a big shout out...
...to all the members here!
I won a 20-seat tourney on pacific tonight. Ya ya. I know. Ho hum. We've all won small tourneys before. But the difference tonight is I felt like I knew what I was doing (most of the time). Sure I made a couple bone-headed plays and got lucky a couple of times but I really felt like I was reading the other players well, selecting good hands to start with, not chasing stuff out of position and being aggressive in spots where I thought it would work.
I have to give credit to you guys for all the little pointers I am picking up here. Thanks folks!
One hand sticks out I'd like your opinion on. We were down to 3 handed. I was probably the big stack at this point but the others had plenty of chips for more rounds. So immediate dispatch was not a threat to the others. I was dealt AA UTG (only time I saw them in the tourney). I definitely felt I had the chance to put at least one of them out, if not both of them. I raised to 2X BB. The both folded. Damn!
Any suggestions on how to play it better? I hate smooth calling for fear of letting someone flop a monster unbeknownst to me with their 72o. At least they should have a decent hand going in so I can figure on the range of hands going against me. Maybe a smooth call, hoping for a re-raise? Or would a bigger raise, like 4X BB seem more like I didn't want any calls and thus get called?
Your thoughts appreciated.
I won a 20-seat tourney on pacific tonight. Ya ya. I know. Ho hum. We've all won small tourneys before. But the difference tonight is I felt like I knew what I was doing (most of the time). Sure I made a couple bone-headed plays and got lucky a couple of times but I really felt like I was reading the other players well, selecting good hands to start with, not chasing stuff out of position and being aggressive in spots where I thought it would work.
I have to give credit to you guys for all the little pointers I am picking up here. Thanks folks!
One hand sticks out I'd like your opinion on. We were down to 3 handed. I was probably the big stack at this point but the others had plenty of chips for more rounds. So immediate dispatch was not a threat to the others. I was dealt AA UTG (only time I saw them in the tourney). I definitely felt I had the chance to put at least one of them out, if not both of them. I raised to 2X BB. The both folded. Damn!
Any suggestions on how to play it better? I hate smooth calling for fear of letting someone flop a monster unbeknownst to me with their 72o. At least they should have a decent hand going in so I can figure on the range of hands going against me. Maybe a smooth call, hoping for a re-raise? Or would a bigger raise, like 4X BB seem more like I didn't want any calls and thus get called?
Your thoughts appreciated.
Comments
The key to getting paid off on your big hands is to bet them the same as your not so great hands. So if during this tournament you were always raising 3xBB, then keep it the same. If you limped to see a lot of hands, then keep limping. Changes can tip people off about the strength of your hand.
BTW, usually when it gets down to 3 handed, hands like Axo, Kxo and Q9+ are very playable so trying to put your opponent on a hand will be very difficult. Focus on stereotyping you opponent to Loose/Passive/Weak/Tight/Agressive/Cally Wally/Cheese and then let the flop guide your play..