Re: Last Night
Single-Table Tournament Strategy
Last Night
graven29
04-05-2006, 10:27 AM
Last night I played in a $500 Freeroll at a local bar. Recently they changed the law in PA to allow Bars to give out up to $500 in cash as a promotional event, so for the last couple weeks I have tried my hand at this event, and made a lot of new friends in the process. Anyway, going out early was a blessing for me, because I got into a $10 Single table tournament (which is not legal, but we won't tell anybody), but I digress. It was a winner take all format, but chopping was allowed.
So, we started with 4000 in chips, blinds were 25/50 to start and went up every 10 minutes, which turned out to be every three to four hands due to the utter drunkeness of some of the players. Some ultra agressive play on the first hand knocked out a player and by the third hand we had lost another. I folded my first 12 or so hands, probably looked like an ultra tighty, so when I found Ad 6d in my pockets I thought I could capitalize on the image and raised to 700 total from UTG (blinds were 100/200), but unfortunately, Alcohol + the insanity of the table led to a reraise and an all in behind (the all in was for a total of 1425) AND another caller. So at this point, while I had hoped to isolate one player, I had two people in for 1425 ahead of me, and someone else ready to call behind me, so I liked the pot odds and called. Well, the flop came JK7 with two diamonds, and the BB put out a 500 bet, which I called (again liking the pot odds), and the guy behind me called. The turn was the 8s and again BB bet 500, which I called, and the guy behind me pushed in his remaining chips. Well, the river was a 3d, making my hand the NUTS! I pushed and got the call, knocked out 2 players and had around 12000 chips. A guy at the other end of the table had 15000 and the remaining two players were pretty short stacked. The very next hand, I find KK in the big blind. The blinds were up to 200/400 at this point. The big stack at the other end raised to 800 (min raise) from UTG and no one called up to me. I reraised him to 2800 total, figuring I would either take it down, or he would take the bait. Well, he snapped, went all-in over the top and I insta-called. He liked his AK enough to push with it, but missed the ace on the board, and I now had a commanding chip lead. The very next hand, in the small blind, I look down and find AKo in the small blind. Well, there was a limper from the button (one of the short stacks) so I tried to isolate him. I pushed. Well, the BB that I had just crippled decided to make the call and the limper folded. He had 9To and the flop hit both of us. No help for either on the river, and he was gone.
At this point, I had the game crushed, but I offered the short stacks their money back, if I could take the remaining $60. They refused, saying something like - no point in doing that - we understand you are going to win, but we might as well play it out. So we did - I saw AKs and KK (making a set which I slowplayed heads up to make an extra two thousand) and finally won with A3o v Q8o.
All things considered, I had a good run of cards, but I proved to myself that early in a sit n go the only strategy worth while is to wait for the hand, and then play it right. I got lucky (ad 6d) but I also played the pot odds and never looked back from that point. I was appalled by the play on the first hand, the one that took out our first loser, for some reason TKs called ATs all in on a flop of 224. At that point I felt - hey, this shouldn't be too difficult, if I wait for the hand - it will be paid off. And it was - that very same player that had bet all in on that flop - pushed preflop with AK v my reraise when I had KK. Why he got involved with the only stack that could hurt him with an unmade hand like AK is beyond me, but again - alcohol and the insanity of the table were in my favor.
I had a good night, and I wanted to share the highlights with the group. Feel free to give me feedback, I have described the Ad 6d hand in depth, because I wanted to get a reaction to the way I played that hand.
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
PASS THE SUGAH!!!!
Re: Last Night
KeithF
04-06-2006, 3:21 AM
Congrats!
"but I proved to myself that early in a sit n go the only strategy worth while is to wait for the hand, and then play it right."
I totally agree with you. This is even more true online (unless you're playing some sort of turbo). Especially in low buy in events, you can just sit and wait and generally a couple of players will be out before you even enter a pot.
If the blinds are low compared to starting chip stacks, I like to limp in late with some suited connectors, Ax suited, etc. But yeah... I've had great success with the tight early, loosen up later method, in both SNG's and MTT's.