My first big win!
Hey all,
I have to tell you all about my first big rake in a live tournament. I was and am pretty pumped as this was only my third time playing in a live tourney. The previous two being a tournament at the Emerald Casino in Saskatoon and The "Canadian" Poker Championships in Regina.
Wednesday night at the Emerald was a CPT local event. 122 entrants. $110 buy in with $25 rebuys and add ons. I bought one rebuy after the first hand of the night and then a add on - so I am in for $160.
A few interesting hands:
One hand I really got into it with a guy. He is a regular>
Here is the situation. I am sort of short stacked 6 times BB. Blinds are 300-600 and I have 3700. I get dealt 55 in middle position and limp in. Mr hothead is on the button. He has been playing fairly aggressive all night and has stolen some pretty significant pots. As I watch him look at his cards I am pretty confident he will try to steal. He goes all in with around 6,400. SB and BB both fold. Long story short I call(he has 10's) and I flop trips to take pot - he is pissed and proceeds to tear a strip off me.
Here was my thinking. By going all in my read was he is full of it and then I figure that I have a 50/50 shot and no better time then now to try and double up. We were about 5 minutes from next increase also. In hindsight I know that I probably made a very bad call and got very lucky. My fault in making the game personal here really hurt me. I could not stand this guy as he was a know it all and drove me nuts - it almost did and really should of cost me the tourney. Bad call right?
Twenty two people left and I have two chips. $1500. I am on the button and get JJ and win the pot. I have roughly $5000. Next hand Blinds are 2000/4000 and I am dealt AhQc and I go all in and win again against both blinds. I make it to the final table with $13200. Blinds are $4000/$8000. I draw seat two and have to put up the BB right away. I get dealt 5c4c. - long story short I end up going all in and win with a straight and have to split the pot with small bling who had $3000. (he also had a 4). I now had a little breathing room.
My best play of the night came when I was about fourth in chips($50000) Blinds are still $4000/$8000. I am in BB and button(chip leader) raises $25,000. I thought he was on a major steal and was waiting for it. SB folds and I immediatley go all in. He thinks about it for a good two minutes and then makes the comment that he cannot beat aces or kings and folds. I never usually show my cards but I flip over 4h 7d. There was a collective groan from all the spectators - it was awesome!.
We get down to the final three and I ask to make a deal. The other two say no way and I say fine lets play. 5 hands later I ask Rick - floor manager what 1,2 and 3 pays and he says a little over $15,000.00. I do not think the other two thought it would be this much. We agree on each of us getting $4,700 each with $300 going in for a tip and the chip leader at the time got all the rest. We still played out the game for the CPT points.
Two of us left and I am now chip leader with $149,000. Other guy has $132,000. I am dealt AJ suited and raise $50,000. He goes all in and I call. He has A 8 unsuited. Wouldn't you know it he gets an 8 on the turn and it is basically over.
All in all it was a great night for me - I learned a lot and still have a long way to go! My wife was pretty happy as we are going to Denver in two weeks for a little holiday. I am sure she is already spending it in her head. We took some of the cash and made a donation to the Red Cross for help with the "Asia Tidal wave and Earthquake" fund.
Goms
I have to tell you all about my first big rake in a live tournament. I was and am pretty pumped as this was only my third time playing in a live tourney. The previous two being a tournament at the Emerald Casino in Saskatoon and The "Canadian" Poker Championships in Regina.
Wednesday night at the Emerald was a CPT local event. 122 entrants. $110 buy in with $25 rebuys and add ons. I bought one rebuy after the first hand of the night and then a add on - so I am in for $160.
A few interesting hands:
One hand I really got into it with a guy. He is a regular>
Here is the situation. I am sort of short stacked 6 times BB. Blinds are 300-600 and I have 3700. I get dealt 55 in middle position and limp in. Mr hothead is on the button. He has been playing fairly aggressive all night and has stolen some pretty significant pots. As I watch him look at his cards I am pretty confident he will try to steal. He goes all in with around 6,400. SB and BB both fold. Long story short I call(he has 10's) and I flop trips to take pot - he is pissed and proceeds to tear a strip off me.
Here was my thinking. By going all in my read was he is full of it and then I figure that I have a 50/50 shot and no better time then now to try and double up. We were about 5 minutes from next increase also. In hindsight I know that I probably made a very bad call and got very lucky. My fault in making the game personal here really hurt me. I could not stand this guy as he was a know it all and drove me nuts - it almost did and really should of cost me the tourney. Bad call right?
Twenty two people left and I have two chips. $1500. I am on the button and get JJ and win the pot. I have roughly $5000. Next hand Blinds are 2000/4000 and I am dealt AhQc and I go all in and win again against both blinds. I make it to the final table with $13200. Blinds are $4000/$8000. I draw seat two and have to put up the BB right away. I get dealt 5c4c. - long story short I end up going all in and win with a straight and have to split the pot with small bling who had $3000. (he also had a 4). I now had a little breathing room.
My best play of the night came when I was about fourth in chips($50000) Blinds are still $4000/$8000. I am in BB and button(chip leader) raises $25,000. I thought he was on a major steal and was waiting for it. SB folds and I immediatley go all in. He thinks about it for a good two minutes and then makes the comment that he cannot beat aces or kings and folds. I never usually show my cards but I flip over 4h 7d. There was a collective groan from all the spectators - it was awesome!.
We get down to the final three and I ask to make a deal. The other two say no way and I say fine lets play. 5 hands later I ask Rick - floor manager what 1,2 and 3 pays and he says a little over $15,000.00. I do not think the other two thought it would be this much. We agree on each of us getting $4,700 each with $300 going in for a tip and the chip leader at the time got all the rest. We still played out the game for the CPT points.
Two of us left and I am now chip leader with $149,000. Other guy has $132,000. I am dealt AJ suited and raise $50,000. He goes all in and I call. He has A 8 unsuited. Wouldn't you know it he gets an 8 on the turn and it is basically over.
All in all it was a great night for me - I learned a lot and still have a long way to go! My wife was pretty happy as we are going to Denver in two weeks for a little holiday. I am sure she is already spending it in her head. We took some of the cash and made a donation to the Red Cross for help with the "Asia Tidal wave and Earthquake" fund.
Goms
Comments
Now, I have some comments about the hands. Obviously, whatever you did worked--look at the result--but nonetheless here are my thoughts:
I would have pushed all-in here. You don't have a deep enough stack to limp in to try to hit a set... you want to take it down uncontested. The best way to do this is to move in and hope everyone folds, and if you do get called, hope you're up against overcards. With 6XBB, it's move-in or fold for me, because if you start getting much lower than that (even by 1 BB) you start losing your fold equity, which is a very valuable thing to have when you're trying to survive.
Furthermore, calling an all-in with a small pair is generally not a good thing to do, because you either figure to be even money (against overcards) or a huge dog (against a higher pair). Note that there is really no scenario that I mentioned where you are likely to have a significant advantage. You're either even money or a huge dog, so it's generally a good idea to fold a small pair to a big bet. As I said though, moving in with a small pair is another story, and sure, it would have ended the same with the guy with tens calling and you hitting a set, but I'm talking in general terms here.
You know this already though, as you said, you made it personal, and made a bad call.
I love the re-steal with 74o. This is an advanced play, and one that you occasionally have to make at final tables if you want the big moolah.
And good for you for donating some of it to the Red Cross. A class act. Just make sure you keep some back to invest in future tournaments! Parlay! Parlaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy!
Regards,
all_aces
" I would have pushed all-in here. You don't have a deep enough stack to limp in to try to hit a set"
Very good point. At the time I thought about all in and could have been a factor in why I called instead of folding. For some reason once I have something in my mind it makes it more reasonable to make a play when one really shouldn't.
"Just make sure you keep some back to invest in future tournaments!"
Not to worry there. It will pay for my entries in Regina in March!
Goms
Sorry - I used the quote feature incorrectly
AA explained it up very well. Much better than I can. I'll just say read Sklansky's Gap theory and you will see how it applies to what AA says. You gotta be a bit lucky to do well in tourneys and you obviously had your horseshoe in the right place!
Congrats on the win. What a great accomplishment!
Loved the resteal story. I sometimes wonder if it is better to show them or let them think you had a monster? Next time you raise, there'll be a doubt in their heads. Does he have the cards or is he full of it? The real benefit of showing them is it messes up the other guy's game. You can put him on tilt, which is always fun. I've got to learn how to add this to my arsenal.
It is so awesome that you are donating some of the winnings for relief efforts. I believe the gov't has pledged to match dollar for dollar. So this really makes a difference. Kudos to you!
The donation is a truly great thing to do. The world will be a better place because of it.
I like your gutsy resteal with 7 4. The resteal is a very important weapon to use against an aggressive player. In future events be very careful about who you try the resteal against because if it was me on the button who was stealing I would not have folded for another 25k no matter what my cards were.
the pot contained your 50k
the raisers 25k
the small blind 4k
so 79k in the pot and 25k to call, if I was chip leader on the button I call getting 3-1 on my money for sure
I am not saying you did anything wrong, you read him for a steal and you were right, great job. Just be careful with this move in the future. Make sure you have enough chips that your raise forces the stealer to actually have a hand to call you with.