Party 10+1 some hands for review, still having trouble

[adam61]

Ok real quick recap. I played about 400 party $10+1s ended up with a -3% ROI and on AleoMagus' suggestion I moved to Stars to get more tourney time/$ spent on tourneys. I played 350 or so there with a 22% ROI. But the idea was to move back to party eventually. So I moved back and I've been trying to finally get these stupid things down but still having some trouble. The first 160 I did pretty well (relatively) with a 16% ROI. Then I took about 2 weeks off, and in the last 50(210 total) my ROI has dropped from 16% to 6%. I've always been told you usually do quite well after a break but oh well. It takes a pretty bad streak to drop it that much. So I wanted to give my overall stats for the 213 I've played since returning to party and also I wrote down my last 10 hands I've been knocked out on for review. I really appreciate any comments on overall stats or on individual hands.

ROI: 6.3%
ITM: 37.2%
1st: 11%
2nd: 12%
3rd: 14%
4th: 12%
5th: 9%
6th: 12%
7th: 10%
8th: 5%
9th: 11%
10th: 4%

Most of those 9ths came lately not sure about those a bad mix of good hands early and a little bit of bad play but nothing just retarded of me. Obviously the ROI is about 25% below where I really wanted it to be by now. I've played 1000 SNGs now I feel like I should at least be confident I'm a positive player by now. Ah well, onto the hands.
My hand is always listed first.

Hand 1 (4th): AA vs A5o, 2 folds I move in for 1200 from the SB BB who has 2700 calls and a couple of 5s hit and I'm out.

I decided to start recording how I got knocked out BEFORE this tourney started, just a coincidence I went down one of the worst possible ways. I was a 90/10 favorite here, and save slowplaying I think this was played right.

Hand 2 (2nd): 2500 Chips left I'm in SB with Q5o vs A6o I raised all-in from SB and he called and I lost.

I had started HU 4500/3500 and due to a mixture of horrible cards and his bigtime aggression I had basically been grinded down here. I assumed he thought I was waiting for good hands so would fold most things to an all-in. I was wrong. I also thought Q5 would be less likely to be dominated if he did call. I think this was an OK move but not great, I really thought he would fold.

Hand 3 (7th): 850 Chips, LP with KQs vs QQ raised to 250 into 25/50 blinds. I was reraised to 400 by BB and called. Flop came J74 Rainbow and he checks and I push for 450 and he calls for nearly his whole stack.

I put him on a weaker hand than that but still I was probably overaggressive here. These moves are probably costing me a good bit of ROI even though I don't make them that often.

Hand 4 (5th): 1600 chips and I'm in the BB. I have KJs vs A2o. He calls and I raised to 400 on 50/100 blinds. He reraised to 700 and I called. Flop comes Q75 I immediately move all-in, he thinks for 3 seconds and calls. I had been pretty tight to this point and with my raising I was thinking I could knock him off almost anything, again I was wrong here. I'm rarely this aggressive but I also get blinded out in 4th a lot. Probably not the best move I've ever made but my read was right and he called anyway.

Hand 5 (8th): 750 chips I'm in MP with KQs vs ATo I raise to 90 into 15/30 blinds and get 4 callers. Flop comes Q73 rainbow 3 people check I bet 250 and next guy raises all-in I call and he catches an ace.

I coulda maybe folded here for fear of a set or AQ but when I get that weak-tight I take 4th a ton. What's my move here?

Hand 6 (5th): 600 chips on the button with 150/300 blinds. I have K7s vs KJo I push and SB folds BB calls and out I go.

This was a situation where I'd been playing tight the whole tourney, limped in twice with medium PPs early that turned into nothing and other than that had folded every hand. I was hoping for some respect but it was only 300 to the BB I woulda called too. Should I have waited?

Hand 7 (8th): 300 chips blinds 25/50 I'm in MP raise to 150 with JTs vs AKs who just calls. Flop comes AJ4 I push and lose.

I was already close to commited here and when I hit I decided to push. I got down to 300 chips by losing with AK vs KT when a K hit and a T.

Hand 8 (1st): I won basically with 5 left I won a coinflip 88 vs ATo. then took out 4th place with 99 vs K8o. Then a guy had been using the all-in strat for 20 hands straight, went all-in on 16 of the last 20 hands and he was the big stack along with me. I got QQ in the small blind raised him all-in he called immediately with A2o and I had 7200 vs 800 going into HU which I won pretty quickly.

Hand 9 (2nd): Started off in the hole 3000/5000 won 3 hands in a row and was up 7400/600. He then beat me 7 out of 8 hands, I felt pretty much powerless.

Hand 10 (3rd): 800 chips left on the button with Q9s. I push all in against 150/300 blinds SB folds big stack calls with T8o. He catches an 8 and I'm out in third.

I was about to take a BB for half my chips I had a decent hand and some chance to just steal, I felt pretty good about this.

[Bobby Digital]

[ QUOTE ]

7th: 10%
8th: 5%
9th: 11%
10th: 4%


[/ QUOTE ]

This is my guess. The number of high finishes seems like a large percentage. Not so much the 7th but there are a lot of 9ths. Perhaps you are playing too many hands early on.

Usually when I accumulate chips early on in the 10s I hold a very big hand preflop. Most of my out of the money finishes are around 5th, 6th, and 7th. Where I had either failed to hit a large double up, or failed on a big steal. Everytime I lose this way though I feel I could of made the money had I been successful. I also put myself in a position so that when I get lucky it usually results in a money finish.

What books have you read? I'm not an expert on tournament books but I'm sure someone can make a recommendation. Theory of Poker helped me a lot.

Edit: Hand 3 I'm raising to 150 and folding to the reraise, depending on the player.

[gergery]

Looks to me like you are playing too many middling hands too aggressively. Three suggestions:

1) get pokertracker
2) download your tournament hand histories and go thru them. You can draw conclusions like "if i had bet here, i'd have been favorite or he'd have folded, etc.", and you can also see which hands you lose too much on.
3) Read and study some good books. I like Ciaffone's Middle Limit Holdem best. Even tho its geared for limit, its the best book out there for indepth reasoning behind different hand situations with 400+examples. It's helped me refine what i should be thinking about in given situations.

I'll also go thru summaries and give myself a "% of good decisons score", with the more objective aftermath view. My bad placings 5th-7th tend to have a few bad decision hands for large chip amounts in them, usually bluffing too much.

--Greg

[Gandor]

[ QUOTE ]
Hand 3 (7th): 850 Chips, LP with KQs vs QQ raised to 250 into 25/50 blinds. I was reraised to 400 by BB and called. Flop came J74 Rainbow and he checks and I push for 450 and he calls for nearly his whole stack.

[/ QUOTE ]

This hand stands out to me as a big example. Why raise to 5x BB? The only people who will play have you beat. Raise to 2.5 to 3xBB and fold to the reraise.

[ QUOTE ]
I put him on a weaker hand than that but still I was probably overaggressive here. These moves are probably costing me a good bit of ROI even though I don't make them that often.

[/ QUOTE ]

What weaker hands to you put him comming over the top of such a large PF raise?

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Hand 4 (5th): 1600 chips and I'm in the BB. I have KJs vs A2o. He calls and I raised to 400 on 50/100 blinds. He reraised to 700 and I called. Flop comes Q75 I immediately move all-in, he thinks for 3 seconds and calls.

[/ QUOTE ]

Why? Is this heads up against the small blind? Even still, KJs is again not strong enough to A. raise that much, and B. call a reraise. Take the free flop, and win it post flop. If there is a leak I've seen to often, it's being stubborn in the blinds.



[ QUOTE ]
Hand 5 (8th): 750 chips I'm in MP with KQs vs ATo I raise to 90 into 15/30 blinds and get 4 callers. Flop comes Q73 rainbow 3 people check I bet 250 and next guy raises all-in I call and he catches an ace.

[/ QUOTE ]

After the flop, you have T660 left. The pot has T360. A pot sized bet here is more than half your stack. Just push! Your smallish bet might have been seen as weakness by your opponant and gave him reason to try to bluff you out of the pot.

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Hand 7 (8th): 300 chips blinds 25/50 I'm in MP raise to 150 with JTs vs AKs who just calls. Flop comes AJ4 I push and lose.

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I don't think this is the hand you want to get all-in with. With T300 in MP and this blind level I think you can wait for better. When you do decide to play, it's for all your chips.