First of Many

Since my last blog, I've played in three tournaments. I played the $24,000 and twice in the $28,000 guaranteed tournaments. I didn't cash in any of them. I went out in the top 25% in each tournament, so I was pretty proud of that. Especially because after the second level, I went completely card dead in all of the tourneys. Out of 421 hands, I saw a playable hand about 7% of the time. By playable I mean a hand you would like to see a flop with. However, when the pot is raised and re-raised, those hands quickly shrink up. I might have been able to make a move if I knew that my opponents' were playing loose. However, the table was playing pretty tight and everyone else was showing down strong hands. So, I was unable to do anything about it and just had to wait for an opening I could try to exploit.

In the first tournament, I accumulated some chips pretty early. I had a pair of kings and got paid off on them by a player with jacks. I slowly grew my chip stack, and was playing really well. Then the tank went dry and the blinds went up. The best hand I saw in about an hour was A10. To me, it looked like aces. I was in late position, nobody entered the pot, so I decided that since I only had about 10 times the big blind, it was a good place to push all of my chips in. The guy on my left, quickly called off about 2/3 of his chip stack with AJ off. I got no help on the flop, and I was out.

In the second tournament, it was pretty much the same song and dance. I was staying above average, then couldn't get a hand better than J8 or K7. Almost an identical situation knocked me out of this tournament. I found AK in late position, and pushed all in for about 9 times the big blind. The player in the small blind called off about half of his stack with 10's and I was gone. In the third tournament, I was playing aggressive and fairly tight early on. We started with 3000 in chips, and I slowly built my stack to about 5000 by the third level. In the first three levels I saw AK, A10 off, KJ suited, 77 and 22. For the rest of the tournament, I didn't see any other quality hands. It was getting frustrating looking down and finding Q4, 73, 62, J5, for the next hour and a half. I was getting blinded off quickly and had to find a spot that I could try and exploit. Again, in late position, nobody entered the pot, so I shoved with KJ off. I only had about seven times the big blind. One of the chip leaders at my table called with 55. I didn't get any help on the board, so I was out in 361st place. Here's a snapshot of the starting hands I had to work with for the tournament I played in today, and the sit 'n go I won later that night. I'll give you a hint. I didn't get queens once during the multi-table tournament.

These tournaments were pretty interesting. The sheer number of know it all players and the level of loose aggressive tendencies was shocking. I don't know how many times I saw raise, re-raise, all-in with some very marginal hands at best. Then the ranting afterward about how the other player was an idiot and a donkey. One hand in particular was quite funny. One player made a small raise, and got two calls. The flop came J-10-9. The raiser bet the pot, the +2 called. A blank came on the turn, and the raiser bet twice the pot, enough to put the other player all-in. He called. The raiser had 10-9 and the caller had A-J. A jack hit the river and all hell broke loose. The complaining started and the insults were flying. First off, I think they both played the hand rather poorly. Sure two pair can be a powerful hand. However, it is quite easy to get counterfeited. One of the first things you should understand about bottom two pair, is that you have to play them very cautiously. Not only that, but with a flop of J-10-9, there are a lot of possible draws that are actually the favorite at this point. Why overcommit yourself to the pot when you don't have to. The blinds were small, he should have tried to make smaller value bets and see what happens at the river. When the jack hits the river, the only thing he can beat is a bluff, and he would have been able to get away from the hand.

For the most part, these tournaments had some very good, solid players. You can make moves and bluff players off of their hand. However, you have to have some quality hands from time to time as well. When you are playing at a tight table, the books tell you that you need to play more loose. However, when a tight player raises ahead of you, and you look down at 62, the only thing you can do is muck. That pretty much sums up my tournaments over the last couple of days. The few times I did try to make any moves, somebody would wake up with a better hand. That's poker.

So, one of the things I need to fix in my game, is to continue to play aggressively and switch gears when the table dynamics change. I am doing really well in the single table sit 'n go's. I have cashed in 8 out of 12 tournaments. However, in the multi-table tournaments, I need to work on my middle tournament strategy. I have accumulated chips well in the early stages. So I need to continue to keep the pressure on my opponents and play position whenever possible. If I notice that a player has made a weak limp in early position, and got a couple of calls, I should try to raise those players more often. The worst case scenario, is that you get re-raised by a player in one of the blinds. Well, I'll leave you with that for now. Good luck at the tables.