I'm rusty.
BUT, 2 nights ago I played in a freeroll with 8000 people. In that xchat thingy I proposed an over/under on how long I'd last. I believe Drizz jumped in and set a line at 4 hours.
So, of course, since it was a free roll I was gifted a slew of great cards right off the bat and I chipped up rather handsomely. By the end of the first hour, 5000 players were gone. Let me repeat... end of first hour 5000 players out the door. I wasn't one of them.
The second hour I maintained a better than par stack, however I played some hands I should have left alone. This is a big flaw in my tournament play (one of many) - I take too many chances with marginal holdings, which causes my healthy stacks to go anemic.
That said, though, I was MUCH better at going through the thought process - getting beyond just playing my cards - put the guy on a range of holdings, what does that check mean? weakness? trap? what's the board telling me? what's in the pot? what are my outs? can I put pressure on this guy and get him to fold or is he likely to call no matter what? etc., etc. All the basic stuff, but has yet to become automatic for me (yeah even after all this time - I'm a slow learner).
I took a hit when my pocket jacks ran into pocket queens - we were short handed with several people "sitting out." A new player had just landed at the table a few hands earlier and promptly pushed all-in when first to act. I typed in the chat "lol." She picked up the blinds only. This became her MO for the next several hands. I was eager for a hand to go up against her. I figured her for blatant steals.
Then came my jacks. I raised it up and crossed my fingers. Action got to her and she pushed. Without hesitation I called and she flipped over the queens. Losing that pot brought my stack to sub-par and, thus, I struggled to chip back up.
Toward the bottom of the third hour came what I'lll call a Hand of the Tournament (hereinafter and in perpetuity to be known as HoT for future tourney recaps) had me on (for me) a difficult decision.
I had 6-7 suited and called a pre-flop limp in front of me. The next guy called and the small blind did as well. Then the big blind tripled the bet. Three of us cold called. I was dubious about that call - but I liked the fact I wasn't seeing the flop heads up. The flop gave me a flush draw, gut-shot straight draw and a gut-shot straight-flush draw. In hindsight only, I can tell you my outs numbered 4 for the gutshot, 9 for the flush (but not the nuts), and 1 for the gut-shot straight-flush. 14 outs. Right?
At the time, though, all I knew was I had a bunch of outs. It went check, check to me. I made a stab at the math and figured even by pushing, I was getting better than 3 to 1 from the pot to do so. I put the pre-flop raiser on a big pocket pair first, big over cards second. I did not figure the flop hit him because they were low cards. The checks in front of me smelled of weakness - i.e.: the flop missed them.
Now 14 outs puts me in the unenviable position of about 28% to win the hand (imagine this being stated in a Phil Gordon's voice)... 28% of the pot would've been T-3262. My stack was T-3568. But of course, I didn't have the exact percentage or odds right at my grasp and Phil Gordon wasn't there to help (was probably somewhere working on his roshambo gambits).
But, I thought my on the spot math was close enough and so I pushed. If I got knocked out - at least I'd be out on a (semi) solid decision rather than a wing and a prayer. To my surprise and utter delight, the table folded. That pot took me out of desperation mode and within grasp of getting past par and a shot for the home stretch.
Out of the next 25 hands I took all of the pots I went after which numbered 5-7 pots. On the 26th hand, 75% of my stack disappeared when my top pair second nut flush draw didn't improve and I lost to a flopped third nut flush. I was now back down to below where I was 25 hands previous after winning that HoT.
The blinds and antes were encroaching. Per Harrington, my "M" was in the red zone. The next hand I had J-T offsuit - the hand Abul says is a hand to toss in cash games - I pushed and lost shamefully to a flopped full house. I was out at #264 with 800 people remaining. I didn't make it to hour 4.
I'm not unhappy with the way I played. It was a good and risk-free way to gain some practice. I wish I could say that practice paid off, but NO - I joined the Wheatie tourney Tuesday eve for the first time in a long while (thanks to a SoCo imbibing valentines cherub who made a few phone calls and convinced a tall and lanky Louisianian that I'd be a good bet [neteller has taken it's sweet time clearing my depost, damnit]). Sorry, sweetie, 50% of nuthin' is nuthin.
I got off to a good start, though - good cards and I chipped up a bit. I was maintaining a stack which was at better than par and then I got careless...
And then I got card dead right when my M was in the red zone and fading fast for lack of sustanance. I lasted barely into the second hour.
OH geez, I have such a long way to go in this game.
