I couldn't resist Goat's offer to burn off some bankroll (especially after a 10 buyin downswing at the cash game tables).
Instead, my love of deepstack cash games -- oh wait, this is a tournament? -- led me to some fun times.
Synopsis:
1) I was unable to fold flopped top two pair vs. Bayne. Spiked a four-outer vs. bottom set of fours for an early suckout & resulting double. I played this one very badly. As soon as Bayne 4-bet shoved the T64 two spade flop I tried to figure out if he could have anything but bottom set. I made a mental shrug and made a bad call praying he had an overpair. Instead I get rewarded for my bad decision with some good luck from the RNG.
2) I cracked another blogger's aces and they coldn't get away postflop.
I open for 2.5 bbs in EP, I get re-raised to 8 bbs. Effective stacks are nearly 100 bbs deep. I flop trips, pocket aces decide to check-raise the turn ... one pair is no good. No doubt many will just scratch their heads at this one and call me unflattering names. My short answer is: I have position, implied odds with deep stacks and a pretty good idea of what my opponent has. Investing 5 more bbs is easy enough to do there when I have my opponent safely covered and I'll know where I stand postflop.
At various points all the way down to three-handed once the cash bubble bursts I have half the chips in play. This lets me play big-stack poker and I run like sucko.
3) I crack Jo's aces with queens (all-in preflop). Must resist feeling guilty because she has a BBT4 ToC seat and I don't.
4) My aces hold up vs. sevens that flop a open-ended straight draw. I dodge ten outs twice.
5) We get down to headsup and I am slightly ahead of Buddy in chips after he felts Hoy. He flops a straight vs. my flush + gutter and I don't get there. I grind back for a while and then run a 4bet bluff with the suited hammer vs. TT and go home in 2nd place.
Fun times. The three-handed play was pretty darn fun and I enjoyed it. I wish I didn't spew so badly once Buddy knocked Hoy out since the HU portion of the tournament was much shorter than it could have been, and I thought I had a good handle on how to grind out a win.
4 comments:
Well, um, played?!?
Congrats on the nice run!
I ran the calculator on the 9s5s vs. aces and you're more than 18% before the flop. I wouldn't have called the raise, but I see now that it was a good move given the size of the stacks.
Stack sizes are crucial. Hand values normalize as the stacks get deeper ... and if players are only re-raising with premium hands when OOP, the implied odds are tremendous. The key is to be making a small investment (an additional 5bbs) compared to your own stack size with enough room to maneuver postflop (preferably in position). The same logic applies in cash games, obviously, as we were almost 100 bbs deep here. It's a risk/reward calculation.
Nice run, P. Irate Lawyer. Thanks for coming out.
Post a Comment