Ok, so this isn’t the biggest buy-in tournament Ive ever played, nor was it the biggest field of players I have ever battled against, but I had not played any form of poker in a very long time and I really fancied a bit of a punt.
I drove over to North Camp for a pop at the £30 freeze out no limit hold em tournament. It started at 2pm so I knew one way or another I would be back home for the evening. There were 29 runners with top 4 getting paid.
I played a lot better that day than I thought I would. Usually the players at Sovereigns Poker are very loose but most of them know what they are doing. Often I play a standard tight aggressive game down there and I do ok from playing poker this way.
One of the hands I played was KK in middle position. I’m sat on about 6,000 in chips with blinds at 100/200. It’s folded round to me so I decide to make it 800 to play. I don’t want loose calls from raggy aces as the last thing I want is A4 calling me and catching on the flop. All fold to the button who calls. 234 rainbow on the flop. Button then pushes all in for 2,500. I’m now racking my brains and trying to recall his previous hands. What could he have? Its not A5 as this guy would play it a lot slower. So if its not a made hand then it must be a draw. AK is possible which would mean I face one over card and have one less out. 56 is possible, but then why dump with a made straight? Surely better for him to check it and hope the turn improves my hand so I bet at him. Small pocket pair is possible but why not push all in pre-flop? I decide that if he is on a draw, or has hit TPTK then I am still in front so I call.
My opponent turns over 33 for a set. Ouch. another 4 comes on the turn giving him the house and I tap the table to acknowledge a good catch before starting to count up my chips to pay him. Until another 4 comes on the river and gives me a better full house. Nice! I sent him packing and for once, all those times my opponents have sucked out on me, I get my revenge.
I scrape by the next few levels after the deck goes unbelievably cold for me. No same-suits or anything above a ten for a very long time. Until I pick up AQ in early position. I have a good raise, but because I have been so quiet for so long, the rest of the table respects my raise, all except the BB who flat calls. AQ8 rainbow. It gets checked to me so I put in a pot sized bet. My opponent is a very good player who knows when to raise and when to fold. I can never successfully put him on a hand. Im hoping he is married to a strong ace, even better if he has A8. He raises me back all in for another 2,000 on top which if I pay and lose, I am still in the game as I have him well covered. I insta-call and he flips over AK against my two pair. Another one bites the dust.
A couple more players drop by the wayside and before I know it, I’m playing the bubble. We had already made an agreement at the table that bubble place will get their money back, so essentially I know I’m not going home at a loss. What I wanted however was the win.
Looking round the table there were familiar faces from previous visits to this venue, but no one I knew really well. The guy to the left of me was playing with a PKR card guard and he looked like he still lives at home. This screamed novice player to me and as I watched him play I noticed he was a very tight player. So tight that a few hands before the bubble he was short stacked to 4 BBs and HAD to push UTG. I thought he was just making a move and I unfortunately doubled up his JJ vs my AQ.
We are playing 5 handed and the blinds are getting very, very harsh. I’m struggling to defend my blind and I am running low on chips. I’m down to about 3.5 BBs and now sitting on the SB. It’s not looking good – I know I need to make a move sometime soon. Tight PKR player on my left was consistently giving up his blind to even the slightest amount of pressure so I thought I would steal it given the chance. Fold, fold, fold, just me and the BB. So as not to give anything away, I pretend to look my my cards and push all in. I don’t care what I’ve got. It makes no difference. I want his blind, it’s the only way to survive a little longer and going on previous history, he will fold. He’s got to fold.
He calls. He flips up A8. I hope I’ve got something good and I explain I went all in blind as I turned my hole cards over one by one. Q is the first card, ok not too bad, 4 is the second card. O dear. No help from anywhere busts me out of the tourney on the bubble.
As I go up to collect my pitiful “winnings” I can’t help but kick myself for making such a ridiculous move. Why did I push in that position? Forgetting that I should never have been that low in chips to start with, I still had potential to see another 3 pairs of hole cards before looking to double up. I should have looked at my cards, taken the hit of the SB and waited for either an ace, or UTG to push. At least that way if I had an ace I Ive got half a shout at winning, or if I am UTG then at least I have no option but to push.
What a waste of an afternoon. But I like to look at it this way; it is a lesson learned. A very strong lesson which has helped me to keep my head together in subsequent tournaments I have played.
Assess each hand on its own individual merits, and don’t play like a blind donkey, literally.
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