Having Some Fun at the Final Table…
Went to play in a small freeze-out tourney yesterday after a long weekend. The whole game was kinda blah, didn’t pick up on any big hands and just stacked up some chips through good play and big bluffs. It was only a 28 person tourney so went by pretty quick. In about 3 hours it was down to 8 people at the final table. Average stack were about 7000 and I had 1800 in chips. To be honest I just got bored and started playing the final table like if I was playing online poker. I must have went all-in about 12 times in a row and I’m not exaggerating…By the time my all-in barrage has ended I had 7800 in chips, all coming from picking up the blinds. Some of the guys got very aggravated as others which were more experienced players at the table kinda knew what I was doing, they just didn’t have reasonable hands to call with.
After skipping a couple of hands I picked up pocket 10′s and went all-in again and got a call from A,10…No Ace came out and that was the first person out from the final table. Having close to 13,000 in chips in front of me now and some breathing room I took out 4 more people in the next 30minutes and once it came down to head’s up play me and the other guy just split it. Must say it was the first time I played that loose at a final table but it was very entertaining. Loved getting under peoples skin with those moves but at the end they did it to themselves. Had they not been playing that tight I would have probably been the 8th person out, glad it worked out the way it did thoe 
Posted by Jared on 30. 03. 2009 in Key Poker Skills, Poker Advice, Tournament Play. And No Comments .
Tilt….
So played in a tourney of 47 last night. It was unlimited re-buys for the first hour with a double add on option before the 1st break. The starting chip stack was 1000 and by the time the break came around I had about 3400 without having to do any re-buys and got the double add on which brough my stack to 5400 while the average was around 3k…As the tournament progressed I played well and by the time there were 19 of us left I had about 14k in chips with the average being about 8k. Then I stopped getting playable hands and with the blinds being quite large already they started depleting my stack. It was time to make a move!!!
I was in small blind at the 600/1200 level, with A10 suited and everyone folded so I raised to 3600. The big blind went all-in 4000 so obviously I called. He flipped over QJ so I wasn’t worried about it. Of course this time around on the river a Q came out and he ended up taking the pot. I dont care if 3 Queen’s came out on the flop, it would actually be pretty cool but I have when I get beat by the river card. My stack being 10000 now and me being pissed next hand I went all-in with pocket 5′s. Ironically the same player had JJ and ended up winning which put me down to 2000 in chips and at that point my chances were quite slim to make it to the final table which was set to be 9 people. I ended up getting eliminated in 10th place and I feel that it was my own fault as I shouldn’t have pushed all-in on a pair of 5′s as I was on the button and had a chance to see a few free hands while the button was moving around the table and having 10000 I was still in pretty good position. That river card and being on tilt is a bitch isn’t it…..lol
Posted by Jared on 12. 03. 2009 in Key Poker Skills, Tournament Play. And 2 Comments.
The Always Hated River Card…
Hey,
So last night played in a small 25 people tourney and was sitting pretty good the whole game until there were 11 of us left…Blinds were 600/1200 already and I haven’t had played a hand in over an hour so lost a few thousand just on the blinds with about 8000 in chips left. I was in late possition and got KQ so decided to push all in to steal the blinds since there were no raises. Unfortunately the player on the button called and turned out he had AQ. He had about 9000 in chips so I though my night was over but this time around that hated river card worked to my benefit. The flop came out 3 hearts with one of them being a Q but that didnt do much for me since I was dominated by the A kicker of my opponent. Thankfully I got one more heart on the river and ended up taking down the pot with what is a bad beat I would say in my opinion. That put me at around 20,000 so I was sitting comfortably at that point. After knocking out 2 people at the final table and having 50% of the chips in play I dominated the rest of the game and took down 1st place for $9000 all because of that hand. I should have been out of the tournament 11th instead and Im happy to say it I took down the whole thing
Posted by Jared on 05. 03. 2009 in Tournament Play. And No Comments .
Loosing Focus…
So was playing in a tourney of 50 last week. It was an unlimited re-buy for the first hour with a double add on before the break. I made 2 rebuy’s and an add on which isnt to bad, probably around the average of what players make in a tournament like this. The whole tourney was sitting pretty much on an average stack so wasn’t too stressed about not making it into the money. When there were two tables left I got AK suited. A player before me raised 2 times the blind and I re-raised double that. He called so I put him on a pair but not too high for he would have probably pushed me all in if he had KK or AA. Flop came out 7,6,2 rainbow and he bet what I raised before the flop. I went for the bluff and re-raised and my opponent pushed all-in…Obviously I folded but that took a decent size of my stack. After I threw my cards face up he showed me 99 so I made the right decisin after all.
I managed to build my stack back up to what it was before that hand but by then we were moving to the final table and the average was way higher than before. I was shortstacked at the final table but was determined to grind it out and so I did. I lasted until there were 6players left wihtout playing a single hand but the blinds were 800/1600 now and my total stack was 3800 so it was time to win some all-in’s…I got a bit lucky I must admit, sitting on big blind and having 2200 left I got JJ and got called when I pushed by the chip leader. He had K9 and I ended up winning with the Jacks. Then when I was sitting on the button I got AA and obviously pushed after there were a couple of callers before me. The other short stack called and I ended up winning with the total pot bringin me up to 24,000 with everyone elses blind’s that were in the pot.
This kind of made me loose my focus as I got excited and stopped paying attention to details of the game. There were 5 of us left and blinds 1000/2000, I was the big blind, chip leader right after me and after him a player who had 2000 exactly in chips left. I had Q6 and ended up catchin top pair on the flop and pushed in my chips against the chip leader in a reckless move. He called having Q10 and I ended up getting out 5th. If I had only paid attention that the next 2 hands have I waited the player with 2000 would have most likely been blinded out and I would place at least one higher and get at least $1000 more in prize money…Unfortunate but a valuable lesson not to get to excited over winning big all-in’s when they are really needed for if you loose focus the outcome turns out the same either way…
Posted by Jared on 25. 02. 2009 in Poker Advice, Tournament Play. And 1 Comment .
Caught the flu…
So I got a bit sick over the weekend and instead of staying home and getting some rest of course I went to the casino. I figured it was a nice place to just relax and do what I enjoy doing all in one. Very foolish decision on my part. To play poker you always have to be on top of your game. Calculate, read your opponents, play your position and most importantly be patient. It is hard for me to be patient when I am feeling fine but when you have a head ache and everything is spinning you just start making reckless moves at the table.
The only good thing out of going to play on monday night was that I entered a very small tournament and didn’t loose much money. When I sat down at the beggining everything seemed fine, I was just playing my game and managed to build up my stack a bit. Then the break came and after smoking a ciggarete I started feeling a bit odd. My head was hurting a lot and I wasn’t concentrating on the game. This resulted in me calling raises with cards that didn’t even deserve to call the blind with. I just ran out of patience and in a matter of about 3 or 4 hands I was out of the tourney. So with this said dont ever play while your sick for your patience and concentration wont be with you. It is always a big plus to be well rested before playing in a tournament since you will have to sit there for a few hours if you are planning on winning!!!
Posted by Jared on 18. 02. 2009 in Poker Advice, Tournament Play. And No Comments .
Good start to 2009…
Hello. I’m back after the long New Year’s celebration, hope everyone had a good and safe one. So I haven’t played live since Christmas and decided to head over to the casino last night for my first tournament of 2009. I entered into the $220 buy-in Hold’em/Omaha-Hi game last night which also allows you two $200 rebuy’s anytime during the first hour of play each one giving you 1000 chips. I guess people are still getting back on track with their lives after the holidays so the tourney wasn’t full. When final registration closed there were 44 of us competing against each other. A friend of mine came along with me to play and when we drew the seat order cards we ended up sitting right next to each other which paid off for me right away. As soon as we sat down we started a conversation while an Omaha hand was being dealt out and for some reason I said I was going to get Quad J’s this hand on the flop. After looking at my cards what do you know? I was holding AJ of diamonds and QJ of spades, so pretty nice starting hand in Omaha. Just because of the conversation that just took place I raised pot, the guy after me re-raised pot, player after him went all-in, my friend went all-in and of course I called since I figured I have pot-odds even if anyone has a higher pair plus I have 2 high flush draws. We all had 1000 in chips, 4 ppl in the game and I flopped the nut Diamond flush right away. So after the 1st hand I had a bit over 4000 and never stopped from then on. Must admit I got dealt pretty good cards when I needed them and was in position. Recall one moment where I had AA and my opponent ended up having KK. I raised, he re-raised and I pushed all-in which he called and ended up loosing after I hit a set of Aces on the flop. That brought me up to be one of the chip leaders mid-way through the tourney. At the final table I knocked out 2 more people one of them being my buddie that came with me. With 3 of us left and me sitting on the button I had KK and raised and my friend went all in with 66′s. After knocking him out we played heads up for about 10 more minutes but our stacks were practically identical and we agreed for a split of $6300 each. So pretty happy about starting the new year on the right track and taking down my first tournament of 2009.
Posted by Jared on 06. 01. 2009 in Tournament Play. And No Comments .