25 August 2006
August 25 - A few days ago I wrote a tournament poker strategy article that dealt with the tricky navigation required to get through the bubble, and how to avoid busting (bursting) at the crucial juncture. Since then I have bust out on the bubble in two major online poker tournaments.
The article, which is now mostly of interest in a historical sense in the same way that one might curiously examine the Weimar government or Warren Harding`s presidency, more as a blueprint of what not to do is available here, in all its questionable glory.
Actually the thoughts in the article may well prove useful to others but not to me since I am pathologically unable to follow my own advice. How else to explain tonight`s disastrous outing in the Super Thursday No-limit tournament ($162 buy-in, the usual enormous field of +1000 "players", a term here used in a loose manner) at Party Poker with thousands of dollars on the line?
The tournament started out with some moronic play mainly by me. It was still the second level and I managed to commit half my stack (2500 of my 5000 chips) against a donk with the board showing A-K-Q and my holding of KQ under some strain facing J-T, which held up to leave me short-stacked early, a position I must secrtely enjoy as I find myself in it so often.
I was able to rally thanks to a spirited effort on my part: All-in with AA gratefully called by 88. All-in with five limpers when I wake up in the small blind with JJ, and get a caller who holds, I kid you not, 4s-5s. This takes the suited-connector argument way too far, and I doubled up again, plus I picked up all the limpers` chips.
Anyway, there were many ups and downs, and I was in 160th position with the top 150 paid out. I did not want to settle for a 150-101st finish as that would have meant my three hours of toil were rewarded with a mere $240. A profit of $78 seemed pitiful for that strain. So, by my logic it was far better to push with 6-6 out of position, get called by A-Q and then called by the button with a real hand (A-A) and end up with nothing at all.
Why not limp with the 6s and then see the all-in raise by the idiot with AQ (who raised all-in repeatedly with KJ or better) and then see the AA swoop down on him? That would have allowed me to exit the pot with grace and 80% of my (albeit small at the time) chip stack intact. I could have lived to fight another day, and almost certainly finished in the top 150.
The moral of the story is: Don`t try to be a hero in no-limit tournaments, and do not succumb to that rush of blood to the head - it isn`t worth it. You deserve something for the effort, keep repeating that.
And by the way, absolutely no more articles about losing on the bubble until I cash in a substantial manner once again. It is tempting Fate or the Gods of poker (Janus and Dionysus are the front runners) or someone who enjoys a good laugh at someone else`s expense.
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| | 2009/10/13 10:53:54 AM |
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