The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

Well, I didn't win a trip to the Bahamas and entry into the World Poker Tour. And I didn't even win a Pokerstars hat that they were giving away to the top 100! But, on the flipside, I fared very well. I outlasted 1,273 other entrants and finished exactly in 200th place. I even outlasted the one celebrity in the event, actor Wil Wheaton, who finished 328th. Hey, how many people can say they lasted longer than Wil Wheaton? Not too many, but I can! :)

There were some hands where I was extremely pleased with the way I played, and a few that I wish I could take back and try again. So let's talk about a few plays that will stick with me for some time and hopefully make me a better poker player in the long run. Let's get to the hand that cost me the tournament out of the way first.

My biggest gaffe occurred when the blinds were 300/600 with an ante of 50. My chipstack was just over 7000 chips (each player started with 2000). The first couple of hands folded to me and I looked at K 10 suited. I wanted to play the hand, and I got really crazy and went all-in. Why? Much different than the playmoney tournaments I usually enter, more times than not when there was a raise everyone would fold or at the most just get one caller. I felt that my chipstack relative to the blinds was small enough to justify it, and if I got called at least I'd have a playable hand. Unfortunately, I was called by a person holding rockets, and I lost 4000+ of my chips. Looking back though, going all-in wasn't necessary. I could have tried to achieve the same result by raising 3x the big blind. If I were maybe 1/2 the 7000 chipstack size, I couldn't be faulted by pushing all my chips in but really I wasn't in dire straits like I thought I was. Each round of play costs each player 1350 chips (9 players x 50 ante + 600 big blind + 300 small blind = 1350 to play 9 hands). So with over 7000 chips, I had time to wait for better cards. For some reason though, I didn't look at it that way and it cost me. The thing to was that I WAS in dire straits previously and folded many unplayable cards, but then I was dealt Aces and doubled up, getting called with someone holding Kings. Tournament poker can be brutal that way, one mistake and it costs you, whereas if you play a cash game, you're still in it as long as you have some extra money you can spend. Patience is extremely underrated in this game.

As previously mentioned, because the players were playing very tight you could steal with raises and strong betting. This is one thing that I did very well, using raises and continuation bets (Don't know what that is? Read my previous blog posts!) stealing blinds & antes, even when I missed the flop. The thing is you cannot get trapped with this manner of play, you might end up being too clever for yourself and it will cost you (just re-read the last paragraph).

The best laydown had to be when there were 2 callers and I was on the button with pocket Jacks. I decided to raise 3x the big blind and had one caller. The flop came up three low cards, and my opponent immediately went all-in! Whoa, what did this guy have?! This could have cost me my tournament life. I figured there's a chance he might have pocket Queens, Kings or Aces, with an outside chance he might have flopped a set. No one at our table was playing loose so I didn't put him on a bluff. I let go of the hand, and sure enough, he showed me he was holding bullets. It was actually a good thing he went all-in, because if he checked it would have cost me some chips as I would've certainly bet out at the pot if he hadn't.

Some hands that paid me off, using a bit of insinct, included those where I called pre-flop with decent (suited) cards when the table wasn't raising. I did this with King 2 suited, and got well paid when I made my flush on the turn card, cleverly slowplaying, checking, pausing before I'd call a bet to try to make my opponent think I was weak. I also hit two pair on the flop playing Ace-Jack, slowplaying carefully while the opposing player kept on donating chips to the SBP pot. It's a great feeling when you make your hand, but if you don't get paid off for it, what's the point?

Anyway, I'd like to thank my bestest friends Alex and Kerri for coming over and giving me support (But they didn't give me advice, no, this was all SBP!). And also Pokerstars for hosting this 100% free tournament; they already make piles of money and didn't need to host it.

I have a feeling there'll be some more tournaments in the future... ;)