Rook80
03-30-2004, 08:08 PM
As someone who is new to playing NLH tournament, one of the things that I’m finding most challenging to learn is how to make a bet that will maximize the number of chips I can win vs. giving opponents the opportunity to out draw me.
I’m sure this is something everyone struggles with in tourney. I find this problem come into sharp focus when I’m short stacked and need some chips if I want to stay in the tourney much long.
I reason I bring this up is because of a hand that knocked me out of PokerStars tourney this weekend. I was playing in $3 NL Friday night tourney with about 1400+ players. We were down to about 250 players left and the blinds were at 200/400. I only had about 2100 chips and hadn’t had many strong hands to play when I get A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif A/images/graemlins/spade.gif UTG. I decide that I have to make a play to try and double up here or I’d be out of the tourney real soon. Based on who the table was playing, I thought and all-in bet would drive everyone out, same thing for a 3x BB bet. A BB call bet might let too many people in so I decide to raise 1x BB and go all-in after the flop. The next 3 player all call my bet and the 4th player, with 17,000 chips, goes all-in. I call and everyone else folds. At this point I feel great about what has happen. The pot is 5600 chips and I’m heads up with a pair of As. My opponent turns over 7/images/graemlins/heart.gif 7/images/graemlins/spade.gif which is great for me. The flop comes out 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif A/images/graemlins/heart.gif giving me a set and my opponent a flush draw. The turn is 8/images/graemlins/club.gif but river is 6/images/graemlins/heart.gif and he wins with flush.
Although I was out, I was real happy with the way I played the hand. I accomplished exactly what I was hoping for but unfortunately got a bad draw.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the best betting strategies to maximize the number of chips you can win when you hit a big hand? Is always specific to the table your on or can general principle be applied in any setting?
I’m sure this is something everyone struggles with in tourney. I find this problem come into sharp focus when I’m short stacked and need some chips if I want to stay in the tourney much long.
I reason I bring this up is because of a hand that knocked me out of PokerStars tourney this weekend. I was playing in $3 NL Friday night tourney with about 1400+ players. We were down to about 250 players left and the blinds were at 200/400. I only had about 2100 chips and hadn’t had many strong hands to play when I get A/images/graemlins/diamond.gif A/images/graemlins/spade.gif UTG. I decide that I have to make a play to try and double up here or I’d be out of the tourney real soon. Based on who the table was playing, I thought and all-in bet would drive everyone out, same thing for a 3x BB bet. A BB call bet might let too many people in so I decide to raise 1x BB and go all-in after the flop. The next 3 player all call my bet and the 4th player, with 17,000 chips, goes all-in. I call and everyone else folds. At this point I feel great about what has happen. The pot is 5600 chips and I’m heads up with a pair of As. My opponent turns over 7/images/graemlins/heart.gif 7/images/graemlins/spade.gif which is great for me. The flop comes out 2/images/graemlins/heart.gif 5/images/graemlins/heart.gif A/images/graemlins/heart.gif giving me a set and my opponent a flush draw. The turn is 8/images/graemlins/club.gif but river is 6/images/graemlins/heart.gif and he wins with flush.
Although I was out, I was real happy with the way I played the hand. I accomplished exactly what I was hoping for but unfortunately got a bad draw.
Does anyone have any thoughts on the best betting strategies to maximize the number of chips you can win when you hit a big hand? Is always specific to the table your on or can general principle be applied in any setting?