A killer of a bubble loss (that means: best player to not finish in the money). I started very strong. Within twenty minutes I have a healthy lead on the table of 11.
Ad-Jd. Blinds are at 50-100, I bet 400. I’m called. Flop is a bunch of low cards. I continue the pressure, 600 more. The turn is an Ace. 700 more. The river is another Ace. 800 more, she folds. I now have double the average stack.
An hour later I am still in strong position. I get the exact same hand, Ad-Jd. Blinds are 100-200, I put in 500 and the same person calls me. The flop is three low cards, one of which is a diamond. I check, she bets 600. I figure I still have two overcards and she bluffs a lot. I call. The turn is a low diamond. She bets 1000. I figure she either had a high pair (kinds or queens) or paired up something small on the board. Any diamond gives the nut flush, an ace wins it, and a jack probably wins it. There’s already 2500 or so in the pot, with her bet included I’m getting 3500 for a 1000 investment. And what the hell, I just feel like gambling. I call and catch the nut flush on the river, knocking her out.
Nothing much happens for a while. Eventually it gets down to four players (top three finish in the money). One other guy has a huge stack and there are two small stacks. I am just waiting for the two small stacks to go away so I can play heads up. We’re at 500-1000, average stack is 6000, I have around 12,000.
The other big stack goes in for 2500. The small stack to my right goes all in with 1750. I look down at Ac-10c. I call the 2500. The flop is an Ace and two small cards. I decide my only goal here is to eliminate the small stack. I check, and make the mistake of announcing I’ll check all the way. I am properly admonished. Big stack bets another 2500. Whatever, I got a pair of aces with a high kicker. If you want to make me pay for speaking out of turn, I’m still here. The turn is nothing special. He bets another 2500. He is also a big bluffer. And he could be playing to get me out so he only has to play for the main pot. Maybe he has a low pair and figures that’s strong enough in four handed. I call. The river is a meaningless seven. He puts his remaining 3000 in. I call. He has A-7, the river gave him his second pair. Darn it, I was ahead of him the whole time and he caught the river, damn damn damn!
On the other hand, it’s hard to complain too much about the river when it gave the nut flush earlier.
I am severely wounded. I only have 3500 left. I am lucky, because three more times players go in against each other. Each team the short stack is behind. If the hand holds up, I sneak into third place ($48). But they don’t, each time the big stack is bad beated. For example…
Player 1 goes all-in. Player 2 calls. They have the exact same amount. So I don’t care which one wins, either way I get into third place or better. I mentally count my money. They flip their cards. Both have K-10, they chop the pot, and we’re still at four players. Damn damn damn!
Eventually my all in with A-8 is beat by A-Q. I am knocked out in fourth and go off to lick my wounds.
Running Total: -$24
Based on your description, I agree with Matt. Should have checked raise if anything instead of just calling. Based on reading your blogs, you have decent reads, but don’t play aggressive enough. It seems you play to get “in the money” rather than trying to win it. I wish I lived in Hotlanta so I can take some of your and your friends’ money. Ha, ha.
I was in a very different mindset. My mindset was all about getting down to three players. I had recently read an old article of Daniel Negreanu’s talking about this. The gist is, why raise? It’s not a time to take chances. Both of you are trying for the same thing, to knock out the short stack all-in and move up a spot. You maximize your chances of that by letting the other big stack play also, that way there are two players that can knock him out. The correct play is to check all the way through – and that’s what you see when the pros play. The only exception is if you have the absolute nuts and know that you are going to beat the short stack anyways.
For better or worse, I just assumed that the other big stack had the same mindset. That was foolish of me. (It’s the Phil Helmuth problem, assuming the other player thinks like you.) I wasn’t going to raise, there didn’t seem to be a point to it. When he started raising, I knew he didn’t have the nuts and never really thought through what he was doing. I think it was a bad play on his part, but my inability to read the bad play and think it out from his point of view killed me.
I take all your points to heart and I can’t disagree, I just wasn’t thinking that way at all.
I think your problem wasn’t opening your big mouth about checking (hehe, d’oh!), but rather the fact that 1) you should have bet/reraised the flop, considering you had top pair/decent kicker, if just to gauged what HE had, and 2) you probably shouldn’t even have called this hand, and just let the big stack take out the little guy.
Now, I’m not saying it would have changed the hand at all if you had played it more aggressively (sounds like this guy would have called YOU to the river, too) but it would have put you in control of the hand. And you might have been able to get out of the hand with a little more if he kept calling your bets. And I know you were leading the whole time, but that wasn’t as important as getting one of those other guys out, considering how short stacked the other two guys were. Sadly, he got lucky, but you did put yourself in that hand, and only flat called him on every card.