Starstealer's tournament report - $200+15 NL HE on Pokerstars
$350,000 guaranteed, 2556 players, 2500 chips to start

I won my entry to this tournament via a satellite, but I have been looking forward to it all week. I didn't know what I would get out of the tournament, but I just wanted to put in a good showing. If I made it to the final table, I'd be pretty happy - hell with 270th paying out $300 - I'd be pretty happy with that since I didn't put any money into it!

I've got a lot of hands to go over, so just bear with me.

I voluntarily put any money into a hand until #11. I'm on the SB with K3o and it is folded to me. The BB is about the same stack, so I limp in. The flop is TJK with 2 diamonds. I overbet the pot to 100, and he folds. I win 40. Just for the record - I think my play on this hand was bad - 100 to get 40 back? What was I thinking?

In hand #15, I get AKo in MP and open raise to 5xBB (to 100) - everyone folds. In hand #16, I have AJs and open raise from MP to 5xBB (to 100) and everyone folds.

In hand #20, I'm in the SB with A8o and everyone folds to me. I limp in and the BB checks (he's doubled up to 5k now). The flop is 26Q with 2 clubs and we both check. The turn is an offsuit 9 and I bet the pot (60) and he folds.

In hand #22, I have AQo on the cutoff. It is folded to me, and I raise to 4xBB (to 120). Everyone folds.

In hand #28, I have K8o in the BB. There are two limpers (5k, 3k) and the SB (1.2k) in the pot with me and I check. The flop is 38T and it checks to the last limper who bets 60 into the 120 pot. It folds to me and I call with middle pair; the last player folds. The turn is an offsuit 5 and we both check. On the river, another five comes off and I bet 120 - he calls. He shows A8o and takes the pot with a better kicker. Ugh! (For the record, I think I should've folded to the original bet - I don't really know why I didn't...)

In hand #36 (blinds at 50/100 now), I have A8s UTG and limp in. There is one other limper and the BB for the flop. The flop is TT8 and the BB leads out for a minimum bet. I call, the limper folds. The turn is a seven, putting 3 spades on the board and he leads out for another minimum bet. I fold. (Another HUH? hand - why call the flop bet and fold to the same bet on the turn?)

In hand #37, I have pocket eights in the BB. UTG+1 raises to 3xBB (to 150) and one other person calls. I call as well. The flop is 57T and I lead out for 200. The PFR folds and the other person calls. The turn is a queen and I check/fold when the other player comes in with a 400 bet.

In hand #48, I have A8o on the button and open raise to 4xBB (to 200). Both the SB (5k) and the BB (4k) call. The flop is KKA with 2 spades. Both blinds check and I bet 200 into the 600 pot. Only the SB calls. At this point, I have seen him slow play 2 hands to the river so his call is a bad sign for me. Still on the turn an eight hits and I bet again (200) and he calls. We check the river (a six) and we split the pot. He had A6o.

In hand #52, I have pocket tens in MP and open raise to 4xBB (to 200). Everyone folds.

In hand #57, I have pocket nines on the button. The player on my right (4255) limps in and I raise to 3xBB (to 300). The SB (5965) calls as does the limper. The flop is AQ5 - all hearts. I do have the 9h. It checks to me and I take the free card. The turn is the Kh - giving me the 3rd nut flush. Both players check again and I bet out 300. Only the SB calls - he's the player who has slowplayed his hands in the past. The river is an 8 and he checks again. I decide I want to see the river - and if he came over the top of me - I would be hard-pressed to call him (in other words - I chickened out). He has AJo without a heart and I take the pot.

-- This is the first hand that I think of for the tournament as a "different" hand. If this was a $1 tournament, against a player I know who slowplays - I would make the bet on the river all day long (and call a raise if it came). However, here I was a little gun shy. It definitely cost me in my opinion as the player later turned out to be more of a calling station than a chronic slowplayer...

So - that was my first hour. I finished with a stack of 2280 after 74 hands. There were 1774 players left at this point. I had one hand that I felt I needed to be more aggressive with - and a few that I shouldn't have played at all - but otherwise, I thought I was doing well.

In hand #83, I have AKo in the SB and it folds to me. I raise to 3xBB (to 450) and the BB reraises to 1200. I flat call. The flop is 36T and I check. The BB bets 1050 - which is more than my stack and I fold.

-- This is the second hand that I think of as a "different" hand. This player has proven to be a tricky player. His reraise doesn't indicate a pocket pair or even a good hand. However, I wasn't willing to risk my tournament here. I could have in a $1 tournament - but here I think I'm more comfortable with folding. In the end, I think I really only had my live outs, as I suspect he did have a pair.

In hand #93, I have pocket jacks on the button. A MP raises to 3xBB (to 600) and I reraise allin (another 105). The SB flat calls both raises and the PFR calls as well. I flop a set against pocket nines (PFR) and ATo (SB) and they don't improve. I triple up to 2315.

In hand #94, I have AJs on the cutoff and it folds to me. I limp in and both blinds come in. The flop is 66Q with 2 hearts (my suit). The BB bets the minimum, I call - as does the other player. The pot is 1200. The turn is an offsuit 4 and the BB bets 600 - giving me 3:1 on my flush draw. I fold.

In hand #100, I get pocket aces in the BB - but everyone folds to me and I take the SB... GRRRR! (Just for the record, I showed them too...)

In hand #101, I have K6s (spades) in the SB. There are 3 limpers to me, so I complete and the BB checks. The flop is A4J with the ace of spades. I check - as does everyone else. The turn is the 7s and it checks around again. The river is the 3s and I bet out 400. I get called twice and I take 2200 from the pot. I'm up to 3615.

By the time antes start in hand 107, I have 3615 and there's 1189 players left.

In hand #109, I have K3s (hearts) and see a free river from the BB with a board of 3AQAK (with the last 3 cards being spades). I bet 400 on the river and get raised the minimum. I call - he has the flush. Ugh - bad bet by me...

In hand #110, I have AQs (hearts) and calls a minimum raise from the SB after one person calls. The BB calls as well. The flop is 223 and the PFR bets 800 into the 1825 pot. I fold.

In hand #124, I'm starting to feel short stacked (blinds are 200/400 with a 25 ante. I have 1415 before the ante...). I'm in MP with pocket threes and raise all-in. Everyone folds. I essentially double up to 2215.

In hand #127, I have A5o in the BB. Only the SB completes and I check. The flop is 45K and we both check. On the turn is a queen and he checks again. I bet all-in and he folds. I'm up to 2765.

In hand #133, I have A2s (clubs) in MP. I open limp and the player to my right raises all-in. He is reraised by another player (also all-in) - I fold. (A9s and TT)

In hand #139, I'm down to 1290 in chips and am on the cutoff with KJo. A MP raises allin (shorter than me), I reraise all-in and there's one caller after me. The caller has pocket sevens; the original raiser had 56s. I river my king on a board of 348AK and take the whole pot. I'm up to 3465.

The 2nd break hits after hand #145. I have 3685 and there's 728 players left. I'm in 591st chip position. After the break, blinds will be 300/600 with a 50 ante.

In hand #154, I have pocket jacks in the BB, but everyone folds to me - so I'm back up to 3685.

In hand #156, I have pocket aces on the button and open raise all-in. The SB (10k) reraises to 6k to isolate and the BB folds. He has pocket tens. I flop an ace and he doesn't improve. I'm up to 7620.

In hand #168, I have pocket eights in MP and raise all in to 6020. I get one short stack to call me (he had 4270 after the ante). He has pocket jacks and hits a jack on the flop. I'm back down to 1750.

(At this point, I'm really struggling to survive. I'm posting all of the hands from here on out - what hands would you push with and why?)

#169, T8o in MP - everyone folds to you.
#170, A5s on UTG+1 - UTG folds
#171, AKo in UTG (obviously I pushed here, one caller - ATs and neither one of us improves).
#172, (4850) 98o in the BB one limper. Flop is 245 and limper bets half your stack
#173, (4000) A5o in the SB. MP raises to 3600.
#174, (3550) KJo on the button. Cutoff open raises all-in (he covers you by about double)
#175, (3500) A3o on the cutoff. Folded to you.
#176, (3450) 95o in MP. MP raises to 2400.
#177, (3400) 82o in MP, folds to you.
#178, (3350) K7o on UTG+1. UTG folds.
#179, (3300) T6o UTG.
#180, (3250) 72s in the BB. 2 limpers plus the SB. The flop is 48T - all clubs (not your suit). First limper bets 2400.
#181, (2400) 94o in the SB. Button raises to 4800.
#182, (1950) 72o on the button. UTG limps - everyone else folds.
#183, Blinds increase to 600/1200 with a 75 ante (1900) J9o on the cutoff. UTG limps, MP raises all in to 5525.
#184, (1825) 92o in MP. UTG+1 limps, MP raises to 4800.
#185, (1750) T5o in MP. UTG limps, MP raises all-in to 8389.
#186, (1675) 97o from UTG+1. UTG limps.
#187, (1600) T8o UTG.
#188, (1525) J5s in the BB. MP raises to 2400. MP reraises all-in to 7272.

I called on the last hand and was shown KK by the first player, AQo from the other. I hit a jack on the turn and an inside straight draw on the flop - but missed the both.

Thanks muchly for the kind words - always good to know people are reading...

I definitely was considering 175 as a possible hand to push with. At the time I was thinking it was pretty likely I'd hit something better as the table went around. Unfortunately, that definitely wasn't the case.

In hand #178 - it was another close decision for me. Again, I have a good enough stack to put some pressure, but I wasn't sure if everyone would fold. Also, I still felt I had enough time to double up. Apparently I was wrong here too...

/d

I agree that I would have pushed 175, 174 was a possibility since the CO could be pushing weak hands too since he's shortstacked but i would have waited too. Other than 175, the only other hand I would have tried was 187. Now some people probably won't like that answer but my reasoning is this: It is at least a semi connected hand and you are all in on the bb with a random hand no matter what. If someone calls you on when you have T8, there is a decent chance they will just have overcards and you are about 40% to win the hand with live cards. I know you have to deal with the entire table taking a shot at you, but if its folded around to the bb, he HAS to call you so you can win the blinds plus a little more. If you wait til the BB, you are doing it with a random hand and there is 1200 less in the pot than if you did it UTG because you are the BB rather than someone else.

Thoughts on my reasoning?

In the end, a bad time for you to go card dead and you were not likely gonna make it through this no matter what.

Star, TK, others,

What are your thoughts on pushing #187 like I suggested?

If I'm reading that right, that would be T8 UTG?

The thing about pushing UTG, is once one person calls you, you're more likely to pick up another caller or two, with pot odds and all. And if noone calls you at first, there's a good chance the blinds will call just to knock you out, assuming they have fairly healthy stacks. T8o, you really need to get that down to 1 player to have a reasonable chance of success. The only time I push with "any two" is in UTG +3 or better.

On the flipside, will you have a better hand than T8o on the BB? Because you basically have to push there. I would say, I would probably have pushed any 2 on one of those hands before that and just prayed.

Just my views.


BTW, great tourney and great writeup!

I skimmed over this and one thing I'm gonna point out is that you played hand #83 pretty badly. You can't ever call off more than half your stack preflop, and especially not with a drawing hand. When you called the re-raise to 1200 it sounds like you are left with less than 1050. Which means you put in something like 60% of your stack in preflop. You either have to push or fold. I'd say you should push but again this depends on the way the table and your particular opponent has been playing. Since you say he didn't need a monster to do this, it has to be an auto-push. AK is a top 4 tourney hand and if you aren't willing to go bust with it as a shortstack against an aggressive player than I don't know what you can do it with. You can't sit around and wait for AA to come. Gotta take the chances when you seem to have the good end of it.

I'm not sure what hands you speicifcally want to move in with here. It didn't look like you had many good situations. However, IMO if you want to win the tournment you will have to make a move sooner. With a stack of $3000 you may only have to double of once or twice for decent chip position. With a stack of $1000...you have to double up at least 4 times.

I know from your previous posts you already understand all this. Just thought I'd bring it up. Of course, I'm not sure your goal here was to win the tournment either. I think you were just looking to place (which is fine) towards the end...am I wrong?? I imagine a finish in the money in a $250 buy-in tourney is quite profitable.