Ever wonder what hand has cost you your tournament life the most often? If you haven’t, I certainly have and I went through my hand histories in 140 multi-table tournaments over a period of three months on one site. I would have gone through more, but I felt like my sample size gave clear-cut feedback about the hands I was losing with. Also, going through more would have made me lose my mind because losing hand histories are not rewarding to watch.

Some of the worst poker is evident from these hands, and after watching them in a replayer. In many instances, I only have myself to blame. I did, however, learn a lot about where I am making costly mistakes. I want to explore some more of those mistakes today and hope that it will both inspire you to take an inventory of your own “worst hands”, and learn from them. The results of looking at my bust hands in tournaments are as follows:

When taking the inventory of my bust out hands, I also made a little note next to each one; objectively describing the nature of the bust out. The top three categories here were divided up between TT-AA & AK, 66-99, AQ-AT. I chose to do it this way to point out some of the striking revelations I learned about my game. In doing this, I also wrote a little note about how I went out next to each time I marked a hand. I wanted to see if there were big similarities in how I busted out with the same hand.

TT-AA & AK

A majority of times with these hands, the situation was very close to unavoidable and standard in my plays. I busted a total of 8 times in this sample with QQ. Five of those times I was up against KK. This raises an alarm in a sense because it’s such a frequent occurrence for me. A lot of these situations though aren’t extremely early in tournaments, but rather where blinds and antes have kicked in and I almost consider this just a cooler.

The biggest mistake in this range of hands for me comes in the TT and JJ hands where one over card flops. Often it’s difficult to determine how to proceed with one over card when having a big pair. In looking at my bust out hands, it seems apparent to me that I could benefit from taking a more defensive approach when an over card flops with these big pairs. Often, I think I’m too aggressive in these situations and still trying to push for value in places where there may not be much to extract.

One example is with TT on a J x x board. I made a continuation bet on the flop, and was raised, but decided to shove all-in here. This is really a play that probably 90% of the time is getting called by a better hand. I feel like sometimes I invent hand possibilities for my opponents that are a bit too optimistic. Would anyone really call that all in without at least a J or better? For the most part, I doubt anyone would 90% of the time.

Pocket Pair Evaluation

The second largest group is pocket pairs 66-99, but adding in 22-55 in these situations makes up for 30% of my bust outs. I have a suspicion that many players suffer from many of the problems I’ve had with pocket pairs. The two most common descriptions of these hands that I considered mistakes in my game are shown below. I want to use the approach of identifying the problem, giving an example, and coming up with a solution.

Common Problem: There are several instances where I made a note to the effect of “4 bet all-in — ran into higher pair” or “4 bet all-in — lost race.” For clarification, a 4 bet pre-flop is when I make initial raise (2 bet) get re-raised (3 bet) and then move all my chips in (4 bet).

Evaluation: Most of these situations were really running into a higher pair. Since I don’t have all the statistics of how I’ve fared making this move because I didn’t note all the winners, it’s hard to accurately examine how this play has performed for me. I do know that I bust more often than I receive a positive outcome in these situations. This tells me that I’m making some moves pre-flop that are not profitable. The majority of times that I’m 4 betting pre-flop, I’m getting called by higher pairs.

There is a possibility that I’m also overplaying small pairs when I have a big stack. If I am four betting pre-flop, there is a good chance that I have a pretty deep stack. Having a deep stack and four betting with the mid pairs may be a sign that I’m not assessing my opponent’s ranges correctly. Four betting in these situations can only be profitable against the right players and in the right situations. A good example of a mistake is one hand where I opened under the gun and was reraised by the button. When the button makes this move, I am clearly underestimating what he is seeing. He is seeing strength in a raise from under the gun. His re-raise should be very strong. When I four bet all in with 99, I am essentially making a very bad push. He showed KK and I got what I deserved.

Solution: In situations where I’m faced with a three bet, I need to examine the factors and circumstances better. I need to understand the other player’s perspective and likely range of hands in doing this.

Common Problem: One thing that further seems to occur with these small pairs is I don’t have the proper mentality post-flop with them and often take them too far.

Evaluation: I fail to play correctly when a seemingly favorable flop for my hand is paired with unfavorable action by my opponents in the hand. When having one of these pocket pairs and the flop is something like 6-3-2, 7-7-3, or T-3-2, some of the toughest situations in poker come up. I fail to hit a set, yet I feel like I need to make a continuation bet. When my bet meets resistance, I’m often beat, yet proceed in a manner that spews chips. I try to make big calls with a marginal holding like a pocket pair in these situations that get me into trouble.

Solution: I need to develop a more careful approach when I open the pot, continue the betting post-flop, and face a raise or all-in bet. Early in tournaments, before antes where many of these situations have occurred, I need to consider looking for better spots rather than trying to make hero calls when my pocket pairs don’t hit a set. I have to be more patient and just give up sometimes rather than escalating the situation and making big river calls and calling raises post-flop.

People are often trying to find ways to discover the leaks and holes in their game. It’s tough to really find these out because no one is watching you all the time and there isn’t an optimal strategy in every situation. I hope that in reading through this article you have noticed a few problems that may be common in your game.

If you haven’t, an exercise like this has really helped me in studying my game and finding where I’m making the most common mistakes. It’s a great way to see what situations are consistently costing you from moving up the tournament ladder. If you see a situation that keeps coming up and you are still unsure of how you should have proceeded, use the Poker Discussion Forum here. That’s really what it’s for right? In Part 2 of this article, I will examine the other two categories I noticed; the AQ-AT hands and the other two broadway cards category.

**kice32 writes more about poker and other topics at http://kevinice.blogspot.com