Worst 38 hands ever

Just got done with a tourney where I was knocked out in 38 hands. In those 38 hands I got no pocket pairs, and only two of them were connected face cards. About 1/3 of the hands were connected, or single gapped suited number cards, the rest were, pretty much complete and total crap.

I only took two pots the entire time, and both of those were when I limped in as BB, and made a pair on the flop.

Is there anything I can do in situations like that? I know I probably need to work on my level of aggression, because there were two times I tossed in 89 or 78 suited from middle position. Should I start playing that stuff or keep on trying to only playing premium hands and developing good habits?

That is totally up to you. You kinda play like me. Sometimes you just have to get aggressive but 89 and 78 suited thats a good lay down. Sometimes you get the cards and sometimes you don't.

Same thing happened to me last night at Full Tilt. It was a private $1 tourney with 253 people in it and I won 2 times in 38 hands. Got dead cards and was done in 35 minutes.

Sometimes you're card dead. It happens. You need to learn to be able to keep your head above water during these times. When it gets to the point in which the blinds start really taking a chunk out of you, you have to make moves at pots, in position, regardless of what two cards you hold.

That also takes patience and a good deal of observing the other players at the table to realize who you can attack and who you cant. If you are playing very tight, the good players at the table will realize this and when you make a raise it will get some respect.

However if you wait to long to pick up some pots, your stack wont mean anything and you'll be called by pot odds alone.

You really have to pick your spots. There are many tournaments in which you will have fight to stay around average while waiting for good hands, and sometimes barely any will come. Making moves at the right time is extremely important to make sure that you have some chips when you do get those good cards.

Yeah, those situations are really difficult. What kind of tournament were you playing? Was it a turbo?

It's no fun when you're starting a tournament and you can't seem to catch a hand. It's those situations where patience is truly needed.

Unfortunately, those kinds of stretches can be hundreds of hands and multiple tournaments. Be sure not to try to change your game too much based on a short run of bad hands. To echo Cobryn's thought, you should be observing other players and looking for someone to exploit.

I think part of my problem is that I have small bank roll, and therefore I'm limited to the smaller buy ins, where the really bad players (possibly myself included) tend to hang out.

So it sounds like I do need to play some of those connected.suited number cards and project some kind of strength in the hopes of stealing some blinds or get lucky.

I guess I'm just frustrated, because when someone tosses in 3-5x the BB, and I'm holding crap I toss my crap. Hell sometimes I toss my mediocre hand. I expect others to use some kind of intelligent betting strategy too. But inevitably the dumbass calls me then ends up getting three of a kind on the flop, or worse the river. My head knows I want these guys in the game because in the end probability plays out and and smart play will beat lucky play in the long run. But the frustration of while learning getting sucked out over and over again by obviously inferior players just gets to me sometimes. I just can't let them get to me I guess.

I'll just continue reading, playing, and learning, and hopefully in the end I'll come out ahead.

If you keep playing better cards than your opponents, and use positional awareness as well as the occasional well-timed steal, it is a mathematical certainty that you are going to win more than them. Yes, the increasing blinds and antes force you to make moves with less than stellar holdings but that doesn't mean you should start playing crap just hoping to get lucky. Call with T9s on the button when a bunch of people limp in and it's cheap to play. Don't play it UTG on an aggressive table.

The first 3 levels of a tournament you should play pretty tight and if your not getting hands just fold. With the blinds being so low you shouldn't be in too bad of shape folding every hand for 30+ hands, even in a turbo. You maybe in all-in or fold mode but you will be ok you can find a spot to double up. In normal tournament structure you can not play a hand for the first hour and still have 10bb or more. Just play a little tighter and wait for hands.

You're looking for pots that you can open. When no one else has raised. Medium stacks in the small and big blinds, or ridiculously tight players on short stacks in the blinds. You are right to toss your crap hands when someone is raising 3-5 times the blinds. Those are not easy hands to win when you hold average hands. When you hit middle pair... now you have more decisions to make. Do they have an overpair? Do they have top pair?

When the blinds arent hurting your stack, you can afford to go slow. Wait for premium hands and bet them for value. Its when the blinds go up and your M goes down that you have to make moves. If you pay attention enough to your opponents you'll learn to make moves regardless of the cards you are holding. You wont say "Ok, I have 7-8 suited and I'm in middle position, nows the time". You'll think "Ok, the big stack already folded, the loose player on my right limped and the blinds are medium stacks who play tight." You'll know you're going to raise before you even know what your cards are. And it doesnt matter what they are.

And sometimes it wont work. Sometimes you'll be reraised. At that point you'll consider your pot odds and go from there. If you're in position (Which is very important) you'll read what your opponent does. During these cases you will make tough decisions on whether or not you will continue with the hand or not.

Making bluffs with weak cards makes it much easier to fold when you get reraised. Making bluffs with medium cards such as Q/10 suited are the hands that can be very difficult to play post flop when you flop a 10 and your opponent puts you all in with a K on the board.

It takes a lot of experience to play these hands. The less difficult choices you have to make, the easier the game is.

It's times like these that you have to play position. Use those first 20-30 card-dead hands to read to table and they make moves purely based on position/opponents. It can be uncomfortable playing a hand only on position (no regard for your cards), but it is a great skill to have and those times when you are cold-decked are great times to develop that skill.

38 hands? Premium hands are a must when at start but not for an all in move unless you gamble for it or its a pocket. Did you get a chance to double up? if you did u should played some of those suited connectors if the tables has always been passively calling not raising. You might hit a straight or flush 1/3 of the time. anyways thats how I play. I like connectors.

I have this happen a lot sometimes even longer up to 60 or so hands without a hand to play. Patience is paramount theres no need to rush the cards will come . Even in a turbo theres no need to be going all in on the 5th hand because you fear falling behind . Just remember that it only takes one good hand to double / triple up and put your chips back up to the average stack. You will often find when the cards do come they come in runs like bad cards and you can go from short stacked to chip leader in a matter of a couple hands . What i often do is play another table for small stakes to keep my mind occupied while folding 30 odd hands in a row
good luck