Yet Another Poker Dynasty - Tournament Edition

[TroyF]

I've been working hard on my game and have had some decent success at low level tournaments. I've cashed in 5 of my last 7 tournies with a final table and a 20th in the mix.

I play about two or three tournies a week (I have much more fun playing tournaments. I do OK at the ring games and I know there is money to be made there, but I love the tournament type settings and try to spend a lot of my poker time in them)

Even with the success, I've wondered if I'm getting lucky or if I'm actually playing right. After seeing some of the great advice given on this board, I'm hoping you guys can help me with my game.

I'll share only hands that either won or lost me chips, with the rare exception being a hand I ask if I should have played. Feel free to bold DONKEY if you think my play sucked.

[TroyF]

Tournament 1 - $11 Party Poker - April 25

Blinds 20/40 – Starting stacks at 3,000. 660 players in the tourney. 70 will cash.

Hand 1

BB – Kd 6d – Two limpers. Flop comes down 9c 7c Jh. I check, pot gets raised 80 behind me. The second player folds and I follow suit.

Hand 2

SB – Jd 5d. Pot raised up 120 before me. I fold.

Hand 3

OTB – 9d 8c. I limp in with four other players. (I’m an idiot, a healthy raise here might have got me some chips) Flop comes out 7d/9c/Js. A bet of 80 and a re-raise are enough to get me out of the pot. Next two cards wouldn’t have helped. Down to 2900 in chips early.

Hand 4

BB – Qs 9s – Five limpers and me. Flop is 4s/Ah/7s. I bet out 250. Everyone folds. I take the pot and go up to 3,080

Hand 5

SB – 8d 4s – Pot raised in front of me, I fold.

Blinds up to 30/60

Hand 6

OTB – Qh Ks – Two limpers to me. I bet out 125. Get called by the two limpers. Flop comes out 7d/7c/Js. It’s checked to me and I bet 225. Everyone folds and I take the pot.

Hand 7

Directly after hand 6. I get dealt pocket 4’s. I limp with two others. Minimum raise put in by the SB. I call. Flop comes out 7/6/A. A bet of 250 by the SB and I’m out. I currently stand at 3,290 chips.

Hand 8

BB – Qd 3s – Four limpers to me. Flop 8d/8h/Tc. I check. Someone else bets and I fold.

Hand 9

SB – As 2d – Pot raised to me. I fold. I’m at 3200 now.

Hand 10

BB – 3d 4h – Three limpers to me, I check. Flop 7h/6c/5s. I flopped a straight. No flush possibilities here. I bet 100. I get called by one guy and another raises to 225. He’s called by the next limper. I’ve had enough. Time to find out if anyone has a hand. I can’t let this chance pass me by with the cold deck. I go all in. Everyone folds. I’m over 4,000 now.

Hand 11

SB – 3c 6d – I fold. I sit at exactly 4,000 now.

[TroyF]

Blinds go up to 50/100. I have 4,000 chips. Average stack is at 4258. I haven’t had a big pair yet and nothing higher than A/6, but I’m hanging in there. 457 players left. The K/Q I played is one of only two hands I’ve been dealt with a J or better with both cards. (The other an A/10 I folded after a MONSTER raise)

Hand 12

BB – 7s 7h. My biggest hand to this point. Guy in first position raises to 300. Another guy moves up to 500. I fold. They go all in and show off – K/Js vs. pocket 4’s. Wow. The pocket 4’s hold up. Yikes.

Hand 13

SB – Qs 8d – Pot raised twice, I fold.

Hand 14

OTB - AH Kd – Two limpers and the pot is raised to 200. I raise 400 more. The limpers go and leave me and the other guy to fight it out. Flop comes out Qh/7d/7c. He checks. I bet 250. He calls. 3s. He checks. I check. Tc. He checks. I check. He shows Jh Kh. I take the pot. I should have put in a bet on the turn. I didn’t know if he was slow playing or not though.

Hand 15

Middle position – 7c 7h – I limp in. Two others do and the blinds. Flop comes out As/3c/5d. It’s raised to 500 before me and I fold. I’m at 4550 now.

Blinds move up to 100/200. I sit at 4550 still. 376 players left. Still not getting any big pairs, but the big slick held up without help, which was nice. Average stack at 5210.

Hand 16

BB – Kh 7h – Two limpers to me. Flop 5c/Ks/7d. I bet 250, get called by one. 5d. I bet 350. Called again. Jd. I bet 500. He folds. I’m up to 5025 now.

Hand 17

SB – Kh 8s – Pot raised before me, I fold. I now sit at 4975

This is simply amazing. I cannot get any kind of a hand worth playing. I’m a tight player, but not THIS tight usually. This is bordering on ridiculous. I’ve been at the table awhile. I may need to make a really strong semi bluff here if I get anything at all on the button.

Hand 18

BB - 2d Tc – Pot raised to 600 by guy in 5th position. I fold.

Hand 19

SB - 2h Th – a limper and a raiser. I fold.

Hand 20

Didn’t lose chips here, but thought I’d share from what I wrote above. I get dealt Ah 5s. 4 limpers. I’m planning to make a nice sized raise. Last guy goes all in. (2800+ chips) I fold. I’m dealt 3/8o and 2/6o on my next two hands.

Hand 21

Early position – Ad Qh – Only guy before me limps. I bet 725. Everyone folds. I’m now at 5175 and it is break time.

Blinds going up to 150/300 now. I have 5175 chips. Average stack is at 7122. 278 players remain. My M is now 11.5. I need to attack extra hard with any good hand. I’ve been hanging in there by being tight, a few bluffs and the big slick that held up. (edit, also that nice straight draw) Still no pairs above 7 in the tournament for me.

First hand after the break is 2h 3c. I believe this is the fourth time I’ve seen the hand in the tourney. (I’ll use poker tracker after to find out for sure)

Hand 22

BB – Qc 8s – Two raisers. I fold.

Hand 23

SB – 8c 4s – A raiser and caller gets me out.

Hand 24

OTB – 7s 8s – Three limpers. I limp as well. Flop is 6/7/A. It’s checked to me. I bet and get reraised. I’m out and I’m hurt. I probably should have pushed. Down to 1925 now. I figure someone raising that hard on a reraise has me. I’m down to 1925. I’ll have to push with my first good hand now. (insert donkey sound here)

Hand 25

Early position – Ah Jh – I push all in. I get called by one guy. He has K/8s. He gets a K and I go home. The A/J is actually the third best hand I had all night.

I finish in 229th place. I can say the move on hand 24 hurt and it certainly did. But I didn’t catch hands either. I didn’t catch a single big pair in the tourney. I also never caught a three of a kind or a flush. I’m not happy with the play on hand 24, but I’ll learn from it.

Total – 1 Tournament entered
0 Cashes
Net - $11.00

[GoldenEagle]

Hand 3 – I would argue that a hand like unsuited connecters is not the time to try a scoop play. This is especially true in low buy-in tournaments. You are going to get called in at least one spot here and you want a hand to back it up. The limp is fine.

Hand 10 – I probably would have tried to extract some more chips here. What were your reads on the limpers? Were they playing very loose?

Hand 14 – I am definitely firing again on the turn in that situation. You should have noted that this guy was a major donk and that you can bet the flop every time with a decent hand against him.

Hand 20 – That play would have been a bit frisky. You need to try to pick up chips in more subtle ways (more later).

Hand 24 – I do not agree with making this play at all. Your M is too low. When you are in the 6-15 range, you want to rely on your overcards to do the work for you. You do not want to play speculative hands.

Alright, so how often are you trying to steal blinds? That is critical to winning tournaments. Phil Gordon says that if you can steal the blinds once every round, then you will cruise to the final table. I think stealing the blinds would be much more profitable than trying the scoop up the limper play.

[TroyF]

Originally Posted by GoldenEagle

Hand 3 – I would argue that a hand like unsuited connecters is not the time to try a scoop play. This is especially true in low buy-in tournaments. You are going to get called in at least one spot here and you want a hand to back it up. The limp is fine.

Hand 10 – I probably would have tried to extract some more chips here. What were your reads on the limpers? Were they playing very loose?

Hand 14 – I am definitely firing again on the turn in that situation. You should have noted that this guy was a major donk and that you can bet the flop every time with a decent hand against him.

Hand 20 – That play would have been a bit frisky. You need to try to pick up chips in more subtle ways (more later).

Hand 24 – I do not agree with making this play at all. Your M is too low. When you are in the 6-15 range, you want to rely on your overcards to do the work for you. You do not want to play speculative hands.

Alright, so how often are you trying to steal blinds? That is critical to winning tournaments. Phil Gordon says that if you can steal the blinds once every round, then you will cruise to the final table. I think stealing the blinds would be much more profitable than trying the scoop up the limper play.

I agree with this. I was far to passive in this tournament and I played a couple of hands far more aggressively than I should have. Especially hand 24, which was just a moronic play. I knew it when I made it. I got impatient and made a big mistake. I usually try to steal blinds from late position. I am a much more aggressive player than this on a normal day. I just wasn't getting any high card hands to play with.

Taking a quick glance at my hands, I had a total of 2 Group 2 or higher hands dealt to me in the entire tourney. (over 70 hands seen) I've had cold decks, but this was really, really bad.

I'd only rate myself as good in a handful of hands that I played. Bad cards + Bad play= No money won.

Oh, and hand 10, I'd just been moved to the table. I really had no idea what they played like. It was my second hand there and neither player was involved in the first hand. I probably should have tried to get more, I just REALLY needed to pick up a hand there and jumped the gun.