I was close several times over the last 4 days. I played 5 tables at once when the count was within 20 000 hands. Some people must not have cared about winning a milestone hand because they were limping in and playing their hands. Other players on the table would be chatting FOLD FOLD FOLD but people kept betting. I started to be able to time when the milestone hand would be dealt. ON a table where i was going to be the blind soon i would play slow untill I was the small blind. If all players folded to me in the small I would pause my action untill the hand counter on one of my other tables was 500-1000 hand of the milestone and then i would fold my small and the next hand would be dealt. By timing in this way I could come within 50 hands of the milestone regularly. Twice I was within 10 hands. On the hand I won one player was screaming at me to FOLD in the small. I was timing it like I tried to do every time but he was getting angry. I saw a hand on one of my other tables dealt was within 600 of the milestone so I folded the small blind. I didnt know my I had hit it untill it flashed me back to that table to play my hand. I noticed the chat everyone was saying congrats. Of course the guy who was angry at me for playing so slow in the small blind was the one who won the milestone and the estra 1000...go figure.
I had around 5700 with blinds at 300-600...avg stack was 12000
folded to me in late middle pos and I pushed all in with 10c 8c
ran into Ackc
I didnt improve
Thanks to all those who stopped by to cheer me on.
Just got home awhile ago DH, or I would have watched some. (I got my turkey supper today lol) Sorry you didn't make the big moola. We all gotta keep pluggin away. Somebody here is gonna hit it.
I had around 5700 with blinds at 300-600...avg stack was 12000
folded to me in late middle pos and I pushed all in with 10c 8c
I'm not trying to be critical at all but can you explain why? You had almost 10xBB, your position was not great, your hand was not very strong and the upside was only 900 chips.
You are a way more experienced player than me, I'd like to understand your thoughts.
I'm not trying to be critical at all but can you explain why? You had almost 10xBB, your position was not great, your hand was not very strong and the upside was only 900 chips.
You are a way more experienced player than me, I'd like to understand your thoughts.
Thanks and congrats on the big bonus.
Well Here goes
The blinds were going to increase to 400-800 soon
It is costing me 1350 per round of the table..and thats if I make it through the blinds before they increase to 400-800
there was 900 in blind money plus 450 in antes for a total of 1350 in each pot pre flop to try and steal. That means if I can successfully steal the blinds and antes I will increase my chips by approx 23%
Any time I can increase my stack by 20% or more by stealing the blinds and antes I am going to try and do it.
Any time my stack contains less than 10 BBs and I am going to raise the raise will almost always be all in.
So what hands will I raise with in this spot? Almost anything
I would rather steal with a hand like 10c8c or even 6c7c than with a weak ace like AJ or A9s etc. Why? If someone in the blind decides to defend with AK or AQ or even AJ my connected suited hand has 2 live cards....meaning I can win the pot if I hit either of my cards and my opponent doesnt improve..whereas if I had raised with something like A9s and was called by AJ I would be in big trouble since I only had 1 live card.
So 10 8s vs AK
The 10 8 will win 40% of the time
67s vs Ak
the 67 will win 41% of the time
So if I steal the blinds I increase my stack by 23%
If I get called by a big ace or KQ I am a 60-40 underdog to win the pot and more than double up....When you think about it its not that bad of a spot to be in as long as you dont run into a big over pair.
Go back 1 -2 years ago and I would never have made that play.
Back then my tournaments usually ended the following way....see if this sounds familiar to you.......After playing tight and folding preflop for what seems like forever I find myself with 5 BB left. I get a crap hand UTG and fold and hope for a good hand in the BB
Sure enough I get AK in the BB...everyone folds to the button. This guy has been raising my blind all day long and I have been folding it 99% of the time...but not this time. Sure enough he raises it to 3 BB and I move all in for a total of 5 BB. He of course calls since it will only cost him 2 BB more to win a pot containing at least 8 BB
I flip over AK and he shows J 8 off
a J hits the flop and I am gone
That doesnt happen to me very often anymore. I make a move before my stack becomes so small that even a double up wont bring me to close avg chips.
Hope this answers your question. I am sure lots of people wont agree with my tactics but that is what makes poker such a great game...there are many ways to play the same cards.
I'm glad you went into great detail. It really helps me to understand what you are thinking when you make that bet. I do like your thoughts on 'live' cards. That is something I hadn't considered before.
I don't completely agree with you but if we compared our results, I'm pretty sure who would be on the winning end of that... Maybe in time, I'll adjust my thinking to be more in line with yours.
Myself, I would prefer to be a bit closer to the blinds before raising with what I would consider a non-prime hand. I also wonder if you could have gotten away with a 4xBB raise so you still had enough to either make a big bet post flop or save it for another hand.
Again, not being critical but just trying to understand. Please jump in and critique my thinking on this.
I'm glad you went into great detail. It really helps me to understand what you are thinking when you make that bet. I do like your thoughts on 'live' cards. That is something I hadn't considered before.
No problem. The sharing of ideas and strategies is a great way to improve your game.
I don't completely agree with you but if we compared our results, I'm pretty sure who would be on the winning end of that... Maybe in time, I'll adjust my thinking to be more in line with yours.
I am not saying that my strategy is the only way to play. THere are many different styles of play. You just need to find the style that suits you best. I have been experimenting with different ways of playing a no limit tournament. I used to be a very tight player...I have over the last 2 years loosened up my play. I am still working on trying to find the right balance of loose/tight for my game.
Myself, I would prefer to be a bit closer to the blinds before raising with what I would consider a non-prime hand. I also wonder if you could have gotten away with a 4xBB raise so you still had enough to either make a big bet post flop or save it for another hand.
That depends on the table.....this table was a $500 buyin event...there are many more aggressive players at this buyin level than in a $20 buyin event. Any time I had the button the pot was already raised in front of me. I was not going to get many late position steal attempts at this table. If the table was more passive I would certainly play differently....maybe I would limp with my hand or maybe I would wait for the button before I try a steal. YOu should be careful about who you try button steals against...if the BB is an agressive Knowledgeable player, a button raise will look like a steal attempt to him and he may decide to play back at you. However a raise from early or middle pos is more likely to look like a legitimate hand.
Raising 4 BB was not an option for me at this point...here is why
I have 5700...if I raise to 2400(4BB) I have committed almost half of my chips preflop.
If someone reraises behind me I will be forced to call since I have pot committed myself with my raise. In this situation you might as well just move in. If players think you will raise 3 or 4 BB committing half of you chips preflop and than fold to a reraise you will be a sitting duck and you will never be able to make a steal without someone playing back at you.
Comments
The good news is I was up $ 25.00 on .25/50 tables over a 30 minute period.
I was close several times over the last 4 days. I played 5 tables at once when the count was within 20 000 hands. Some people must not have cared about winning a milestone hand because they were limping in and playing their hands. Other players on the table would be chatting FOLD FOLD FOLD but people kept betting. I started to be able to time when the milestone hand would be dealt. ON a table where i was going to be the blind soon i would play slow untill I was the small blind. If all players folded to me in the small I would pause my action untill the hand counter on one of my other tables was 500-1000 hand of the milestone and then i would fold my small and the next hand would be dealt. By timing in this way I could come within 50 hands of the milestone regularly. Twice I was within 10 hands. On the hand I won one player was screaming at me to FOLD in the small. I was timing it like I tried to do every time but he was getting angry. I saw a hand on one of my other tables dealt was within 600 of the milestone so I folded the small blind. I didnt know my I had hit it untill it flashed me back to that table to play my hand. I noticed the chat everyone was saying congrats. Of course the guy who was angry at me for playing so slow in the small blind was the one who won the milestone and the estra 1000...go figure.
PS should disqualify him and ban him for LIFE
and then send ScottyZ's ninja trunk monkeys after him :biggrin:
I had around 5700 with blinds at 300-600...avg stack was 12000
folded to me in late middle pos and I pushed all in with 10c 8c
ran into Ackc
I didnt improve
Thanks to all those who stopped by to cheer me on.
You are a way more experienced player than me, I'd like to understand your thoughts.
Thanks and congrats on the big bonus.
Well Here goes
The blinds were going to increase to 400-800 soon
It is costing me 1350 per round of the table..and thats if I make it through the blinds before they increase to 400-800
there was 900 in blind money plus 450 in antes for a total of 1350 in each pot pre flop to try and steal. That means if I can successfully steal the blinds and antes I will increase my chips by approx 23%
Any time I can increase my stack by 20% or more by stealing the blinds and antes I am going to try and do it.
Any time my stack contains less than 10 BBs and I am going to raise the raise will almost always be all in.
So what hands will I raise with in this spot? Almost anything
I would rather steal with a hand like 10c8c or even 6c7c than with a weak ace like AJ or A9s etc. Why? If someone in the blind decides to defend with AK or AQ or even AJ my connected suited hand has 2 live cards....meaning I can win the pot if I hit either of my cards and my opponent doesnt improve..whereas if I had raised with something like A9s and was called by AJ I would be in big trouble since I only had 1 live card.
So 10 8s vs AK
The 10 8 will win 40% of the time
67s vs Ak
the 67 will win 41% of the time
So if I steal the blinds I increase my stack by 23%
If I get called by a big ace or KQ I am a 60-40 underdog to win the pot and more than double up....When you think about it its not that bad of a spot to be in as long as you dont run into a big over pair.
Go back 1 -2 years ago and I would never have made that play.
Back then my tournaments usually ended the following way....see if this sounds familiar to you.......After playing tight and folding preflop for what seems like forever I find myself with 5 BB left. I get a crap hand UTG and fold and hope for a good hand in the BB
Sure enough I get AK in the BB...everyone folds to the button. This guy has been raising my blind all day long and I have been folding it 99% of the time...but not this time. Sure enough he raises it to 3 BB and I move all in for a total of 5 BB. He of course calls since it will only cost him 2 BB more to win a pot containing at least 8 BB
I flip over AK and he shows J 8 off
a J hits the flop and I am gone
That doesnt happen to me very often anymore. I make a move before my stack becomes so small that even a double up wont bring me to close avg chips.
Hope this answers your question. I am sure lots of people wont agree with my tactics but that is what makes poker such a great game...there are many ways to play the same cards.
I don't completely agree with you but if we compared our results, I'm pretty sure who would be on the winning end of that... Maybe in time, I'll adjust my thinking to be more in line with yours.
Myself, I would prefer to be a bit closer to the blinds before raising with what I would consider a non-prime hand. I also wonder if you could have gotten away with a 4xBB raise so you still had enough to either make a big bet post flop or save it for another hand.
Again, not being critical but just trying to understand. Please jump in and critique my thinking on this.
No problem. The sharing of ideas and strategies is a great way to improve your game.
I am not saying that my strategy is the only way to play. THere are many different styles of play. You just need to find the style that suits you best. I have been experimenting with different ways of playing a no limit tournament. I used to be a very tight player...I have over the last 2 years loosened up my play. I am still working on trying to find the right balance of loose/tight for my game.
That depends on the table.....this table was a $500 buyin event...there are many more aggressive players at this buyin level than in a $20 buyin event. Any time I had the button the pot was already raised in front of me. I was not going to get many late position steal attempts at this table. If the table was more passive I would certainly play differently....maybe I would limp with my hand or maybe I would wait for the button before I try a steal. YOu should be careful about who you try button steals against...if the BB is an agressive Knowledgeable player, a button raise will look like a steal attempt to him and he may decide to play back at you. However a raise from early or middle pos is more likely to look like a legitimate hand.
Raising 4 BB was not an option for me at this point...here is why
I have 5700...if I raise to 2400(4BB) I have committed almost half of my chips preflop.
If someone reraises behind me I will be forced to call since I have pot committed myself with my raise. In this situation you might as well just move in. If players think you will raise 3 or 4 BB committing half of you chips preflop and than fold to a reraise you will be a sitting duck and you will never be able to make a steal without someone playing back at you.