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1st live tourney - questions about play

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  1. SmileyLSU SmileyLSU is offline

    Baton Rouge, LA
    United States

    Posts: 72
    Joined: Oct 06

    May 21st, 2007 (5/21/2007 11:57am)

    Hey everyone,
    I just finished playing in my first live tourney. I played in the Ladies' Main Event at the WSOP circuit event in New Orleans. While I am happy that I managed to cash (got 36th out of 301), I am angry at how I played starting with about 75 left. I have some questions about how you would have played. I managed to have a pretty decent stack after the second break (about 11,000 - avg. 3700 <about 160 people left>). The problem was, I went CARD DEAD. I couldn't really find a place to steal and I let my stack get down to about 6 BBs when the blinds were 600/1200. I was at a table of limpers and any time I was going to steal, my push would have still given someone odds to call and I never got a hand that I would have even guaranteed to be racing with. When we got down to about 44 (36 paid), I think I made the unconscious decision to just survive and cash. I am really angry at myself because I never play this way. There were two REALLY short stacks at my table so I kept telling myself to just let them go out. I let myself get blinded away and after I officially cashed, I pushed all-in with my 79s and lost. At this point, I could not even post the BB. My question is, would you have just taken a shot with any two cards and try to steal from all the limpers? What do you do when you go card dead in a tourney? :)
  2. grapsfan grapsfan is offline Head Curmudgeon

    Rosemount, MN
    United States

    Posts: 7,980
    Joined: Jun 05

    May 21st, 2007 (5/21/2007 12:10pm) in reply to SmileyLSU

    A lot of times, you just suffer. When you're card dead at a very loose table, and there's always substantial action before you, there isn't much you can do. I've been asking myself and others this question since I started playing NLHE tournaments, and have yet to receive a really good answer.

    In a tournaments with substantial antes in addition to the blinds, I think this is where using Harrington's "M" quotient is far better than just calculating the # of BBs left. It's too easy to find yourself short because you say, "well, I've got 10 BBs left, I'm still OK". If you use that 10 number as your push/fold guide for stealing, only you using the stack / (blinds + antes) ratio...the "M"...you'll be applying more leverage and giving your opponents much worse odds to look you up with mediocre hands.
     
  3. DonnyDarko66 DonnyDarko66 is offline

    Edwardsville, IL
    United States

    Posts: 150
    Joined: Aug 06

    May 21st, 2007 (5/21/2007 1:11pm) in reply to SmileyLSU

    I have never played live...I have only been playing 10 months..
    as I get better I learn to be more aggressive with or without a hand...
    but, wonder.....what will it be like when I play live....and need to make plays
    without having a hand...how nervous will I be??? will it show??? on the internet..
    a table full of limpers...I need to be able to make moves against mid stacks...and
    keep doing it as long as I can get away with it..were you nervous about bluffing??
    Was that the reason you didn't try to make some plays?? I'm not trying to be critical..
    just curious..ask yourself...if it was an internet tournament would I have made some moves??
    if the answer is yes then....you should have...hands like 8-10 and 8-9 suited are my favorites
    because even if someone calls I have a good idea of where i am when the flop hits...congratulations on cashing...it was your first tournament...dwell on the positive...as you
    get more live experience I'm sure you will feel more comfortable making the same type of moves you make online.
  4. SmileyLSU SmileyLSU is offline

    Baton Rouge, LA
    United States

    Posts: 72
    Joined: Oct 06

    May 21st, 2007 (5/21/2007 2:15pm) in reply to DonnyDarko66

    Since it was my first live tourney, I was really nervous. I tried to not let it show or affect my play. I was making my usual moves and then I ran into this one hand. It folded to me in the cutoff. I had 44. I raised. The button just smooth calls. The board flops 3 low diamonds giving me a straight draw. I had no diamond. I was pretty sure that I was probably still ahead. I looked down at my cards and then pushed all of my chips in. I was trying to represent either AA or AK with the A of diamonds. The button who had smooth called a lot of raises to this point and folded to a bet on the flop thought about it for a while and then called with KK (no diamond). I caught the 4 on the river to suckout and doubled up. After that, any time I would raise, I would hear "got pocket fours again?" or "bluffing again?" I got a little gun shy after that and was timid to raise without a decent hand because I knew those women wanted to get all of their chips in against me. It was the perfect situation if I could have ever caught a hand. However, I went card dead. I should have paid better attention to my M instead of the # of BB's I had. I could have had more leverage and made calling less appealing. They tried to make the tourney fit in 1 day so the blinds were going up every 30 minutes...which seems like a long time online, but not so much live. I think if the tourney would have been online, I probably would have played a little different and more aggressive then I did yesterday. I just couldn't seem to find a time to get my chips in. It was very frustrating!! :)
    Thread Starter
  5. SmileyLSU SmileyLSU is offline

    Baton Rouge, LA
    United States

    Posts: 72
    Joined: Oct 06

    May 21st, 2007 (5/21/2007 2:16pm) in reply to DonnyDarko66

    btw - thank you donny :) It was bittersweet, but I was happy to at least cash in my first live tourney!
    Thread Starter
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