Rookie - Looking for advice

I am extremely new to playing nlth and am wondering what others opinions are.......I entered a mtt yesterday @ paradisepoker (free money for a possible seat in another mtt). There were 1703 players and I finished 149. I don't want to get overly excited as maybe I just got lucky. I do feel that I have a "grasp" of the game but am far from a veteran.

I have all of the hand history from yesterday's mtt but don't want to post 245 hands. If someone would be willing to review my demise (last 4 or so hands) please let me know.

Thank you for the great site. I've been reading articles from front to back since Monday and feel as though I've already learned magnitudes of info

Just post the last four hands and use the hand convertor.

I'm not sure what you meant by the using the hand convertor so I apologize in advance if this isn't the format you wanted. I am darkeyes

Game #1065252197 - Tournament FreeMillion - 400/800 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2005/11/02-16:56:44.6 (CST)
Table "FreeMillion 142" (MTT) -- Seat 6 is the button
Seat 1: scarybigguy1322 (170 in chips)
Seat 2: Slymer (12,100 in chips)
Seat 3: oomparage (1,150 in chips)
Seat 4: darkeyes23 (11,820 in chips)
Seat 5: zeemonee (6,281 in chips)
Seat 6: choky58 (20,778 in chips)
Seat 7: NUMB LOCK (8,773 in chips)
Seat 8: YBI4EN (16,313 in chips)
Seat 9: stagrubba724 (10,377 in chips)
Seat 10: Headhuntr (9,082 in chips)
Slymer : Ante (50)
oomparage: Ante (50)
darkeyes23: Ante (50)
zeemonee: Ante (50)
choky58 : Ante (50)
NUMB LOCK: Ante (50)
YBI4EN : Ante (50)
stagrubba724: Ante (50)
Headhuntr: Ante (50)
scarybigguy1322: Ante (50)
NUMB LOCK: Post Small Blind (400)
YBI4EN : Post Big Blind (800)
Dealing...
Dealt to darkeyes23 [ Jh ]
Dealt to darkeyes23 [ Qd ]
stagrubba724: Call (800)
Headhuntr: Fold
scarybigguy1322: Fold
Slymer : Fold
oomparage: Fold
darkeyes23: Call (800)
zeemonee: Fold
choky58 : Fold
NUMB LOCK: Fold
YBI4EN : Check
*** FLOP *** : [ 2s 5h 4h ]
YBI4EN : Check
stagrubba724: Check
darkeyes23: Check
*** TURN *** : [ 2s 5h 4h ] [ 9s ]
YBI4EN : Check
stagrubba724: Check
darkeyes23: Check
*** RIVER *** : [ 2s 5h 4h 9s ] [ Td ]
YBI4EN : Check
stagrubba724: Bet (800)
darkeyes23: Call (800)
YBI4EN : Fold
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 4,900 | Board: [ 2s 5h 4h 9s Td ]
scarybigguy1322 lost 50 (folded)
Slymer lost 50 (folded)
oomparage lost 50 (folded)
darkeyes23 lost 1,650 [ Jh Qd ] (high card queen)
zeemonee lost 50 (folded)
choky58 lost 50 (folded)
NUMB LOCK lost 450 (folded)
YBI4EN lost 850 (folded)
stagrubba724 bet 1,650, collected 4,900, net +3,250 (showed hand) [ Tc As ] (a
pair of tens)
Headhuntr lost 50 (folded)
-----------------------------------------------------
Game #1065254332 - Tournament FreeMillion - 400/800 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2005/11/02-16:57:51.2 (CST)
Table "FreeMillion 142" (MTT) -- Seat 7 is the button
Seat 1: scarybigguy1322 (120 in chips)
Seat 2: Slymer (12,050 in chips)
Seat 3: oomparage (1,100 in chips)
Seat 4: darkeyes23 (10,170 in chips)
Seat 5: zeemonee (6,231 in chips)
Seat 6: choky58 (20,728 in chips)
Seat 7: NUMB LOCK (8,323 in chips)
Seat 8: YBI4EN (15,463 in chips)
Seat 9: stagrubba724 (13,627 in chips)
Seat 10: Headhuntr (9,032 in chips)
Slymer : Ante (50)
oomparage: Ante (50)
darkeyes23: Ante (50)
zeemonee: Ante (50)
choky58 : Ante (50)
NUMB LOCK: Ante (50)
YBI4EN : Ante (50)
stagrubba724: Ante (50)
Headhuntr: Ante (50)
scarybigguy1322: Ante (50)
YBI4EN : Post Small Blind (400)
stagrubba724: Post Big Blind (800)
Dealing...
Dealt to darkeyes23 [ Jh ]
Dealt to darkeyes23 [ 5d ]
Headhuntr: Fold
scarybigguy1322: Fold
Slymer : Fold
oomparage: Fold
darkeyes23: Fold
zeemonee: Fold
choky58 : Fold
NUMB LOCK: Fold
YBI4EN : Call (400)
stagrubba724: Check
*** FLOP *** : [ 7c Ad 7s ]
YBI4EN : Check
stagrubba724: Check
*** TURN *** : [ 7c Ad 7s ] [ 6c ]
YBI4EN : Check
stagrubba724: Check
*** RIVER *** : [ 7c Ad 7s 6c ] [ Ts ]
YBI4EN : Check
stagrubba724: Check
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 2,100 | Board: [ 7c Ad 7s 6c Ts ]
scarybigguy1322 lost 50 (folded)
Slymer lost 50 (folded)
oomparage lost 50 (folded)
darkeyes23 lost 50 (folded) [ Jh 5d ] (a pair of sevens)
zeemonee lost 50 (folded)
choky58 lost 50 (folded)
NUMB LOCK lost 50 (folded)
YBI4EN bet 850, collected 2,100, net +1,250 (showed hand) [ Kd Qc ] (a pair of
sevens)
stagrubba724 lost 850 [ Jc Qd ] (a pair of sevens)
Headhuntr lost 50 (folded)
-----------------------------------------------------
Game #1065255566 - Tournament FreeMillion - 400/800 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2005/11/02-16:58:31.6 (CST)
Table "FreeMillion 142" (MTT) -- Seat 8 is the button
Seat 1: scarybigguy1322 (70 in chips)
Seat 2: Slymer (12,000 in chips)
Seat 3: oomparage (1,050 in chips)
Seat 4: darkeyes23 (10,120 in chips)
Seat 5: zeemonee (6,181 in chips)
Seat 6: choky58 (20,678 in chips)
Seat 7: NUMB LOCK (8,273 in chips)
Seat 8: YBI4EN (16,713 in chips)
Seat 9: stagrubba724 (12,777 in chips)
Seat 10: Headhuntr (8,982 in chips)
Slymer : Ante (50)
oomparage: Ante (50)
darkeyes23: Ante (50)
zeemonee: Ante (50)
choky58 : Ante (50)
NUMB LOCK: Ante (50)
YBI4EN : Ante (50)
stagrubba724: Ante (50)
Headhuntr: Ante (50)
scarybigguy1322: Ante (50)
stagrubba724: Post Small Blind (400)
Headhuntr: Post Big Blind (800)
Dealing...
Dealt to darkeyes23 [ 8h ]
Dealt to darkeyes23 [ Ac ]
scarybigguy1322: Fold
Slymer : Fold
oomparage: Fold
darkeyes23: Call (800)
zeemonee: Fold
choky58 : Fold
NUMB LOCK: Fold
YBI4EN : Call (800)
stagrubba724: Call (400)
Headhuntr: Check
*** FLOP *** : [ 2s As 6h ]
stagrubba724: Check
Headhuntr: Check
darkeyes23: Check
YBI4EN : Check
*** TURN *** : [ 2s As 6h ] [ Ts ]
stagrubba724: Check
Headhuntr: Check
darkeyes23: Check
YBI4EN : Bet (2,000)
stagrubba724: Fold
Headhuntr: Fold
darkeyes23: Call (2,000)
*** RIVER *** : [ 2s As 6h Ts ] [ Qc ]
darkeyes23: Check
YBI4EN : Bet (2,600)
darkeyes23: Call (2,600)
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 12,900 | Board: [ 2s As 6h Ts Qc ]
scarybigguy1322 lost 50 (folded)
Slymer lost 50 (folded)
oomparage lost 50 (folded)
darkeyes23 lost 5,450 [ 8h Ac ] (a pair of aces)
zeemonee lost 50 (folded)
choky58 lost 50 (folded)
NUMB LOCK lost 50 (folded)
YBI4EN bet 5,450, collected 12,900, net +7,450 (showed hand) [ Qh Tc ] (two
pair, queens and tens)
stagrubba724 lost 850 (folded)
Headhuntr lost 850 (folded)
-----------------------------------------------------
Game #1065257698 - Tournament FreeMillion - 400/800 No Limit Texas Hold'em -
2005/11/02-16:59:38.9 (CST)
Table "FreeMillion 142" (MTT) -- Seat 9 is the button
Seat 1: scarybigguy1322 (20 in chips)
Seat 2: Slymer (11,950 in chips)
Seat 3: oomparage (1,000 in chips)
Seat 4: darkeyes23 (4,670 in chips)
Seat 5: zeemonee (6,131 in chips)
Seat 6: choky58 (20,628 in chips)
Seat 7: NUMB LOCK (8,223 in chips)
Seat 8: YBI4EN (24,163 in chips)
Seat 9: stagrubba724 (11,927 in chips)
Seat 10: Headhuntr (8,132 in chips)
Slymer : Ante (50)
oomparage: Ante (50)
darkeyes23: Ante (50)
zeemonee: Ante (50)
choky58 : Ante (50)
NUMB LOCK: Ante (50)
YBI4EN : Ante (50)
stagrubba724: Ante (50)
Headhuntr: Ante (50)
scarybigguy1322: Ante (20)
Headhuntr: Post Small Blind (400)
Dealing...
Dealt to darkeyes23 [ 9d ]
Dealt to darkeyes23 [ 9h ]
Slymer : Raise (2,600)
oomparage: Fold
darkeyes23: Call (2,600)
zeemonee: Fold
choky58 : Fold
NUMB LOCK: Fold
YBI4EN : Fold
stagrubba724: Fold
Headhuntr: Fold
*** FLOP *** : [ Ts Jc 8d ]
Slymer : Bet (800)
darkeyes23: Call (800)
*** TURN *** : [ Ts Jc 8d ] [ 4s ]
Slymer : Bet (1,200)
darkeyes23: Raise All-in (1,220)
Slymer : Call (20)
*** RIVER *** : [ Ts Jc 8d 4s ] [ 3c ]
*** SUMMARY ***
Pot: 200 | Side pot 1: 9,910 | Board: [ Ts Jc 8d 4s 3c ]
scarybigguy1322 lost 20 (showed hand) [ 2c 5h ] (high card jack)
Slymer bet 4,670, collected 10,110, net +5,440 (showed hand) [ 8s 8h ] (three
of a kind, eights)
oomparage lost 50 (folded)
darkeyes23 lost 4,670 (showed hand) [ 9d 9h ] (a pair of nines)
zeemonee lost 50 (folded)
choky58 lost 50 (folded)
NUMB LOCK lost 50 (folded)
YBI4EN lost 50 (folded)
stagrubba724 lost 50 (folded)
Headhuntr lost 450 (folded)
-----------------------------------------------------

That late in a tournament you need to stop limping. Also open limping (being the first one in the pot and limping) is a big mistake. If you're going to play and no one has entered the pot Raise!

Hand 1: You called someone with queen high. This usually will not win you the pot. If you want to win that pot you're going to have to get him off of his hand by raising. In all actuality I would probably bet the turn having that it was checked to me twice that almost always means STEAL THIS POT FROM ME.

Hand 2: Although j5 is my favorite hand, you shouldn't play it, and you didn't so good.

Hand 3: a8o 4th to act is usually a fold for me, but if you're going to play it you need to open raise and fold to a re-raise. The flop is four way and it's beautiful. You hit your ace and your kicker is larger then everything out there, you need to bet this out.

Hand 4: If you think you have the best hand you must raise, only if you're not sure should you fold. If you like your 9's here you should try to raise him out of the pot, granted the results would have been the same but you would have at least put him to the test.

All in all you're playing a little too passive, you need to raise when you think you have the best hand and stop calling preflop if you can help it (Except from the SB). Try to only raise and see how that helps your game.

If you're going to play A8 late in the game, you've got to raise it. Never, I repeat NEVER, call down with Queen high.

You call too much.

See leak # 5

http://www.flopturnriver.com/phpBB2/...ic.php?t=21474

I appreciate all of your insight and will try and implement it when I get a chance to play tonight or tomorrow.

Hand#1: I would fold Qjo from MP here, even if the flop hit you with TP your kicker is marginal.

Hand#2: Good fold

Hand#3: As already stated there is no point in limping in, either fold or raise.
You did not bet the flop - this is a mistake. Think about it for a second - when you limped A8 what kind of flop were you hoping for ? If you were hoping to flop 2 pair or better then A8 is no different then any other random hand. If you were hoping for an 8 hi flop - those are pretty rare. Bet the flop - if you are reraised get out.
On the last hand you got raised 1/2 your stack preflop, calling makes you pot commited, so you are better off pushing freflop for the small chance that he will fold

I'm sorry dude, but you don't have a grasp of the game. You have no aggression at all which means you are, effectively, only winning hands through luck. You are playing terrible* hands and you're playing them badly.

I hope you have the chance to really study this site, especially the beginners' section, as these hands are SO poorly played that if you can't even see what you did wrong, you really need to start from scratch.

I'm sorry to be harsh, but really, you have to recognise your newbiehood and start along the road to learning. Don't even think about playing real money games at this point because you WILL lose.


*okay, you're playing marginal hands, but you're playing them badly, and this puts you at an even greater risk of losing your stack than foolishly limping 37o and then floding on the flop

Pretty much have to re-emphasize what everyone else said here.

Only thing I'll really add is you need to read up on playing your position. I'm going to focus on two hands and just make some points I don't think others did.

The hand you played A8 on. First, like everyone else said, limping (ESPECIALLY late in a tournament) is probably the worst thing you can do. Let me paint a scenario for ya.

Going into the hand you had 10,200 in chips. You're 5th or 6th in chips at your table, not looking too hot. However, at this level you can stand to see at LEAST 36 more hands at the blind level before you're even at HALF of that. I'm going to bet that you're going to see a lucrative hand before that 36 hits. Also, lets not forget you can still pick up and throw out 2k or 3k to push someone around to pick up another round or two of cards. Patience is key. But lets look at something here with this hand.

We've established its mostly garbage, but look how much you're spending to see this garbage: the blind + ante $850. About 8% of your stack. Okay, not horrible dent but its there right? So what happens if someone in better position brings it to $1600? If you call you're giving up 15% of your stack on a shitty hand. This isn't limit, don't look at this as an investment. Until you land it back, consider it gone. What about a reraise to $3200? Now you're commiting 31% of your chips. The only reason I am saying this is because it seems that you have one of the typical new player issues of "If I play my hand past preflop, I'm sticking with it". If you don't hit a hand, get out of there unless you're willing to really bluff someone out! You can't afford to be making these shitty calls. Patience, throw on a porn in the background of your monitor, rub one out, do what you need to pass time and wait on the next hand. Always be concious of what you're putting into the pot and what you're willing to put into the pot preflop. Generally, outright bet what you'll put out there preflop because it'll limit the number of competition and give you a better chance of winning your hand. Or hell, maybe you'll just get the blinds. Good enough.

Another hand I wanna look at is pocket 9s. You went into this hand with $4670 and you called $2600. You're calling with 55% of your stack preflop. If you're willing to move that much money into pot, its time to go over the top. You know you are obviously sticking with it since you continued to play it after two overs hit. Go balls out here, if this is where you're ready to go, kill that pot. I have a feeling Slymer would of been folding his 8s to your all in. He put roughly 20% of his stack out there as a bet, I'm doubting hes willing to double that on pocket 8s, especially if you're going to come over the top aggressively like that. And even if he did call you, you made the right move preflop because you put your money in the pot when you had the best of it.

I'm done with my novel, which is full of worthless information. =)

Oh, and HeavyP is dead on, J5, more like 2good.