S
ssbn743
Visionary
Silver Level
I’m in a live $210 buy in deep stack weekly event with $30K starting stacks and 30 minute levels at my local casino.
There were 82 entrants in the tournament and we were down to the final 10 with 9 getting paid. We agreed to each pay the bubble $20; so really, the bubble had effectively already burst. The structure of this event really showed up at the final table and we played with 10 for at least 90 minutes. There were a few stacks around $100K, maybe a little less, but the average stack was $250K with the chip leader at about $400K to $420K – I had about $300K.
I wasn’t getting very many hands, and when I did get something I might consider playing someone would move all-in before my action and I’d have to fold. As always, it was tough to find spots.
One player in particular, who I’ve played with many times before, just kept going all-in. He would call pre-flop and shove the flop (he also open shoved, or 3-bet shoved several times as well); he got called twice and one both times his hand was a mere piece of the flop that was good once and bad once. The bottom line is that it was pretty transparent and he was never very strong; this tactic and playing style is more of an online thing in my experience, but I have seen it live several times before and don’t have a huge problem with it – I think he misuses this tactic but he’s playing to win.
I had been forced to continually fold for the majority of two levels and with blinds at $5K/$10K/$1K it didn’t take long for that to have a drastic effect on my stack; before I knew it I was sitting on just over $200K having lost 1/3 of my stack to the blinds and antes. From UTG +1 I found and raised to $24K (2.25X plus an ante). Everyone folded around to Mr. All-In in the BB who flat calls with about $150K back.
Pot: $68,000
Flop:
From the BB my foe moves all-in just like he had done several times before. Additionally, there were some physical tells in this situation as well. When he moved all-in he pounded his stack down in the middle of the table, grunted really loud, and then stared right at me while leaning out across the table. Now some of this is just his persona, he is a big guy and a little scruffy, redneck type guy, nonetheless there were some clear physical tells here.
Now normally, I snap call here. We all should know that his physical actions are unlikely to be a ploy and scream weakness. But he obviously has a piece of this board so we have to figure out what “weak” really means. First he called pre-flop, so it would be pretty easy to put an ace in his range. However, if that were the case why would he shove the flop? So then I started considering other possibilities as well, maybe K 9 or something like 10 10. I wanted to call so bad but had to let it go, I think the largest part of his range has me crushed, so I folded and he didn’t show.
Personally, I think he had a weak ace, just from years of playing with this guy. He’s not good at all, yet I have seen him at more than a few final tables. A weak ace adds up here, this is exactly how this guy plays, no consideration is given to his opponent’s hand, what if I had A K; but that thought never entered his obviously limited mind. But there is that chance that my queens were best; I am borderline haunted by this one; does anyone have any thoughts?
This was a critical hand and took me well below $200K when I folded. Then the blinds went up to $6000/$12000/$2000 and after I went through the blinds I was left with about 14BB. In the time in between both the guy that killed my queens and another player were busted, leaving eight players. It was then that I found from early position and open shoved to be called by from the BB to end my day in eighth place. So that QQ hand was critical, the hand of my tournament, and I just wonder if I made the right move! Thoughts?
There were 82 entrants in the tournament and we were down to the final 10 with 9 getting paid. We agreed to each pay the bubble $20; so really, the bubble had effectively already burst. The structure of this event really showed up at the final table and we played with 10 for at least 90 minutes. There were a few stacks around $100K, maybe a little less, but the average stack was $250K with the chip leader at about $400K to $420K – I had about $300K.
I wasn’t getting very many hands, and when I did get something I might consider playing someone would move all-in before my action and I’d have to fold. As always, it was tough to find spots.
One player in particular, who I’ve played with many times before, just kept going all-in. He would call pre-flop and shove the flop (he also open shoved, or 3-bet shoved several times as well); he got called twice and one both times his hand was a mere piece of the flop that was good once and bad once. The bottom line is that it was pretty transparent and he was never very strong; this tactic and playing style is more of an online thing in my experience, but I have seen it live several times before and don’t have a huge problem with it – I think he misuses this tactic but he’s playing to win.
I had been forced to continually fold for the majority of two levels and with blinds at $5K/$10K/$1K it didn’t take long for that to have a drastic effect on my stack; before I knew it I was sitting on just over $200K having lost 1/3 of my stack to the blinds and antes. From UTG +1 I found and raised to $24K (2.25X plus an ante). Everyone folded around to Mr. All-In in the BB who flat calls with about $150K back.
Pot: $68,000
Flop:
From the BB my foe moves all-in just like he had done several times before. Additionally, there were some physical tells in this situation as well. When he moved all-in he pounded his stack down in the middle of the table, grunted really loud, and then stared right at me while leaning out across the table. Now some of this is just his persona, he is a big guy and a little scruffy, redneck type guy, nonetheless there were some clear physical tells here.
Now normally, I snap call here. We all should know that his physical actions are unlikely to be a ploy and scream weakness. But he obviously has a piece of this board so we have to figure out what “weak” really means. First he called pre-flop, so it would be pretty easy to put an ace in his range. However, if that were the case why would he shove the flop? So then I started considering other possibilities as well, maybe K 9 or something like 10 10. I wanted to call so bad but had to let it go, I think the largest part of his range has me crushed, so I folded and he didn’t show.
Personally, I think he had a weak ace, just from years of playing with this guy. He’s not good at all, yet I have seen him at more than a few final tables. A weak ace adds up here, this is exactly how this guy plays, no consideration is given to his opponent’s hand, what if I had A K; but that thought never entered his obviously limited mind. But there is that chance that my queens were best; I am borderline haunted by this one; does anyone have any thoughts?
This was a critical hand and took me well below $200K when I folded. Then the blinds went up to $6000/$12000/$2000 and after I went through the blinds I was left with about 14BB. In the time in between both the guy that killed my queens and another player were busted, leaving eight players. It was then that I found from early position and open shoved to be called by from the BB to end my day in eighth place. So that QQ hand was critical, the hand of my tournament, and I just wonder if I made the right move! Thoughts?