After my deep run (14th out of 499) in the FT 16K KO on Friday, I decided to give it another go on Saturday night. It had a slightly more players, about 550, and I managed to get to 15th. Only 1 KO, as opposed to 5 on Friday, but I actually think I played a much better game.
I stayed about an average or slightly lower than average stack for most of the tourney, and showed down only 2 hands the entire night - I won the first one, and busted on the other. Again, I got myself into a mess in the blinds.
With 45K, and blinds at 2500/5000 with 600 antes, I find QdJc in the BB. It fold around to the LAG SB who makes it 19,800 to go. I push, he thinks, then calls with KQ, hits a K and busts me. Obviously, I need to work on my end game strategy in these things, in particular, playing from the blinds.
Does anyone out there push here with QJ? I doubt it, I could have waited for a much better spot, but at the same time, I think KQ is a pretty bad call too.
Sunday was a cooler day for me. In the Fifty-fifty, I had AA cracked by AsKs early on to cripple me. Picked up AA in the SB, 2nd position open raises, is then re-raised, then another caller, then I push all-in. He insta-calls with his AK and flops a flush. I'm crippled and go home a little bit later.
At the same time, I was playing a FTOPS satellite 10+1 rebuy. Made it to the final table with an average stack, and Hoy was on my left with a big stack. The entire final table was a sick, sick, series of bad beats laid all over the place. I check in from the BB with Q2 and hit a board of 2QQ. All the money gets in against QJ, and of course the J hits and I lose boat over boat. I then saw QT crack AA and 22 crack QQ. My Q8 hold up against 29 to double up my tiny remaining stack. A few hands later I push with K9, the BB makes the call with 83 (he had to, it was like 300 into 10K), and I flop a 9, giving him only runner-runner outs. You know the rest - runner-runner flushed and go home in 5th with a profit of $11.
I guess I can't complain too much, I'm over all winner ~400 for the weekend, but I'd really like a straight up win sometime soon. Maybe tonight in the MATH, 10PM EST on Full Tilt, password:hammer
See you there.
Comments (3)
That tourney is totally winnable. I usually don't play the $75 buy-ins, but the play is so bad that I think you can easily take one of these down. And no, I don't jam with QJs in the BB for my tourney life.
Posted by Kajagugu | January 28, 2008 2:30 PM
Posted on January 28, 2008 14:30
With your stack, as soon as he raises he's committed to calling if you push. You should know that and therefore realize that you have no folding equity whatsoever.
So you have to decide if QJ is good for an all-in showdown. Which it's obviously not.
I think you have to fold there and wait for better spots in which to push all in (like the 22 hand, which is a much better spot)
Posted by Anguila | January 30, 2008 7:42 AM
Posted on January 30, 2008 07:42
Yeah, I'm with Anguila and see that QJ hand as a real poor play. And I don't think you can hate on villain's call with KQ given the odds he was facing. His raise pre said he was gonna call the rest, given your stack size, (albeit it may have made more sense for him to just jam pre.)
But I'm not hatin' man, your finishes are far better than anything I can muster lately. Nice work! You're bound to finish one off soon enough.
Posted by RaisingCayne | February 1, 2008 11:00 PM
Posted on February 1, 2008 23:00