Tournament Hands - Set 1

TheBenfer · #1 10-20-2007, 08:32 AM

Hey all - I'm trying to improve my game (who isn't?). One of the things I think I need to do more is think about hands correctly when I'm playing, but I need some help. Going through all of the details while sitting there with a timer is tough, so I'm going to try to post a lot of hands in between each tournament for a little while. My new motto is "think more, play less".

I'm going to add each hand as a reply to this thread so people can look at them individually and not get comments mixed up, but keep them together so you can somewhat see how things are working.

I appreciate any constructive help and if I haven't posted enough information, please let me know - thanks in advance.

TheBenfer · #2 10-20-2007, 08:46 AM

Situation: Very early in the tournament - someone went all in early with a mediocre hand and MP2 called him with a reasonable hand (AK??). Not much of a read on anyone else.

Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (8 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

Button (t1455)
SB (t1865)
BB (t1120)
Hero (t1500)
UTG+1 (t1470)
MP1 (t1500)
MP2 (t3240)
CO (t1350)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with T[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], J[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
Hero calls t30, 2 folds, MP2 calls t30, 2 folds, SB completes, BB raises to t90, Hero calls t60, MP2 calls t60, SB folds.

Flop: (t300) 9[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img], 3[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (3 players)
BB checks, Hero checks, MP2 checks.

Turn: (t300) T[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (3 players)
BB checks, Hero bets t120, MP2 calls t120, BB folds.

River: (t540) 7[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero checks, MP2 checks.

Final Pot: t540

Results in white below: 
Hero has Td Js (straight, jack high).
MP2 has Qd 10c (pair of tens).
Outcome: Hero wins t540. 

Pre-flop: I like calling with some of these hands (even out of position) early in the tournament. I think the implied odds justify seeing a few flops. I try not to get too attached to the hand, however, and let it go if I'm not getting the flop I want.

Flop: I thought about a semi-bluff here, but I usually do that way too much and I'm trying to be selective. Since the original raiser has already checked I think I have a good chance to get a free card and I don't want to give him a chance to reopen the betting.

Turn: I put in a small bet to see how attached everyone is to their hand. It also gives me the advantage of looking like I want action (i.e., hit my straight maybe).

River: Good and bad card for me. I checked because with the very scary board I'm not sure he's going to call with worse hands. If he makes a small bet, I'll make the call, but I'm not sure what I would have done if he made a large bet.

TheBenfer · #3 10-20-2007, 08:53 AM

Situation: Not much later than Hand #1. BB has been active, but hasn't done anything way out of line, so I'm assuming he's a decent player at this point.

Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t40 (8 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

BB (t1860)
UTG (t1560)
UTG+1 (t720)
Hero (t1740)
MP2 (t1230)
CO (t1765)
Button (t2870)
SB (t1755)

Preflop: Hero is MP1 with J[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img].
2 folds, Hero raises to t140, 3 folds, SB calls t120, BB raises to t600, Hero folds, SB folds.

Final Pot: t880

Pre-flop: OK, standard raise with AJ, which I pretty much always do in this case. After the re-raise, I am pretty much left with shoving or folding. I elected to fold - any issues with this one?

TheBenfer · #4 10-20-2007, 09:03 AM

Situation: OK, just a couple of hands later, no new info for you.

Full Tilt Poker No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t40 (8 handed) Hand History converter Courtesy of PokerZion.com

CO (t2100)
Button (t1500)
SB (t680)
Hero (t1680)
UTG (t1290)
UTG+1 (t1765)
MP1 (t2870)
MP2 (t1615)

Preflop: Hero is BB with 8[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img], A[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img].
2 folds, MP1 raises to t80, 4 folds, Hero calls t40.

Flop: (t180) 2[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 7[img]/images/graemlins/diamond.gif[/img], 4[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 bets t120, Hero calls t120.

Turn: (t420) 8[img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero checks, MP1 checks.

River: (t420) 4[img]/images/graemlins/spade.gif[/img] (2 players)
Hero bets t240, MP1 folds.

Pre-flop: I thought this was a fairly easy call. He's not in steal position, so a re-raise with A8 seems like a bad idea, but calling a min-raise seems like a good idea, since I may well have him beat.

Flop: I think I still might have the best hand here, but I'm not exactly in love with it. I'm not sure about the call here at all - I have two overcards and may already be in the lead, but I don't want to call off all of my chips. Check-raising seems like a bad idea - if I commit enough chips for a reasonable raise and he calls, I'm almost certainly beat.

Turn: Not sure about this street, either. I thought about betting here, but I figured I wanted to see the showdown as cheaply as possible. If he made a large bet here, I would likely have folded. I would probably have called a small bet.

River: OK, now I am fairly sure I'm ahead, so it's just a matter of betting out.

IFoldPktOnes · #5 10-20-2007, 10:38 AM

Buy-in?

I fold all those hands PF. As played...
Hand1: bet river
Hand2: don't even think about calling the reraise
Hand3: fold flop

[ QUOTE ]
"think more, play less hands early".

[/ QUOTE ]

Niggel · #6 10-20-2007, 11:44 AM

[ QUOTE ]
Buy-in?

I fold all those hands PF. As played...
Hand1: bet river
Hand2: don't even think about calling the reraise
Hand3: fold flop

[ QUOTE ]
"think more, play less hands early".

[/ QUOTE ]

[/ QUOTE ]

+1 I agree with every single point. OP you should have in mind, that you don't need to earn chips early. Just hold on to them and if a great situation arises take advantage of it. It's no problem if you haven't entered a pot until the blinds are 100/200 - You just lost a bit and now is the time to outperform your opponents. Think of the early levels as an warm-up for the real action later. Just how I tend to think about it.

It is not a cashgame (in which I would play the AJ hand).

Add some tables if you feel bored because you get no premium hands. Folding is the key [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

sippin_criss · #7 10-20-2007, 12:16 PM

hand 1 - i like checking flop as well and hoping for a free card. if im betting the turn im going to bet a little more. if you bet so small a lot of guys will just call along with whatever crap. you need to be the river for value. if you are raised then it's close i guess and you could consider folding it. bet/folding is much better than check/calling because villain will only likely bet a super tight range on the river on such a coordinated board, but he will call with most pieces of the board. i also absolutely fold preflop.

hand 2 - i am probably folding preflop, im opening with TT+, AQ+ in this spot. as played its a good fold. you dont want to get your chips in with AJo in lvl 2 thats for sure.

hand 3 - i am folding preflop since its a trouble hand, i like your thought process of not wanting to get overly involved but Ax is such a hard hand to play to a raise oop, because if you get what you hope for (Axx, 8xx flop) you still dont know where you stand. I would fold on the flop, i like your turn thought process, and river as well.

marand · #8 10-20-2007, 01:12 PM

Hand #1 #2 #3 should all be played the same. Fold them preflop. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]