Time to start playing weak/tight early?

[Fredrik]

Busted out early in two consecutive tournaments now.
Is there something wrong with my reasoning?

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed) converter

UTG+1 (t960)
UTG+2 (t1600)
MP1 (t1290)
MP2 (t1000)
MP3 (t970)
Hero (t1285)
Button (t975)
SB (t940)
BB (t1085)
UTG (t950)

Preflop: Hero is CO with A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
<font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, UTG+1 calls t15, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP1 calls t15, MP2 calls t15, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font><font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t55</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, SB calls t45, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, UTG+1 calls t40, MP1 calls t40, MP2 calls t40.

Raised it 4BB, for me it's standard this early.

Flop: (t287.50) K[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], K[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(5 players)</font>
SB checks, UTG+1 checks, MP1 checks, MP2 checks

This is a great flop, but I don't want to scare people away. So a small raise should be good. Especially as everyone checked to me.

<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t65</font>, SB folds, <font color="#CC3333">UTG+1 raises to t130</font>, MP1 folds, MP2 folds

What? I just got check-raised! Have I found the other king and villain put me on a bluff? Nevermind, I have the A. Let's put him in place.

<font color="#CC3333">Hero raises to t425</font>, UTG+1 goes all-in for another [t775].

Great. He's all-in. However, I must call...

Hero calls t480. Villain shows 55.

Should I have just called his c-r? Should I have folded when he check-raised me? Or was there just no way I could get out of that hand? Even if I had checked, I would have burned the rest of the money on the turn and river no matter what came up.

Second hand, three (3!) hands into the tournament:

Party Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t15 (10 handed) converter

Button (t940)
SB (t940)
Hero (t970)
UTG (t940)
UTG+1 (t1595)
UTG+2 (t925)
MP1 (t1000)
MP2 (t970)
MP3 (t780)
CO (t940)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
UTG calls t15, <font color="#CC3333">UTG+1 raises to t30</font>, <font color="#666666">1 fold</font>, MP1 calls t30, <font color="#666666">5 folds</font>

A9o in the BB. Fold pre-flop? I don't think so. 15 more to see a 105 pot?

Hero calls t15, UTG calls t15.

Flop: (t127.50) Q[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img], 5[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 9[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(4 players)</font>

Queen is scary, so is the flush draw. Let's put in a probe bet that will scare away any flushdraws and see if anyone has a Q.

<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t90</font>, UTG folds, UTG+1 calls t90, MP1 folds.

Turn: (t307.50) Q[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>

Damn, Q again. Let's slow down with a probe bet less than the pot this time:

<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t150</font>, UTG+1 calls t150.

River: (t607.50) 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] <font color="#0000FF">(2 players)</font>

Trips gave me full-house. What to do here? Pot is 610, I have 700 left. Any bet will make me basically pot-commited. The obvious play here is check/fold. There isn't any hand that I can beat that he isn't going to fold.

Did I? No...

<font color="#CC3333">Hero bets t300</font>, UTG+1 calls [t1325].

Get out here and still have 400 chips left to play for? Or just go home early?


Some day I will learn to think and beat this game...

[TheDrone]

I hope the subject line is a rhetorical question.

Hand 1: Raise more preflop because you don't want to price in the blinds and the limpers. Other than that, you played it just fine and you should be happy to see all the chips go in. A weaker K will show up much more often than 55.

Hand 2: Preflop and flop are OK, although I prefer to check-call the flop and check-raise the turn if a 9, A, or club shows. If you bet the flop, you should shut down on an unimproved turn (a Q does not improve your hand). River bet is horrible. You are very unlikely to get action from worse hands.

[Stretch002]

I agree with the above poster.

At a party low-stakes game I will normally raise this to at around 100 chips maybe 150 if lots of limpers. It is an overbet for sure, but usually the small pocket pairs will fold. Not always though...otherwise you played it fine.

Second hand seems to be a clear check and fold to a bet although an argument can be made to see if the flush draw pans out cheaply. I would not say 90 chips is cheap though!

[captainzodiac]

the more weak/tight players the better,please do!