Tournaments day....

Today began by me driving up to Viejas Casino for a $200 buy-in tournament. The tournament was scheduled to begin at noon and I heard it does sell out, so I arrived about 10 a.m. It was already sold out. I became alternate number 87. Meaning, that when people get knocked, out an alternate may come in, up to about the first hour of the tournament. I got in with about 3 minutes to spare. There were 440 people in the tournament and I played well until I was knocked out in about 78th place. I spent a lot of time analyzing my play afterwards and felt pretty good about. For quite awhile I wondered if my last hand was played the best I could have.
Here is the hand and the reasoning.....

The blinds were about to go up to 4 & 8 k. I needed to make something happen soon to gain some chips or I was going to be in danger of being "blinded out".

The blinds had gone to 2 & 4,000. I was three in front of the big blind. The first two checked and I went all-in 12k with a pair of fours and was called by a player 2 to my left with AK diamonds.

The flop came Jd, 7s, 5h, I was ahead, but I didn't want an Ace or King to come. The turn came Qd & the river 8d. He had made a runner-runner flush! After I thought about it, I realized he had made a good call. I actually had a little more then him so I ended up with 1500 in chips and got to play two more hands. One I won and the next I lost. I had to play all in on my big blind because I actually had less then the amount of the big blind. I didn't have to play my small blind but everyone checked to me and I had a pair of 6's. So I bet the 6k I had won on my Big Blind pot. However, the Big Blind who called me had a pair of 8's.

Nothing that came improved either hand so I was out. I am wondering if it would have been better for me to only call or slightly raise the 4's. Then when the flop didn't look good for AK I could have pushed all-in and he might have folded. But, I don't think, I would have, if I was him. He had a number of "outs".

Regarding my all-in bet it is usually much wiser to not put in two or three smaller bets when you are planning on going all in by the river. The big all-in bet has much more power in most circumstances.

The total payout for the tournament was over 80K and 1st would have paid 20,000. I would have liked a piece of that. I am looking forward to my first "big" tournament win. So far 2,500 & 1,000 have been my largest tournament cashouts.

Then I drove down to Sycuan and played 2 hours of No Limit until the evening tournament started. The buy-in was $65 and I just won a little more then that the two hours before the tournament began at 1/2 N/L

I played almost three hours in this tournament and from a field of about 200 made it to number 37.

I played well until I made a "big mistake". I had lost a couple of hands and my stack had seriously been chopped down to 7,000 The blinds were 1 & 2,000

I was the Big Blind. Everyone checked to the small blind who raised it to 7K.

Here is where I made my mistake. I have played many times with the small blind, and knew he would try to steal. He is a very loose player. He and I had tangled over a couple of hands already. I had "bluffed" him out of a pot where I had to show my cards because an "all-in" player was in the hand. So I knew he was "gunning" for me for a number of reasons. I looked down and saw K8 off-suited. I didn't think he had anything. He raised my blind to 7,000 (the amount I had left). So I called putting my whole tournament at risk, on a "not so good" hand and with out any evidence to support my belief that he was on a bluff.

He showed a pair of 6's when we turned over the cards. I was encouraged when the flop came an 8, then a Jack, then I saw his third 6 flop. I was almost as "good as dead" when the river brought him a 4th six!

Well, that was memorable and as I drove home I thought over and over about how I played that hand. I played it very badly because I could have waited for the blind and small blind for better cards. Even if no good cards came I would have 4,000 left and I would have up to 9 more hands to choose from before I had to bet. Secondly, I acted on a "belief" that I had no data to support. and thirdly I didn't have to quickly slam in my last 5,000. I could have taken my time and thought all this though.

But, I didn't.

Now today there is a theme here for me to learn from. In both hands I went all in out of fear I would be "blinded out". And I have been in the past. But I wasn't fully in the "moment today. Both times today I could have waited two to four more hands for something better. I needed more patience or better hands to play them when I did.

I know a few weeks ago I "corrected" some really tight play in tournaments and resolved to become slighty more aggressive. However, I think I "over corrected" and loosened up in the wrong place". So I will adjust again, based on both of those things that I have learned about my tournament play.

I am pretty tired, from almost 7 hours of tournaments, counting the on-line, one table tournament I just lost $20 at while, writing this blog.

Oh yeah, I also played 4 hours of cash games no-limit. Guess it was a very full day of poker.

I still really enjoyed it and look forward to continuing to think through today's. I am resolving to play better tomorrow.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. I can be emailed at dave.dillman@yahoo.com

Thanks for sharing this with me......