On Saturday I signup up to play in a mega-satellite. This is a tournament where everyone puts in $1000 and for every ten entries into the tournament they award a $10,000 prize, in this case a seat in the Main Event. So for example, if there were 900 entrants they would award 90 $10,000 prizes. In other words, finishing in 90th place is the same as finishing in 1st place. This is much different than a regular tournament where 90th place makes the money, but the real money to be made is in the final 5-8 places. Your goal in this tournament is to make the top 90 obviously, not to win the whole thing. It definitely changes your strategy as you play. The first couple levels not much exciting happened. I had earned a few chips and then this spot came up:
GAMBLING WITH A BIG HAND
A player from early position limped, and I looked down at AA in the hijack. The three players directly to my left were very aggressive, and I knew if I limped (to create a trail of limpers) that someone would raise to try and steal the pot. I could then get heads up against that player and my hand would be in great shape. I limped for 100, the next player in the cutoff raised to 375, the button called, and the small blind raised to 925! Talk about a plan falling into place!! The first limper folded and now it was on me. Here were my options:
- Fold. Ha! I'm not this tight!!
- Call. The danger is that I let the players behind me into the pot by calling, and now I am playing against four players. AA is very vulnerable in this spot. The upside is my hand is completely hidden and if the small blind is weak, she will have to fire off a continuation bet and I can pick up more chips. Again, if someone hits something or it's a very scary board there is a good chance I will have to fold or go broke with this hand so early in the tournament.
- Min-Raise. The upside is that this play gets out the players behind me and gives the small blind GREAT odds to call me. The downside is my hand is now almost face up and I probably don't get much more action unless I'm in big trouble or unless I am up against a donkey, which isn't the case here.
- Move all in. This play hides the strength of my hand a bit and might get real hands to call me. The downside is it scares out all the hands that are bluffing and I get no more chips from them. I am guaranteed to get my chips in as a big favorite if called.
I chose to min raise and after the cutoff and button folded the small blind tanked (took a long time) and claimed to have folded AKs. I am not so sure. When I sent this hand to my poker friends everyone agreed on a raise, but Derrick or Will gave some merit for a flat call that I didn't think about at the time: if I just call the raise either the cutoff or button might shove all in. Remember, I thought someone would raise the limpers in hopes of picking up the pot; the small blind could very well have been thinking the same with a weak hand and re-raised to steal the raises. The cutoff and button were both good enough and aggressive enough to make this play given that my limp and call looks so weak. I think next time I'm in this situation I am going to flat call and hope to set up this dynamic, and if that doesn't occur I am still a favorite against everyone and with a good flop and can extract more chips. These hands come up so infrequently and in a mega-satellite you are never deep stacked so it makes gambling worth while.
NEVER GIVING UP
Later in the tournament I 3bet a player who was opening too often and his raise size was fluctuating. In this instance I was pretty certain he was weak so I 3bet with 98d hoping to win the pot. We were not nearly deep enough in chips to call with 98d and hope to hit a big flop. He called me and the flop came AsJs3. He checked, I bet and he check raised me all in. Lucky sucker hit this flop somehow! If he whiffs the flop we win the pot. If we hit the flop we win the pot. If we crush the flop we might double up. Only when he hits and we miss do we lose.... later on he opened and I moved all in with 99. He sheepishly turned over A9c and we doubled up. This hand also confirmed to me that my read of him was correct. Even later most players were short stacked (the blinds and antes go up super fast in this tournament - it is not a deep stacked event) and the player in the hijack moved all in. I moved all in behind him with AT. Normally this hand isn't that strong but given what people were moving in with and people's stack sizes I had a hand that could not have even considered folding. He turned over JJ and we lost and were down to 400 chips - one big blind! The VERY next hand I looked down to see 44. However, the player utg raised and the next player rr. There was no chance my hand was good and I would be praying to hit a set to continue. I chose to fold and saw that I would have been up against AK and 55. The next hand I moved all in with A.Q9c and doubled up and doubled up again later to get back to over 7000 chips! I got knocked out a while later when my A4 from the cutoff ran into AK on the button, but I was very proud that I didn't throw in the towel with a pair and one big blind.
THE CAVE AWAITS
Undeterred and happy with my play I went and signed up for a single table satellite. There are ten players and the winner gets all. Often times when there are 2-3 players left they will make a deal to split up the prize money. I sat down and as always started to evaluate the competition. My basic strategy for a satellite tourney is to play super tight in the beginning when the table is 10 handed. I will play only big hands and once in a while steal if an opportunity arises. Also I will try to see cheap flops in position in the hopes of hitting a big hand. But overall I try not to leak too many chips as they become very valuable as we lose players. My strategy was going according to plan and I had chipped up a little from our 5000 chip starting stack. Then the key hand came up:
With the blinds 100/200 the cutoff opened to 450. I looked down at AA on the button and raised it to 1025. As I mentioned in the last post it is so huge to get this hand on the button because a 3bet from the button looks like an attempt to steal. The blinds folded and the cutoff decided to call after some deliberation. The pot was now 2350 and I had about 4800 left in my stack, so the spr was just over 2:1, putting me in tremendous shape. I have certainly the best hand, I have position, I have initiative and I have a perfect spr for my hand. The flop came down 753. He checked, I bet small (about 1200?) hoping to either attach him to the pot or induce him to bluff. He called. The turn came the 8d putting a second diamond on the board, and he moves all in! That sure seems like good news; if he has 88 than I'm just out of luck. I call and he turns over 87c! He's SO bad. Our stacks aren't nearly deep enough for him to call out of position trying to hit his suited connector. The river came a 7 just to stick it to me a little more and once again I was busted by a player making horrible decisions just to have the deck bail them out. It was just too much for me to handle and I was sent to the "dark cave". This is a phrase Derrick termed for the mental state you want to avoid when poker is not nice or fair. It happens quite often and the best players stay away from the dark cave as much as possible. I am always very good at understanding a situation for what it is but for the rest of the day I was a very unhappy camper and basically miserable company. Derrick, Gregg and I went to dinner shortly thereafter but they would have been well advised to leave me home! I was poor company but it was what it was and there wasn't much I could do about it. Luckily there was no more poker to be played after dinner and I went back to the hotel to get as much rest as I could and hopefully wake up in a good place. I better as the Main Event started the next day!
With the blinds 100/200 the cutoff opened to 450. I looked down at AA on the button and raised it to 1025. As I mentioned in the last post it is so huge to get this hand on the button because a 3bet from the button looks like an attempt to steal. The blinds folded and the cutoff decided to call after some deliberation. The pot was now 2350 and I had about 4800 left in my stack, so the spr was just over 2:1, putting me in tremendous shape. I have certainly the best hand, I have position, I have initiative and I have a perfect spr for my hand. The flop came down 753. He checked, I bet small (about 1200?) hoping to either attach him to the pot or induce him to bluff. He called. The turn came the 8d putting a second diamond on the board, and he moves all in! That sure seems like good news; if he has 88 than I'm just out of luck. I call and he turns over 87c! He's SO bad. Our stacks aren't nearly deep enough for him to call out of position trying to hit his suited connector. The river came a 7 just to stick it to me a little more and once again I was busted by a player making horrible decisions just to have the deck bail them out. It was just too much for me to handle and I was sent to the "dark cave". This is a phrase Derrick termed for the mental state you want to avoid when poker is not nice or fair. It happens quite often and the best players stay away from the dark cave as much as possible. I am always very good at understanding a situation for what it is but for the rest of the day I was a very unhappy camper and basically miserable company. Derrick, Gregg and I went to dinner shortly thereafter but they would have been well advised to leave me home! I was poor company but it was what it was and there wasn't much I could do about it. Luckily there was no more poker to be played after dinner and I went back to the hotel to get as much rest as I could and hopefully wake up in a good place. I better as the Main Event started the next day!
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