Hero to zero in 2 hands

[Wardfish]

My local cardroom holds a £50 + rebuy Pot Limit Hold 'Em tournament on the last Sunday of every month.

I play pretty solid, and have a tight reputation, nickname 'Rocky', relying on stealing the blinds in the right spots to pick up chips.

On Sunday with 17 players left I had approx 18k chips of 200k total, with blinds of 1500-1500 on the button and to the button's left. The blinds increase every 25 mins, and most players on the table had 10k or less.

The final 10-handed table got paid as follows: £2000, 1000, 600, 350, 300, 250, 200, 150, 100, 50. I had rebought once and added-on, so total cost £150.

Hand #1

I was on the blind, it was folded round to the button who raised 3k, with 1900 remaining. I had AJ, read him for a steal and put him in for the other 1900. He called with 86 offsuit and hit 2 8s on the flop. I now have 11,600.

Hand #2

Very next hand, on the button (1500 ante), folded round to cut-off who raises 1500+4500. I have AKs, and reraise all-in another 5600, knowing he will raise in late position with any decent Ace or any pair. He calls and turns over AQ off, hits a Queen on the flop and I am out.

On my way home, I worked out that I could expect to lose both hands about 1 in 10 times, so I was a bit unlucky.

Having thought about it more, I wonder if I could have done anything different eg. mucking the AKs and waiting for a spot where I could be the raiser?

Any thoughts?

BTW, this post is NOT intended to seek sympathy - I realise there is luck involved in the game.

Anything I should consider in the future? I wish to improve my game.

[Al_Capone_Junior]

No way you play either hand different. You had the ideal situation twice, second guessing because you got unlucky will only hurt your game, not help it.

al

[FeliciaLee]

I agree 100%. No fault in your play whatsoever. Of course, this is coming from a rank amateur /forums/images/icons/blush.gif

Yesterday in a tourney I went from hero to zero in three hands myself. /forums/images/icons/confused.gif I was head's up, had second place outchipped 11:1. In three hands out of about six, he had me outkicked with the same holding. Head's up, usually the kicker is not so important, I have found, but in this instance, we just happened to hold the same cards, yet he had a higher kicker each time, and the kicker always played.

I am so aggressive HU that I went from having 11:1 chip lead, to being out of the tourney in 2nd place, in three hands.

Would I have played it any differently today, given what I already know? Nope.

I am not the world's greatest HU player, nor am I even good at it yet, but aggression has put me in the money more times than not.

[Rickfish]

This may sound stupid but in the early days of trying to improve my tournament play I wrote "never call a raise". I know you raised rather than called but a raise when the original raiser can't fold is really the same as a call.

Let's make things simple and say someone goes all-in for 6000 and you have 10000 chips. Call or fold? If you call you have 2 ways to lose, either you have the worst hand or you might be unlucky. Do you want to cripple yourself? I prefer the situation when someone has 10000 chips and I have the same and when they raise to 1500 I re-raise and they have a big decision (assuming that 10000 is a lot of chips to lose). I have made this move on AK and been shown QQ as they fold it. I am saying that it is OK to fold and retain your chip position - especially in a live tournament. I'd say my best run of live tournament results was at a time when I was prepared to make great folds.

Anyone who plays on Pokerstars will disagree though. Sometimes pokerstars tournaments seem like coin-flipping competitions.

[fnurt]

You have to defend your blinds when you get real hands though. These were perfect situations to play back.

[gunbuster]

No faults with your play at all, just unlucky. I do find though, that players are more likely to call your big-reraises if you've just taken a bad beat. They often (incorrectly vs a solid player) think that your steaming. But no way that I'd be laying down AKs in that position unless the other player was the tightest rock in the universe. The money is shallow, blinds are high and you still need to eliminate 7 more players before the final table. I'm gonna be happy to get my chips in these situations.

I try not to think twice about situations where I get all in with the best. Like someone else says, dwelling on this will weaken your play. Instead, I focus on the hands where I was definitely more in the grey area and felt I may have played it wrong.

[Wardfish]

I agree with the point along the lines of "a re-raise where they must call is the same as a call", but feel that in this situation (high blinds compared to stack sizes), laying down when either a big favourite or small dog is not a good move.

Thanks for all your responses.