Need Advice

What do I need to study to get my tournement play better. I seem to get to a point then it just seems to crash even if I got the best cards.

Just a few minutes ago I had pockets 9's and this other guy had K Q suited and the flop comes A 2 5 and then 8 and he rivers a king. Going in i had the best hand, but they always seem to river the nut card for themselves.

What can I do?

Hard to say what you need to do...Not enough information....Did you raise pre-flop? bet the flop in the proper amount? Sounds to me like you mis-played the hand....and he caught you on the river. It happens

Are you talking about going all in w/99 vs KQ suited...need more info. But if that is the case, you're only 53% favorite to 47% so basically a coin flip. So, definately misplayed, but then again...need more info.

Without stack sizes, antes, blinds, and player information, or even when you got it all in, I can only offer two suggestions.

#1 Read Harrington on Hold'em Volume I and Volume II. Maybe read them a couple times each. The second book covers the end game strategy, which is what you seem to be having trouble with. But I don't recommend reading the second book without reading the first.

#2 Play more to widen your perspective. If you were all-in on the turn, he only has 6 outs, meaning he was about 13% to win. While is seems the universe hates you, the more you play the more you'll see that things balance out over time. (Unless you only remember the bad).
If you were all-in pre-flop as a short stack, a big stack is going to look you up every time with K/Q, which you're only a coin flip to win against.

AS long as you stay patient and composed you will be fine. If your money is going in a favorite you are doing somthing right. sucks to be unlucky

I think anything you read is probably going to help, but nothing helped me more than just playing and trying to learn from my mistakes.

I am a programmer, by trade, and I tend to be very analytical. Whenever I bust out of a tournament, especially, if I thought it was a "bad beat", I go back and look at my play. Sometimes, I determine that I misplayed a hand, but sometimes it's just the luck of the draw.

Good luck.

Hou

Thank you for pointing me in the right direction. I will read these books and hopefully I will comeout a better player.

losing 99 vs AK is going to happen, it's part of poker. I can't find the article I read when starting but it basically said: deposit $50, try to play as many hands as possible with it, view it as a crash course in poker, expect to lose it.

One of the best things you can do is what cowboy says and look at what got you out of a tourney (or a major losing hand). Post it in the hand analysis forum to get some good advice from seasoned players. Getting 5 different people to analyze your hands will really help your game.

nothing. good job. you got your money in with the best hand. that means you won. even if you lost. download pokerstove for free and plug your starting hands into that everytime and see the math. then keep getting it in good.

Try to play more aggressively. You must force your opponents to fold their draws, making it unprofitable for them to continue to play their hands. However, sometimes (read many times) you will get badbeated, when you play your cards right and still lose. Just relax and keep in mind that they will lose in the long-run and you will win.

Well when you g in with the best hand and lose,you just have to hold your head up and know that you had the best of it.
I got sucked out on all night 2 nights ago.
No point in getting frustraited over it,it happens,just know you made the right move going in.

PokerSmoker420, as the other replys noted not enough info to really assess what happened in the hand. I suggest you have to play those middle pairs either very passively or very aggressively neither of which will guarantee a win. I try to adjust my betting soley dependant on the betting pattern of the other players that remain in the hand. And when it comes to playing middle pairs I tend to bet heavy after the flop if I have the bank to afford the loss of a feeler bet, especially if I'm heads-up and the other player has checked to me. Usually the case is as with yours I find that there's an overcard to my pair that cautions me to recall how the other players in the hand bet preflop, and to try to remember how they had bet previous hands. If I get a check around to me then I will put out a bet based on the current present blinds, the size of the pot, and the chipstacks around the table who are still in the hand. It's still a crap shoot on a lot of occasions but the first person betting is usually the one who wins the hand. Good Luck and I hope this helps. ChipSnake