$215 blind play

[DarrenX]

Comments on all streets welcome. BB seems decent, got his stack early from what looked like his opponent's donk play.

***** Hand History for Game 2479582636 *****
15/30 Tourney Texas Hold'em Game Table (NL) (Tournament 14554452) - Thu Aug 04 23:02:28 EDT 2005
Table Table 12343 (Real Money) -- Seat 1 is the button
Total number of players : 10
Seat 1: Kaila (975)
Seat 2: DarrenX (890)
Seat 3: MichaelN07 (1420)
Seat 4: PlayDontChat (1000)
Seat 5: sherrie113 (940)
Seat 6: coach257 (1290)
Seat 7: tsunama (590)
Seat 8: XXXgames (975)
Seat 9: Toothpicky (945)
Seat 10: Ramboncter (975)
DarrenX posts small blind (10)
MichaelN07 posts big blind (15)
** Dealing down cards **
Dealt to DarrenX [ 8s, Kd ]
PlayDontChat folds.
sherrie113 folds.
coach257 folds.
tsunama folds.
XXXgames folds.
Toothpicky folds.
Ramboncter folds.
Kaila folds.
DarrenX calls (5)
MichaelN07 checks.
** Dealing Flop ** : [ 7s, 2d, 8c ]
DarrenX bets (40)
MichaelN07 raises (125) to 125
DarrenX raises (260) to 300
MichaelN07 calls (175)
** Dealing Turn ** : [ As ]
DarrenX bets (575)
DarrenX is all-In.

[Matt R.]

(Saw your other post, figured I'd reply to this one too.)

I wrote a response saying I liked the line, but it seemed risky. After thinking about it some more, I'm not sure I like the turn push. Once you re-raise him and he calls, I think the likelihood of him having 2-pair or better will be very high. I think you're beat a good % of the time here. An alternate line that I like is just calling his flop raise, then leading out on the turn. Fold to a re-raise. If he's really not scared of the ace, you'll know this way without risking your whole stack.

I think raising preflop may make this hand easier as well. I'd probably raise about 1/2 the time.

[junkmail3]

Here's my line:

Complete.
Check/fold unless you hit two pair or trips.

[curtains]

I don't overbet the pot on the flop. With this hand you dont want to let the pot size get out of control. If you bet 20-30, it's likely the opponents raise will be smaller and thus easier to deal with. When you overbet the pot, suddenly the raises become larger and put you in tougher situations. The pot just isn't large enough for me to start making overbets trying to protect it as much as possible.

[DarrenX]

[ QUOTE ]

I don't overbet the pot on the flop. With this hand you dont want to let the pot size get out of control. If you bet 20-30, it's likely the opponents raise will be smaller and thus easier to deal with. When you overbet the pot, suddenly the raises become larger and put you in tougher situations. The pot just isn't large enough for me to start making overbets trying to protect it as much as possible.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ah, the recurring theme of building a pot with a marginal hand. Seems it's my MO... I think early in a SNG I tend to play looser/faster than most posters here because I'm not 8-tabling (just 2), and I'm an action junkie. Maybe a nice monitor built for 4-tables will slow me down... good advice on keeping the pot small- thanks.

[DarrenX]

[ QUOTE ]
(Saw your other post, figured I'd reply to this one too.)

I wrote a response saying I liked the line, but it seemed risky. After thinking about it some more, I'm not sure I like the turn push. Once you re-raise him and he calls, I think the likelihood of him having 2-pair or better will be very high. I think you're beat a good % of the time here. An alternate line that I like is just calling his flop raise, then leading out on the turn. Fold to a re-raise. If he's really not scared of the ace, you'll know this way without risking your whole stack.

I think raising preflop may make this hand easier as well. I'd probably raise about 1/2 the time.

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks Matt- For the record, I'd say 75% of the time I raise preflop.

Looking back, this was an "ego" hand, which isn't the way you should be playing poker. In the end, he took his whole time bank and folded. Me big and strong... ugh. [img]/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]