I have really enjoyed poker this past week. It feels like my semi regular online play in the past couple of months has improved my overall game. I still have a couple of leaks I am working on (2 that I know about - there may be more)
Today's tournament at the Venetian I busted out with the blinds only 50-100 !!! I still had $7,425 of my starting chips and was in the BB with 98o. Five players before the flop which was J107 rainbow. I led out with $300; which was folded around to a guy in late position who bumped it to $1,000. I re-raised to $2,500 as everyone got out of the way. He shoved and I called of course.
He turned over J7 suited (only runner runner makes the flush though)
But as the river was a 7, I was out real early from this tournament.
My question is this. Should I second guess my re-raise? Seems to me I want all the chips in the middle here anyway, but pros hate to get busted early - even on bad beats; so should I have simply called his raise and played conservative? My gut says no, you have to put yourself in position to amass chips and this was a pretty good position to be in.
I note that I could easily have won one (maybe two) of the first two events I played in - especially last night - I can't emphasize enough how enjoyable it was to be at a final table for almost 3 hours.
It was weird cause an English guy left the other table as soon as the bubble was burst and he had a big stack. Around $140,000. He had to catch a plane. So they blinded him down. His stack came to the final table with around $115,000 - which was like second or third stack at the time.
The supervisor would not allow any chopping while his chips were still here. He eventually finished 5th in absentia. At that time we discussed chopping based on chip count.
I had $208,000; villian had $594,000 and the two small stacks had around $60,000 each.
I would get a few hundred less than second place outright - but before I could veto, one of the small stacks vetoed cause she saw no benefit versus playing. (She was right - the OTHER short stack came second at the end of the day)
Another thing I liked was when we got down to the bubble the two tables had agreed each player would pony up $10 so that bubble person would not walk away empty handed - get like $140; and this would eliminate funky bubble play - which it did.(13players were cashing)
Maybe I should be upset - as I "lost" $800 by failing to place second; or the cards hurt me on the final hand to cost me $2,600, but I don't really mind - I am more upset at not getting the W than the $. (weird, eh!)
Must be all the years of playing bridge for no money - just for the W, that bring out that thinking in me.
Not your typical gambler's profile is it??
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Daniel Korbel sent me an excellent email with his thoughts on the hand I was busted early when I flopped a straight, and the villain rivered a full house. Hope he does not mind, but his analysis of what went down is very good and I think worth keeping here beside the blog entry.
Daniel "Some more thoughts on the hand:
The more I think about it the more I am strongly leaning toward just calling on the flop against most players. When your opponent raises you there on that flop, he is representing two pair, a set, or a straight (KQ is also possible). When you reraise your opponent to 2500 in this unraised pot against a field, you are saying that you believe you are a favourite against that range.
Personally, if I felt my opponent was a solid player, he could have only 5 hands: 98, TT, 77, JT, JJ, and most likely TT and JJ are unlikely for the same reason your opponent was unlikely to have those hands.
The reason I think that range is weighted toward 98 is because you are both staring at a potential flopped connected straight, and the more raises that happen, the more likely 98 is. After all, if you don't have it you should be worried your exuberant opponent does.
Basically, your reraise to 2500 might have telegraphed your hand to a more astute opponent and allowed him to play perfectly against you by folding J7 or JT; terrible results for you.
But look what happens if you just call and then check the turn; with his 77, JT, J7, (even AJ or KJ if he's loose), he will have to make a great check behind you to have a chance of not losing his stack on a brick turn (you will probably checkraise all-in but sometimes just call), because you could conceivably have T9, T8, 87, J7, AJ, KQ, and be drawing or way behind, so he will want to bet it.
Yes, occasionally he might check behind, but that is only terrible versus specifically KQ, a small part of his range.
The reason I think it is right to flat call here is because the board is actually not super drawy (compare to the same board with a flush draw or a board of JT9). If there were a flush draw, both your and your opponent's hand ranges expand a lot, and that means you both might raise and reraise a little lighter either with a big draw or to try to protect a made hand like TT or JT. With a flush draw out there it is much easier for people to justify getting it in lighter, "putting" you on a draw when you play it fast or jamming that draw themselves. In addition, with the flush draw out there, there are many more scare cards that can come on the turn which will either kill your action, make your hand second-best, or allow your opponent to outplay you into laying down. A general guideline I often follow is that when there are numerous draws out there and I'm not sure what my opponent has, but I am a favourite against any of them, just get it in and avoid getting outplayed. This is especially true out of position.
Survival is key in tournies, but you need chips to succeed ultimately. You got it in as an 85%favourite early to have twice the chips of everyone else. You show me a poker pro who wouldnt pay a 15% vig to start with a doublestack and I'll show you a fool.
Also, I love your lead of 300. So many players flop huge and either checkraise, tipping their hand, or play it really slowly and get outdrawn or less than max value. With 5 players there was a great chance for you to get a nibble and it is hard for them to put you on the nuts when you bet it.
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