Starstealer's Tournament Report: $10+1 No Limit Hold'em with Rebuys

I'm a solid tournament player (my own confessional). I'm not making a lot from tournaments, but after playing a few hundred of them, I'm doing well enough to at least break even. Why do I consider this solid? Because I don't know how else to call it. I'm not losing much if anything, and therefore I'm just one final table away from a major return. For instance, I decided I would play this tournament - a $10 buyin with a first prize of $10k.

My no limit tournament game has been performing well of late, so I decided to take a shot with a rebuy tournament. First of all, my strategy in a rebuy tournament is to a) only rebuy once if at all - and at the end of the hour if possible. If I get down to the felt in the first two levels - I'll just not rebuy. b) I do the addon regardless of my stack size at the end of the hour. Usually, this works well for me - as I'm a pretty tight player in the first hour - so its rare that I'm far below 3k by the end of the hour (since I usually get paid off when I do have a good hand - or I get sucked out on...)

In any case, this tournament had the makings of being a long one!

Hand #1, I have A2o in the BB and check it behind 3 limpers and the SB. The flop is 34T, the SB checks, I check and it checks around. The turn is a 6 and the SB leads out for 40 into a 100 pot. I fold.

Hand #4, I have pocket deuces in the cutoff and there's only two limpers. I call as does the SB. The BB checks. The flop is 35K and I fold to a bet of 300 (into a 100 pot).

Hand #10, I have K8o in the BB. There are 3 limpers and the SB in - so I check. The flop is 824 with 2 hearts. SB checks and I bet the pot (100). I get 2 callers (3k and 6k). The turn is a 5 and I bet 500 into the 400 pot. I get one caller (the bigger stack). The river is the - putting out the likely pair and the flush. I push my remaining 820 - he folds. I'm up to 2220.

Hand #16, I have pocket fours in MP and open-limp. There's one other limper plus both blinds. The flop is ATQ with 2 spades. It checks all around. The turn is the and I check fold to a minimum bet.

Hand #34, I have A3s (hearts) and open-limp for 50. There's one limper plus the blinds in for the pot. The flop is 5TQ with 2 clubs and it checks around. The turn is the and it checks to me. I bet the pot (200) and it is called twice. The river is a queen and it checks around. (Yes on the turn I was just betting for feeling... turns out there was a player with K3 who called my bet, but the other player hit his 79s (clubs) and took the pot.)

Hand #44 was my first real heart attack... I have pocket jacks with a stack of 1775. Blinds are 25/50. I'm essentially the short stack (there's 3 people below 2k, one of them is me, another is at 1800, the last has 45 chips less than me).

I'm UTG+1 and open raise to 200. It is called by a monster stack (13k) and then raised to 1730 by the shortest stack. To make things worse, the player on my right (with 4k), calls the all-in. It gets back to me and I have to make a decision for my chips with pocket jacks and three opponents. At this point, I don't think its likely that the big stack will fold - especially if I call. I decided in the end that they were probably light on their calls since the tournament was a rebuy and pushed in myself. As expected the big stack called. Obviously the guy with 4k called for the additional 45 chips.

The big stack showed KTs (hearts), the 4k stack showed KQo and the short stack had pocket sixes. The board flopped a jack and turned a king - so the pot was a monster. I survived and walked away with 7080 for my troubles.

Hand #51, I have A8s (hearts) in MP. I open limp, there's another limper than then a maniac raises all-in to 1500 (he's lost 4 buyins since I hit the table in hand 45). I fold.

Hand #60, I have K9s (clubs) in MP and open limp. I get 1 caller (11930) amd both blinds (2950 (maniac), 2k). The flop is K88 rainbow and it checks to me. I bet the pot (400) and they all fold.

Hand #62, I have AJs (clubs) from UTG+1 and open raise to 300 (3xBB). I'm called only by the BB (8500). The flop is A3T with two diamonds. The BB leads for a bet of 300 into the 650 pot and I raise to 1000. He calls. The turn is an offsuit seven and we both check. The river is a king and we both check again. He shows 25s (diamonds). I can't believe I played this hand this passively... Still I'm up to 8380 and the first break happens. Somehow, I make a boneheaded move by getting a drink and miss the entire break - and thereby miss my addon... oops.

Hand #65, I have A2o in the SB. There's one limper in UTG+1 (5k) and it folds to me. I complete and the BB (1700) checks. The flop is A78 with 2 spades. I check and it checks around. The turn is the and I bet the pot (450). They both fold.

Hand #74, I have AQo in the SB. A MP open raises the minimum (to 300) (7625 - maniac). I call, as does the BB (14.8k). The flop is 37Q with 2 clubs. I bet the pot (900) and they both fold. I'm at 8980.

Hand #79, I have AKo in UTG+1. UTG open raises to 1000 (5xBB) (3970). I flat call and everyone else folds. The flop is 27Q with 2 diamonds and he checks. I check as well. On the turn is another 7 and he pushes. I fold.

The antes start in on hand #93. My stack is now only 7180.

In hand #98, I have AKo in the SB. It folds around to the cutoff who raises to 600 (3xBB). I reraise to 2000 and he calls. He has me outchipped by 5k, but is not a big stack by any means. At this point, I could believe he might be on an outright steal or on any ace or king. If he had a pocket pair, I am certain he would have pushed in there.

The flop is AQ6 with 2 hearts and I weigh my options. There's a little more than 4k in the pot and I've got 4830 in my stack. Given my previous read, I feel I'm probably ahead here - and possibly crushing him. I'm not interested in showing it down however, so I decide to push. He calls. With ATo. He hits a ten on the river and I'm out.

On hand 79, you gave the guy a license to steal the pot by checking the flop in position. I would have made a bet there to take the pot. The last hand was just a tough break. Great report. Keep them coming.

I fully agree that I gave him permission to take the pot - and he is welcome to it. Since he was the preflop raiser and checked the flop - I figure either he was trapping or he had the same hand I did - in which case, I don't think it is likely that he'll fold. Given that - I'd rather get away from the hand unscathed.

/d

what about pushing him all in preflop?

I guess my problem with pushing in preflop is that I have more to lose than to gain. If I push and win the pot right there, I'm risking 4k to get 1300 (and remember there's 5-6 players to act yet). If he calls - I figure I'm worse than a 50/50 on the situation (I'm figuring he's a pocket pair given his play in other hands. A small ace is not out of the question - but pocket pair is my feeling.

So if I win right there - I'm up to 10.2k. However, if I lose, I'm down to 5010. Granted the blinds were only 100/200 - but that's a much worse situation, especially when you consider that there's only 3 players above me at 8k, but only one person below me at 5k.

There are times that I would push it all in with AK preflop - but this one just didn't feel right to me (which I suppose is the best answer I could give - not a very good one either...).

I think I would have check raised the maniac on hand #74. He made a preflop raise and was in position to bluff at the pot on the flop.

That's entirely an option. However, with my experience with him it seemed likely that he would come over the top on a bluff - which I most certainly was going to push then. Maybe my read on him being a maniac was wrong - but that's just the way it felt to me.

I actually rarely checkraise in my game. I am wary of it because in Omaha (my usual game) it doesn't work as well in terms of getting things done. However, in this case I can see that its application might have been better. However, a quick question, if by chance it checks around - what do I do if the turn is a king or pairs a lower card? By betting out, I'm putting in my bid for the pot.

/d

Well, a K or a paired board would certainly present a problem. I would probably throw out a feeler/blocking bet.

Note: I'd have to be 95% sure that the maniac player would bet in that situation to try the checkraise. I hate the idea of giving a free card with TPTK.

One thing that I noticed regarding your tourney summaries is that you play straight-forward, and good competitors will pick up on this. You bet strong when you have a strong hand and check when you don't. I think the checkraise would be a new, powerful weapon in your arsenal at the right times. It can be very effective in NLHE. Just something to think about.....