Jesus Lederer
Rock Star
Silver Level
If some of you read my thread "Tournament structure", today it was the tournament i was talking about. This is what happened:
First of all, with my brother we had a little trouble to find the house where it was the tournament, because the address that the organizer gave in the tournament´s website it was wrong. Luckyly they realized of that and they put an advice outside the house in a wall. The tournament was supposed to start at 3:00pm and with my brother we reached there at 3:15pm. But there wasn´t any problem because almost nobody had arrived at that time. For the moment we paid the buy in and we made the seats selection. We decided that the tournament would start at 4:00pm. 21 of the 23 players were at that time. The other 2 players arrived like 10 minutes after, so they just lost a few blinds.
The game began. I only knew 2 players in the whole tournament, my brother and a friend. My friend was seated in another table, and my brother was two seats to my right. My table was the one with 7 players (the other 2 had 8). As usually i tried to stay away the first hands and concentrate on having my first reads on my opponents. There weren´t any showndows but i realized that if i wanted to enter to a hand, i would have to be prepared to get action, because the table was very aggressive. I just had a read on the table style and on my brother (just because i know his style). After a while i committed some mistakes (don´t know 100% sure if they were mistakes, but i layed down top pair in a situation that now i think i shouldn´t have done it) that costed me nearly $1000 (remember that we started with $5000). Then i got the information i wanted. The player to my left was a maniac (he limped in almost in every hand for the first 10 ones. Then he was huge chip leader and you will see what happened because of that) and the one to my right always represented the flop and probably after that he would bet on the turn. I had a read on the other players too: the one to the left of the maniac was normal-aggressive, the one to his left was loose-aggressive, the next one was normal-normal, and the next one was my brother (tight-aggressive). The maniac was catching everything and i missed everything. Finally i understood that the best way to play on that table was to wait for a big hand a bet over-aggressively, because the maniac was huge chip leader and i had to take advantage of that, doubling up throw him. The big problem was that i wasn´t getting cards and when i got something decent to play at that table like low pocket pair or AX there were big raises and reraises before me. I must admit that probably i didn´t play my best poker, but definitely cards didn´t help at all. I was down $2000 when my friend and another guy came to the table (there were the final 2 tables). I knew that it was all in time (blinds 125-250 with 25 ante), and my friend told me: "you still have chips, but whenever you see an A you have to go all in". It was funny because next hand i was dealt A-4, everybody folded to me and i was to the right to the dealer (my friend). I went all in and everybody folded. It was nice to win those blinds and antes. Next hand i was dealt A-X (don´t remember exactly all the hands) but there were two big raises before me by two tight players, so i folded. Next hand i was dealt A-2 and everybody folded to me. Then i went all in and again i stole the blinds and antes. And then it happened. I was BB with J-4 off. The maniac limped and the SB called. I checked. The flop was J-4-2, two clubs. The SB bet $500 and then i remember how i had lost the last live tournament (an 8 players SNG with rebuy). It was a flashback:
I was BB with 6-4 off. The flop came J-6-4, two spades. It was three handed. The first one (he was the same friend that now was sitting to my left) checked. I thought it for a minute and then checked, because the last player to act was aggressive, and i hoped that he would bet so i could raise him. Unfortunately, he checked. The turn was a spade. My friend bet, i raised, the other player folded and my friend reraised me all in (he had few more chips than me). I thought it for some minutes and then i decided to call (if i had won that hand, probably i had won the SNG). My friend showed A-7 spades. The river wasn´t miracle, just a blank.
After that flashback, i decided that i had to protect that two pair by being very aggressive. I raised all in. The maniac said: "I´m going to do a crazy thing" (remember that he was huge chip leader), and both him and the SB called. "Someone have trips", i thought. But then i was more optimist and i said: "Ok, probably the maniac has flush draw and the other guy had high pocket pair or AJ". The turn was a 3 (not clubs) and both players checked. I thought "Come on! If i avoid another club i´m going to triple up". The river wasn´t a club, but it was something worst. A miserable 5 came in the river.
The board was: J-4-2-3-5. The maniac bet and the SB folded. I knew i was dead. I was completely sure he had the A. "The maniac hit his 5 high runner runner straight" i thought. My friend told me "He has the straight", just to confirm what i thought. At that moment i didn´t know that what he said was completely different of what i thought. Of course my friend also thought that maniac had hit the 5 high straight. Then he turned up his cards: 6-8 (don´t remember if they were suited but definitely they weren´t clubs). I clearly understood his words when he said: "I´m going to do a crazy thing". He called my all in after the flop (it wouldn´t be a bad play pre-flop) with absolutely nothing. My two pair were 96.2% favourite against his 6-8. That may sound terrible, but the truth is that it didn´t affect me at all. It hurt me when the 5 came in the river, but when he showed his 6-8 i didn´t complain at all. We shook our hands and i stayed seated there to watch the game. I saw my friend´s face because i knew he hates to see bad plays to win. He really hates suckouts. It was funny to see him nodding his head like saying "This can´t be possible". I was out 12th. The rest of the story was that the maniac finished 4th (in the money) and my friend finished 3rd. My brother had gone before me with flush against full house.
You may think that it was a terrible day for me, but then i understood why i hadn´t had any reaction when i lost (without the fact that i have learned to accept bad beats as a normal part of the game): i was really having fun. The experience was wonderful. The organization, the pro chips and pro tables, and the best thing it was meeting new guys (i was the youngest one. Everybody was in University). We made jokes and i laughed a lot. They were all nice guys.
I hadn´t lost $10 at all. It was a great day.
First of all, with my brother we had a little trouble to find the house where it was the tournament, because the address that the organizer gave in the tournament´s website it was wrong. Luckyly they realized of that and they put an advice outside the house in a wall. The tournament was supposed to start at 3:00pm and with my brother we reached there at 3:15pm. But there wasn´t any problem because almost nobody had arrived at that time. For the moment we paid the buy in and we made the seats selection. We decided that the tournament would start at 4:00pm. 21 of the 23 players were at that time. The other 2 players arrived like 10 minutes after, so they just lost a few blinds.
The game began. I only knew 2 players in the whole tournament, my brother and a friend. My friend was seated in another table, and my brother was two seats to my right. My table was the one with 7 players (the other 2 had 8). As usually i tried to stay away the first hands and concentrate on having my first reads on my opponents. There weren´t any showndows but i realized that if i wanted to enter to a hand, i would have to be prepared to get action, because the table was very aggressive. I just had a read on the table style and on my brother (just because i know his style). After a while i committed some mistakes (don´t know 100% sure if they were mistakes, but i layed down top pair in a situation that now i think i shouldn´t have done it) that costed me nearly $1000 (remember that we started with $5000). Then i got the information i wanted. The player to my left was a maniac (he limped in almost in every hand for the first 10 ones. Then he was huge chip leader and you will see what happened because of that) and the one to my right always represented the flop and probably after that he would bet on the turn. I had a read on the other players too: the one to the left of the maniac was normal-aggressive, the one to his left was loose-aggressive, the next one was normal-normal, and the next one was my brother (tight-aggressive). The maniac was catching everything and i missed everything. Finally i understood that the best way to play on that table was to wait for a big hand a bet over-aggressively, because the maniac was huge chip leader and i had to take advantage of that, doubling up throw him. The big problem was that i wasn´t getting cards and when i got something decent to play at that table like low pocket pair or AX there were big raises and reraises before me. I must admit that probably i didn´t play my best poker, but definitely cards didn´t help at all. I was down $2000 when my friend and another guy came to the table (there were the final 2 tables). I knew that it was all in time (blinds 125-250 with 25 ante), and my friend told me: "you still have chips, but whenever you see an A you have to go all in". It was funny because next hand i was dealt A-4, everybody folded to me and i was to the right to the dealer (my friend). I went all in and everybody folded. It was nice to win those blinds and antes. Next hand i was dealt A-X (don´t remember exactly all the hands) but there were two big raises before me by two tight players, so i folded. Next hand i was dealt A-2 and everybody folded to me. Then i went all in and again i stole the blinds and antes. And then it happened. I was BB with J-4 off. The maniac limped and the SB called. I checked. The flop was J-4-2, two clubs. The SB bet $500 and then i remember how i had lost the last live tournament (an 8 players SNG with rebuy). It was a flashback:
I was BB with 6-4 off. The flop came J-6-4, two spades. It was three handed. The first one (he was the same friend that now was sitting to my left) checked. I thought it for a minute and then checked, because the last player to act was aggressive, and i hoped that he would bet so i could raise him. Unfortunately, he checked. The turn was a spade. My friend bet, i raised, the other player folded and my friend reraised me all in (he had few more chips than me). I thought it for some minutes and then i decided to call (if i had won that hand, probably i had won the SNG). My friend showed A-7 spades. The river wasn´t miracle, just a blank.
After that flashback, i decided that i had to protect that two pair by being very aggressive. I raised all in. The maniac said: "I´m going to do a crazy thing" (remember that he was huge chip leader), and both him and the SB called. "Someone have trips", i thought. But then i was more optimist and i said: "Ok, probably the maniac has flush draw and the other guy had high pocket pair or AJ". The turn was a 3 (not clubs) and both players checked. I thought "Come on! If i avoid another club i´m going to triple up". The river wasn´t a club, but it was something worst. A miserable 5 came in the river.
The board was: J-4-2-3-5. The maniac bet and the SB folded. I knew i was dead. I was completely sure he had the A. "The maniac hit his 5 high runner runner straight" i thought. My friend told me "He has the straight", just to confirm what i thought. At that moment i didn´t know that what he said was completely different of what i thought. Of course my friend also thought that maniac had hit the 5 high straight. Then he turned up his cards: 6-8 (don´t remember if they were suited but definitely they weren´t clubs). I clearly understood his words when he said: "I´m going to do a crazy thing". He called my all in after the flop (it wouldn´t be a bad play pre-flop) with absolutely nothing. My two pair were 96.2% favourite against his 6-8. That may sound terrible, but the truth is that it didn´t affect me at all. It hurt me when the 5 came in the river, but when he showed his 6-8 i didn´t complain at all. We shook our hands and i stayed seated there to watch the game. I saw my friend´s face because i knew he hates to see bad plays to win. He really hates suckouts. It was funny to see him nodding his head like saying "This can´t be possible". I was out 12th. The rest of the story was that the maniac finished 4th (in the money) and my friend finished 3rd. My brother had gone before me with flush against full house.
You may think that it was a terrible day for me, but then i understood why i hadn´t had any reaction when i lost (without the fact that i have learned to accept bad beats as a normal part of the game): i was really having fun. The experience was wonderful. The organization, the pro chips and pro tables, and the best thing it was meeting new guys (i was the youngest one. Everybody was in University). We made jokes and i laughed a lot. They were all nice guys.
I hadn´t lost $10 at all. It was a great day.
