No limit tourneys in Minnesota

Just got back from Canterbury's Fall Classic, had a good time. I'm pretty inexperienced at tournaments, especially no-limit. I'd apprieciate any comments on three situations.


All tournaments begin w/ T800.


A. $220 no-limit, second or third round, blinds at 10-25 or 15-30(don't remember which, it was over a week ago and I played in all the events), I double up early and have T1525, weak player who has made some very big opening raises(and a few reasonable ones) opens for 300 (he has T1500), my small blind I have KQo, I decide he doesn't LOVE his hand and go all in.


B. $330 no-limit, final table, I've played very few hands and shown only two, blinds 300-600, antes 75, I have about T4200(three stacks of 10,000 plus and one of 5-6000, UTG I pick up K-8s I make it 2000 to go, player on my left makes big reraise(how much, again I don't remember, but enough to put me all in), I know that he has a big hand and I strongly consider folding; but then I consider that I have to take the blinds on the next hand and that I'm all but dead if I don't pick up a hand soon; I hope I'm up against at best Q-Q and call hoping to get lucky.


C. $550 no-limit, late second round, blinds are 10-25, I have 900 and change, player on my right opens for 75, I have Ah-Ad in the cutoff and make it 250, raiser calls. Flop comes Q-6-4 rainbow, check, I bet 300, check-raised for all my chips, I call immediately. Raiser has A-Qc, yipee, right? Wrong. Results to follow.


Thanks for any and all comments,


Mike

A. The guy called with A-Qs. The rest of the day I asked myself two questions how could this guy call 1200 more(all-in) with this hand and more important, how could I think of making this move against someone who could make this call(he'd already survived one or two kind of ugly situations).


B. The reraiser had K-K, my worst nightmare. I don't feel so bad about my steal attempt, if I had won the blinds I wouldn't even remember the hand, though I could have made a smaller raise, that might have allowed me to lay down my hand for the raise, or should I have laid it down anyway?


C. Came club, club /images/frown.gif . I feel good about getting all my chips in with so much the best of it. Anyone think that I should have made a bigger raise preflop or gone all-in on the flop to maybe avoid the eventual draw-out?


Thanks again,


Mike

Mike,


Welcome back. Hope you had a successful trip! Couldn't have that bad I know you got to at least one final table.


A) What are you doing! Have you lost your mind? Just kinding kinda. You have ALOT of chips for this level. You shouldn't commit all of your chips with a marginal hand. You have time to be patient and wait for better spots to commit your money. You probably only get called if your beat and loose most of your chips. Or win a fairly small pot if he folds. Its not worth it.


B) How many players are left? I'm assuming your the shortest stack. Have you locked up some kind of deal yet? I'm probably gonna pass on this hand. I have a little time and just enough chips to wait for a better hand. If the blinds are really tight and it is pretty short handed I may raise the same amount with the intention of calling if raised. I would want the rest to save for a all-in bet on the flop, if i'm called preflop. Once you put your 2,000 out there you've committed almost half your stack you are pretty much committed now. If you get lucky and outdraw him you will have a chance to now win the tournament. If you muck now you will be so short and in desperation mode it will be hard to come back. So I would call in your spot as well.


c) I would play pretty much the same way.


Did you get to play with Phil? I remember you saying you were looking forward to it.

A. The fact that you hold KQ is almost irrelevant, as what you're really doing is bluffing. Given the ratio of what you can lose to what you can win, you need to be VERY confident that he's going to lay it down. Most of the time, this is a bad play. If you're a great hand-reader, this can be the play that separates the great players from the mediocre ones.


B. I also feel you're pot-stuck with the KQs. There are 2 questions here. First, should you have made the steal attempt? That depends upon how tight the table has been, and how tight they're likely to play against you in particular. If they're going to fold often enough, then your cards are again irrelevant. However, if it's been that tight, you probably should have made your steal attempt in middle position, after a couple have folded but not so close to the button that they get suspicious that it is a steal. Second, should you have bet the 2000 or gone all-in? Saving something to bet the flop with isn't a bad idea, and if that's what you had in mind, it's a good reason. However, the issue is how much more likely are they to fold for 4200 preflop rather than 2000? If it goes up noticeably, then go all-in instead. Also, would 1500 or 1600 worked as well as 2000? Against many players it will.


C. Yipee is right. The fact that he got lucky doesn't change your play. Don't worry about this hand for another second. You couldn't play the hand well AND win it.


Later, Greg Raymer (FossilMan)

Pokerguy,


Thanks for the reply, I liked Minnesota all the girls are blond(except for the dealer that I asked out...she said no, not that night and I left the next day after the AA got cracked), the games are great, 15-30 and 30-60, most of the better players are very aggressive, often too much so, I think, and would get their heads handed to them in an environment with tougher players. Didn't get to play w/ Phil, I think he only played in two tournaments and no sidegames, Steve Kaufman and Tom Cawley were there and so was Stan Shrier(for atleast a day, though I didn't see him, didn't see any of them playing live games. Got to play with Jim Brier and his buddy Pete Jenner, it was cool getting to play and talk with both of them. Made the money twice out of ten tourneys--down some; came out slightly ahead in sattelites, and beat the side games pretty good.


Yes, hand A, I must have been crazy, I just thought that maybe the guy could lay down his hand for such a big raise when his preflop raise indicated a fragile hand, but you're right, I had too many chips too early to make such a risky play against an unpredictable player.

Hand B, I was just hoping to pick up the blinds and antes with what really was one of the best hands that I had seen at the final table. I wanted to play to win and with the blinds and antes getting so big and the other stacks so much bigger than mine, I wanted to do something to more than just try to move up one more spot while I still had enough chips to be enough of a threat to take a bite out of someone without a really good hand.

Hand C, I feel pretty good about getting all my chips in against such a dominated hand, it just sucked getting it beat and that's it, I'm out of the biggest tourament, I can only imagine how painful it must be when it happens at the World Series or other big events.


See ya,


Mike

Yeah it sucks getting knocked out of big tournaments. Your mind all day is flirting with the idea that you might make a huge score, then poof! Your gone. I hate it.

Yeah, I hated it so much that I decided to go home a day or two early, even forgoing any further chances with the girl(dealer), whether or not there actually were any. Oh well, maybe next time or the next one(girls and tournaments, both).

Greg,


Thanks for the response. I think the first hand had to be a huge mistake, given my stack-size this early and the fact that I wasn't very familiar with the other player. Second hand we were five handed and I figured that a steal UTG was kind of in "late position" anyway and yes, I saved chips to bet the flop (or have something left in case I'm called by one of the blinds, an ace flops and I'm faced with a bet. I bet 2000 because it had been the standard raise and I didn't want to show any particular weekness, but obviously it blew up in my face as I might have been able to get away from the K-8s for the big reraise if my raise had been smaller.


Thanks again,


Mike

1)Although on occasion I have done a few successful all-in raise bluffs, I would fold in your situation. Why risk your whole stack on KQo when you have chips and the blinds are low.


2)I muck this without the initial raise. You do need to find a hand very quickly so once you hit the blinds it is near time. Once you have been re-raised you are certainly getting the odds. I probably call but don't like it.


3)Well played.


Ken Poklitar