Posted by Dr Fro 8:58 PM
From the mailbag:

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Dr. Fro, I want to run my experience from yesterday by you to see if you can pick apart my surely flawed strategies. As you know, Saturday's poker tournament was honoring a colleague of ours who is becoming a father in a few weeks. The tournament had an entry fee of $30 and a box of diapers.... the money would be returned to the winners. The honoree kept the diapers (does that sort of house rake make this tournament illegal???????). We had 21 players seated at 3 tables of 7.

We were given 250TC and the blinds escalated relatively slowly to make for an all day affair. It seemed that everyone played a pretty tight for a while. While I didn't pull down a single pot, my afternoon revolved around two hands:

1) Around 45 minutes into the tournament, I hadn't been dealt any great cards and didn't hit any flops on the moderate hands. I was sitting at around 210TC. I was dealt AKs in the big blind. I thought it was time to make some sort of small move. Betting checked around to me and I raised 30TC. 1 caller so we were heads-up. Flop comes very nicely --> AJ8 rainbow. I figured I'm in pretty good shape so I bet 30TC. After a moment, he calls. Turn is a blank. Still thinking I'm in good shape, I bet 50TC. A slight delay before he calls. At this point I put him on an A and not a draw (I like my kicker) The river comes a 5. At this point I'm thinking we both had paired As, but I get a little worried that he may have 5 so I check. He checks. He flips J5. His 2 pair beats my paired As. I'm not real happy about this hand and the fact that I'm down to ~100TC, but I figur! e I win that situation more times than not. I was basically screaming out loud that I had an A, but for some reason he just kept calling. I'm annoyed, but not pissed since I think he got very lucky on the river. Note that this guy was the chip leader at the final table when I left... not sure who won.

2) The second hand came not more than a half hour later. I'm down to ~70TC. I get dealt KK just to the left of the BB. I check (figuring someone else would raise). Adam raised 10TC on the button and I re-raise 10TC (Adam absolutely loves it when I check-raise his ass!!!!!). Adam stares me down for a moment and announces to the table that I don't have AA. Finally he raises to put me all in. I smooth call -- all or nothing here. Adam turns over AKo. I know I'm ahead, but I don't feel overly confident. First card on the flop was an A and the remaining four cards are blanks. I stand and determine that I am the first one out of the tournament. I mention that I thought the first out always gets their money back (or something). I am reminded that that argument has more pull before the tournament begins. I proceed to spend the next hour (a) making runs to the keg for players and (b) dealing.

While I'm not happy about the outcome, I'm really not upset about the way I played. Everything I have read about tournaments says that you have to get a little lucky to win. I think I played my cards right and the luck just didn't go my way. It all turned out OK when we pulled together a cash game at a 'loser's table' and I won back most of my entry fee (I finally pulled down a pot about 2.5 hours after the tournament started).

All in all it was a good day.... met a bunch of good guys (even some aggies) that have some connection to Liner and I drank off a keg for the first time in probably a year (somethings never get old).

Any thoughts -- should I have played these hands differently?

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1) AK is a wonderful hand because when you flop either pair, you know you have the nut kicker. Whenever you flop a set, you worry about somebody drawing out on you (most often with a flush). When you flop top pair – top kicker, you worry about somebody drawing a better kicker than you. You know how to play the set afraid of the flush right? Bet the bejeezus out of the pot. Same applies to top pair top kicker, especially when the A is on the board. People will play A-anything and they will call when that A hits even though their kicker stinks. You absolutely cannot allow them to draw cheaply at their 12% chance of pairing up their kicker. Bet the pot. Methinks you got greedy and wanted him to call. You should try to run him off. By the way, I think you made an excellent read of his hand – I also thought he had A5. Calling with J5 on every street was stupid. Bet so much that they will be less likely to play stupid (or that their call pays off even more when you win)

2) Your goal is to be heads-up and all-in pre-flop. That is what you did. I may have approached it differently (no check raise attempt) but you clearly knew your opponent and decided on a different tactic as part of the same strategy. That is just bad luck that you lost, you were a big favorite.

7 Comment(s):

Posted by  Anonymous, at 11:32 PM, May 23, 2005  

1)I agree with Fro about betting much stiffer with Top pair top kicker. My stategy in Tournaments has always been to avoid showdowns unless I have the absolute nuts or close to it. Newer players should keep in mind that top pair, top kicker is no where near the nuts. With that flop I would have bet somewhere in the neighborhood of 2x the pot. If he calls that I have to decide if I think he flopped a set or 2 pair and go from there. If my read says he has a smaller ace, its all in on the turn. (nice instinct to check the river, by the way. Would you have folded to a stiff bet there? I think I would have had to call a little something.)
2) I love to limp utg with big pairs, especially KK. If someone raises it behind me, it allows me to pop it back. If no one raises, I can get away very cheaply if an A comes. Side note* I don't think it really mattered in this case as the AK is probably not going anywhere no matter how you played. Remind yourself that his inability to fold is a GOOD thing as you will double through him far more times than he will bust you. (hard to keep in mind as you get knocked out, but important never the less)

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Posted by  Anonymous, at 8:31 AM, May 24, 2005  

First off the tournament, in my opinion, was a great success. The tables were well organized, albeit the blind structure was a little slow.

Cameron got very unlucky on both hands. I thought he played them both well, other than maybe underbetting the pot on hand 1). Even though that player had the chip lead at the final table, he didn't have much experience in NLHE, but had probably played a lot of "Dad poker", as I call it. His term for a re-raise was "and a" which is a clear give away. I think Dad poker mentality is to hang on if you pair the board or have any type of draw so it would have taken a large bet to get him to lay down the J.

I would like to hear the IAG staff analyze the hand from my perspective. On the button with about 300TC, I raise, get I think 1 caller and then Cameron's re-raise. After matching the raise it was only 50TC more for me to put him all in (the other caller folded). At this point I didn't put him on AA because I think he would have either smooth called my raise or made a larger bet, but something about the size of his re-raise didn't indicate AA (just a gut feeling). I knew that he was frustrated in not getting any good cards and thought he would try to get in with a big A or big pocket pair. It cost me total about 1/4 of my stack in a tournament where the blinds were moving at a snail's pace. I would still have plenty of ammo if I didn't win.

Plus, doesn't AK always catch an A going up against KK? I think I read that on IAG a few month's back.....

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Posted by  Johnnymac, at 4:25 PM, May 24, 2005  

No, you're a little bit off. Ace-anything always catches an Ace against KK.

But seriously, the only fault I can see on the first hand was just what everyone else said: he didn't bet the hand aggressively enough, but given than the guy wasn't going anywhere with J5(!), I would chalk it up to bad luck. And the second hand definitely was just bad luck. AK is often overplayed post-flop, but preflop he was probably right to get all-in with it. Sklansky even says so in his tournament book that it's better to go all-in with AK than to call all-in with it, which is what he did, and holding KK you should certainly be excited about that. We joke about it, but it's simply bad luck when KK gets cracked by an Ace and mathematically, KK is a favorite in that situation. As T.J. would say, "That's poker!"

(I also like the use of the phrase "Dad poker" - my dad plays the same way!)

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Posted by  Dr Fro, at 11:12 PM, May 24, 2005  

After reading Morris' post, I realized I should have been stronger:

In a cash game I would bet the pot

In a tournament I would bet > the pot. Maybe 1.5-2x

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Posted by  Anonymous, at 12:37 AM, May 25, 2005  

All of your points are great and help my understanding. As I mentioned to the Dr. tonight, I agree with his point that I got greedy on hand #1. I was hoping that he would call and I wasn't thinking about him pairing his kicker. Didn't realize that when I made the bet, but I realize it now. As a result, I wasn't agressive enough and ended up letting him draw out. Although I still think he made a dumb move in the long run.

On hand #2, I think ARH and I both played it right for our respective positions/situations. (btw..... did I say that I love to check-raise him). His luck just fared better on Saturday.

Also, I found out that check-raises are not allowed in certain forms of 'Dad Poker.' Not sure I could handle that crowd.

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Posted by  Anonymous, at 11:39 AM, May 25, 2005  

The blind structured work a little slower than expected. Part of that is attributable to a 1 of the 3 tables playing ultra tight and knocking out 1 player in 3 hours.

As for the winners:
1) Kurt (friend from Austin)
2) Heath
3) Pillars
4) The before mentioned "Dad poker" player.
5) Chris (the host)
6) Yours truly

Thanks to the participants b/c it was a great time. In a moment of sweet justice, the winner drank too much on Saturday and threw up at the bar (several times).

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Posted by  Anonymous, at 3:02 PM, May 25, 2005  

ARH,
I can't see folding preflop, but I think I would have smooth called his check raise, and then gotten it in on the flop. Other players would have played the hand the same way you did, but try to remember the old saying "beware of the limper."

You seem to be only concerned with him having AA. You should also have been worried about any pair, as you have an unmade hand. The only hand he would checkraise you with that you can beat is AQ. If you put him on any pair, you are behind. Not far behind, but behind never the less. It seems like you guy know each other, so maybe that played into your decision making. Congrats on the nice finish.

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