Best MTT Finish Thus Far

I recently decided I'd like to try my hand at MTT's. I placed 35th in a $10 one at Poker Stars last night. I attempted to employ the LA style advocated by ripptyde and others. More the most part, it worked wonderfully. However, I'd like some of you to look at the hand I went out on. I believe I was in 5th place at the time. Obviously the most glaring error was getting tangled up with the other big stack. I also should have been wary of his preflop and flop calls. I'd love to hear other criticisms and suggestions you guys may have. It felt so bad to go from 5th to out in one hand. I could almost smell that 3k...


PokerStars Game #1417814023: Tournament #6256022, Hold'em No Limit - Level XIV (2000/4000) - 2005/03/26 - 01:43:12 (ET)
Table '6256022 98' Seat #8 is the button
Seat 1: 952EHF (62771 in chips)
Seat 3: drillthroll (32116 in chips)
Seat 4: Ocean (33872 in chips)
Seat 5: lemickster (48204 in chips)
Seat 6: Champaign Ed (51708 in chips)
Seat 7: Rockymv (62331 in chips)
Seat 8: kid007 (10485 in chips)
Seat 9: Scuba Chuck (54923 in chips)
952EHF: posts the ante 200
drillthroll: posts the ante 200
Ocean: posts the ante 200
lemickster: posts the ante 200
Champaign Ed: posts the ante 200
Rockymv: posts the ante 200
kid007: posts the ante 200
Scuba Chuck: posts the ante 200
Scuba Chuck: posts small blind 2000
952EHF: posts big blind 4000
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Rockymv [4c Ac]
drillthroll: folds
Ocean: folds
lemickster: folds
Champaign Ed: folds
Rockymv: raises 8000 to 12000
kid007: folds
Scuba Chuck: folds
952EHF: calls 8000
*** FLOP *** [6s Th Td]
952EHF: checks
drillthroll is sitting out
Rockymv: bets 16000
952EHF: calls 16000
*** TURN *** [6s Th Td] [As]
952EHF: checks
Rockymv: bets 34131 and is all-in
952EHF: calls 34131
*** RIVER *** [6s Th Td As] [3s]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
952EHF: shows [Jc Ts] (three of a kind, Tens)
Rockymv: shows [4c Ac] (two pair, Aces and Tens)
952EHF collected 127862 from pot
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 127862 | Rake 0
Board [6s Th Td As 3s]
Seat 1: 952EHF (big blind) showed [Jc Ts] and won (127862) with three of a kind, Tens
Seat 3: drillthroll folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: Ocean folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: lemickster folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: Champaign Ed folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 7: Rockymv showed [4c Ac] and lost with two pair, Aces and Tens
Seat 8: kid007 (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: Scuba Chuck (small blind) folded before Flop

Scuba Chuck is a prominent poster on the 2+2 forums, thats all i know.

Sorry im not a good LAG player. In my opinion you just got trapped into a hand you shouldnt have been playing in the first place. That A on the turn really got you stuck into the hand.

You tried to steal from the big stack. Don't steal his blinds, steal everyone else's.

I'm assuming here you're trying to steal the blinds.

Have to agree with the above. The ideal situation (is there EVER an "ideal" situation?) would be to go after Kid007 from the small blind. Second best is to try Scuba Chuck when you're on the button. In both cases you've already seen what the big stack (952EHF) has done.

The second mistake, IMO, was not going "uh oh" when 952EHF called your steal attempt pre-flop. By calling like that I would figure he had at least a "possible" and would be very wary from that point on. A raise, especially a good sized one, from him at that point might have got me thinking he was trying steal back at me. But, again, just calling would be cause for alarm.

Third mistake. Going all-in with two pair (albeit a fairly good sized one) on a full table when one pair is on the board and you've got that little tiny kicker.

I don't know if I would have folded on the flop. But I'm pretty sure I would have backed off quite a bit and hoped he would show me something (a raise on the flop from him would have sent me scurrying).

And I've been burned SO many times by that 2 pair situation I'd be hard pressed to stick my head up too far there.

Live, play poker, and, hopefully, learn. :)

Dean