I can now announce that ABC stands for Avoid Bad Calls.
It's the £1,500 NLH event at the WSOPE. I'm on my ever-longer quest to make a decent showing in on of these larger tournaments.
I feel pretty good about my prospects - not that I think I have a genuinely good chance, it's simply that I decided to feel confident. Never a bad thing in poker.
I was speaking to someone the other day who said (apparently in earnest) that feeling confident meant you actually got dealt better hands. I certainly wouldn't go that far, but I think it is obvious that playing with confidence will give you a better chance in the same way that timid, fearful play is certain to be pounced on by better players.
Conscious of my oft-repeated mistakes of getting too active early in these tournaments, I play tight early on. My task is made easier because I am dealt a 3 in every hand for the first two orbits - I did get pocket 3s one time and took down a small pot by betting out on the AKJ-flop.
My first table looks pretty safe - there are no big names as far as I can see although I recognise 3 or 4 from the poker circuit generally and the fella on my right seems to be a high-stakes cash player on pokerstars, over here to play the whole series.
I advance to about 7k before our table is broken. Nothing too remarkable has happened to me, but some of the hands that I was not involved in were manic. The most notable being the following monster pot:
EP raises and is called by MP player and one of the blinds. The flop is T99 with two diamonds. check/Bet/call/call. Turn 8d. check/Bet/call/call.
River 7c. Check/bet/all-in/check-raise all-in over the top. Now the last to act says "I'm not slow-rolling, I have a decision" and he eventually calls with 8s-full. The first all-in has Quad-9s and the crai player had the Nut flush with the Jack of diamonds as a straight-flush blocker.
That's action ! I have to say the flush should have found a fold.
The Quad-9 player kept being moved with me and he created huge pots wherever he went.
I am still plodding along quietly waiting for my chance to get dealt a big hand ! Meanwhile, I keep up with the blinds with some re-raise action. I take a knock back when I re-raise the cut-off with AJ, only to face an all-in. I fold, and he claims to have had KK.
I often try to over-compensate after losing chips - but at 4,725 I am not in imminent danger and I recover to above the 6k starting stack with a hand that I feel I played well enough - UTG with AK, I make it 700, receiving a call only from the Big Blind who I have identified as a good, solid player.
The flop being A92 with two hearts. He checks, and I check behind. The Jd comes on the turn. Checked to me. I now bet 700 which is called. Another 9 on the river. When it is checked to me, I put in a value bet of 1,000 which is paid off by AT.
We're broken again in the middle of the 100/200/25 level - back into the main part of the casino. Me and Quad-9s join the table where Annette_15 has just busted.
It's all action straight away. The player on my right opens for 400. Raised to 1,600 by a late-position player. Quad 9's calls. The big blind makes it 5,000 more. The original raiser folds and now the late-position raiser moves all-in for about 10,000. NOW, Quad-9s moves all-in on top of that which forces the big-blind to lay down.
Presumably we are looking at Aces vs Kings, or maybe Aces vs Aces ? No. JJ vs AK. The board changes nothing and Quad-9s doubles up the other player.
An orbit or so later, I pick up AK myself and raise two limpers - making it 1,650 total. Maybe a bit steep ? All fold.
The very next hand, I have AK again. I make it 575 which is my standard raise with 525 in the pots from the blinds and antes. The player in the cut-off calls. The big blind makes what looks like a reluctant call.
The flop is dealt - Qs6s3h.
BB checks to me and I make what amounts to a critical error. I feel I should bet (that may be an error right there) but crucially I miscalculated the pot and bet 1,700 which in fact was about 85% of the pot. Too much.
The cut-off folded and the big-blind looked pretty uncomfortable. He dwelled up for ages and looked very much like he was mucking as well until all of a sudden something seemed to click and he pushed all-in for about 7k - covering me anyway.
OK. Tournament decision. I have been burned so many times calling all in when I felt that I needed to gamble so my first instinct was to fold, of course.
I tried to think it through logically. On the one hand I have no-pair / no-draw. On the other hand, if I call and win I finally have some chips. If I fold, I am back down to 4,250 and in a short while we're going to 150/300 with antes.
A check-raise all-in is supposed to be a strong move but this player looked weak to me. Still, I have nothing ! I'm getting a good price though - something like 5/2 although it was actually a little less than I thought.
Obviously the BB could have a set of 6s or 3s in which case I am in huge trouble. He could have 2pair (6s and 3s presumably). But, in fact, I think he has a draw and if he has As7s say then we're about even. If he has a pair then I am about 25% - not a mile short of what I need.
Still, it is for my tournament - it's much better to be the one pushing !
I must say at the end of the decision I was seduced by the thought of making a heroic winning, call and I pushed the chips in.
He showed Q8-hearts for top pair/8-kicker and a backdoor flush. I needed an Ace or King and to be honest, I felt it was coming, but it wasn't !
That call was probably a mistake. The 1,700 was certainly an error.
ABC - Avoid Being Committed
No comments:
Post a Comment