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First tournament lesson

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  1. #1

    Default First tournament lesson

    Played the 20 + 2 multi-table at Party Poker yesterday. 1140 entries. I was doing everything right in the first hour or so...got AK twice, QQ, KK, all in the first hour. I called one all-in of a short stack and knocked them out (I try to avoid this but it was the right thing to do in this case). Every time I went to a showdown, I won.

    In one key hand I went head to head with the biggest stack at the table. I had AKo, flop came Kxx, so I had top pair with ace kicker. I bet big, he called, I bet even bigger on the turn when there seemed to be no flush or straight threat. He stayed even on the river, which was another king- I made a pot-sized bet and he called that. I can't remember for sure, but I think he had K or KJ.

    So, on to the hand I went out on, against the same guy. I have AK again. Same type flop, Kxx. By this time my stack is almost as big as his, around 3500 to his 4500. I make a 2/3 pot sized bet, then the turn is a 6, I figure there's still no threat. I make a pot-sized bet, and he doubles it. This is when I should have said, hmmmm, maybe that 6 helped him (it gave him two pair, Ks and 6s), but instead I was thinking 'This guy's a dumbass and he's falling for the same trap again'. I went all-in and he took me out.

    So I watched this guy's progress for the rest of the tournament as I hung out in a low-limit ring game. He got well into the money, probably finishing in the top 5%. I almost wonder if he wasn't cultivating a dumbass table image to set me up for the big fall.

    Anyway, that's the story of my first multi-table tournament. I felt like an idiot because I was in good shape with an above-average stack, playing well, and then made that stupid call. I guess in the long run I just have to remember that I know what to do, I just have to avoid being my own worst enemy. Back at it next weekend.
    "On the meridian of time there is no injustice, there is only the poetry of motion creating the illusion of truth and drama." -H. Miller
  2. #2
    yeah, you can play perfectly and just make one mistake. That's why you generally want to avoid the bigger stacks so if you make a mistake, you're not out of it.
  3. #3
    i've gotten hosed many times with the same situation, especially from the "any two cards will do" crowd.

    the one thing i've learned: if you've got top pair with a good kicker, and your getting called, then on the turn or river you get a big raise back, look out. for me, it's still hard to let that top pair go.

    keep at it.

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