We played two 1800 Frequent Player Point (FPP) games that awarded $26 tokens for the first three place finishers. In the first game we got unlucky and busted out early, but in the second we made a seriously boneheaded play that kicked us out in fourth place. We had the second largest chip stack and had a fairly aggressive player to our right. (The opp's screen name was "LIVINGTHEDREAM" which is further proof that all-caps guys are aggressive...but I digress.) We had two short stacks fighting to outlast each other, and all we really had to do was just outlast them and coast into the money. In fact, we seriously considered just walking away from the computer for five minutes, but for some stupid reason, we (i.e., the Guru) decided he wanted to defend his small blind with A5s when LIVING had the button and made his customary raise of 3.5x the BB.
Just defending was a bad idea given the payout structure, but defending by shoving over the top of the stealer was dumb. Seriously dumb. I mean, what were we trying to achieve? Win 3x the BB? Why? We were comfortably in second place and could have not won another hand and made it into the money. The goal was Take The Hill, which is all the more important when the three top finishers all get paid the same amount. Arhghg. In the third game we played (A $26 buy-in 18-man game) we also got too aggresive for our own good and lost in fourth place. Arghghg, again.
To change the subject, I'm currently reading an interesting book titled "Kill Everyone" by Nelson, Streib, and Lee. It's a fairly indepth look at the mathematics of tournaments and SnGs, including some info on the Independant Chip Model (ICM) approach to deciding whether to shove or fold. While the whole book is pretty interesting, this line caught my eye: "[Near or on the bubble] in a Tournament, the cost of losing is always higher than the gain." They go on to prove mathematically that losing an all-in shove--regardless of your or the opp's chip stack size--hurts you more than the potential gain. They develop something called a "bubble factor" which is used to modify the pot odds calculation to determine whether getting your money into the middle makes sense or not. I'll post more once I figure out what they're actually talking about...
In other news, I've been having a little success (knock on wood) in cash games. I'm bumping up against $100 in my 'roll again and, hopefully, the trend will continue. I also have been playing some SnGs, but with only so-so success. Took second yesterday in a $3.40 Super Turbo yesterday (almost exclusively using an ICM spreadsheet) but busted out in fourth in a $6.50 Turbo when my QQ fell to KT.
Also I have been trying to get in at least one multi-table tourney per week. Mr. Multi and I played in a 45-person game on Friday. Whereas he tripled up with quad tens on one of the first hands and then went on to take third place overall (sigh), I instead took a bad beat and was knocked down to 150 chips or so. I battled my way back to T2100, but then took another crushing beat for most of my chips when an opp's KJ beat my AJ on a J-high flop. Here's what happened:
Full Tilt No-Limit Hold'em, 1+0.25 Tournament, 50/100 Blinds (9 handed) - Full-Tilt Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com
BB (t3425)
UTG (t6602)
UTG+1 (t840)
MP1 (t755)
Hero (MP2) (t2260)
MP3 (t2120)
CO (t2110)
Button (t2882)
SB (t2965)
Hero's M: 15.07
Preflop: Hero is MP2 with J
, A
3 folds, Hero bets t300, MP3 calls t300, 3 folds, BB calls t200
Flop: (t950) J
, 2
, 8 (3 players)BB checks, Hero bets t600, MP3 raises to t1820 (All-In), 1 fold, Hero calls t1220
Turn: (t4590) K
(2 players, 1 all-in)River: (t4590) 5
(2 players, 1 all-in)Total pot: t4590
MP3 wins with two pair (King and Jacks)
Hero loses with one pair (Jacks)
Now, MP3 was a tight/passive player, so his cold-call of my preflop raise should have made me suspicious. Then, when I bet on the J-high board and he shoved all-in over the top on me, I probably should have folded. Yes, I had TPTK, but my tourney life was on the line. Why make this call? Why indeed. If only there were an "Undo" button in poker.
All-in for now...
-Bug
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