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View Full Version : need advice, frustrating live tourney


squallA964
03-20-2005, 04:18 PM
I found out about a live multi-tourney from a coworker that takes place at his local bar. It's $50 buy-in, about 25-30 people typically play. Payouts are dependent on number of people who sign up, Top 4 paid on Friday, which was the first time I played. From my coworker's description, I went into the game feeling pretty confident, as he described it as very loose, with lots of calling stations, and it was impossible to bluff cause they'll call anything, even if it's only to "keep you honest."

Within a half-hour, I knew his description of the game was pretty accurate, I felt I had a great read on the people at the table, but I decided that I should play fairly tight, and if I flopped pair, bet the hell out of it cause I'd definately get paid off. And here's where it got frustrating....

For the first two and half hours, I saw absolutely nothing but 10-4os, 83os, 92os, K3os.....etc, etc. I don't think I've EVER had such a run of cold cards, and even on hands where I was able to see a cheap flop, the flops were always just complete misses. By this time, I had to loosen up and just depend on my reads to stay in, and was able to flop bottom pair a few times and called down some people were on obvious flush draws to stay in. But by this time i was so short-stacked that it was almost impossible to make a comeback to have a chance to win. I did end up finishing 4th and made the money, which I considered to be great considering how the game went.

It was just a very frustrating time, watching people who were terrible players consistently calling huge pre-flop raises with garbage, and then watching that garbage top pair, top two pair, trips, and straights again and again and again, and seeing incredibly loose calls with garbage....on the drive home I tried to think of something I could have done differently, but really couldnt see anything. On the hands I played, I thought I played extremely well, but when the best hand you get all night is pocket 7s, and the 2nd best was Axos...well, what can you do? I just chalked it up to bad luck that I got cold cards and cold flops, but it's still frustrating because I KNOW if I could have caught just one hand, and one big pot, I could have won.

Anybody have any advice on how I could have played differently, or just advice on how you handle a situation where you know you're the best player at the game, but get no chances to take advantage of it.

ttleistdci
03-20-2005, 04:21 PM
no advice necessary...that's poker.

squallA964
03-20-2005, 04:24 PM
I know that's poker....just really interested in if somebody has a better strategy if I happen to sit at this game again and the same thing happens (which I would hope not).

StogeyMike
03-21-2005, 02:14 PM
There was probably no better way for you to have played THIS tournament, given the cold cards that you got all night. However, poker is a game that requires you to consider the long run, and over time the cards will even out.

That being said, if the regular players in the tournament are as bad as you're describing, then definitely continue to play in it as often as you can. Over the longer term you will probably win/cash much more than your fair share. Of course, you are also going to have bad nights like the one you just experienced as well as nights where the calling stations suck out on you and bust you.

Experts at this site will tell you that Game Selection is every bit as important any other poker skill, perhaps even more so. It sounds like you may have found a game that you can do very well at if you can handle the bad nights that are inevitable.

Good Luck...