I played in two tournaments in my poker league this Saturday. Both times I bubbled.
Tourney # 1 – There are 5 people left and 4 get paid. I’m medium stacked so I don’t have to push with any two cards and I can play selectively if I wanted to. There are two shorties who should have to make moves very soon.
Another medium stack has pushed all-in. He has me covered but barely. He does this every so often to steal blinds in late position but I know he does this in EP only when he has something decent but doesn’t want to be called (usually it’s a pocket pair ranging from 99-JJ). Anything less he’s not going to push.
I get AA in the BB. I instantly call. He shows 10/10 and I show my Aces.
He hits quads. FREAKING QUADS!!!
I’m out in 5th. Again this sucks because I could’ve been the clear big stack but I finish just out of the money.
Tourney # 2
Again down to 6 players and I’m short stacked. Not severely short stacked but I need to make a move very soon as I don’t want to be blinded out (which is weak). Again I’m in the BB.
Cutoff raises the minimum. Right off the bat this raises an alarm. Love those silly min raises to open a pot. This almost always means a big hand and coming from this player it usually means a big pair.
I get one caller and I’m in the BB. I have J/8 diamonds. Not the greatest hand in the world but I’m getting in at half price and I have the correct odds to call.
The flop comes out two diamonds with an 8. I have top pair weak kicker and a flush draw. I go all in. Original raiser calls. He has KK. I get two blanks and I’m out.
He then starts to tell everybody at the table how smart he is for minimum raising and how he got somebody (i.e. me) to stack etc. Going on and on after the hand about how he played the hand great.
How novel. Minimum raising to get people into the pot. Like I’ve never seen that before. He goes on to say that people with crappy hands always call him when he does that and he usually wins a monster pot because of it. He wasn’t fooling anyone.
Onto the cash games.
I lose a big pot playing pot limit Omaha Hi. I have A/K/Q/8 double suited. On the flop I hit top two pair plus the flush draw. I’m in position. EP raises. I re-raise (not the pot though just a decent re-raise). I get a caller.
On the turn I fill up fullhouse (Queens up 8s). I’m in late position and I get a pot sized raise and I call…immediately.
He shows A/Q/K/J. I have the full boat. All I have to do is dodge a King or a Jack. Two other players say that they folded a King. So he’s running to 4 outs. The last King in the deck and 3 Jacks.
BOOM! the river brings the last King. I lose the pot.
The other player says he’s sorry and I laugh to myself thinking that it’s going to be one of those nights.
One of those nights where I can’t catch a break.
June 25, 2008 at 3:40 am |
Ay Ay Ay…I can identify – I flop a set of J’s…opponent flops a set of Q’s and I get stacked. The world sucks.
June 25, 2008 at 9:36 am |
Dam, sounds like a rough night.
How much did you have behind on the J8 hand, could you not have called the flop, and maybe pushed the turn, then again a min-raise big pair type won’t pick up on anything there either way, and you may loose value if you do improve on the turn.
Hope things swing in your favor soon xxx
June 26, 2008 at 3:22 pm |
Thanks for the comments.
Lucky, I was medium stacked so in retrospect maybe I could’ve checked the flop and see where I stood. As for calling the min-raise, I was in the BB so it was 1/2 price to enter the pot especially with another limper in the pot made my odds very juicy.
Looking back, I probably should’ve just called and then check the flop. I was super aggressive here because I knew that the min-raise guy had a big hand and i was hoping that he could lay it down (if he had 10/10 or 99 for example) but even if he called and had a monster PP like AA, KK or QQ I’m still drawing to a lot of outs to win this pot. It just didn’t hit for me that’s all.
In effect I was playing the implied odds of this pot. It’s true that I might loose value on the turn if my flush had hit, so that’s why I went super aggressive.
I don’t necessarily think that this was such a bad move especially in a tournament style game. In a cash situation, I might have played it differently.
In any event thanks again for the comments.