New England Poker Classic 5K NLHE Main Event Day 3 Summary

[Prime Time]

New England Poker Classic 5K NLHE Main Event Day 3 Summary

Day 3 started Sunday at 12:00pm 90 players remained. Blinds are 400-800 w/ 100 anti.
I was at table 8 seat 10; the big stack was seat 8,

1st two orbits, I do not see anything resembling a hand.
Seat 5 limped twice, once w/ AA, and once w/ KK, and has won nice pots.
Now he has become chip leader at table.
I am in SB all folded to me, I see AhKh and raise to 3000. BB is Short stack that I know well from playing cash games, he throws up 2 5 and says “Pete, can’t play those, even against you” I throw mine up on the table and tell him, “I was waiting for you to come over the top”.

Very next hand all fold to me on Button, I pop it again to 3K w/ KsJs, and I take the blinds and antis.

New level is 600 1200 blinds w/ 200 anti.

Hero on button w/AdKd and about 17K, all fold to seat 8 who raises to 3300, hero pushes. Seat 8 considers a while, flashes pocket nines and mucks. I told him he made a very good lay down and that he should be proud.

A few orbits go by, and Hero is in SB. Tricky limping 5 seat limps, all fold to me w/ KhQh, I complete, and BB local checks behind.

Flop comes K 9 4 w/ two clubs. I feel my hand is best, but I am wondering how to extract the most out of seat 5. I feel I am only beat if he slow played AA or KK again, and feel he would have raised w/ AK. If I bet, I will probably miss my chance to get paid off. If I push, I will only get called if behind. I decide to check raise all in as I am sure he will lead out. So, I check, but the BB local that I know, pushes. WTF! I did not even put him in the equation. Seat 5 mucks, I ask for his stack to be counted down, and I have him covered by a small amount. If I call and win, I am in healthy shape to money and take a shot at the final table w/ around 60 people left. If I am wrong, I will be crippled and pretty much done.
I look at him and say “I have a big hand, and am not sure if I can let go”. He tries to stay still, and not say a word, but he turns reddish, and sense weakness, as if he would like to take it down rite there. As I said b4 I have played cash games w/ him b4, and felt he was capable of this move w/ top or middle pair or a flush draw. He could have me crushed w/ a set or two pair, but felt strongly that I was leading, because if he caught the flop that hard, he would have tried a CR on seat 5 as well. Nope I must be in the lead, and I call.
Sure enough, I was correct! He turned over Qc 8c, for the flush draw.
Needing only 1 club to win, the turn and river both fall w/ clubs and crippled to the felt I go.
I would like some feedback on the above play? I ask BB if he calls a push, he says on the flop probably, but not pre-flop.

I double up once w/ KsQs when I make a str8, but soon get knocked out when I am in a pot w/ 3-way action and a set of Jacks crushes me.

Overall felt I played really well in the tournaments, and have no regrets.

Played 3 events, made 1 final table. Was knocked out all three, leading, w/ villains making two flushes and 1 str8. Won Act III tourney w/ 144 entrants to get seat in main event.
Have to say that I am extremely confident right now.

What do I learn from this experience?

Pete

[Toro]

Pete, don't second guess yourself because he made his flush draw. You know the odds and you got your money in as a significant favorite.

Your analysis was spot on. If he had a great or very good made hand, why would he push? Good call.

[Prime Time]

Thanks Mike.
Robey was at my table and doing well.
Kevin C. was the BB if you know him.
He started as SS but now is cranking w/ my chips.
Pete

[Shorty35]

You played it perfect, dont kick yourself. Based upon this and prior posts it looks like you brought your "A" game this week. Congrats.

[Prime Time]

Thanks man.
It felt good.

[Prime Time]

Kevin is now 2nd w/ 10 left.
Funny I had him out on a limb, 2-1 favorite to eliminate him, and now he is going for the 630K title.
GL Kev.

[kinger]

at what time on Sunday did they hit the money? I got knocked out in 81st at 12:45.

kinger

[kinger]

I think you made a great read here. 2/3's of the time you win that hand and proceed to finish very high in the money.

kinger

[ QUOTE ]

Overall felt I played really well in the tournaments, and have no regrets.

Played 3 events, made 1 final table. Was knocked out all three, leading, w/ villains making two flushes and 1 str8. Won Act III tourney w/ 144 entrants to get seat in main event.
Have to say that I am extremely confident right now.

What do I learn from this experience?

Pete

[/ QUOTE ]`

Can't find a better time to gain more experience for the WSOP.

[Prime Time]

Are you John?

[Mike Gallo]

Awesome post. I doubt you could have done anything differently.

Damn crubs /images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Prime Time]

Thanks guys

[Prime Time]

Kevin just won the whole thing w/ my chips lol.

http://www.pokerpages.com/blog-players/poker-daniel-lazerek.htm

Congrats to him

[Lurshy]

Those were g00t chips. You should have held on to them.

[LLKOOLK1]

Congrats on a good week, I would have played the hand the same way, you trust the reads that got you to that point, and you go with them, if you get drawn out upon, then so be it.
But its gotta sting a lil extra that kevin went on to win it. But well played either way

[11t]

I think it is a good call, the best you will get showed here a lot of the times is big draws.

[grandgnu]

Good read, but.......good call? I'm not sure.

If your opponent is indeed on a flush draw, he's about 30-34% I believe from that flop to catch. If he doesn't, you take him down and double through.

If he does hit, you're drawing dead and very short-stacked. I might prefer to get my money in when I have a monster. Your hand was strong, but it wasn't as protected as I'd like in that situation, for that many of my chips.

I don't know what the pot was or the amount of the raise, so can't comment on the pot odds there.

You had a limper, who could be on a hand like J/10 of clubs or whatever, and you find the K/Q in the small blind. By not raising, you allowed your foe to sneak in cheap with the Q/4 of clubs.

Then he was able to push all-in and make you decide for your money, when you want to be the agressor forcing others to make decisions, not the other way around. If you had bet out, maybe he would've folded and waited for a better spot.

Either way, you certainly had a great run and are a skilled player, so congrats are in order.

[Prime Time]

Thanks for the kind words.

You said:

“Good read, but.......good call? I'm not sure.

If your opponent is indeed on a flush draw, he's about 30-34% I believe from that flop to catch. If he doesn't, you take him down and double through.

If he does hit, you're drawing dead and very short-stacked. I might prefer to get my money in when I have a monster. Your hand was strong, but it wasn't as protected as I'd like in that situation, for that many of my chips.”

Are you telling me that if his cards were shown up and exposed on the table, that you would not risk your tournament life to double up as a 2-1 favorite?
If your answer is fold, I think this is very wrong.

You cannot be afraid to get your money in w/ an edge this large.
To win, you will have to win coin flips, never mind passing up 2-1 and 3-1 edges.

To win a tournament like this, you have to get lucky, and also not get unlucky.
I got unlucky; my foe got lucky, and went on to win the whole thing.

Thanks for the feedback

Pete

[LLKOOLK1]

There is no way you lay this hand down. Like Primetime says, you could show me your hand face up, and I would still call. You must make calls like this to win tournements, and if you get drawn then so be it. A different hand thats 52/48%?? 56/44%?...maybe I lay down but 62/38?...thats the edge your lookin for...nice call tough result.

[grandgnu]

[ QUOTE ]
Are you telling me that if his cards were shown up and exposed on the table, that you would not risk your tournament life to double up as a 2-1 favorite?
If your answer is fold, I think this is very wrong.

You cannot be afraid to get your money in w/ an edge this large.
To win, you will have to win coin flips, never mind passing up 2-1 and 3-1 edges.

To win a tournament like this, you have to get lucky, and also not get unlucky.
I got unlucky; my foe got lucky, and went on to win the whole thing.

Thanks for the feedback

Pete

[/ QUOTE ]

The problem is: the cards weren't face-up on the table. And given that there was no raise pre-flop, your opponent could have any hand, including two pair (king with a lower kicker that caught, etc.)

I understand you need to take risks in tournaments sometimes, but this particular risk puts you in extremely bad shape if you lose. If you get out without calling the all-in, you could conceivably wait for a better opportunity where your hand is stronger.

Calling an all-in after the flop with only top pair (to me) is risky, given your opponent could have any hand.

I've let a player in the blinds in by not raising and then when I catch my flush they boat up with their 7/3. I just now prefer to put my opponents to the test, rather than vice versa.

[Prime Time]

1st of all, thanks for the response. This is the type of discussion I was hoping to stimulate.

Part of playing poker is using deductive reasoning to put a player on a hand or range of hands that he would play in a particular way. As I described in my opening post, I thought that I had the best hand, that if he had me crushed w/ two pair or a set, he would have him self, check raised to get the maximum bets out of seat 5. I was able to put the puzzle together that my hand was good due to the action, which may be correlated to seeing the hand face up.

Could he have pushed two pair or a set? Possibly, but not likely at all. Could he have AK? Possibly, but probably would have raised pre-flop or check raised flop as we are discussing.

All this information, pointed to me having the lead, and having my opponent trapped.

It is so clear to me now, that the only risk was getting sucked out on as happened.

Pete

[grandgnu]

[ QUOTE ]
1st of all, thanks for the response. This is the type of discussion I was hoping to stimulate.

Part of playing poker is using deductive reasoning to put a player on a hand or range of hands that he would play in a particular way. As I described in my opening post, I thought that I had the best hand, that if he had me crushed w/ two pair or a set, he would have him self, check raised to get the maximum bets out of seat 5. I was able to put the puzzle together that my hand was good due to the action, which may be correlated to seeing the hand face up.

Could he have pushed two pair or a set? Possibly, but not likely at all. Could he have AK? Possibly, but probably would have raised pre-flop or check raised flop as we are discussing.

All this information, pointed to me having the lead, and having my opponent trapped.

It is so clear to me now, that the only risk was getting sucked out on as happened.

Pete

[/ QUOTE ]

Excellent points, but with two cards to come and him having a 34% or so chance of catching against you, well, I don't like it. Yes, you're getting 2-1 odds, but if your opponent catches you can't hope to have any outs. /images/graemlins/frown.gif

I'd be 50/50 to call in this spot. If I had two pair or a set myself, I'd be all over it, although I hate going up against those flush draws, they can be pretty nasty.