But I don’t even have to worry about that because my reraise is reraised all in. Then one caller. Then I call. Then the final caller calls. We’re four-way all-in to the flop and I’ve got rockets.
I found myself against Jacks, A2o, and K8s. I took down the entire pot — quading up on the first hand.
Aggression And Timing
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Here’s a tourney hand where I let stack size determine my level of aggression.
Seat 1: PFGLAW (950 in chips)
Seat 3: blore12 (6150 in chips)
Seat 4: 1973MAVERICK (3065 in chips)
Seat 5: LILLONE77 (1660 in chips)
Seat 6: A’arab Zaraq (1425 in chips)
Seat 7: rebbecca222 (1690 in chips)
blore12: posts small blind 25
1973MAVERICK: posts big blind 50
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to A’arab Zaraq [Ah Qd]
LILLONE77: calls 50
A’arab Zaraq: raises 125 to 175
rebbecca222: calls 175
PFGLAW: folds
blore12: calls 150
1973MAVERICK: folds
LILLONE77: calls 125
*** FLOP *** [8d As 6c]
blore12: checks
LILLONE77: checks
A’arab Zaraq: checks
rebbecca222: bets 400
blore12: folds
LILLONE77: folds
A’arab Zaraq: calls 400
*** TURN *** [8d As 6c] [4c]
A’arab Zaraq: checks
rebbecca222: bets 450
A’arab Zaraq: raises 400 to 850 and is all-in
rebbecca222: calls 400
*** RIVER *** [8d As 6c 4c] [5h]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
A’arab Zaraq: shows [Ah Qd] (a pair of Aces)
rebbecca222: shows [9s 9h] (a pair of Nines)
A’arab Zaraq collected 3250 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 3250 | Rake 0
Board [8d As 6c 4c 5h]
Seat 1: PFGLAW (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 3: blore12 (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 4: 1973MAVERICK (big blind) folded before Flop
Seat 5: LILLONE77 folded on the Flop
Seat 6: A’arab Zaraq showed [Ah Qd] and won (3250) with a pair of Aces
Seat 7: rebbecca222 showed [9s 9h] and lost with a pair of Nines
Having raised preflop, the pot was already more or less the size of my stack. My goal was to get my entire stack in with top pair good kick, and I decided that pushing would scare anyone away, since I was the preflop raiser and an ace hit. So, I let the donk push his pocket nines at me.
Too Loose
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
I just busted out of a tourney pushing my 11 BB in with AQ when four players limped. I was called by 44, which won. It was my loosest move of the week.
I need to tighten up.
A Bluff
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
I’ve been very, very tight lately — tighter than you think. So, a bluff I pulled just now merits a post.
It was a very basic bluff, but one that screamed out to me. I had 32s in the BB, and the SB open limped to me. The flop was Q55 rainbow. He min-bet it into me. I now had the opportunity to represent trips, and so I did. I tripled his bet, which was still a pot underbet. So, I was getting about 5:2 that he would fold, and he did. I took down a hand with the nut low, and boosted my stack significantly. I can probably glide into the money now.
Fourth Break
Thursday, April 17, 2008
If I had not tried that foolish blind steal, I could last another orbit right now.
During current Hold’em session you were dealt 335 hands and saw flop:
- 15 out of 38 times while in big blind (39%)
- 2 out of 39 times while in small blind (5%)
- 8 out of 258 times in other positions (3%)
- a total of 25 out of 335 (7%)
Pots won at showdown - 7 of 8 (87%)
Pots won without showdown - 11
I have about 3 BB, and the next bubble bursts in 2 bustouts. I can probably last till the next level.
Third Break
Thursday, April 17, 2008
I’m currently at the third break in a 3,000+ player tourney. Here are my stats.
During current Hold’em session you were dealt 258 hands and saw flop:
- 14 out of 29 times while in big blind (48%)
- 2 out of 29 times while in small blind (6%)
- 6 out of 200 times in other positions (3%)
- a total of 22 out of 258 (8%)
Pots won at showdown - 5 of 6 (83%)
Pots won without showdown - 9
Those numbers mean I’m tight. Heh.
You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t posted much here lately, and that’s because I haven’t played much online lately. But, I’m back, and getting into playing big tourneys. I’m doing well at them so far.
