How Not To Suck When It’s Hand For Hand & You Have Chips
We’re down to 11 people in a 100 person NL HE MTT. We’ve been playing for almost 5 hours now. The blinds are 3000-6000 and it’s hand for hand. I’ve had some nice pocket pairs that have brought my stack up to a healthy 63000 at this point. I’ve picked up some small pots with decent hands to add to my stack too. I’m playing well and turning up lucky when I need it.
I’m UTG with 6 people remaining at my table. I look down at J-J. I decide to make a large raise here of 25000 to hopefully just steal the blinds or get a small stack to push. (This was my thinking at the time anyway). Unfortunately, I get called by UTG+1 and everyone else folds. UTG+1 has a similar stack size to mine. The flop brings 8-Q-3 rainbow. I’m first to act. I look at my opponent and smile. He laughs and shrugs. I decide he does not have a Q and I push for my remaining 38000. He struggles with a decision but finds himself forced to call. I was correct. He did not have a Q. Before I reveal my horrible mistake, he asks, “Pocket Queens?” Any good player would have gracefully said yes and had taken down a huge pot and moved into the payout and the chip lead. I say, “No, worse.” He shows his A-A and I announce that I’m probably the worst player in the world. I obviously do not catch a J and bring down my safe chip stack to just 2000. I double up again but then find myself out on the bubble in 11th.
I’m so disgusted at my play that I’m sick to my stomach. A player on the rail reminds me that I could have been in the bathroom and coasted to the final table and the payout. I didn’t need to play those Jacks so strongly. I just didn’t. I must have been on a chip tilt. It’s the only explanation for playing them so strongly. It was so unnecessary. Looking back (at one of the worst things I’ve ever done-haha), I realize that a correct and safe play would have been just a simple raise of 2x the blind would have sufficed. Any strong play back from my opponent would have made me fold.. remembering that we were hand for hand. Also, as soon as the Queen fell on the flop I could have gotten away from it. However, with a raise that was about a 1/3rd of my stack I felt committed- even though I wasn’t and still could have folded there and made the payout. I really played that badly. It’s just such a shame to play well for 5 hours and then to throw it all away on the bubble.
Tells and my people reading skills are what drive a good part of my decisions. Now, in this case of hand for hand play I learned a painful lesson about tells and how they relate to survival and making the money. When I made my huge raise I was making a mistake because of how unnecessary that particular amount was. I then put my opponent on A-K based on his reluctant but necessary call under the hand for hand circumstances. Once the Q fell I saw in his face he didn’t have it. My goal was to put him for all his chips and have him fold the A-K, rather than him betting into me and my weak check. He was again reluctant to call because he was sure his bad luck made his A-A get cracked by trip Queens. But how can he fold A-A? Of course, no matter what, at least he was going to end up going out with A-A, so he had to call. My reading was distorted by the pressure of survival at this crucial moment in the tournament.
I know I won’t be making that mistake again. Of course, I never thought I’d do it in the first place.. but now I know I can be a victim of “chip tilt” and mixed tells. Luckily, this was just a $60 poker lesson. Ah, NL HE… got to love the swings. After all, isn’t that why we play the game?
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Comments
That just hurts. I feel your pain. I cant image why AA didnt raise you pre flop. Maybe if he had you could have laid down JJ and none of this would have happened. Still I would rather make a bad bet than a bad call, at least you went down swinging.
Tough hand to go out on. Any chance you would have stood a re-raise with JJ, or would you throw it away this close to the final table?
Just posted on my own trouble with JJ out of position. Forget AK, I’m convinced that JJ is the single hardest hand to play in NL, especially out of position.
http://www.pokersift.com/verstehen/pocket-jacks-out-of-position-the-problems-never-end/
I would have folded to a reraise. He wasn’t the type of player that would have been pushing me around. He would have been telling me he had AA or KK.
JJ is officially my most hated hand…haha.. If I keep telling myself that maybe it will help me fold it in future tough situations.
I feel your pain with JJ. I think we all have been there in MTT’s with that hand. JJ seems to run into bigger pairs and KK always gets sucked out on by AK or AQ it seems like. Your play was not horrible and probably would never had happened if the player with AA had reraised. He played it very coy and it paid off for him. I like the raise pre-flop even though it was kinda large. I wonder if you had made it 2.5 to 3 times if he would have come over the top of you but it sounds like he was planning on trapping regardless of the raise.
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Bad luck, strange that he didnt push pre. You shouldnt get down at yourself if you were still willing to play your game and take risks to accumulate chips rather than limp into the money. 1st place money is usually worth it.