Card Dead - Late Tournament - Short Stack

[BrentD22]

Context: $50+$5 buy-in $50,000 (1st just under $14K)

I made it all the way to top 20 with either cheap lead or close to it. I then went completely card dead. I mean nothing even playable or even good enough I felt OK to bluff with. I still made it to 10th (just short of final table). Just before I went out (on a stupid move on my part) I had approx. 188,000 chips. Chip leader was 800K+, average chips stack was around $600K, and blinds just went up to 6000/12000/ant at 1200 (I think). What is the worst hand you'd play while card dead + blinds increasing + ect. ect.

I ended up going out on this: someone raising to 36,000, I went all in for 188,000 with 78s. I know it wasn't a good hand, but I just didn't know what to do, I was going to get blinded out of the tournament if I didn't make a move. I was hoping he'd fold, but did not.

Again my original question - worst hand that you'd play in this situation?

 

[Steveg1976]

I will play worse hands if I am opening the pot versus shoving into an already opened pot. Also depends if the table is playing loose or tight. If they are playing very tight I like your choice of 78 because if you pick paint you are most likely only going to be called by someone that is dominating your hand. When the table is loose is when I need paint to shove for the exact opposit reason and prefer them to be close enough for a long shot straight possibility K10 KJ etc. I suck though so probably take my post and reverse it and you will have a winning strategy

 

[pigpen02]

With an M of a little under 10 you can last another round. I would open with 87s but not re-raise. You still have some fold equity, so it would be possible to pick up blinds with an initial all-in.

 

[Irexes]

Whether you have been sitting on a small stack for a while with poor cards or just ended up with a small stack after losing a big pot is completely, totally and absolutey irrelevant.

There's no such thing as being card dead.

Now I know you probably know this, but I think what happens when people get a bad run of cards is that they start looking for excuses to play a pot and make a move. Really you should be looking for the right combination of cards, position, action ahead of you and people behind you yet to act that makes playing the right move. There are so many factors that the worst hand you should play with between 10 and 15 big blinds varies from 99 to 22 and K3 depending on the situation.

A reraise there is likely to be called and dominated and you want to sell your tourney life dearly so fold. The next hand can always be aces.

For the record in that situation I probably fold everything up to 88 and AJ even with <15bb.

 

[Jillychemung]

With an M of a little under 10 you can last another round. I would open with 87s but not re-raise. You still have some fold equity, so it would be possible to pick up blinds with an initial all-in.

Agree, pushing 87s from LP being 1st in is OK but not over an earlier raiser. Review your hand history again and if you're satisfied there wasn't an earlier place that you could have taken a shot then that's poker.

 

[BrentD22]

I agree with the not to re-raise in that situation.

I think that guy would have called either way. He had AQd and his stack was approx. 700,000 vs. my 188,000.

BTW - I agree with there is no such thing as "card dead", but I looked back at the tournament stats. I can't even believe I got to the last 10. I only played 15% of the hands with 50% of those coming from the BB. The other 50% of hand I played came from late position or the button.

I am proud though it was probably the best I've played online. I prefer live poker better.

 

[Jillychemung]

BTW - I agree with there is no such thing as "card dead", but I looked back at the tournament stats. I can't even believe I got to the last 10. I only played 15% of the hands with 50% of those coming from the BB. The other 50% of hand I played came from late position or the button.

Last night I played the FT $3 rebuy, made it to top 30 in chips before I went out in 44 (out of 750) when my TT < 99 (9 on turn, 3 way a-i w/ an AQo, pot was 110K) and my VPIP for this tournament was 10!!

 

[Eman885]

Being card-dead is a problem for many poker players. You had the chip lead for most of the game and then things changed so you have to adjust your strategy. It seems to me like you panicked on the 78s play. I don't know any of the hands or possible situations you were in, but if you weren't comfortable with any of your cards to even bluff you should have stayed patient and tehn found a decent hand to push with and try to pick up the blinds. Nice job finishing 10th though, that is pretty impressive.

 

[Bentheman87]

Yea I go card dead so often late in MTTs. All my premium hands I get dealt are always in the early/middle stages. Here's my advice for you, follow Dan Harrington's M SYSTEM. You're M is a little under 10 someone else said right? So you are not so desperate you have to push with 8 7. You can survive 10 (your M) times 9 (the number of players at the table) more hands, thats 90 hands. That's a lot of hands, you'll definetly get a better hand or a better situation within the next 90 hands. If you're M were like 2-4 and it was folded to you then a push with 8 7 wouldn't be a bad play.

 

[pappasqueaks]

I play any hand if I find an opening like alot of players folding b4 ur and ur close to the buton and c u hav sum live cards, juss go 4 it and bet it out even if u know ur dominated.

 

[Jillychemung]

I play any hand if I find an opening like alot of players folding b4 ur and ur close to the buton and c u hav sum live cards, juss go 4 it and bet it out even if u know ur dominated.

Then I want you at my table

 

[BrentD22]

I'm thinking it was late and I should have been more patient. I know I have patient all tournament up until that point. I only played 15% of the hands dealt to me. That includes SB, BB, and a couple of bluff blind steals. I should have just been patient...

 

[Bentheman87]

Brent, just think of it this way. Calculate your M (you kno how to do this right?) and multiply it by the number of players at your table. If you're at a full table multiply it by 9. This gives you the number of hands you can survive before you're completely blinded to death assuming you play no hands in the meantime. So if it's very low, like if you can survive only 10 more hands, then you can't afford to be patient because you are very unlikely to get a quality hand within the next 10 hands. Then pushing with a hand like you did is a good move. Go here...

Poker probability (Texas hold 'em) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and you can get an idea of how often, on average, you will get dealt a specific hand.