Minding the T&Cs

Returning from 2 weeks' holiday in Spain, I have the Spring Festival at The International to look forward to.

It was just long enough since the disappointments of the previous festival for me to be full of renewed hope that I could break my duck in major tournaments.

The definition of a "major" in my mind is somewhat fluid. It obviously includes WSOP, GUKPT or EPT type events but I also consider the main event of a poker festival to count so long as the buy-in is significant for that venue, and it a 2+ day tournament.

At this "mini festival" the main event was a very reasonable £300 buyin but it was a pukka main event nonetheless with a 45minute clock and 10,000 chips and two long days of play. The field was packed full of known players, including quite a few top notch tournament regulars.

Quite a few of my past disappointments have stemmed from my own errors (poker is a game of errors in many ways - it's a competition to make the fewest). At a very basic level, my failure to play sufficiently tightly in the early stages has often cost me a chance to put in a good performance.

I put my mental focus on the Ts and Cs of tournament poker:

T for TIGHT - it's far from natural for me to play as tight as I should. Of course, Tight is not the only way. You can make a case that it's not the best way, but it is the right way for most players most of the time and it's what I must do.

T for TEMPO - I'll be trying to consciously pace my actions in the hands. Take a little time to take note of all the game conditions. The cards we are dealt are just one of a host of factors, and not necessarily the most important. In extreme cases, the cards do not matter at all.

T for TENACITY - It's so easy to lose one's head after a bad spot in these tournaments. The reasons can be many but the response has to be to hang in there. There is so much TIME in these deep structures.

All of these should help me with my main objective: T for TOMORROW - that's when I still want to be playing!

To help me with Target Tomorrow I will need to use the Cs as well:

C for CONTROL - I often find that a pot or hand has escalated and I face a very awkward decision. To try to avoid this I need to look at controlling the evolution of the hands by thinking ahead.

C for COMMITMENT - I have sometimes arrived at points in a pot where suddenly I get worried about exiting the tournament. In many of those cases I have taken the wrong line at the beginning of the hand and created a tough spot but now I compound the error by taking a weak line when the right response to the situation is to bite the bullet and make that call, or that all-in 3-barrel bluff !

C is also for COUNTING and CONCENTRATION and CHIP management - all of which are essential.

It's a beautiful day. Some would say that playing cards in a packed basement is not the way to take advantage, but I'm happy with where I am !

I take my seat at "L5". Lucky 5 that says to me. And with the button starting in seat 5 I feel like a winner already.

I play tight - one very aggressive raiser at our table actually makes it easy for me to fold all kinds of marginal hands that I might have opened !

I have about 11,000 in Level 2 and have only played a couple of hands when the first key pot comes up.

With KsJs in Early-Mid position I feel I have enough of a hand to raise given how quiet I have been. I make it 300 (blinds: 50/100) and only the SB calls. He is the very active player that I mentioned.

The flop is JJ6 rainbow. I feel like I have flopped the nuts but I proceed cautiously. When he checks I elect to check behind hoping this will encourage him to take a stab on the turn. The 4d puts 2 diamonds and a possible low straight draw out there. He still checks (suspicious) and when I bet 500, he pops it to 1,250.

I choose to call again. The 7d river makes a possible flush or a straight for 5-8 or 5-3.

We check it down and he shows me AJ. I lost the minimum, but did I lose the plot there ?

Nothing goes my way after this. My chips drift lower and lower. I think I am playing tight, and I am trying to be selectively aggressive. The slow structure means I am not feeling extreme pressure yet but I eventually get pushed down to only 1,650 chips having posted my 150 small blind.

2 limps are followed by a push from another short-stack (who has 4,600), With KJ I simply must put my chips in and hope. The other hands fold and I am amazed to find I am in great shape to treble up vs KT !

The first card out is a Ten (aarrghh!) but the full board is TJKAJ ! Full house (overkill) and back in an upwards direction. When I find QQ UTG a short while later it is literally the first pair I have been dealt in the tournament.

I push for 4,475 (150/300 still) and the button (Andy Achillea) finds a close call with AJ. He's obviously played with me before!

The first and second cards out are Aces !! I curse my luck and when a Queen hits the river I don't immediately realise I have won with Queens full.

I find a couple of 3-bet all in spots and improve to about 15,500 chips before the 2nd interesting spot.

I find AhTh in the Big blind at the 300/600/75level. Andy Achillea raises to 1,550 in the cut-off. I hope a raise to 4,100 will see him off but he thinks about the situation and calls 2,550 more. He has my 13,700 stack covered a bit less than 2x.

The flop is K93 rainbow. On reflection, my best line in this pot was to push pre flop. Now, my best line was to push - he should not have a King here.

However, I checked and I believe Andy sensed weakness and set me in. I can't call and am left on about 15BB.

He shows the 6 of Spades !

I fight a decent rearguard action with this stack, but with about 2/3 of the field gone I eventually fall in 28th spot (28/95) when I am down to 9BB and push with A5-suited and get looked up by Queens. GG.

Overall, we can take the frustration and disappointment as read. I didn't seriously threaten to make day 2 but I did outlast 2/3 of a strong field and lasted around 9 hours.

I think I made mistakes in both the pots I describe above. In the first one, my mistake in not getting more chips in with top trips saved me a tone of chips (possibly all of them). In the second, my weakness cost me a pot and some valuable momentum.

OK ... next !