19-1 chip lead and I lost it, help!

[yimyammer]

I just experienced something that’s never happened before and I’m stunned I just lost a tournament with a chip lead of T19,070 to T930

My opponent proceeded to go all-in on every remaining hand and won every single one of them to win the tourney. Also, note that prior to the following hands, my opponent had played pretty tight and I had even been able to make a few position re-raise steals from him. My take on him at this point was that he was a pretty conservative, tight player that plays goods cards and bets them hard when he has them.

Here are the hands:

My chip stack will be the first one listed in every hand below.

Blinds are 300/600. I’m in the BB in the 1st hand and I’m listing every hand so I’m not noting blinds thereafter.

1. T19070 to T930 - 9s/2h, I call 330 raise, opponent is all-in, he wins with 3h/2s when a three hits the river.

2. T18140 to T1860 - Qd5d, I raise 600, opponent goes all-in, and I call the additional 660. He shows jh/2c. Hits a jack on the flop and wins.

Now, I'm starting to sweat a little and I tighten up...could have been my mistake. Blinds are now 400/800

3. T16280-T3720 - 9d/8c, I’m raised all-in by 3320. I fold

4. T15480-T4520 - 10s/3s. I’m raised all-in by 3720. I fold

5. T13880 - T6120 - 7d/6h. I'm raised all-in by 5720. I fold

6. T13080-T6920 - 8c/6s. I’m raised all-in by 6120. I fold

Now the light has gone on and I've just realized he is going to go all-in every hand regardless.

7. T12280-T7720 - 2d/6s, raised all-in by 7320. I fold

8. T11480-T8520 - 2c/8h, I fold pre flop.

9. T11080-T8920 - jd/3c, raised 8520 all-in, I fold.

10. T10280-T9720 - Kh/2d, I limp to see if that may scare him to think I am trapping, no luck. He raises all-in for another 8920. I fold. I think this was my mistake hand, I should have gambled with him since it had become a crap shoot and I let him back in the match.

I have just lost the chip lead!

11. T9480 - T10520 - 2s/8d, of course he raises all-in and I have to fold. Didn’t I????

12. T8680-T11320 - 5s/5c, I’m going with this hand no matter what, so I decide to call just to ensure he goes all-in, he does, I call and he shows 10/10 and hits a 10 on the flop just to give me one last kick get in the groin for good measure.

19-1 chip lead, lost 12 pots in a row and lost the tourney. Is that some kind of record for choking?

Ok, I didn’t write this to rant about a bad beat (it wasn’t, I think he just kicked my ass), I was impressed with his strategy and conviction to pulling it off. I think I caught on too late and by the time I decided to gamble with him, it was too late.

Here are my main questions:

1. You've see the hands I got, where did I make my mistake?

2. What is the worst hand or range of hands you would go all-in with if you knew that your opponent was going to go all-in on every hand until he wins or loses all his money?

Thanks to all responders in advance!

[sekrah]

/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

That one has to sting.. and the deck really went cold on you..

But you gotta push a few of these hands when you are first to act.. He was lucking to get from 900 to 3700.. but you served him the chip lead on a silver platter. You need to make more pushes when action is to you preflop..

You definently should have called with the K-2o when you still had the chip lead.

Now to the final hand, the 5-5.. You just handed him the chip lead folding hands that were probably anywhere from 40-60%.. but now you are willing to call off your entire stack to at best 50-50 when you don't have the chip lead when you weren't willing to do it when you DID have the chip lead??

[yimyammer]

Good point.

I realize that I still don't have a grasp of hand values and what type of possible favorite or dog each hand is preflop. This is a big weakness and something I need to work to understand fully. Had I known I was only a 60-40 dog when I was the chip leader and he had a small stack, I would have gone with him. In retrospect, I think I should have called with the 9/8 when I still had a big chip lead, but I had'nt caught on to what he was doing and based my fold on how he played the whole tourney up to that point. One of my hesitations in doing this early was how he had played up that point. He did a great job changing gears and I didnt catch on until it was too late.

You can see that in the first two hands I went allin with him, I had the lead and he caught cards in both situations.

The reason I went all-in with 5-5 is that I had to assume I was up against a random hand and if I folded, I would be even further behind with no assurance that I would get any better hand. Are you saying I should have folded the 5-5?

[cooter7]

No you shouldn't have folded 5-5. Just like you said, the guy was going in every hand and you put it all in with what you believed to be the best hand. It was a bad run of cards for you. Yeah you should of gambled with a couple of the previous hands but 5-5, no way in hell you fold.

[sekrah]

No don't fold with the 5-5.. With your opponents range, it's probably more likely he's holding an undercard (A-2, A-3, A-4) than a bigger pair.

But you need to pull the trigger sooner when you have the chip lead with hands like 8-9 or 6-8.. and I definently would have called with the K-2..

Actually, i wouldn't have trapped.. I would have bet out a good amount.. and calling any raise all in.

[JackOfSpeed]

I don't understand one part of your post. In hands 3 thru 6, your opponent raises all-in each time and you fold. Huh? Your opponent and you should be taking turns each time to see who is first to act. Were you calling the BB with the crap hands when you were the small blind, and then folding when he pushed allin?

[HonchoOverload]

[ QUOTE ]
I don't understand one part of your post. In hands 3 thru 6, your opponent raises all-in each time and you fold. Huh? Your opponent and you should be taking turns each time to see who is first to act. Were you calling the BB with the crap hands when you were the small blind, and then folding when he pushed allin?

[/ QUOTE ]

yeah, I'm confused.

[billyjex]

Hey man,

I didn't really read your post, I don't know if I would have called one of those all ins. All I can tell you is 1) read HOH2, there is an excellent HU chapter, and 2) I once lost a HU match in a Party $109 with a 4 to 1 advantage, the cards dictate a lot HU. Possibly, there's really not much you could have done. HU, just remain aggressive.

[luvrhino]

[ QUOTE ]
2) I once lost a HU match in a Party $109 with a 4 to 1 advantage

[/ QUOTE ]

According to Freezeout Calculations (see TPfAP, others), that's going to happen 20% of the time assuming equal skill levels. I've lost HU after have slightly better than 9:1 and won at a 478-9522 (1:20) disadvantage...though the latter wasn't equal skill level because he folded way too much. You'll find these things are going to happen if you play enough.

Anyway, for the original post, as other posters have said, yimyammer was too timid and had crappy cards. The 9d/8c and Kh/2d hands should have been played. For the K2 hand, he's not going to scare Villian that he's being trapped after all the hands yimyammer folded after a limp or min raise.

I haven't got to the HU chapter in HOH2 yet, but my experience is that it helps to be the aggressor, the first one to put in a decent raise/all-in bet preflop. Min raising and folding in hand 4 (T3s) and limping in hand 6 (86o) aren't good given Villian's predilection for all-in.

[adanthar]

[ QUOTE ]
read HOH2, there is an excellent HU chapter

[/ QUOTE ]

HoH2's HU chapter is inapplicable at Party and contains some completely atrocious examples.

[Danny H.]

Although that was a bad beat and you just didn't catch cards, from hands 3-9 his chip stack nearly doubled and he could've been playing cards from an uno deck and done the same thing. Be more aggressive with the 9-8 can 7-6 actually the best cards to have against aces, also the k-2 you have to call with, probably a 3:2 favorite. Good luck.

[yimyammer]

Good catch, there were cases when I tried to limp and he raised all-in. I know I have hand #1 correct, so you can correct the action from there by assuming everyplace that required me to limp, I did.

Make sense?

[yimyammer]

I'd have to call my situation the slippery slope effect:

1. I thought my opponent would continue to play like he had been (conservatively aggressive)

2.I was aggresive on the first two all-ins, got timid on the 9-8 because I wasnt thinking about busting him but more concerned about doubling him up again. This may be stupid, but I sometimes think that because a persons last two hands were crap, there is a greater chance that the third hand could be better (Im sure this is like thinking red is due because black has come up 10 times in a row).

3. I figured out he wasnt betting with decent hands like he had been too late and missed the opportunity to play the 9/8, but knew what was up when I got the K2, but wimped out.

Every reasction I made was a hand or two too late and I set myself up to lose a winner take all hand that could bust me versus gambling earlier.

Im normally aggressive as hell heads up, but I still like to keep pots small and chip away versus playing all-in poker. Not much thought or skill in that (IMHO). Based on his play up that point, I thought the stage was set for me to be able to do that. He did a great job changing gears as I did'nt expect that to occur.

By the time I figured what was happening, I was so far down the mountain I could'nt climb my way back up.

thanks for everyones input