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I've been having a think about things, since I busted out of the Aussie Millions main event earlier today and there are two things about my play that I find very puzzling.
Firstly, I seem to do so badly in the first few levels of a tournament. I've got a very good record in tournaments and overall I'm pretty happy with my play but I've got to be doing something wrong in the early levels. Without a shadow of a doubt, if I were to turn up late and just ante myself away for the first 3 levels, then on average I would have more chips.
Fortunately I tend to do pretty good at the end of tournaments (if I'm still in at that point) but still, I know I'm going to have to get better at playing deep-stacked.
Secondly, considering that I bluff so very rarely in tournaments, it's a bit strange that whenever I do make a big bluff, more often than not it goes wrong. Thinking back to the two big multi-table tournaments that I've won - the Irish Open and the PLO in Vegas. As far as I can remember, I only made one real bluff in the Irish Open and I didn't make one single bluff during the PLO.
Obviously I might raise with some bad hands to steal blinds, continuation bet some flops when I've missed, and get it in with drawing hands. However, when I use the term 'bluff', I'm talking about a pure bluff. For example re-raising someone, knowing that they have you beaten but thinking you can make them pass, following through with no hand on the turn/river (or both) with no hand, after being called on the flop.
I honestly might make a move like that once every 3 or 4 tournaments that I play, yet whenever I do, it usually ends badly for me. I played 3 tournaments at the Aussie Mils, the 1100 PLO, the 1650 NL and the main event, and this is exactly how I busted in both of the NL events. There are actually very few hands to mention from all of the tournaments that I played.
Despite the fact that I finished 11th in the PLO, every hand I played up until my exit was very straight-forward. They all seemed to be either big draws versus big made hands or visa versa, as well as a couple of pots where I got it in with Aces and they held up. The only hand where I could have made a mistake was my exit hand, and actually it could be argued that I did make a mistake in it, although certainly not a terrible one. I got it in with KKT2 double suited against Annette's AAJT, when I had less than 20 BBs.
Kings aren't an excuse to go bust in a PLO tournament but in this case I don't think it was so bad. I'd raised quite a few hands since I joined Annette's table, so although I thought she'd probably had AA, I couldn't be sure she wasn't just getting a bit fed up with me and had decided to re-raise with TJQK. Also, only the top few prizes were worth mentioning, so I thought it was a good idea to gamble to try to get a big stack rather than pass and leave myself short.
Fortunately I tend to do pretty good at the end of tournaments (if I'm still in at that point) but still, I know I'm going to have to get better at playing deep-stacked.
Secondly, considering that I bluff so very rarely in tournaments, it's a bit strange that whenever I do make a big bluff, more often than not it goes wrong. Thinking back to the two big multi-table tournaments that I've won - the Irish Open and the PLO in Vegas. As far as I can remember, I only made one real bluff in the Irish Open and I didn't make one single bluff during the PLO.
Obviously I might raise with some bad hands to steal blinds, continuation bet some flops when I've missed, and get it in with drawing hands. However, when I use the term 'bluff', I'm talking about a pure bluff. For example re-raising someone, knowing that they have you beaten but thinking you can make them pass, following through with no hand on the turn/river (or both) with no hand, after being called on the flop.
I honestly might make a move like that once every 3 or 4 tournaments that I play, yet whenever I do, it usually ends badly for me. I played 3 tournaments at the Aussie Mils, the 1100 PLO, the 1650 NL and the main event, and this is exactly how I busted in both of the NL events. There are actually very few hands to mention from all of the tournaments that I played.
Despite the fact that I finished 11th in the PLO, every hand I played up until my exit was very straight-forward. They all seemed to be either big draws versus big made hands or visa versa, as well as a couple of pots where I got it in with Aces and they held up. The only hand where I could have made a mistake was my exit hand, and actually it could be argued that I did make a mistake in it, although certainly not a terrible one. I got it in with KKT2 double suited against Annette's AAJT, when I had less than 20 BBs.
Kings aren't an excuse to go bust in a PLO tournament but in this case I don't think it was so bad. I'd raised quite a few hands since I joined Annette's table, so although I thought she'd probably had AA, I couldn't be sure she wasn't just getting a bit fed up with me and had decided to re-raise with TJQK. Also, only the top few prizes were worth mentioning, so I thought it was a good idea to gamble to try to get a big stack rather than pass and leave myself short.
Comments (2)
Do ya ever stop working on that table image....