Derrick and I went up to the Grand Sierra this weekend to compete in the Pot of Gold Main Event. It is a very good deep stacked tournament. The $1090 buy in gets you 15,000 starting chips and 50 minute levels. As always, I will describe some key hands from the tournament and my thoughts as I was playing the hand. Please feel free to send me any comment/thoughts you might have regarding my play. My number one goal is to continue to learn and get better!
50/100 level
We started off short handed and most of the players at my table were older gentlemen. As you profile players at the table typically the older the player the less creative he is going to be and instead will be waiting around for bigger hands. I raised a few pots with hands that aren't very strong - T9, T7c, etc. - and won the blinds. Then I called a raise with a very strong hand - AQ - but missed the flop and folded. My net result of those hands, 80% of which I won, was I was up only 100 chips! The moral of the story: it is so much better to be the aggressor in the hand and not the caller!!
One of the good players at the table (or so it seemed so far) raised 250 from early position. He had been opening a few pots and I decided to call with 9s8c on the button. My plan was to either hit a big hand early or to hopefully take the pot away from him if/when he missed the flop. It came out Qs64s and he made a continuation bet of 350. I called with the hopes of taking the pot away on the turn. He doesn't know anything about me yet so when I call there it should look like to him I have either a pair or maybe a spade draw. The turn came the As and he checked. I really didn't like this card because players will often raise with an A in their hand and if that was the case he just made top pair. A good player would check top pair in this spot to control the pot in case I have a hand and also to let his opponent bluff as his check might appear weak. However, he could also easily have a hand like KTc, etc. and could be giving up. I decided to bet 800 into a pot of 1200 with the hopes he would fold all the hands that he missed with (but are still beating my 9 high) and if he did call I do have a flush draw that can bail me out. He called and the river came another A. He checked again. Well, if he called me on the turn he has a hand, most likely one with an A in it, and it is time for me to wave the white flag. It's tough to check after the river when your hand has no prayer of winning but it's also a big mistake to bet to try and win the pot when in reality there is no realistic way your opponent is folding given how the hand's played out. In this hand, he took a stab at the flop, hit his hand on the turn and is now checking to let me bluff at it and/or to control the pot. I checked and he turned over AK to take the pot. My turn bet bugged me after wards but I think it was ok to take a shot at it. It bugged me more he hit his card on the turn; otherwise, I win it!
Besides this hand I pretty much whiffed on every hand I had this level. I opened mostly strong hands (AK, AQ, AJ, etc.) and would get 3-4 callers and not come close to flopping anything. Not a very fun opening level. I ended the level around 10,000 chips.
75/150 level
We now have a full table of nine players. I raise 350 utg with 55. Seat 5 called from middle position and everyone else folded. The pot was 925 and the flop came 2h5s7h. I threw out a continuation bet of 500 and he called. My villain in this hand seemed to be a good player. I've seen him at numerous tournaments. He also doubled up already in the tournament so he has plenty of chips. The turn came the Js. There was a strong chance he floated me on the flop, calling my continuation bet and waiting for me to show weakness. I obliged by checking the turn. He threw out a bet of 1200. I love how I played the hand up to now. I knew he was going to try to steal the pot the same way I tried in the hand I described earlier. If I was up against a tight, uncreative player I would have checked the flop and given him a chance to catch up a bit in the hand. After his bet I check-raised him to 3100. I love the check-raise. I think it can look pretty bluffy and gives him a chance to make another mistake in the hand. (If I had a big hand, wouldn't I bet the turn to make him pay for all the possible draws on the board?) The problem was the size of the raise only left me 6500 or so behind and probably didn't give him the appearance that I would have as much room to fold if he tried to push me off the pot. Honestly, I panicked here. I thought about min-raising but the thought of letting him "get there" on the river for cheap froze me. I don't know why this thought came in my head... I didn't think he had much to begin with! If I could do this over I would min-raise the turn to about 2500 and give him room to call or shove. If he called and the river completed a straight or flush I would check and let him bluff. In reality he probably had absolutely nothing and wouldn't have even called my min-raise, but I need to focus on my play and in this case my play had room for improvement in my opinion.
A little while later the same villain in S5 raised 350 utg. I looked down to see AKc and re-raised to 850 from the cutoff. He called and the pot was 1925. The flop came out KsJs3. He checked and I decided to check. The turn was the 9s. He checked, I bet 1200 and he called. The river was the 2s, we both checked and he turned over 66s to make a flush and win the pot. When I sent a text of this hand I got a lot of feedback from my poker friends (which I really appreciate by the way! It helps me think about how I played the hand and if there was a better way to do so). All of the feedback was that I should have bet the flop and protected my hand. In this case, after considering the feedback I decided I really like the way I played my hand. Let's look at betting vs. checking the flop:
- If I bet the flop I will make all worse hands fold. I doubt he's going to make a hero call with 66 on a flop bet, hoping I have AQ or possibly AT. What is he going to do if he calls the flop and I fire again on the turn and river? He has to fold his hand. He can't beat anything.
- If I bet the flop and get check raised life is not going to be very pleasant! I would bet 1200, he would check-raise me to 3000, and once I call that bet I will be getting my entire stack of 15,000 into the pot by the river with a one pair hand. If he check-raised me I should expect to see KJ, 33, or some kind of straight/flush draw. The first two hands I am in a world of hurt against with almost no hope of catching up; the draws I am ahead of but he has a lot of outs. If I had him covered in chips 2:1 I would be happy to gamble with him. Given that he had me covered 2:1 it wouldn't be the best spot.
- If I check the flop I am now representing AQ or AT and will have a chance to get worse hands to call bets. I just read an article in Card Player magazine on Friday. The main idea behind it was that your goal as a poker player is to get players to call with the worst hand. Sometimes you have to check a big hand or give a player good odds to draw in order to do this.
I am very happy that I got a very good player to call a bet with the worse hand. Notice that if the river is not a spade he probably has to call another small bet. His entire plan could not have been to call and hope his six high flush would win. Given that he called the turn I didn't try to bluff the river. Having a spade in his hand was the most likely case when he did call the turn and I doubt he was calling the turn, making his flush and then folding. Again, chip stacks play a large role here. If he was down to 7-8000 chips and I had a ton I could just put him all in on the river and he would have to make a decision for his tournament life.
100/200 level key hands
The very first hand at this level S5 raised 450 and I called from the sb with AhTd. He has been opening more than his share of pots so my hand should be the best a lot of time, but it's not strong enough to raise at this point. Even though I'm out of position I am happy to see a flop. The pot is 1100 and the flop comes Ad7d3. I check, he makes a continuation bet of 750 and I call. The pot is now 2600. The turn is the Jd. This is a great card because if he did have an A then AJ was beating me already. We both check. When I called his flop bet he knows I probably have an A and am not going to fold. The river puts a fourth diamond on the board and I check once more. If I bet he cannot call me unless I am beat. By checking I let him now represent a flush and take one more shot at winning the pot. He bets 1600, I call and he says "You win". I show my hand and he mucks his. This was a pretty standard played hand; not really another way to play it.
There were no more interesting hands at this level and I ended it with 12,500 chips.
100/200/25 level
A new player recently sat down in S9 (directly to my right) and he didn't seem to be very good. Good players don't play a lot of hands but when they do they are aggressive and generally in control of the hand. Bad players limp a lot and hope to hit hands. He was the latter. In this hand he limps utg for 200. I raised 700 with AJs. An older player in S4 called as did the limper. The pot was 2600 and the flop came out AKs6. That's a pretty great flop for me. S9 checks, I bet 1500, S4 called, and S9 mucked. The pot was not 5600 and S4 had about 6000 behind. You always want to ask yourself the basic question: Why did the player just take the action that he did? In this case I don't think there is much that is beating me. If he called me pre-flop there is only one card that could make a set, the 6. (If he had AA or KK he re-raises for sure.) If he had AK he probably re-raises, so he could be ahead of me with AQ and I am beating AT or any suited A he called pre-flop with. Possibly he has QJ or some weird draw but I HIGHLY doubt that. All in all I felt really good about having the best hand at this point. The turn came the 8s giving me the nut flush draw to go with top pair good kicker.
Now, if somehow I am behind I have a lot of outs. I thought about my best course of action before proceeding: If I check the turn, he's going to check behind all his AX hands that I am beating. If by some miracle he did have a draw I seriously doubted he was the type of player to shove all in on a semi-bluff. If he did have AQ he's probably getting all his chips in anyway so I didn't have to worry about that case. I decided to proceed by betting a little over 1/2 the pot and hoping to attach him to the pot with a worse A. I bet 3300 and he IMMEDIATELY shoved all his chips into the pot! ROT ROH! I called and he showed 66. Figures. That's ok, it's our turn to get lucky. We're going to hit the flush on the river! Or not... 5c. Down to 4100 chips. Still plenty of play.
A couple hands later I r450 with KK. Both the blinds called. The pot was 1575 and the flop came QhTh7. They checked, I bet 1200 and the both called. Woo hoo! The turn was the 4c, they both checked, and I moved all in for my last 2500. The small blind folded, the big blind instantly called and showed 75h. We are ahead and just have to fade the river and we'll be back up to 9000 chips! But alas, the river was the 7d, I did a double take to make sure I was seeing it correctly, picked up my backpack and left the tournament area.
And walked over to the registration desk to re-enter the tournament....
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