TWO DEEP RUNS

Tournament 1: NLHE, 5 dollar buy-in & 584 entrants. $2,000 Guaranteed Prize-pool.
Tournament 2: NLHE, 25 dollar buy-in & 135 entrants. Double-stack event.

That was the line-up for the day. As I hinted in my last post, I made deep runs in both of them and played well for the most part. A few hand histories coming up – you be the judge.
A general note first though. I’ve been doing some thinking about what my general edge in tournaments is. Obviously, I think I’m better than the average player – otherwise I might as well flush the buy-in down the toilet, but that aside, I doubt I’d be able to put a number on my ‘skill level’ if I tried. Does it really matter? Well, probably not, but sometimes I like to boost myself a little bit, before going into battle and reminding myself that at a 10-handed table, at least say… 6 other players are worse than I am, oftentimes does the trick!

Having just written the above paragraph and knowing that mates of mine might be reading this, I just realized how pleased I am that I didn’t start talking about my skill level OUT-LOUD! Make no mistake, had I done so in their vicinity – at least 99% of them would be either rolling on the floor laughing or barking ‘BULLSHIT’ behind muffled coughs. That’s just good-natured needling and part of how we roll. So many tiers of irony and sarcasm, you wouldn’t believe it. Wouldn’t have it any other way though.

Last thought on skill-level needed when playing MTTs. This might seem radical to some, might just seem stupid to others, but consider this: If you are consistently the second-worst player at any table, but the best at identifying and exploiting the worst player, you should have a theoretically sound chance of finishing 9th in every tournament you play. Right? Talk about random thoughts…

So, I played the aforementioned two tournaments. Just went through my hand histories and I saw a total of 185 hands in the $5 tourney and 213 hands in the $25 tourney. Won’t bore you with all the hands, but here are a few interesting ones:

NLHE, 5dollar. Standard online tourney which starts me off with 1500 chips and 10/20 blinds. I raise good hands during the first two levels, but don’t get much action and it’s not until the third level (20/40) that I find a good spot. With 1415 in my stack I open AdQh to 110 in MP+2 and am called by the dealer and both blinds.

Pot 440, FLOP: 6d-Ac-9c

Check to me and I bet 280, roughly 2/3 of the pot. The dealer, who started the hand with 1870 in chips, now moves all-in and the blinds fold. Without a very specific read, there’s no way I’m ever folding here and the fact that there’s a flushdraw out there helps. I call, he shows Ah3c which doesn’t hit. A very easy double early in the tournament.

For a long time, nothing interesting happens. I’m not getting out-of-line and because of my early double I have absolutely no reason to. During the 40/80 level I raise two queens to 220 from UTG, get two callers and take it down on the J-high flop. No tough decisions required.
I do get a little lucky during that same level, as not too long after the queens, I find myself in the HJ with two jacks. UTG minraises and it folds to me. I hate this spot. The UTG raise completely polarizes his range (at least in my experience) and I have no idea what to do with my hand. As a result, I just call the 160. It then folds to the BB who moves all-in for 3900 (covers both of us) and UTG SNAP-calls with his stack of 1600. It’s on me and I have an easy fold, guessing the BB is in big trouble. Turns out it’s the BB who’s got the kings, whereas UTG must’ve thought he was picking off a steal, as he shows a measly Ad7h. (Note: Wouldn’t have put A7 in the UTG’s range and have decided to chalk it up to poor play – just because I don’t know what else to do with it, but I’ll be aware of it in the future).

By the time we get to the 60/120 level, my stack is still hovering around 3K with no interesting confrontations to write home about. I then face another UTG minraise:
I’m UTG+1 with QhJh and again I just call the 240. MP+1 calls as well, as does the BB. 4 players:

Pot 1020, FLOP: Ah-Qc-8h

The original raiser checks to me and I remember checking my stack at this point. Only in the last few months have I become more aware of my bet-sizing and what opportunities you can create for yourself by calculating what one bet will leave you with, stack-wise, for subsequent streets. After the flop I had 2820 in my stack and was getting ready to bet. Since I might not have the best hand on the flop, I figured I might also need a substantial bet (close to the pot) for the turn, if I’m called on the flop and don’t make my hand. Incidentally, my ‘usual’ flop c-bet would be 2/3 of the pot and that worked out nicely here too. By betting 660, I was leaving myself with 2160 for the turn, which – if called by 1 player – would represent approx 90% of the pot. MP+1 decided to tag along as the only one.

POT 2340, TURN: 6h

It’s always nice to get there, but in this spot I was so ready to jam my stack on a semi-bluff, that I really didn’t know what to do with a made hand. My days of playing Omaha eventually took over, meaning I stuck it all in there anyway. It has the added value of actually looking like an all-in-desperation-bluff, which is sometimes rewarded in low-stakes-MTTs. In this case it was – MP+1 thought for a little bit and called me with Ac10h. Stack afterwards: 6660.
Jumping ahead to 125/250/a25 after a few uneventful levels, I find “that one big hand” which all of a sudden catapults me up towards the chiplead. My stack has at this point grown into approx 10K:

UTG limps with 3700 behind and it folds to me on the HJ with 8c9c. Up until this point, the table has been quite acquiescent towards EP limpers, creating limp-festivals. With that reasoning, I decide to limp behind with my suited connector. The CO, who just covers me, comes along and it folds to the BB who checks. 4 players:

POT 1375, FLOP: 4c-8h-9h

I’m obviously loving this flop, but hadn’t quite counted on getting as much action as I did. BB leads for 1350, UTG calls and now it’s on me. The pot is an awkward 4075 and I’ve got roughly 9500 – again a spot where I’m not quite sure of myself. Stick it all-in now because I’m getting it in no matter what happens, or raise a little bit because there’s value in letting them come over the top of me? Still don’t know. I end up making it 4000 to go and then something unexpected happens. The CO, next to act, moves all-in. BB folds, UTG calls and I… well, also call hoping for the best.

UTG shows: JhJs - CO shows: Ah10h. Just checked the odds calculator and those two hands combined are approximately 50% versus my hand. Guess I only needed positive equity against the CO, but still – should/could I have played this differently? Think I’d have to do the same thing if faced with a similar situation. As you might have guessed, board bricks out and a little more than 25K in chips slide my way.

At blind level 300/600/a100 it folds to me on the button with 9s7d, I raise to 1800 and the BB calls. I c-bet 3200 on the 5sJhQs flop, he moves all-in and I have to fold. Not happy with this play. I had been opening quite a few pots and should have known that somebody was bound to play back at me soon – 9,7 offsuit just isn’t good enough for me to go into battle with.
More patient but boring tournament play for the next few levels and by the time we reach 500/1000/a100 I’m sitting on circa 20K in chips. On the button I pick up AhKd. The CO, who covers me, makes it 3000 – I reraise all-in and the BB calls all-in for a little less than 10K. CO folds, I’m up against 7h7s and win, when I flop an ace. Stack is now 35K.

We’re now down to two tables in the tournament and I pick a weird line in this next hand.
Blinds 800/1600/a160. I’m the SB with 4c4h. We’re 8-handed and 1 before the HJ raises preflop to 4800. I’ve got 32K and he covers me. I’m the only caller.

POT 12480, FLOP: 4d-5h-Kh

Basically, GIN! What SHOULD my thought process be in this hand??

A: “Down to 16 in the tourney, you’ve flopped a huge hand, just check it to the other guy and hope he bets. You’re not afraid of giving away free cards, cause he’ll probably bet draws anyway.”

B: “If you lead into him now, he’ll probably remember that you did the exact same thing 133 hands ago against that other guy, who called you down all the way and picked off your ridiculous bluff, wherefore it would make the most reverse-opposite sense for you to bet out now and completely throw him off. In fact, it is almost guaranteed that he is an absolute maniac, even though he hasn’t shown that yet, but against you he probably will be – cause they’re ALL out to get you – so hurry up and bet into the guy, so that he can push all-in with his hand that most likely hasn’t hit anything”.
I bet 7500, he folded and I felt like an idiot.

I didn’t make the final table in this tournament, but not much I could’ve done: Still 8-handed but with blinds at 1000/2000/a200, I pick up AdKd UTG+1 and make my standard raise to 6000. The CO who was nursing a 6BB stack moves all-in and a little surprisingly the SB (who covers me) just calls. When it gets back to me, I re-shove my stack for 33,200 total. SB now folds and
I’m racing against two red jacks. He makes a set on the flop and wins the hand.

After this hand, I was still left with a little more than 21K, which wasn’t too bad at that point. However, the tables had just been balanced, we were now 7-handed AND the blinds had just gone up to 1250/2500/a250. When I saw a pair of 5’s UTG I insta-shoved. Guess that should be standard when your M is slightly less than 8, but it still hurts when the SB calls with AQ and you go out in 14th place.

The NLHE 25dollar tournament I played simultaneously and ended up coming 13th there. I busted almost at the exact same time as the 5dollar tourney and also here my final hand was a small pair not holding up against two overcards. I’ll get there eventually, but the Aussie Millions is still quite far away.

Starting bankroll: USD 4,991.90
Session result: USD +32.32
New bankroll: USD 5,024.22
Days left until Aussie Millions 2010: 305

Until next time. Thanks for reading.