Bubble trouble, not reaching the money

[blendedsuit]

My recent sitngo record is not good.
$20 10-person sitngo's
1st place: 3 finishes
2nd place: 2
3rd place: 1
-----------
4th place: 6
5th place: 2
6th or worse: 6


$10 10-Person sitngo's
1st place: 5 times
2nd place: 4
3rd place: 2
-----------
4th place: 7
5ht place: 6
6th or worse: 21

I'm clearly doing something wrong. Bad at poker, most likely. I keep getting knocked out of sitngos feeling cheated, as I deserve to place in the money. Yet, I don't make the top 3 spots consistently.

I usually get knocked as the blinds get reach 75-150 to 100-200. I usually get a decent read on my opponents, and feel superior to them. But this is obviously not the case. I stepped up to the $20 because the players at the $10 were rather bad. I would get sucked out by going all-in preflop as a 2:1 fav. getting knocked, and going on semi-tilt at the next sitngo. I dont feel that tilting has affected my play that much though.

If someone could tell me how to calculate my attrocious ROI, and whatever business school indicators often used. I wish I knew why I was playing so bad. I think it might be time to take up sewing, or chess. =[

[Potowame]

well its hard to say of just #'s, but it appears that you are limping in for to many hands and bleeding of chips, and you continue this when the blinds reach the 50-100 level.

If you are limping in with T1000 or less chips @ the T100 blind level, thats bad. if you do it twice in one orbit, thats really bad.

I see this alot, and think what are they doing, but everyonce in awhile the player hits a hand and wins a T300-T500 pot. Than Limp Limp?

Don't know if that helps, but thought I would put that out there.

[BrettK]

Your ROI for the $20 level is 4.5% [($460-$440)/$440]

Your ROI for the $10 level is -17.2% [($410-$495)/$495]

[holeplug]

You have way to many 6th or worse finishes at the $10 level. Your probably playing too many hands early and not letting go of them when you should. I would post some hands from the first couple of levels that you think you played bad and see what people say.

[Desdia72]

alot of mine up to bad luck at the wrong time. in my last 14 SNGs i'm:

1st: 1
2nd: 5
3rd: 2
4th: 4
6th: 2

in one of my 4ths, i had a real cold run of the cards with the best hand being pocket Queens, in which was won by an Ace high flush (at least i lost the least amount i could on the hand which was the pf raise). i ended up all-in with about 500 with the blinds around 100/200 holding K Jo (chipleader wakes up with A J). in two other finishes on the bubble, i get knocked out on the river holding the best hand preflop by a flush and then by A 8 against my A K (8 on the river). the other 4th place finish, i'm knocked out by trip Jacks against top pair Queens/top kicker Ace. i also got knocked out by two other rivers in a 6th place and one of my 2nds (would've got 1st without river). sometimes you get hit with the most unfortunate luck at the wrong possible time.

[blendedsuit]

I'm really getting sick of this. Another Bubble catastrophe:

Hand #2223390-95

jadaw is at seat 0 with 1860.
HERO is at seat 1 with 3945.!!!!!!!!!I should make it
Spymaster is at seat 2 with 1615.
IrishDiva is at seat 5 with 2580.
The button is at seat 0.

HERO posts the small blind of 75.
Spymaster posts the big blind of 150.

jadaw: -- --
HERO: Kd Kc
Spymaster: -- --
IrishDiva: -- --

Pre-flop:

IrishDiva raises to 450. jadaw calls. HERO goes all-in for 3945. Spymaster folds. IrishDiva folds.
jadaw goes all-in for 1860. HERO is returned 2085
(uncalled).

Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:

jadaw shows As Qh.
HERO shows Kd Kc.


Flop (board: Qc 9c Ad):

(no action in this round)


Turn (board: Qc 9c Ad 4d):

(no action in this round)


River (board: Qc 9c Ad 4d Qs):

(no action in this round)




Showdown:

jadaw has As Qh Qc Ad Qs: full house, queens full of aces.
HERO has Kd Kc Qc Ad Qs: two pair, kings and queens.


Hand #2223390-95 Summary:

No rake is taken for this hand.
jadaw wins 4320 with full house, queens full of aces.

Hand #2223390-99
jadaw is at seat 0 with 6420.
HERO is at seat 1 with 585.
Spymaster is at seat 2 with 1390.
IrishDiva is at seat 5 with 1605.
The button is at seat 0.

HERO posts the small blind of 75.
Spymaster posts the big blind of 150.

jadaw: -- --
HERO: Kc Ks
Spymaster: -- --
IrishDiva: -- --

Pre-flop:

IrishDiva folds. jadaw folds. HERO raises to 300. Spymaster folds. HERO is returned 150 (uncalled).



Hand #2223390-99 Summary:

No rake is taken for this hand.
HERO wins 300.

Hand #2223390-100 Summary:

jadaw is at seat 0 with 6420.
HERO is at seat 1 with 735.
Spymaster is at seat 2 with 1240.
IrishDiva is at seat 5 with 1605.
The button is at seat 1.

Spymaster posts the small blind of 75.
IrishDiva posts the big blind of 150.

jadaw: -- --
HERO: 4h 4d
Spymaster: -- --
IrishDiva: -- --

Pre-flop:

jadaw calls. HERO goes all-in for 735. Spymaster folds. IrishDiva folds. jadaw calls.

Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:

jadaw shows Ts Ad.
HERO shows 4h 4d.


Flop (board: Qc Ks 5c):

(no action in this round)


Turn (board: Qc Ks 5c Kd):

(no action in this round)


River (board: Qc Ks 5c Kd 5d):

(no action in this round)




Showdown:

jadaw has Ad Ks 5c Kd 5d: two pair, kings and fives.
HERO eliminated. again

[coyotej]

I think your error here (in this last example) is trying too hard to get one or more of the players out. You risked way too many chips on that hand - there was no need to voluntarily put all the money in before the flop. You're better off calling here and a) out playing your opponents after the flop (unlikely in this scenario with the Ace flopping) or b) playing carefully (and very possibly folding) on the flop and turn. You're better off saving chips and surviving than forcing the issue. If your opponents had much smaller stacks than this and you were just calling their all-in, you'd be making a correct call (or possible reraise). If you had let them battle it out on the flop, one of them might have knocked the other out, or crippled them.

Just because you get a big hand one out of the money, it doesn't mean you should always be aggressive with it. You want your opponents to play eachother sometimes rather than confronting them yourself.

[Dominic]

keep playing, keep posting, keep reading other posts...you will get better.

One bit of advice I DO have for you is to go back to the $10 SNGs. Every newcomer does the same thing once they gain a little poker knowledge: they move up in limits because now they're playing better poker than most of the others at the smaller games and SNGs. This is a mistake.

Think of it this way: If you can't beat the BAD players, what makes you think you're going to be able to beat the GOOD ones?

Learn how to become a winner at the $10 limit...once you prove your skill with a positive ROI, then move up. But only once you're a consistent winner.

Trust me, you'll save yourself a lot of heartache - and dollars - heeding this advice.

/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Big O]

I totally agree with you coyote. Being aggressive with KK with 4k in chips is the wrong thing to do. call the flop and then move in if its safe.

[edge]

The first hand is fine. You're holding the big stack, force them to make decisions for their own stacks, plus you're holding the second best hand in the game. Definitely don't just call and look at the flop, either raise a substantial amount and hope he pushes all-in over the top, or push, like you did.

As for the second hand, I'm certainly not minraising for 60% of my stack--it looks WAY too suspicious. Push here, don't try to do anything fancy.

The third hand--44 isn't the greatest hand to be pushing after a limper. At best, you're a coin flip. I think this one depends on your read of the limper. Will he most likely call your push? If so, folding might be better here, and you can push your next hand if it has a face card, or wait until the next orbit (you still have 5 BB).

[joker1976]

I don't see how you can outplay your opponent postflop with your KK here. If you holds the best hand postflop, your opponent holds a good draw or a pair, it's not terribly wrong for him to push in with that many chips already in. Overpair only beats flush or straight draw a little over 60% of the time, and beats a pair 77% of the time, and beats Ace high with back door flush draw 80%. Overall, the safe flop you are referring to will only give you at best 70% win rate which is very close to KK vs AT preflop and a lot worse than KK vs JQs preflop. Now if an Ace flop, your opponent holds no Ace but a flush draw or a pair with gut shot draw and push and you lay down your KK because the board is not safe, you are getting outplayed big time.

[blendedsuit]

I played another $20 10-person sitngo, finished 5th. In about the 3rd hand in i have KK in the BB. I'm against AA slowplayed. Did I play this KK to aggressive post flop?



<font color="blue"> HERO </font> is at seat 1 with 990.
Chip stacks are all 1000 +/- 50.
The button is at seat 9.

Disneyguy posts the small blind of 5.
<font color="blue"> HERO </font> posts the big blind of 10.


<font color="blue"> HERO </font>: Kh Kc


Pre-flop:

<font color="red"> UTG VILLIAN calls </font>. scottvanv folds. SmokyPoky folds. bball904 folds. viktore folds. msurmann folds. jwaltz666 calls. Tigerscott folds. Disneyguy calls. <font color="blue"> HERO </font> raises to 100. <font color="red"> UTG VILLIAN calls </font> calls. jwaltz666 folds. Disneyguy folds.

That was a large raise.

Flop (board: 4h Qh Jc):

<font color="blue"> HERO </font> bets 225. <font color="red"> UTG VILLIAN calls </font> raises to 450.

I thought the min raise here was suspicious. I push anyways. <font color="blue"> HERO </font> goes all-in for 890. <font color="red"> UTG VILLIAN calls </font> goes all-in for 805. <font color="blue"> HERO </font> is returned 85 (uncalled).

Tournament all-in showdown -- players show:

<font color="blue"> HERO </font> shows Kh Kc.
<font color="red"> UTG VILLIAN calls </font> shows Ac Ad.

Possible hands he could have played like that, AA, KK, QQ, JJ, AQ, AJs? probably not, KQs, I'm dreaming, no way. So more than likely i was beat on that min reraise to 450. What are your thoughts???


Turn (board: 4h Qh Jc Jd):

(no action in this round)


River (board: 4h Qh Jc Jd 8h):

(no action in this round)




Showdown:

<font color="blue"> HERO </font> has Kh Kc Qh Jc Jd: two pair, kings and jacks.
<font color="red"> UTG VILLIAN calls </font> has Ac Ad Qh Jc Jd: two pair, aces and jacks.


Hand #2236661-5 Summary:

No rake is taken for this hand.
Dogger2000 wins 1830 with two pair, aces and jacks.

Someone I manage to scrounge my way back up to over 1000 from 85 chips! Yet, again, about 100 hands later, I go all-in with 44 on the button with 675 chips when blinds are 75-150. Toasted once again one off the bubble. /images/graemlins/tongue.gif