PokerStars $20K Tourney
Played only a little today, but I felt a lot better about my game even if I posted a small loss. Here's a tourney report from a tourney I played in a while ago.
This is the first and only time I played in the PokerStars $20K guarenteed tourney, a few months ago. PartyPoker was having problems with their servers, so I went over to pokerstars. This was the first real time I had played on their servers. I signed up because they held a lot more tournies than party, but I had never really played there.
Anyways, I signed up for a $1 limit omaha hi/lo tourney. I did alright, but far from the money. While I was playing, they announced this $10/1 NLHE tourney that started at 10.15. I decided to go for it. As it started though, I realized it allowed rebuys, and that this could take all night. Well, I wasn't expecting to do well, as I've never finished in the money in a large field tourney, so I just decided to stick with it.
I didn't play the first 17 hands until I find myself with KJo in mid position and limp in. The button (PCFishing - he comes up a lot in the early parts of this tourney) doubled the blinds and I called. The flop came AT2 rainbow, giving me the nuts gutshot. I bet the minimum (30) into the button, who raised to 120. There was one other who cold called, and I decided to go for his whole stack and call. Needless to say, the turn was a bueateful Q, and I tripled up against his AT and the other's gutshot and pair KQ. Sure I got lucky, but he misplayed his hand by not raising enough to force me out.
Three hands later, gain another K or so by calling a jackal while I was in the blind with AQs (he had K6o). I hardly play the next 20 some hands until I find KK in 2nd position. UTG raises all in, and I reraise all in, taking down the pot against his AQ.
The next 40 hands I see a few flops, win a few blinds, but don't move in stack size much, until I see a 9Ts in mid-late position when it is folded to me. I triple the blinds and the BB (PCFishing) calls. The flop of J83 gives me an openeded so I bet about half the pot and he calls. The turn in an ugly 8, same bet/call. The river finishes my straight and I bet 3K and PCFishing calls with AQ!
10 hands later I find 98d in late position and decide to steal. I get one caller and a board of A42. I bet 1K, he checkraised me to 2K. I smelt a bluff (although I'm sure he had me, just no ace) so I 3 bet it and he folded! He commented - 'dam u hit ur 3 outs, sick' - implying that he had a large pkt pair (probably JJ). His fault for playing his hand so terribly :) Anyways, this hand filled me with confidence that helped me pull the trigger in later, incredibly scary flops.
KK was good to me again, gutting a short stack and taking PCFishing's chips again. Next 30 hands I'm being blinded to death, so I start aggressively chasing blinds. This works well for a bit, until I start getting played back at, so I slow down again.
Hand #162, I get TJ in the BB. Early position doubles the blinds and I call. Flop comes 789, for the nuts. One of my favorite tactics these days is to bet the minimum with a monster, expecting to be raised. So I bet the minimum and he raised :). The Turn was a K, not changing a thing. I checkraised him all in and he called with AK! Double up again! I have 56K in chips, 2nd on the table by 7K.
I get overaggressive again, and handed some chips away stupidly, so I tighten up considerably (also TERRIBLE cards). Hand 211 I get KK and double up! Then 66 doubles me again against AK. I'm now the table chip leader at 110K. Then (hand 241) a stack a bit more than me, who's been aggressive at the blinds, raises my BB when he's SB all in. I easily call with AQ against his A7 and double to 230K.
Except now, we have someone at the table who's at 500K. Fortunately, watching him play now allows me to take his chips easily later now. But with him next to me on my left, I'm too hesitent to blind steal. After I find out he folds when the flop misses him, I started stealing blinds more often, hoping he'd call. He'd give me plenty of chips to hold on a few more rounds. Almost completely from him, I work my way up to 400K by hand 288, in which a critical decision to be made happens.
Guy opens to 100K in 2nd position. He hasn't been too aggressive preflop and I see AKo. He's on a shorter stack and is pot committed - he's in this hand to the end. It's a simple decision - I fold AK. Half my chips is too much to risk this close to serious money, when I'm at best a 50-50, potentially much worse. Anwyays, the guy on my left isn't thinking like me and pushes all in w/ AT. OB had pkt 9's, w/ a nine on the flop doubles him up as I pat myself on the back.
4 hands later I find AK again! This time, the preflop raiser is on a larger stack, who's been EXTREMELY aggressive preflop and is in stealing position. So again, an easy move, I reraise all in and he folds :)
I think that a lot of players don't understand the difference between how the same hand is played in different situations. In the first situation the raiser was
-pot committed so he wasn't going to fold to a reraise
-well out of steal position
-not very aggressive preflop
The 2nd raiser was
-not pot committed so if he was on a steal he could lay it down
-in steal position
-very aggressive preflop
and I don't want to go all in with a drawing hand like AK in this stage in the tourney. It's not enough of a favorite over weaker holdings and is a dog against any pair, so I want them to fold to my raise.
Playing tightly, I lose chips down from 400 to 320 when I find 58o in a good steal spot. I double the bet from the SB and the BB calls. The flop comes K76 2 diamonds and I pot commit myself without going all in. He thinks a long while and raises me with JdTd, a flush draw. I think this is a terrible play on his part, even if he is a huge favorite, he really wants me to fold with such a weak holding on his part. Being pot committed that isn't going to happen. Anways, the straight comes and no flush so I double to 3rd chip position with 8 players left.
5 hands later I find JhJc in the BB. 3rd position double blinds, short stack calls all in and I call in the BB. flop is three hearts under J, so I move all in. He thinks a long while and calls with AhQ. Heart on the turn makes me a loser. On a short stack, I find 55 in steal position, run into aces and it's over. I finish 7th place for a profit of $950.
I've played a few large fields, but never hit the money before. My adreniline was pumping so much I coudn't call asleep for another 40 minutes, even though I had been up since 7.30 and it was after 4 before I slept.
I haven't done this again, largely because of the timing. I really want to though, this tourney is full of dead money.
This is the first and only time I played in the PokerStars $20K guarenteed tourney, a few months ago. PartyPoker was having problems with their servers, so I went over to pokerstars. This was the first real time I had played on their servers. I signed up because they held a lot more tournies than party, but I had never really played there.
Anyways, I signed up for a $1 limit omaha hi/lo tourney. I did alright, but far from the money. While I was playing, they announced this $10/1 NLHE tourney that started at 10.15. I decided to go for it. As it started though, I realized it allowed rebuys, and that this could take all night. Well, I wasn't expecting to do well, as I've never finished in the money in a large field tourney, so I just decided to stick with it.
I didn't play the first 17 hands until I find myself with KJo in mid position and limp in. The button (PCFishing - he comes up a lot in the early parts of this tourney) doubled the blinds and I called. The flop came AT2 rainbow, giving me the nuts gutshot. I bet the minimum (30) into the button, who raised to 120. There was one other who cold called, and I decided to go for his whole stack and call. Needless to say, the turn was a bueateful Q, and I tripled up against his AT and the other's gutshot and pair KQ. Sure I got lucky, but he misplayed his hand by not raising enough to force me out.
Three hands later, gain another K or so by calling a jackal while I was in the blind with AQs (he had K6o). I hardly play the next 20 some hands until I find KK in 2nd position. UTG raises all in, and I reraise all in, taking down the pot against his AQ.
The next 40 hands I see a few flops, win a few blinds, but don't move in stack size much, until I see a 9Ts in mid-late position when it is folded to me. I triple the blinds and the BB (PCFishing) calls. The flop of J83 gives me an openeded so I bet about half the pot and he calls. The turn in an ugly 8, same bet/call. The river finishes my straight and I bet 3K and PCFishing calls with AQ!
10 hands later I find 98d in late position and decide to steal. I get one caller and a board of A42. I bet 1K, he checkraised me to 2K. I smelt a bluff (although I'm sure he had me, just no ace) so I 3 bet it and he folded! He commented - 'dam u hit ur 3 outs, sick' - implying that he had a large pkt pair (probably JJ). His fault for playing his hand so terribly :) Anyways, this hand filled me with confidence that helped me pull the trigger in later, incredibly scary flops.
KK was good to me again, gutting a short stack and taking PCFishing's chips again. Next 30 hands I'm being blinded to death, so I start aggressively chasing blinds. This works well for a bit, until I start getting played back at, so I slow down again.
Hand #162, I get TJ in the BB. Early position doubles the blinds and I call. Flop comes 789, for the nuts. One of my favorite tactics these days is to bet the minimum with a monster, expecting to be raised. So I bet the minimum and he raised :). The Turn was a K, not changing a thing. I checkraised him all in and he called with AK! Double up again! I have 56K in chips, 2nd on the table by 7K.
I get overaggressive again, and handed some chips away stupidly, so I tighten up considerably (also TERRIBLE cards). Hand 211 I get KK and double up! Then 66 doubles me again against AK. I'm now the table chip leader at 110K. Then (hand 241) a stack a bit more than me, who's been aggressive at the blinds, raises my BB when he's SB all in. I easily call with AQ against his A7 and double to 230K.
Except now, we have someone at the table who's at 500K. Fortunately, watching him play now allows me to take his chips easily later now. But with him next to me on my left, I'm too hesitent to blind steal. After I find out he folds when the flop misses him, I started stealing blinds more often, hoping he'd call. He'd give me plenty of chips to hold on a few more rounds. Almost completely from him, I work my way up to 400K by hand 288, in which a critical decision to be made happens.
Guy opens to 100K in 2nd position. He hasn't been too aggressive preflop and I see AKo. He's on a shorter stack and is pot committed - he's in this hand to the end. It's a simple decision - I fold AK. Half my chips is too much to risk this close to serious money, when I'm at best a 50-50, potentially much worse. Anwyays, the guy on my left isn't thinking like me and pushes all in w/ AT. OB had pkt 9's, w/ a nine on the flop doubles him up as I pat myself on the back.
4 hands later I find AK again! This time, the preflop raiser is on a larger stack, who's been EXTREMELY aggressive preflop and is in stealing position. So again, an easy move, I reraise all in and he folds :)
I think that a lot of players don't understand the difference between how the same hand is played in different situations. In the first situation the raiser was
-pot committed so he wasn't going to fold to a reraise
-well out of steal position
-not very aggressive preflop
The 2nd raiser was
-not pot committed so if he was on a steal he could lay it down
-in steal position
-very aggressive preflop
and I don't want to go all in with a drawing hand like AK in this stage in the tourney. It's not enough of a favorite over weaker holdings and is a dog against any pair, so I want them to fold to my raise.
Playing tightly, I lose chips down from 400 to 320 when I find 58o in a good steal spot. I double the bet from the SB and the BB calls. The flop comes K76 2 diamonds and I pot commit myself without going all in. He thinks a long while and raises me with JdTd, a flush draw. I think this is a terrible play on his part, even if he is a huge favorite, he really wants me to fold with such a weak holding on his part. Being pot committed that isn't going to happen. Anways, the straight comes and no flush so I double to 3rd chip position with 8 players left.
5 hands later I find JhJc in the BB. 3rd position double blinds, short stack calls all in and I call in the BB. flop is three hearts under J, so I move all in. He thinks a long while and calls with AhQ. Heart on the turn makes me a loser. On a short stack, I find 55 in steal position, run into aces and it's over. I finish 7th place for a profit of $950.
I've played a few large fields, but never hit the money before. My adreniline was pumping so much I coudn't call asleep for another 40 minutes, even though I had been up since 7.30 and it was after 4 before I slept.
I haven't done this again, largely because of the timing. I really want to though, this tourney is full of dead money.
posted by mike at 9:46 PM
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