Some questionable hands from the 5k Tournament:
JTs
This one isn't really a questionable one. You more experienced players would
have had the math done in a New York minute. But this is, perhaps, the first
time I actually stopped to do the math, rather than going on a wing and a prayer.
This was early in the tournament. I am 3 off the button with t-5030.
Blinds are 75/150. It's folded to the guy on my right, with
t-2067 he comes in for the minimum raise 300
and I call. Everyone remaining folds. Flop was [5h-Ah-Js]. He
pushes all-in. And I went into the tank.
It was a given that he at least paired his Ace. Next to that was the possibility he'd made a set. I've paired my Jack and I have a flush draw. I did some quick addition on paper (can I have a calculator in Vegas, by the way?) and figured I was getting roughly 2:1 to call. The pot was giving me 2.75:1 - although I didn't know that until I looked at in Poker Tracker. 2:1 sounded good to me, so I called. I got my heart on the river and, sure enough, he flipped over A-T. But he's outta there.
AQ
Final table. Eight remaining. I have t-41,624 - second in chips
and am 2 off the button. Blinds are 500/1000. UTG
limps in, which he did a lot, he was no threat. The next guy makes it t-2300
to go. I came over the top of him and made it t-3600 to go.
The next 2 fold and the button pushes all-in for t-9532. It's
folded to me. And I went deep into the tank. My thought process went something
like this:
"I haven't seen enough of this guy to get a read on him. If he's got a big pair, especially AA - KK - QQ, I'm behind. If he's got AK, I'm behind. If he's got a medium pair - it's a horse race. Calling won't cripple me, but I would lose a healthy lead if I don't win the hand. I'm not calling." Fold. I'm not even certain I would have called that with AK.
And then there was this fiasco, which cost me the tournament and ultimately landed me in fourth:
33
Final table. Four remaining. I have t-32,201 - third
in chips and feeling the hurt. I'd lost a healthy lead a few hands earlier by
a bad beat. I was also feeling the fatigue - we'd been going at it for over
6 hours by now. Looking at the hand now, I know fatigue played a big part in
my mistake here. Blinds are 2000/4000 I'm in the Small
Blind. UTG folds and the Button who
has t-25,090 raises to t-9000.
I thought for a moment. I figured him for a blind steal. Here's where my logic got fuzzy - I was going to re-raise and I think my reasoning was to get him to fold, so I thought the only way I was accomplish that was with a really big re-raise, and so if I'm going to go for a really big re-raise, why not go all-in.
This is completely contrary to my normal strategy. I could count on one hand the number of times I'd pushed all-in in the entire tourney. But, inexplicably, I pushed. He called. My 33 lost to his 55. I had him covered so I was severely crippled and I couldn't recover. I was done a few hands later.
In analysis - if I were to play that over. I should have called, and then made a play on the flop if he showed any weakness. Or, folded. Pushing all-in was a huge and costly mistake.
Your opinion on these hands would be most welcome. Please feel free to do so.
All in all, I played a tight-aggressive tournament. My flop percentage was 22.80%. My most profitable position was on the Button. I paid keen attention to position - more so than I ever have before. I first considered my cards, then my position, then action before me - weighing in what I did or didn't know about my opponent, bet/pot size and then I'd make my decision. It seemed to pay off this time around.
