Poker Articles

By Fox | Published Apr 26 2006, 03:57 PM
On Sunday I was staked in both the $1 Million Guarantee and a $650 buy-in WSoP qualifier, both on Stars. As many of you know I haven't been playing a lot of tourneys lately. The ups and downs of tournament poker can be frustrating for me, and cash games are much more consistent money, though my ROI in tourneys is still excellent.

The $1 Mil paid 750 spots and with 766 of us left I had about 8 big blinds in my stack. Most of my stack had come from stealing at a fairly tight table and I was definitely in a predatory mode as we got near the bubble. I was also testing out the new chat feature on my site with a few of the members who were watching me play. I don't know if it was talking to the members or the mode my mind was in, or maybe jsut the fact that I haven't been playing a lot of tourneys lately, but I believe I made a huge mistake.

I was in late position, with the cutoff seat to my left. Two of the remaining had less than half of my stack, and would be folding nearly anything to limp into the money. The player on the button had barely more chips than I did and I didn't think he would be calling with anything but AA and possibly KK. The big blind had about twice as many chips as I did, had been fairly tight so far, and would certainly be hurt by doubling me up, so I figured he would call with AK, maybe AQ, and any pair above TT.

With such a small stack compared to the blinds and antes, and a good chance to improve my standing a little while people were still very tight, I decided to move all-in with ATs. On the surface this didn't look like such a bad play, but if I had taken the time to think it through I wouldn't have made it. After playing so well for 3 hours and outlasting 5 thousand people, I put my tournament on the line with ATs, and I was called by the big blind who had AJs. Of course I lost or I wouldn't be telling the story.

Reasons I should have folded -

1. You never know when someone is going to wake up with a hand. The chance isn't great, but the chance that the blinds and antes would make a big difference to my eventual tournament finish weren't that high either.

2. You never know when someone will decide to make a bad call. I believe the call was a bad one because I had the only hand I would consider making that raise with that he could beat. In fact most of the time I fold ATs there, so I have him dominated any other time he makes that call. I know I can be knocked out, and very few players raise in that situation so close to the money wihtout a hand that has AJs crushed. He was right and he beat me so I can't fault him completely, the mistake I made was larger than his.

3. Only a monster will usually call me, and I am in real trouble against a bigger ace. The blinds and antes weren't large neough to make it worthwhile, plain and simple. I should have limped into the money and tried to make something happen from there.

4. It was my first week being backed by this particular backer, and while he knows my ability quite well, it would be nice to at least cash the first week. I may not be backed again by this person simply because of one stupid play. My backer may have very well be happy I went for it and tried to get closer to the big money that actually matters, but he would definitely be happy with a profit.

As for the $650 WSoP qualifier? I am cursed in those things. I've played three WSoP satellites this year so far and all the three of them I have been a big favorite to win a seat if I win one hand. In each cse I have been a big favorite to win the critical hand as well. Obviosly none of them has worked out.

One of these days I'll spend more time playing tourenys now that I have the bankroll for it, but the frustration level is a little much for me at the moment, and playing them all day long would drive me nuts.

I'll see you at the final table (some day),
Fox