Going into final stages of a tourney
Hello... nothing to do so I'll make a big post with background =/
So yesterday I played in a bar poker final. To set this up they go by seasons as any regular poker league would and at the end of the season top 55 or so qualify and however many points you earned throughout the season and I ended up making some deep or so runs in the four weeks I was able to play and just qualified in the mid 40 range with around 160 points...meaning I'll start play
I start the night off with some monster hands K10 (Maybe not a "monster" pre but i made trip Kings), JJ, KK both the later ones were cracked... I continued to get some pretty nice hands and all these raising of pots pretty much meant it was a Roller Coaster but I was more or less around the 200 mark whenever I counted.
Now with the Blinds at 10/20 and me around the 180 mark I am dealt AK suited and I make it 55 to, I am raised to 100 which I Call..long story short I crack his aces,make my flush and put myself up to 400.
Nothing much happened for a while until the last hand before break with 360 I am dealt ace queen of hearts and make it 120 to go..i'm called by the chip leader of the tournament and the flop is King-7-3..I make a small C-bet and am then raised all in.. I sigh and fold (really thinking to myself why didn't I just put it all in pre?) and am shown King Queen.
During break and still cursing at myself on the inside I am just walking around looking at the other tables noticing myself there seem to be people who are just getting crushed by the blinds..in fact the 140 I had left was probably enough to make it into the top 24 at that time but I wasn't going to sit around I knew I was pretty close to being all in there.
Sure enough.. first hand after break with the blinds now 20/40 I am all in with J7 suited in the small blind..heads up and I crack BBs Pocket 5s to double up to 280 and Mr BB is pissed as I sort of was beating him up throughout the night with some check raising and what not.
Then next hand AJoff all in again.. no callers I take the blinds up to 340... next hand (or maybe a couple after) is the money hand..boom pocket aces and raise it up to 120... fold. fold.. fold.."All In" says the chip leader who then proceeds to proudly over his Queens
Aces hold
Poker Fight Funny - YouTube
boom up to mid 650k or so and back in the game.. this post is poorly written, too long and I have doubts anyone will read it so I'm wrapping it up.. I finished the night slightly over a million chips.
I'm probably going in next week in the top 5 of chips or just below..blind lengths I believe are 30 mins and we'll probably start 30/60. Overall I was happy with how I played the night cause you know Icanrungoodz?
Going in any helpful advice? things to keep in mind?,, Still a week to go.
Prizes are sort of fairly significant (for a guy like me and with it being a freeroll and all) though I only know 1st and 8th.. 1st place is 900 bucks and a beer... and 8th is 25 bucks and an iced tea.
So yesterday I played in a bar poker final. To set this up they go by seasons as any regular poker league would and at the end of the season top 55 or so qualify and however many points you earned throughout the season and I ended up making some deep or so runs in the four weeks I was able to play and just qualified in the mid 40 range with around 160 points...meaning I'll start play
I start the night off with some monster hands K10 (Maybe not a "monster" pre but i made trip Kings), JJ, KK both the later ones were cracked... I continued to get some pretty nice hands and all these raising of pots pretty much meant it was a Roller Coaster but I was more or less around the 200 mark whenever I counted.
Now with the Blinds at 10/20 and me around the 180 mark I am dealt AK suited and I make it 55 to, I am raised to 100 which I Call..long story short I crack his aces,make my flush and put myself up to 400.
Nothing much happened for a while until the last hand before break with 360 I am dealt ace queen of hearts and make it 120 to go..i'm called by the chip leader of the tournament and the flop is King-7-3..I make a small C-bet and am then raised all in.. I sigh and fold (really thinking to myself why didn't I just put it all in pre?) and am shown King Queen.
During break and still cursing at myself on the inside I am just walking around looking at the other tables noticing myself there seem to be people who are just getting crushed by the blinds..in fact the 140 I had left was probably enough to make it into the top 24 at that time but I wasn't going to sit around I knew I was pretty close to being all in there.
Sure enough.. first hand after break with the blinds now 20/40 I am all in with J7 suited in the small blind..heads up and I crack BBs Pocket 5s to double up to 280 and Mr BB is pissed as I sort of was beating him up throughout the night with some check raising and what not.
Then next hand AJoff all in again.. no callers I take the blinds up to 340... next hand (or maybe a couple after) is the money hand..boom pocket aces and raise it up to 120... fold. fold.. fold.."All In" says the chip leader who then proceeds to proudly over his Queens
Aces hold
Poker Fight Funny - YouTube
boom up to mid 650k or so and back in the game.. this post is poorly written, too long and I have doubts anyone will read it so I'm wrapping it up.. I finished the night slightly over a million chips.
I'm probably going in next week in the top 5 of chips or just below..blind lengths I believe are 30 mins and we'll probably start 30/60. Overall I was happy with how I played the night cause you know Icanrungoodz?
Going in any helpful advice? things to keep in mind?,, Still a week to go.
Prizes are sort of fairly significant (for a guy like me and with it being a freeroll and all) though I only know 1st and 8th.. 1st place is 900 bucks and a beer... and 8th is 25 bucks and an iced tea.
Comments
How many left? At this math, that puts you about 11M, so nobody is very deep.
Would like to know how many are left or a rough idea how many chips in play.
What are your goals, in terms of what place prize money would you be satisfied with?
You really don't want to drop much lower here before you shove hands IMO and I would look for the tight players to do it on. Our on liners might have some more thoughts on your stack size, I don't like to get much below 7M before I am shoving personally.
I will assume you have read up a bit on M zones?
Magriels M and Harringtons Q : Poker Odds : OLBG Poker
You can find other simple versions, but IMO, it can help make decisions easier, people have taken a lot of time to do some complicated math to pretty much tell you what the correct types of hands to play based on stack are. Once you trust it a little, can help when the pressure is on.
Given that you will be playing against a few luck boxes, all you can do is keep yourself in good situations.
Also, read up on Individual Chip Model, so you can calculate whether or not your chip stack "entitles" you to money at any given point that you will be satisfied with. It sounds like the blinds are going to eat things up fast, so gauge how this is affecting other players?
Are they panicking and playing ultra loose? Play cautious against them and let them bust out.
Are they tight and blinding out? Help them and attack with 2.1-2.5, no higher than 3x raises. You can't afford to bleed chips either, but if you keep the pressure o. These guys you will come out ahead.
You are going to need to pick up the blinds at least every orbit on average and should be taking every opportunity that looks good.
My 2 cents and good luck, congrats on getting down to the end and finals!
If/when you wake up with AA and KK just get it in, hope you dont have to flip your hand up....most think your robbing them and then want to come after you for it.
Just dont get out of control, your tight image will work out well when it needs to sticking like this, your there to win it? not to place....placing sucks anyway! (unless its the ME but your not playing that HA)
Like I said quite a few players letting themselves just be blinded down to maybe 2-4 bbs so i'm expecting quite a few to be gonezo right away need to attack those chips but it all depends on my table.
Hope I got all the BS out of my system tonight though.. got beat my a 7-2.. no more of that tomorrow please.
Would really like to see that and really dive into where I am at and what not.
I have chips right now I can just play I don't have to be committed.. need to stay aggressive but I also need to tighten up over my usual loose play.
Unless I make it to final table then I can get drunk off my ass...yes.. yes just like Scotty Nguyen
7th place, top 8 got paid.. made 50 bucks little hard to think what could have been.
Was an interesting night... I came in starting in 7th place for the night with 1,030,000 chips up from my starting stack of 160,000.
Very first hand in the BB with 9 10... the flop is queen queen 9.. I check and then call the 100 bet...turn is a brick 4.. check check... queen on the river... i'm thinking about firing a big bullet but then decide to check... she bets 200 I call and she has quads..dumb move oh well.. but lost about half my stack..
But i'm a fighter..two hands later I get pocket jacks and after a raise and a call of 100 I decide to just shove it all in there..no action.
I am then moved to another table where not much happened...no note worthy hands I guess =/.
Back to the original table I am and I sit right next to quad queens chick who has now been crippled as she lost a million dollar pot.
Here we go..pocket aces and someone is already all in for 550..I decide to also push all in for an extra 200k more nobody calls.. my aces beat his kings and I take another out.
Up to around 1.3 million now.
Diamond/Club Queens.. with blinds 40/80 right now I believe I raise to 210.. one caller..flo ace, jack, 10 all spades.. check check.. turn 5 of spades.. I bet 375 and he folds.. showing his pocket Kings.
I go into final table with around 2.1 million chips
Blinds 100-200 with 25 ante.
Here's the big one.. I have pocket Jacks and raise to 575.. guy next to me moves all in 1.4 million total.. I'm in the tank for a good few minutes until yeah I eventually call and lose to his queens. Hurt bad now down to 800k or so
Was able to work myself up back to 1.3 and get pocket 9s.. now with some of the chip stacks I could have easily just folded and folded and made another 50-75 bucks but I was in to win.. after chip leader raised to 800 in front I move all in.
My 9s vs his 6 5 of clubs.
Flop 10,6,3 all hearts (I had 9 of hearts)...turn queen clubs..river... 5 of spades FML.
oh well..
100k/200k
Wow, you sure picked up a tonne of monster hands...congrats on your 7th place.
lol, no sarcasm there....
Blinds 40/80.
Me BB.
Guy in middle raises to 200 (i'm sorry I may have the numbers wrong but it is in the ballpark.
SB (Quad girl) is all in for last 130.
Me with AK decides to put raiser all in for his last 405 or what not and he folds... and then we both flip over the big slick.
That damn Jack hand..just remembered I made a flush on it.. <_>