Sweating Right Now

Stack: largest 172926, smallest 4416, average 40062
Your current position is 9 out of 72
Time bank balance is 30 seconds
in 14 min blinds 1500/3000 ante 300
For more information see Tournament Lobby

I’d likely fold the tens

Stack: largest 257965, smallest 4871, average 57690
Your current position is 18 out of 50
Time bank balance is 30 seconds
in 12 min blinds 2000/4000 ante 400
For more information see Tournament Lobby

57000 chips…leader has 248000

thanks Murf

Playing very tight right now…the chip leader has called every all in and has sucked out 3x in a row with bruttle hands like A8suited (hits the flush) vs. JJ and Ak.

Decide to only play premium hands for full pop … will be called otherwise.

KJ vs. 1 caller and then another caller (big stack) what to do….KJ suited is not strong enough…I fold, they turn over A10 and AQ respectively. The chip leader donates 25k to the cause…Donkey.

Stack: largest 218370, smallest 19911, average 73961
Your current position is 27 out of 39
Time bank balance is 30 seconds
in 4 min blinds 2000/4000 ante 400
For more information see Tournament Lobby

50480 chips with blinds rising rapidily…all in stage soon.

Decide to fold A6 suited positon 6…with back stack calling everything - there’s a chance he’d call it down.

Stack: largest 214470, smallest 16011, average 80125
Your current position is 31 out of 36
Time bank balance is 30 seconds
in 2 min blinds 2000/4000 ante 400
For more information see Tournament Lobby

Blinds are eating my stack … nothing going on.

Lost about 1/3 of my stack to a set of 555. I had A2 on a board of A K 8 5 3…called a min bet then a 3X raise on the river. Again - the big stack takes me down. Down to 34k chips…..

Pushed my 22 aggressively UTG…a little risky but considering I have a TIGHT image and only played that one hand (like a puss) I think the table thinks I am ultra tight.

Stack: largest 214470, smallest 16011, average 80125
Your current position is 31 out of 36
Time bank balance is 30 seconds
in 2 min blinds 2000/4000 ante 400
For more information see Tournament Lobby

Pushed my QJ suited against the big stack - he knows I know he calls everything - so I thinked it freaked him out when I pushed on the button. He lays down.

Also pushed K10 SB vs. BB. Pot is now 10k each hand. I sit at 50k

I sit 23rd, and on most nights I would be exhausted playing four hours to get here. But not tonight. I had a premonition that I would win. I thought about it all day… I slept this afternoon. I WILL CLOSE THIS DOWN….

Stack: largest 258916, smallest 34214, average 106833
Your current position is 24 out of 27
Time bank balance is 30 seconds
in 1 min blinds 2500/5000 ante 500
For more information see Tournament Lobby

45380 Not getting any cards right now. Chip leader who plays ultra loose sits 2 down to my right and I hope to get in a hand with him as he donates a ton of chips.

I’ll rail you a while. Not long I am beat

k6 in sb goes for it - i raise all in….lost.

*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to bigbamboom 9♠ A♥
Bowsercastle: folds
3cows: folds
SLOtown72: folds
Elo and AG: folds
Mikahakfin: folds
matadork: folds
mrs skillda: raises 10000 to 15000
bigbamboom: raises 28980 to 43980 and is all-in
mrs skillda: calls 18780 and is all-in
*** FLOP *** K♥ 8♦ 3♣
*** TURN *** K♥ 8♦ 3♣ T♣
*** RIVER *** K♥ 8♦ 3♣ T♣ K♣
*** SHOW DOWN ***
mrs skillda: shows K♦ 6♦ (three of a kind, Kings)
bigbamboom: shows 9♠ A♥ (a pair of Kings)
mrs skillda collected 71560 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 71560 | Rake 0
Board K♥ 8♦ 3♣ T♣ K♣
Seat 1: mrs skillda (small blind) showed K♦ 6♦ and won (71560) with three of a kind, Kings
Seat 2: bigbamboom (big blind) showed 9♠ A♥ and lost with a pair of Kings
Seat 3: Bowsercastle folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 4: 3cows folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 5: SLOtown72 folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 6: Elo and AG folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 7: Mikahakfin folded before Flop (didn’t bet)
Seat 8: matadork (button) folded before Flop (didn’t bet)

Not over - have 10k left….24th place. FIGHTING TILL THE END>

Just like a young man coming in for a quickie - I feel so unsatisfied.

94 on the button - all in - vs. KJ. Flop comes K 9 7 Giving me some life. A blank on the turn and it comes down to a 9 or a 4 to keep this tournament alive - and WHAMMO…..a K comes. All over.

Well, I tried. If anything the one stand vs. K6 BB vs. SB was my defining moment. Perhaps if I catch I go on to place in some decent money.

Finished 23rd out of 1967…..not good enough - I really thought tonight I was going to capture my first tournament title. I felt that good.

Sorry all. I was hoping this would be an awesome ending to a little different blog for me.

There is no way I’m ever putting in the third raise with 10s unless I am planning on stealing or I have a monster read on a guy.

I don’t play a lot of tournaments and I don’t know if you care about my unsolicited advice, but from reading your HHs, it sounds like you could benefit a lot from utilizing fold equity and the gap concept more. I would much rather be entering pots for a raise in late position with any two cards than calling raises behind with marginal hands and hoping to hit flops. Your M is under 4 by the time you get it in with A9 and it was a good play and all by you that you got unlucky in, but your M should never get that low. But it sounds like you played really well and got unlucky in the end, good luck in the future sorry it didn’t work out for you.

Thanks Azn_Cutie…good advice.

When I thought about the A9 vs. K6 hand is there anyway I fold that hand, based on the fact I am 50-50 in the hand. Would it have been smarter to wait for a big hand, where I have Fold Equity vs. calling a raise.

No, at that stage you are in desperation mode and your hand definitely rates to be the best (basically your opponent is pushing w any two there), so that is an autocall for most players getting the price you are getting (3.4:1!) with your chipstack and his chipstack. You’re not 50/50, you’re going to be probably 60/40 against his range and very very rarely dominated and you need to pick up chips, so yeah easy push or stop and go (call pre and push no matter what the flop).

You cannot wait for a big hand at that point. Of course there are so many styles to playing winning poker but the problem is if you ever let yourself get that low, you are depending on luck so heavily - luck in that you pick up a hand, luck in that when you do, it is the best hand, and luck in that it doesn’t get sucked out on. This is basically what Harrington on Holdem Vol 2 is about - you cannot ever let yourself get so low (M<5) that you don’t have any fold equity. If you fold that hand, your chips become so low that you have no fold equity and when you do pick up a hand or make a move in the next orbit, you are probably going to get called and have to get lucky.

I was originally going to say that it was a 100% no brainer to fold TT to a raise and re-raise… but thinking about it I thought it very odd that players would make that plays they did with AT and KJ that deep into a tournament. The whole thing looked odd and I really couldn’t put my finger on it until later in the post where you put the tournament header and I realized it was a tourney with a $2 entry fee! You really can’t have an intelligent high level discussion about poker in situations where it is a non-standard game (ie. way too loose with way too many weak aggressive players). In these low stakes tourney, I would imagine that you would have a huge edge just being the tightest player at the table. I couldn’t speak for sure, because I have no played in a low limit tournament for years.

In that exact situation… if you had known their cards each of the three hands are about 33% to win. So assuming that they would both call an all in you would be getting exactly 3-1 on a 33% proposition the EV would be a wash. In most tournament situations, you could get your money in with a better EV… so it is best to fold and wait for a better spot.

The bluff that you were so proud of with your second posted hand, in my opinion was a terrible play to risk your tournament life on. What possible made you think that he either didnt have a K or a diamond draw. His two most likely holdings… both of which he would have called you all in with. He called a raise pre-flop, and then called a big flop bet on a scary board (K and 2 d’s). What could he make those two plays with? Now if you have PT on and know that he is a Tazmanian Devil.. maybe you can but him on nothing. But given the situation it sure looked like you were grasping at straws.

The third situation with A9 was a 100% correct play given the circumstance… despite the outcome.

You seem to have some pretty good analysis and some solid thinking, but the only way to get better is to play against the better players. It is time to get out of the kiddie pool and play with the big boys.