06- 8-04, LearnTexasHoldem:

A couple tournament hands

Question: I was wondering if you could look at two recent hands from a tournament and tell me what you think of how I played them. You can post them to the site if you want. In the first one, I was the shortest stack in the tourney at 45,000 chips. And the second one I think is really good example of semi-bluffing (which I learned from your site!) and how to trap/check-raise.

Top 3 Beginner Rooms

Hand One:

PokerStars Game #475113019: Tournament #1773202, Hold'em No Limit - Level XVI (4000/8000) - 2004/06/08 - 02:34:24 (ET)

Table '1773202 29' Seat #4 is the button

Seat 1: richter (54137 in chips)

Seat 2: WYSKIELZ (129679 in chips)

Seat 3: e93mr2 (197197 in chips)

Seat 4: nowapowa (45939 in chips)

Seat 5: musicalmud (182007 in chips)

Seat 6: Padam Adat (222544 in chips)

Seat 8: BUM 49 (54593 in chips)

richter: posts the ante 400

WYSKIELZ: posts the ante 400

e93mr2: posts the ante 400

nowapowa: posts the ante 400

musicalmud: posts the ante 400

Padam Adat: posts the ante 400

BUM 49: posts the ante 400

musicalmud: posts small blind 4000

Padam Adat: posts big blind 8000

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to nowapowa [Jh Ah]

BUM 49: raises 8000 to 16000

richter: folds

WYSKIELZ: folds

e93mr2: folds

nowapowa: raises 29539 to 45539 and is all-in

musicalmud: folds

Padam Adat: folds

BUM 49: calls 29539

*** FLOP *** [Ts 8c 5d]

*** TURN *** [Ts 8c 5d] [Th]

*** RIVER *** [Ts 8c 5d Th] [Qs]

*** SHOW DOWN ***

BUM 49: shows [Ks Qh] (two pair, Queens and Tens)

nowapowa: shows [Jh Ah] (a pair of Tens)

BUM 49 collected 105878 from pot

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 105878 | Rake 0

Board [Ts 8c 5d Th Qs]

Seat 1: richter folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 2: WYSKIELZ folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 3: e93mr2 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 4: nowapowa (button) showed [Jh Ah] and lost with a pair of Tens

Seat 5: musicalmud (small blind) folded before Flop

Seat 6: Padam Adat (big blind) folded before Flop

Seat 8: BUM 49 showed [Ks Qh] and won (105878) with two pair, Queens and Tens

Hand Two:

*********** # 103 **************

PokerStars Game #474938199: Tournament #1773202, Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (300/600) - 2004/06/08 - 00:48:35 (ET)

Table '1773202 151' Seat #3 is the button

Seat 1: TC Valdez (11780 in chips)

Seat 2: AweBen (21364 in chips)

Seat 3: Sosumi (7314 in chips)

Seat 4: Zigzags1pak (8808 in chips) is sitting out

Seat 5: AcezEmpty (6650 in chips)

Seat 6: sean222 (7405 in chips)

Seat 7: deandiamond (9430 in chips)

Seat 8: nowapowa (8379 in chips)

Seat 9: njk79 (11845 in chips)

TC Valdez: posts the ante 50

AweBen: posts the ante 50

Sosumi: posts the ante 50

Zigzags1pak: posts the ante 50

AcezEmpty: posts the ante 50

sean222: posts the ante 50

deandiamond: posts the ante 50

nowapowa: posts the ante 50

njk79: posts the ante 50

Zigzags1pak: posts small blind 300

AcezEmpty: posts big blind 600

*** HOLE CARDS ***

Dealt to nowapowa [Kc Ac]

sean222: folds

deandiamond: folds

nowapowa: calls 600

njk79: raises 600 to 1200

TC Valdez: folds

AweBen: folds

Sosumi: folds

Zigzags1pak: folds

AcezEmpty: folds

nowapowa: calls 600

*** FLOP *** [7c 6c 8h]

nowapowa: bets 600

njk79: calls 600

*** TURN *** [7c 6c 8h] [Ad]

nowapowa: bets 1200

njk79: calls 1200

*** RIVER *** [7c 6c 8h Ad] [Qc]

nowapowa: checks

njk79: bets 3000

nowapowa: raises 2329 to 5329 and is all-in

njk79: calls 2329

*** SHOW DOWN ***

nowapowa: shows [Kc Ac] (a flush, Ace high)

 

njk79: shows [Jd Ah] (a pair of Aces)

nowapowa collected 18008 from pot

 

 

*** SUMMARY ***

Total pot 18008 | Rake 0

 

Board [7c 6c 8h Ad Qc]

Seat 1: TC Valdez folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 2: AweBen folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 3: Sosumi (button) folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 4: Zigzags1pak (small blind) folded before Flop

Seat 5: AcezEmpty (big blind) folded before Flop

Seat 6: sean222 folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 7: deandiamond folded before Flop (didn't bet)

Seat 8: nowapowa showed [Kc Ac] and won (18008) with a flush, Ace high

Seat 9: njk79 showed [Jd Ah] and lost with a pair of Aces

Answer: I'm not sure if I have much to add on the first hand besides you got your money in with the best hand and lost. There is not much more you can do in that situation. I guess I could say, "don't go all-in there" but that wouldn't mean much considering I don't know how the other players were playing, what your table image was like and the fact that end in the end your hand was better. The lesson there is sometimes you'll lose regardless of playing right or having the better hand.

The second hand is what we call a "monster". That's about all you can ask for in holdem. You have the nut flush draw, two overcards, then you hit your Ace on the turn and the guy has a "dominated hand". A dominated hand is one in which you both have the same competing cards but his is slightly worse. That cripples his chances since after the Ace hit, he was drawing only to a Jack (and even one of those outs was "tainted" since it gave you the flush). I think you played this hand perfectly -- you maximized your gain on it. You could have easily moved all-in on the flop and not gotten a call but waiting that one turn paid off and you got all his chips.

Updated 6/16/04

Another reader sent this in:

I'd like to make a comment regarding the question from 6/8 on "A couple of tournament hands". You mentioned that he played the second hand perfectly. Im going to disagree and am interested in your thoughts because this has been coming up quite a bit in my online sessions. Once he catches the nut flush on the river and checks, doesn't he take a big risk in that if the other player checks he loses a chance of getting money into the pot that he's going to win? You have to be 100% sure that when you check, your opponent will bet. Its been happening to me quite a bit where Ill be heads up and suspect someone is on a draw, then hit that card on the river and then check. Now it worked out in this hand, but overall, aren't you more likely to make more money in the long run by not risking a check raise(on river only) and putting in a nice bet, one not too big to entice a call?

Answer: A few things:

1. I missed that he wasn't all-in already. When I looked over the hand history I was under the impression that they were already all-in on the turn when the Ace hit and then he caught the nut flush on the river.

2. You are right. The opponent is already committed to the pot so it wouldn't be good to not bet the river.

3. With the above said, the end result was still perfect. Sometimes the only way you will get someone all-in is to check the river to them. It just depends. So this example worked out all right but I can't say for sure whether it was played perfectly or if he should have bet on the end. You are right though, generally speaking you will lose money by not betting the river when you have the nuts in cases like this.

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