09-30-04, LearnTexasHoldem:

Tourney Story

Question:

Here's a little story that you can put anywhere on your site that you see fit.

I was recently invited to sit in on a six player no-limit winner-take-all Texas Holdem tournament. Now, a few years back I made a reasonable supplementary income playing poker in casino's. But that was many moons ago and I have almost no experience in tournament play. So, against my better judgement I went.

Top 3 Beginner Rooms

My opponents were five young products of the recent poker explosion. Play was very loose and very fast as I expected it would be. I played a little tighter than the table, but still looser than I normally would. I lost a few hands early, betting or bluffing on questionable pocket cards, but I made sure that everybody saw my bad play, and ordered another beer.

The player to my left was a text book maniac and having a great night. Playing loose as hell and pulling out flush draws and gut shot straights on the turn. He even had a KK that beat AA with a K on the river. Well, I'm sure we all know that story.

Now, I'm holding my own. A couple of my "crazy raises" came through for decent pots. I've had a few good hands and felt I got paid well for them. One hand in particular my pocket fives turned into a set on the flop, and fives full of deuces on the turn. That hand knocked out two players on a huge pot. One of which was the obligatory trips deuces full house which lost to the set fives. (I haven't checked out your whole site yet, but if you haven't touched on this little nuance of holdem play, the difference between trips and sets, you might want to say something about it after this little story.)

And that's how it went, down to three players. Me, the maniac on my left and a guy we'll call 'Short-Stack".

The maniac is dealing and he and I are about even with almost half the chips each. He is kind enough to deal me AsJh. Now, at a big table I don't get too excited over AJ off suit but I feel pretty good about it with only three players. Short-Stack checks and I know with two high cards I don't want him getting any free cards so I bet enough to fold him or put him all in.

The maniac instantly calls, of course, and Short-Stack, resigned to his fate, shrugs and pushes in the last of his chips. The Flop comes Ad, Jc, 7d. Well, what do ya know! I flopped a very strong top two pair and the bet is to me. Ol' Short-Stack is in another world, staring off into space.

Now, for all I know the maniac has nothing at all. What I do know is that I have a very, very good hand. So I start thinking about what can beat me. Earlier I mentioned how the maniac played a big pair really hard. Raised pre flop and went all in after a scattered flop. Ended up all in with Kings against Aces and, as I said, pulled a king on the river. He also played an AKs the same way but slowed down when the flop and turn didn't help.

He was loose and aggressive, almost always raising and re-raising pre-flop when he had a good starting hand ie. high cards or pairs. So, in this situation I'm pretty sure that he doesn't have high cards or a pair since he only called my pre-flop raise. I put him on some kinda draw. As far as straights go, I see nothing but gut shots and back doors here. The obvious flush draw is diamonds. Here's the kicker tho, he's really chomping at the bit. Tapping his feet. Playing with his chips. Stacking and restacking. OK. I do a quick run down.

Yep, I put him on a flush draw. And he really wants to see it. I figure it is in diamonds and he has 2 in the pocket. 2 on the board. Leaves him a total of 9 outs with 45 cards or 1 in 5 . If I'm right, I'm a huge favorite to take it down right now. I go all in and he calls immediately! Sure enough the maniac shows me his Qd, 3d. Short-Stack, tho, quickly reminds us that this is still a three player hand by turning over his own two diamonds Td 8d.

No problems for me. In fact, I couldn't have been happier. I felt great. I figured I was about a 70% to 75% favorite to take all the chips from here. I made the right calls and got a little bonus at the end with them playing into each others hands. Life was good and I was the lord of all creation. Until... the turn...6d... reducing me to a terrible dog. Hoping for an A or J on the river left me about a 10% under dog I figure. It didn't come and I lost.

I still feel pretty good about how I played, tho. I controlled the tempo of the game pretty well. I got big returns on my good hands and I don't think any of my opponents had a good read on me at any point. As far as losing, I look at it as similar to pot odds. If you were asked to call a bet of any amount already called by 5 other players and you're gauranteed to be a 70% favorite, you'd call that every time, wouldn't ya?

Well, that's my story. Any comments or suggestions about my play of this hand are certainly welcome.

Answer: Ouch! What a bad way to go out. Thanks for the sending this in. You had them both exactly where you wanted them and still lost. There is nothing you did wrong. AJoff is a monster 3 handed. That just shows you that there is no justice in poker. All you can do is get your money in with the best hand and hope you don't get unlucky.

As for the readers who don't know, there is a difference between trips and a set like he mentioned. A set is much more powerful because it is harder to see.

An example of trips is when you have A5 and the flop is T55.

An example of a set is when you have 55 and the flop is AT5.

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