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BGonline.org Forums
Poker Hands
Posted By: Stick
Date: Friday, 19 December 2008, at 5:36 a.m.
This past week I started playing a little bit of poker again. I hadn't played in quite a long time because I was both burnt out & worn out by it. It wasn't fun. Now I'm going to start playing a bit again and the first thing I'm playing are what are called *Double or Nothing* tournaments.
The concept is simple, you put up your normal tournament entry fee + the small house rake and if you make it to the last 5 ppl out of 10, you get double your entry fee. I'm starting with the $20+.80 tourneys, low stakes which should be filled like a newly stocked city park pond. If I win I win $40, simple.
We start out with 1500 in chips, blinds at 10/20, and they go up every 5 minutes. (turbos) I will be posting all the hands I keep record of (all ins + any interesting decisions) after every 5 tournaments, probably about once a week, as I don't plan on playing much. Posting will help me tweak anything that needs and take account for my bad play.
T1
Not ideal. I don't like pushing all my chips in (racing) with AKo but it is a good hand. There's 330 from the blinds + antes in, my 450, and his call + all in gives me 1230 in the pot and I have to call 895. Seems like a no brainer with this hand. I don't catch.
Crippled after my last lost with antes & blinds eating away I need to get AI with anything looking like a hand when it's folded to me. This is a great spot. The BB can call with basically anything, does, and I lose my first tourney while going 0/2 on all ins.
T2
I'm pretty low on chips already with blinds + antes cutting into my stack severely per orbit. I raise the standard amount with a solid hand, 88. The math screams call again even if I wasn't dead stacked afterwards. I just have to hope he has two overs (or 66 in my dreams) Call and he doesn't hit.
Ideally you don't want to get mixed up in hands when you have a stack like I do right here. One could argue that I might even be able to fold my way to cashing. Another strategy when you get big stacked is to go on a tear, get the tournament over with, because almost everyone will fold to you and your chips will keep increasing. I didn't have a stack that large yet that I wanted to just push every hand and not care what happened but I was still willing to play the solid hands to move the tourney along.
The odds I'm getting after I raise outweigh folding and keeping all my chips to fold to the money in my opinion here. Not knowing what he has I could be in decent shape. As it turns out, I'm almost 32% in the hand. So 440 blinds + antes, my raise & his call of 500 = 1000, so 1440 in the pot and then I'm calling his 685. Even if I'd have known he had KK mathematically it would have been correct to call, though the math is certainly not the only thing that needs considered in these type of tournaments.
This hand you need to understand what other people understand to understand why in the hell I make this call with only ATs. Top 5 pay and we're down to 7 with one stack being seriously short stacked. So I'm in a basic 3 way tie for 4/5/6 and shouldn't be taking any big risks...however...
The button is the big stack and knows nobody will probably call him given our relative chip stacks unless they pick up an absolute monster, so he shoves. Him shoving is the biggest sign of weakness there is. If he had a real hand, 99, AK, whatever, he'd have made a standard raise not caring if someone repushed him, willing to call (esp true if he had a monster QQ KK AA). He's stealing because he knows he can, but can he?
Having analyzed all that I still am not sure whether it's correct to call or not. I feel 100% certain I have the better hand, that's not a question, I'm even praying he has A rag, the type of hand one would do that with. The question is do I get paid more often by folding, sitting quietly by and waiting for cards or picking my own spot to shove or by taking these chips when I can? I won't attempt the math, it doesn't interest me that much, but I know how to proceed from here if I call, I either win or lose on the spot, and I do believe there's a real change he's on Ar. If he is I'd be a 2-1 favorite.
I win this hand and the tourney (of course), 2/3 on all ins.
T3
I've been trying to play poker & getting owned, down to 800 already. Time to get on the ball, when folded to me and I have a halfway playable hand it's AI time. The overly big stack feels some need to call me. I thank him. This is the only AI that gets called this tourney, I win this hand and the tourney. 1/1 on AIs.
T4
Remember it pays when it gets down to 5! Should I call here? I thought about it and think it's hugely correct to fold even though it hurts to do so.
Amazing I never got AI that tournament and still won.
T5
I should note when I say "all ins" or "I got all in X amount of times" I'm speaking only of when I get called or call someone else's all in preflop. In other words, hand #8 will not be included in my AI stats, it's solely for your viewing pleasure. (certainly not for mine)
After last hand even with low blinds + antes I'm picking a spot and shoving hoping to get lucky & double up. Bleh. Got all in once that tourney, lost, and lost the tourney.
Stick
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