How to play NL hold'em in a tournament?

[Hung]

Hellow,

I wonder how this hand should be played. Bad beat happens quite often. But why doesn't it happen to the very best players? They always manage to built up their stack and make a come back. They always make the right decission at the right moment.
Last week-end I played a little tournament in Holland 14 players. Unlimitted buy-in during the first hour. $20 buy-in and after one hour $15 add-on.
I was first to speak and I raise the blind (10-20) with 200 (holding JJ). Person next to me folds and someone else went all-in. Everyone else folds (7 players in total). I still have the average amount of chips. If there would be no unlimited buy-ins I would have never called his all-in. But the guy pushing all-in had just won an all-in and I thought he was pushing me out. I had to call. So I did call his all-in. He was holding 10 10. Was is good to call this? What if there were no unlimited buy-ins? That means I would bust out if I lose this hand. I did lose the hand. He flopped a ten. It's a bad beat, who cares about the bad beat? I could have been out of the tournament. I just got myself a rebuy and I was back on track. If he had QQ, KK or AA I would have lost too. But how do you know if you took the best decission. This time I took the best decission.
Later that night I got the same hand. No buy-ins possible anymore. I was low on chips. Blinds were about 80-160. Someone raises blinds with 500 (half of my stack) and I raise him all in (1000). He calls with 33. JJ vs 33. I lost again. He flopped a three.
It wasn't a mistake from the other player. I was low on chips and I was bb. So he could have thought that I wanted to steal the blinds.
My question remains, why doesn't this happen to the best players?

[Ed Miller]

It of course happens to the best players. Not that I'm even a good player, but last tourney I played... I went out with KK against someone who spiked a set on the turn with JJ.

[bernie]

kinda funny

"If there would be no unlimited buy-ins I would have never called his all-in....Later that night I got the same hand. No buy-ins possible anymore...Someone raises blinds with 500 (half of my stack) and I raise him all in"

you kinda answered your own question here. on thing about n/l, why bet more than youd be willing to call. the guy bet 1/2 your stack, you dont think he'll call another 500.

i think you have a point when the rebuys are possible, but when they arent, you have to play much tighter when the bets get this big and you could be out of the tourney. maybe you had a read on the player that you thought he would fold. by this time you should know how a player values certain hands...hindsight, it was a good preflop call, but beforehand? i wouldve folded unless i thought the guy was trying to bully the table...or steal from LP.

how vulnerable is JJ? if i go all in, ill try to on the flop. if no overcard hits...

here's a hand, long ago, that taught me alot about JJ...

couple limpers to me, i go allin, get 4 callers....which i knew sucked....
they held...Ax, Ax, KQ, TT. any card T or higher i lose. sure its 10 outs, but it kind of put it into perspective a little for me.

you may be overvaluing the hand a little...many players overvalue AK in n/l. i see many go allin with it. ignoring what others may be going allin with against them.

ive found good practice is to play lo-buys/fake money n/l tourneys on the web. it really does help with the feel of the game...i do this alot before playing a live tourney.

bad beats....will happen more to better players, since better players will not call with the worst of it too often. they will have folded.

and then swear/bitch and moan when theyre 2 outer hits the turn [img]/forums/images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

not sure if this was what you were lookin for...hope it helps..

b

[Trefo]

Bad beats happen in tournaments...YOu had JJ and he had 33 your a huge favorite heads up in that situation...i would've played it the same....Only problem is it was your whole stack.....your betting strategy is your only problem not your cards.....You should read some good n/l tournament books from Cloutier and CIaffone.

[Hung]

kinda funny
"If there would be no unlimited buy-ins I would have never called his all-in....Later that night I got the same hand. No buy-ins possible anymore...Someone raises blinds with 500 (half of my stack) and I raise him all in"

You're right. But I was low on stack. And I knew he was going to call me. But I wanted him to call me. I don't think he would have AA, KK or QQ. I smaller pair or AK was ok for me. I just had bad luck that he got his 3. I thought there was a special way to play NL tournaments. I just ordered a book at amazon on NL Hold'em tournament. I'll read it and afterwards i'll try again. Maybe better luck next time. Thanks for the replies.