microlimitaddict
07-12-2003, 06:09 PM
most will probably not be all that interested but i've read similar tourney reports...so read away if you're interested. writing all this stuff out can only help to strengthen one's game imo.
okay...so i'm still pretty green and don't play too many multi-table tourneys (although I'll probably be playing more). usually i hang out at the Stars ring-games and have been doing pretty well.....but i tossed in $3 for a NLHE tourney. I've had a history of finishing in the top 10-20% in such tourneys but getting bubbled-out or just barely in the money (get my EF back at least). My own analysis is that I probably play a little bit too tight post-flop and consequently get stuck short-stacked.
Head into this one with a slightly revisd mind-set..
I'm going to get a little more aggressive when I read that I can make a steal with 2nd best pair...and I'll take advantage of position a bit more. If table is agressive then my cards in EP better be really strong to hop in (in this regard I have probably been a bit loose on occasion...having to fold so-so cards to the all-in maniacs who have yet to bet).
477 entrants. more than half out in the first 50 minutes. The all-in pre-flop with K-10 from EP was my personal fave. otherwise, i wasn't paying much attention unless i got playable cards. still, the early suicide rate at things like these are still alarmingly high (and pleasantly high too I might add).
Slow-played a couple of super-strong hands to milk more money out of opponents who mis-read that I was trying to steal. Then I agressively stole a couple of winnable pots with little or nothing when I accurately read the opposition as having nothing also.
After about an hour I was a bit more than doubled-up and somewhere around the median for chips.
Moved up a bit but got nailed later by a river-card.
Short-stacked forever..and in the bottom 5 players when there were 120 players left.
Foldd my high pair when a flush draw appeared (thought about it but didn't want to take the chance). Got shown total garbage by the winner after he took it in which I suspected by his previous play, but I decided to play it safe. Oh well, can't win 'em all.
My KK doesn't take much (one caller and an immediate fold post-flop) but I'm still around for awhile.
Dead last with 70 players left and surprised i made it this far. play a J-9 UTG right before being blinded out (figured it would probably be better then my options on the next two hands).
More than tripled-up when J and 9 appear on the board and I'm still alive.
64th out of 68 remaining and I finally get some winning cards that match the board.
A couple of orbits later I'm in 2nd place with 55 left (2 or 3 big wins can make a huge difference).
One big hand to get there included A-10 suited EP and limp in. A couple more limp-in and then captain-aggressive OTB goes all-in over the top of everyone. Two other players fold and it's back to me. I was ready to toss figuring he had something big to raise everyone like that. Then I remembered a couple of his winning hands and a couple of his bluffs that wound up hitting for him and decided to take a chance. He had been running over a few players more than once. I call and he's got A3o which I proceed to win. A risky but probably justified call based on his previous play. You have to roll the dice sooner or later afterall.
Very next hand get AK and flop is K, rag, rag (2 suited). Bet big to knock out the medium stack and the shorter stack still in the hand. They both call all-in. One guy has K9 or something...the other guy has 2-low suited (may have hit a 2nd pair in there, not sure...or maybe a straight draw with the flush draw). both hit their hands on the river. side-pot goes to the suited guy who hits the flush. main-pot goes to the other guy who hits 2-pair. And I'm back down to 30th out of 50 or so on a bad break. Neither had the odds to justify calling so I'm satisfied I made the right play even if it backfired.
Somewhere in there I drew an all-in raiser who had 10-10 against my QQ and I took it down to move up to 12th or so with 30 remaining.
I don't think I had any big wins after that but I was able to keep taking blinds to reach the final-table. Thankfully, a couple of key times where it looked like a steal attempt I actualy had the cards to make it hold up on the showdown and to justify my raise OTB. My steals weren't challenged a whole lot after that (even when I wanted them to be...har har).
I remember winning 4 or 5 BB's when all the pre-flop limpers folded to my raise with AK. That was good to keep me around for awhile too.
Win a couple of hands and a couple of blinds and move back up to 11th. Somehow make it to the final table and get knocked out in 5th. $75 win for my $3 investment. Not too shabby. And an entry into their Weekly Round 2 free-roll thing....yippee.
While I caught a couple of lucky breaks in there I am also confident that my play was vastly improved although I think I could have grabbed a couple more blinds at the right times...and also could have done a better job once or twice by backing off hands that are clearly not going to be stolen. But for the most part I'm pretty pleased with my instincts.
I probably could have been more aggressive in the final 15 to final 8 players....but whenever I got the cards I couldn't get any callers (and I was probably underbetting...but by that point everyone was extremely tight so i had to do something to try to draw them in, they certainly would not have met an all-in unless holding AA or KK, etc).
While I have some areas to improve on..I am satisfied with my play and with my rate of improvement. I got lucky a couple of times...but I also feel that I chose the right times to try to get lucky on. re: - waiting and waiting through bad cards...folding losing situations despite being short-stacked and then taking the shot with J-9 with time almost out. why take an unjustified gamble (re: throwing in the towel) when you have one or two more orbits to take your big shot?
anyway, that's my NLHE story. kind of fun to be getting the attention as the miracle comeback kid.
i think the best part of my outlook and of my game is that I know I have lot more that I can improve upon and that I'm not letting one positive result convince myself that I am the new "Michael Jordan of poker" as one noteable confident player so aptly described himself.
However, I am currently in the weekly 50FPP tourney right now at Stars and am doing quite well so far. Have been called or raised 3 or 4 different times when I was holding the K or A to complete the flush draw. But alas, now we're down to 80 players (out of 472 entrants) and I'm a bit shortstacked again so it's likely i am not completely past my original malady.
okay...so i'm still pretty green and don't play too many multi-table tourneys (although I'll probably be playing more). usually i hang out at the Stars ring-games and have been doing pretty well.....but i tossed in $3 for a NLHE tourney. I've had a history of finishing in the top 10-20% in such tourneys but getting bubbled-out or just barely in the money (get my EF back at least). My own analysis is that I probably play a little bit too tight post-flop and consequently get stuck short-stacked.
Head into this one with a slightly revisd mind-set..
I'm going to get a little more aggressive when I read that I can make a steal with 2nd best pair...and I'll take advantage of position a bit more. If table is agressive then my cards in EP better be really strong to hop in (in this regard I have probably been a bit loose on occasion...having to fold so-so cards to the all-in maniacs who have yet to bet).
477 entrants. more than half out in the first 50 minutes. The all-in pre-flop with K-10 from EP was my personal fave. otherwise, i wasn't paying much attention unless i got playable cards. still, the early suicide rate at things like these are still alarmingly high (and pleasantly high too I might add).
Slow-played a couple of super-strong hands to milk more money out of opponents who mis-read that I was trying to steal. Then I agressively stole a couple of winnable pots with little or nothing when I accurately read the opposition as having nothing also.
After about an hour I was a bit more than doubled-up and somewhere around the median for chips.
Moved up a bit but got nailed later by a river-card.
Short-stacked forever..and in the bottom 5 players when there were 120 players left.
Foldd my high pair when a flush draw appeared (thought about it but didn't want to take the chance). Got shown total garbage by the winner after he took it in which I suspected by his previous play, but I decided to play it safe. Oh well, can't win 'em all.
My KK doesn't take much (one caller and an immediate fold post-flop) but I'm still around for awhile.
Dead last with 70 players left and surprised i made it this far. play a J-9 UTG right before being blinded out (figured it would probably be better then my options on the next two hands).
More than tripled-up when J and 9 appear on the board and I'm still alive.
64th out of 68 remaining and I finally get some winning cards that match the board.
A couple of orbits later I'm in 2nd place with 55 left (2 or 3 big wins can make a huge difference).
One big hand to get there included A-10 suited EP and limp in. A couple more limp-in and then captain-aggressive OTB goes all-in over the top of everyone. Two other players fold and it's back to me. I was ready to toss figuring he had something big to raise everyone like that. Then I remembered a couple of his winning hands and a couple of his bluffs that wound up hitting for him and decided to take a chance. He had been running over a few players more than once. I call and he's got A3o which I proceed to win. A risky but probably justified call based on his previous play. You have to roll the dice sooner or later afterall.
Very next hand get AK and flop is K, rag, rag (2 suited). Bet big to knock out the medium stack and the shorter stack still in the hand. They both call all-in. One guy has K9 or something...the other guy has 2-low suited (may have hit a 2nd pair in there, not sure...or maybe a straight draw with the flush draw). both hit their hands on the river. side-pot goes to the suited guy who hits the flush. main-pot goes to the other guy who hits 2-pair. And I'm back down to 30th out of 50 or so on a bad break. Neither had the odds to justify calling so I'm satisfied I made the right play even if it backfired.
Somewhere in there I drew an all-in raiser who had 10-10 against my QQ and I took it down to move up to 12th or so with 30 remaining.
I don't think I had any big wins after that but I was able to keep taking blinds to reach the final-table. Thankfully, a couple of key times where it looked like a steal attempt I actualy had the cards to make it hold up on the showdown and to justify my raise OTB. My steals weren't challenged a whole lot after that (even when I wanted them to be...har har).
I remember winning 4 or 5 BB's when all the pre-flop limpers folded to my raise with AK. That was good to keep me around for awhile too.
Win a couple of hands and a couple of blinds and move back up to 11th. Somehow make it to the final table and get knocked out in 5th. $75 win for my $3 investment. Not too shabby. And an entry into their Weekly Round 2 free-roll thing....yippee.
While I caught a couple of lucky breaks in there I am also confident that my play was vastly improved although I think I could have grabbed a couple more blinds at the right times...and also could have done a better job once or twice by backing off hands that are clearly not going to be stolen. But for the most part I'm pretty pleased with my instincts.
I probably could have been more aggressive in the final 15 to final 8 players....but whenever I got the cards I couldn't get any callers (and I was probably underbetting...but by that point everyone was extremely tight so i had to do something to try to draw them in, they certainly would not have met an all-in unless holding AA or KK, etc).
While I have some areas to improve on..I am satisfied with my play and with my rate of improvement. I got lucky a couple of times...but I also feel that I chose the right times to try to get lucky on. re: - waiting and waiting through bad cards...folding losing situations despite being short-stacked and then taking the shot with J-9 with time almost out. why take an unjustified gamble (re: throwing in the towel) when you have one or two more orbits to take your big shot?
anyway, that's my NLHE story. kind of fun to be getting the attention as the miracle comeback kid.
i think the best part of my outlook and of my game is that I know I have lot more that I can improve upon and that I'm not letting one positive result convince myself that I am the new "Michael Jordan of poker" as one noteable confident player so aptly described himself.
However, I am currently in the weekly 50FPP tourney right now at Stars and am doing quite well so far. Have been called or raised 3 or 4 different times when I was holding the K or A to complete the flush draw. But alas, now we're down to 80 players (out of 472 entrants) and I'm a bit shortstacked again so it's likely i am not completely past my original malady.