200 from 200 then 200 at 200

[Texas Pete]

Journal it be. Lessons for me.
Sorry about the delay. Was sick for more than a day.
Compete when well-- good stories to tell.
Play when infirm-- hard lessons you learn!

[Texas Pete]

Happy happy, joy joy: I've found that by clicking the "This hand #11111111111111" or "Previous hand #1111111111111" in the upper right hand corner of your Party table, you can get individual hand transcripts for review. So you can get transcripts for games that you watch, not only the ones that you play.

[Texas Pete]

Just re-read Sklansky's Tournament Poker book. One of the most excellent principles he speaks of is "only raise hands which you wouldn't mind a re-raise" meaning easy to throw away or call/push. Here is a decent example:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (9 handed) converter

CO(t1035)
Button (t1625)
SB (t970)
BB (t1035)
UTG (t735)
UTG+1 (t1020)
MP1 (t900)
MP2 (t1895)
MP3 (t785)

Preflop:

UTG+1 raises (250) to 250
CO raises (1035) to 1035
CO is all-In.
UTG+1 calls (770)
UTG+1 is all-in.

UTG+1 has Ac Kd (high card, ace).
CO has As Qs (high card, ace).

Flop: (t150) 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(9 players)</font>

Turn: (t150) 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(9 players)</font>

River: (t150) T[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(9 players)</font>

Sklansky also talks about how AK is best all-in.
Why not just push it to begin with here?
Because he's fishin', that's why.
Now that's twice i've seen AQ come over the top a hefty
early raise.
Learn and exploit the "market conditions".

[citanul]

Another lesson to be learned here might be:

Don't come over the top of players whose play is tight and/or respectable from early position with hands that do not play well against raising hands.

Such hands would include AQ and KQ at the top of the list.

Possibly another lesson is: Pay attention to who is doing the raising and from where, and what that means for that individual player. There are plenty of players, even at the 200s, who are raising light from all positions, and even calling of their whole stacks with those holdings when reraised. Isolating those players with AQ or even sometimes KQ can be very, very correct.

On the stack of 1k, it's a tossup much of the time about whether you intend to push preflop or to make a normal raise, from up front. You're right on the edge of the 10 or 8 bb "rule" for pushing preflop as the only raise, but you clearly also don't mind idiots pushing after you with AQ. Most people who would push AQ there will also call a push with it. There's more nuance to go into, but barely, here. I'm a little out of it, but, have just snapped my 1 1st place in 90 tournaments streak, so I'm also a little jazzed!

good luck pete,

citanul

[DonButtons]

Just push with any 2 when the blinds get big whenever it folded to you, it works [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[Mystic]

1 first place in 90 attempts, that's some streak! Do you think your play got worse as this streak continued? Or can you put it all down to variance?

Sorry to hijack the thread but that is one helluva bad streak!

[revots33]

[ QUOTE ]
#2 Call almost any raise from a single player allin giving you 2-1 pot odds if less than 1/3rd of your stack with any 2 cards.

[/ QUOTE ]

Question about this:

I have $5200 in chips, currently in 1st place. A player goes all-in for 1500 after the flop of J-J-8, making $3400 in the pot. Other players fold to me. I have 9-4 offsuit (I saw flop for free as the BB when other players limped). I am supposed to call this?

[wulfheir]

I think daliman is talking about PF.

[revots33]

Oh ok sorry, if it's pre-flop it makes more sense. I'd still have trouble risking almost 1/3 my stack PF with a hand like 9-4 tho. I'd rather the small stack win a small pot then double-up through me. I'm sure I'm wrong, which is probably why I'll never get past the $11 SNGs! [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[citanul]

I don't think that during that streak, I let my mindset actually change the way I played. I mean, I still tried to get the loonies all in preflop against my kings, I just always did so thinking "Well, let's see that ace on the flop! Perfect!" I'm not a big believer in the power of positive thinking as far as it actually having any impact on what cards come on the board.

Mostly, when I look over the games, I have a ton of unlucky busts in 3rd and 4th, many either from getting crippled as the big stack when the 2nd stack makes an insane call, or as the 2nd stack, when the big stack makes a crazy call. Lots and lots of things like folded to me in the small blind, I'm second stack, about 400 behind the chip leader, blinds at 250/500, I push with JJ, he has AK, I lose, or he has AA, I lose. So yeah, basically just lost more coinflips at the wrong times. over the 90 games, my finish detail, for assorted limits, was 1 1st, 12 2nds, 20 3rds, 14 4ths, or something very close to that. Not the greatest ITM or anything, but that includes a few 10s I entered and just pushed every hand (like 3). The ITM is just a bit below my norm, but really, just getting murdered.

Don, Thanks for the advice as well, I did indeed try that strategy for quite a bit a couple weeks ago, and made a killing with it! I think I may have gotten noted, and for some reason, people are just entirely willing to call all in 4 handed with QJ or K4, and always seem to do it at the right time lately [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Last night I started a new account, and played 8 50s, 3 1sts, 3 2nds. Let the healing begin.

Good luck everyone, and thanks for the condolences/help.

citanul