One way to win your way into the Stars $530
PLAY 7 HANDS.
Turbo multi, 108 players, $22+rebuys, 11 spots get the seat. I did one immediate rebuy and I took the add-on at the break. Truth be told, I didn't get that many hands that were worth playing, but I usually try to chip up anyways. In this case, though, people were so busy trying to knock each other out with garbage that I decided it would be more prudent to wait for big hands. Also, I obviously wasn't playing for first...
The end of the tournament is interesting when you are simply trying to make top 11. When it gets down to 15 or 16, your decisions are based more on other's stack sizes and positions relative to the blinds than your cards. I'm sure most of you have been here before... I haven't. I usually just buy into tournaments I want to play. I've read about this stuff in Sklansky's TPFAP though, and was happy to finally be able to put it to use. Hands that I would normally be raising, I was folding, because the small stack at the other table was about to be blinded out. People were also checking down all-in pots a lot more often than usual, although some people still didn't grasp it.
Example: 12 left, 11 get seats. Shortstack at the other table calls all-in for less, and the guy to his left raises the pot significantly, to isolate him?!? The caller had A4o, the isolating raiser had K7o??? Why not just call? Why not have everyone at the table just call, and have everyone at the table check it down? I guess that's why they completely disable chat when it gets down to 18 or so. Anyways, the isolating raiser hit his 7, and that was how the tournament ended. Unreal.
I know, I know, basic stuff... but like I said I've never been in this situation before, and I found the necessary strategic changes to be really interesting, and fun.
These are the hands I played for more than a call pre-flop, or played for a call pre-flop and played past the flop:
Level 1: 0
Level 2: 0
Level 3: 0
Level 4: 0
Level 5: 0
Level 6: 0
***add-on***
Level 7: 0
Level 8: 200/400 blinds, ante 25, 2470 in chips
I'm MP with Kh Qh, the best hand I've seen in this tournament.
UTG raises 800 to 1200, I call.
Flop: Kd Jh Qc, UTG checks, I move in for 1245, UTG folds.
Level 9: 300/600 blinds, ante 50, 3695 in chips
I'm SB with Ad Ks, UTG moves in and has me covered, only I call.
UTG has 5s 5d, board: Tc 2h Td Js Kc and I'm up to 8340.
Level 10: 0
Level 11: 600/1200 blinds, ante 75, 6615 in chips
I'm MP with Jc Jd, folded to me, I raise 2400 to 3600.
Only button calls short with Ah Kd.
Board is 8 high, I'm up to 11068
I'm BB with Ks Kd, 10843 in chips
MP raises 1200 to 2400, folded to me, I re-raise 2400 to 4800.
MP calls. Flop: 8c Qd 2c. I bet his stack... 4800, and he calls.
MP shows Ah Td (?), no help for him. Up to 21328.
Level 12: 0
Level 13: 1500/3000 blinds, ante 150, 15678 in chips
Folded to me in MP with 2d 2h. I raise 3000 to 6000. No callers.
I'm EP with Ac Ah, 20928 in chips
I raise 3000 to 6000. No callers.
Level 14: 2000/4000 blinds, ante 200, 21928 in chips
Folded to me in SB with Ac 9c. I raise 4000 to 8000, BB folds.
Level 15: 0
Level 16: 0
Level 17: 6000/12000 blinds, ante 600, 18528 in chips
I am maybe 9th out of the remaining 12 or 13, and this is when I really let where everybody else was in the tournament influence my decisions. I'm at a six-handed table, with massive blinds, and for a variety of reasons, I fold AT, 66, 44 and A8 in this level. I finish 9th with 10728 in chips, but that's good enough for a seat!
I think I'll have to play a little more aggressively to make the money this Sunday.
Regards,
all_aces
Turbo multi, 108 players, $22+rebuys, 11 spots get the seat. I did one immediate rebuy and I took the add-on at the break. Truth be told, I didn't get that many hands that were worth playing, but I usually try to chip up anyways. In this case, though, people were so busy trying to knock each other out with garbage that I decided it would be more prudent to wait for big hands. Also, I obviously wasn't playing for first...
The end of the tournament is interesting when you are simply trying to make top 11. When it gets down to 15 or 16, your decisions are based more on other's stack sizes and positions relative to the blinds than your cards. I'm sure most of you have been here before... I haven't. I usually just buy into tournaments I want to play. I've read about this stuff in Sklansky's TPFAP though, and was happy to finally be able to put it to use. Hands that I would normally be raising, I was folding, because the small stack at the other table was about to be blinded out. People were also checking down all-in pots a lot more often than usual, although some people still didn't grasp it.
Example: 12 left, 11 get seats. Shortstack at the other table calls all-in for less, and the guy to his left raises the pot significantly, to isolate him?!? The caller had A4o, the isolating raiser had K7o??? Why not just call? Why not have everyone at the table just call, and have everyone at the table check it down? I guess that's why they completely disable chat when it gets down to 18 or so. Anyways, the isolating raiser hit his 7, and that was how the tournament ended. Unreal.
I know, I know, basic stuff... but like I said I've never been in this situation before, and I found the necessary strategic changes to be really interesting, and fun.
These are the hands I played for more than a call pre-flop, or played for a call pre-flop and played past the flop:
Level 1: 0
Level 2: 0
Level 3: 0
Level 4: 0
Level 5: 0
Level 6: 0
***add-on***
Level 7: 0
Level 8: 200/400 blinds, ante 25, 2470 in chips
I'm MP with Kh Qh, the best hand I've seen in this tournament.
UTG raises 800 to 1200, I call.
Flop: Kd Jh Qc, UTG checks, I move in for 1245, UTG folds.
Level 9: 300/600 blinds, ante 50, 3695 in chips
I'm SB with Ad Ks, UTG moves in and has me covered, only I call.
UTG has 5s 5d, board: Tc 2h Td Js Kc and I'm up to 8340.
Level 10: 0
Level 11: 600/1200 blinds, ante 75, 6615 in chips
I'm MP with Jc Jd, folded to me, I raise 2400 to 3600.
Only button calls short with Ah Kd.
Board is 8 high, I'm up to 11068
I'm BB with Ks Kd, 10843 in chips
MP raises 1200 to 2400, folded to me, I re-raise 2400 to 4800.
MP calls. Flop: 8c Qd 2c. I bet his stack... 4800, and he calls.
MP shows Ah Td (?), no help for him. Up to 21328.
Level 12: 0
Level 13: 1500/3000 blinds, ante 150, 15678 in chips
Folded to me in MP with 2d 2h. I raise 3000 to 6000. No callers.
I'm EP with Ac Ah, 20928 in chips
I raise 3000 to 6000. No callers.
Level 14: 2000/4000 blinds, ante 200, 21928 in chips
Folded to me in SB with Ac 9c. I raise 4000 to 8000, BB folds.
Level 15: 0
Level 16: 0
Level 17: 6000/12000 blinds, ante 600, 18528 in chips
I am maybe 9th out of the remaining 12 or 13, and this is when I really let where everybody else was in the tournament influence my decisions. I'm at a six-handed table, with massive blinds, and for a variety of reasons, I fold AT, 66, 44 and A8 in this level. I finish 9th with 10728 in chips, but that's good enough for a seat!
I think I'll have to play a little more aggressively to make the money this Sunday.
Regards,
all_aces
Comments
Regards,
all_aces
good luck sunday
regards,
CO :shock:
Finally, someone playing like more of a Rock than I do! 8)
This is nicely related to Dave's earlier post about the Brantford tourney in terms of needing to play tighter when the stacks are not deep. Since this is a turbo tournament the blinds are going to move up so quickly that you'll never get a truly huge stack, and you're going to have to be getting a lot more money in than usual pre-flop, even if you're simply stealing (or being) the blinds.
Well done, and best of luck in the target tourney! (Or whetever you play in if you decide to convert your entry into T$)
ScottyZ
A rock feels no pain.
It was a bizarre tournament. I've played single-table turbo tournaments before, but the rate at which the limits increased did not seem to be as much of a factor in those ones. Probably because the single-table ones usually end before the 'really' big levels. In this turbo multi, by about level 9 or 10, just about everbody was shortstacked. Ten times the big blind was a monster stack. If an average stack just called preflop, they were pretty much pot-committed lol. This isn't really poker. I don't know what it was. Never before have I paid so much attention to other people's stack sizes and positions relative to the blinds, and so little attention to my cards.
I got lucky more than once by getting a walk in my big blind. Consequently, I didn't have to put my entire stack on the line with a marginal holding to try and steal somebody's blinds.
Oh, I'll play the target tourney! Papa needs a new pair of shoes! I'm rollin' up a stake and goin' to Vegas! Luck be a lady tonight! Etc. I will probably bust out in the first hour.
Tilter:
It is indeed the 300K guaranteed tournament. I guess I could have just said that in the first place lol. And I will need all the luck I can get! These guys are tough. Oh, and if I am lucky enough to get to the final two or three, somebody please PM me the words: "MAKE A DEAL". The differences in the payouts between 1st and 2nd place, and probably 3rd, are too big to gamble on, IMHO. I already made that mistake once, and I don't want to make it if the opportunity ever miraculously presents itself again.
Regards,
all_aces
stp
Regards,
all_aces
stp
Well, it was a nice move moving in with the 66 after all those limpers when your stack was small, but not desparately so, so that your raising all-in still had a considerable amount of mustard behind it.
Well played!
ScottyZ
Oh, well. It had to be done. I was hoping everyone would fold, or at the very worst it would be a coin flip, which it was. 10K at 600/1200, and you're just looking for those opportunities. A couple of limpers, you move in for 9K more from the SB...
I thought for a moment I'd be able to coast into the money, and that wasn't true, due to the fact that every time I had a remotely playable hand (Say KTs) the pot was raised to 3600 in front of me. So, like you said, rock mode until I could get into a good situation with a loose opponent.
Thanks for watching! Maybe it will go a little better next time.
Regards,
all_aces
I watched a couple of hands and you were rocking, I thought for sure you were going to get paid...Oh well, you can't win em all.
Also, I've read somewhere about KrazyKanuck, is this person a pro or something?