Qualifier to Hollywood $500 draw tournament - Aaaaargh!

[BadPenguin]

Over the weekend I played a half-dozen or so $7+1 qualifiers (all NLHE) on Hollywood and managed to win 2 tickets to the next level of $50+4 qualifiers. There was one $50+4 pot-limit draw qualifier scheduled for today so I decided to try that one.

Only 13 players, 1st place gets a ticket to the $500, 2nd place gets $150. I had dropped to last with 7 remaining and thought I was headed out but managed to come back; won a big pot with 4 remaining to take the lead and when it got down to heads-up it was close to even. A half-dozen hands later and I'm up about 11,000 to 9,000 or so when I LOSE MY F***ING CONNECTION. (Pardon the shouting.) I never lose it when I'm in the middle of a heated 1 euro sit-n-go on 24h but today it decides to go out...

I hoped that maybe it was the server rather than me but when I could finally reconnect to Hollywood it was all over. Oh well - at least I've got $150 to show for it.

As for the game itself it was probably the most aggressive draw tournament I've even been in. I could probably count on one hand the number of times I got a free play from the big blind. I found myself having to frequently come back over the top of people with hands I would usually throw away without thinking about it, just to keep from getting pushed out of too many pots.

A couple of hands I remember:

4-handed, I'm in 2nd place but quite a ways behind the leader. UTG (who was very aggressive and open-raising most of the time and stealing a lot of blinds) came in for a raise. I was in the BB with a pair of fours and decided I'd had enough and put in a good-sized reraise. To my horror he called; I drew 3 and picked up 2 deuces to make fours-up. He drew 2, which he often did with a pair. I checked and he immediately went all-in with a bet of about 90% of the pot. From what I'd seen of him I was sure he was capable of bluffing an unimproved pair here, and something about the size and speed of the bet made me suspicious. I called for about 3/4 or my stack and he turned over a pair of tens.

Earlier, also 4-handed, I raised UTG with a pair of nines and got called by the BB, who was the short stack. He drew 3 and I fumbled my mouse and accidentally stood pat. He checked and I figured I had to bet (though I'd stood pat a few hands before with a straight and won without showing, so I was afraid that would make him more likely to call). I bet about 1/3 the pot, hoping that would look like I wanted a call. He thought for a very long time before finally folding.

- Brian

[Tom Bayes]

That sucks for you. I thought about trying this qualifier, but the main $500 draw tourney starts a few hours too early. I considered pulling a Phil Hellmuth and getting blinded down for an hour or so (the earliest I could conceivably be able to get home to play) but thought better of that.

Any thoughts as to why it was so aggressive? My guess (and I didn't watch) is that the qualifier and the main $500 tourney are going to consist mostly of two types of players: 5CD sharks who understand the importance of open-raising and big buy-in NLHE tourney guys with little draw experience but will use the same hyper-loose aggressive style in draw that they use in NLHE. I'm speculating a lot of these guys are going to overplay the hell out of unimproved big pairs and low two pair and try huge bluffs everytime they miss a draw.

The aggressive guys, even those with shaky hand selection, are harder to play against IMO than the weak-tight limpers who never raise without trips. You know you are laying down best hands sometimes and that you have to make a stand with hands you'd toss without a second thought against the rocks and you need a bit of luck to not give the LAG action when he hits that flush because he'll pot his flush just like he potted his ten-high.

[RatFink]

As of right now the $500 event has an incredible overlay. The last minute signups will all be NLHE tourney specialists. I had several of them asking me for 5CD advice last night. Was it wrong to suggest gutshots are the nuts :-)

[Tom Bayes]

Pocket Fives had a few threads with guys going "OMG OVERLAY HOW DO I PLAY THIS GAY GAME". Since I'm not able to play, I gave some general advice, as I do like to encourage people to play draw. I really don't think there's enough time for these guys to grasp the nuances, just like you can't learn enough about NLHE in a few hours to have much of a chance in a big buy-in event with a decent structure.

I predict lots of hyper-LAG NLHE guys will go to the rail overplaying stuff like two small pair and getting picked off with silly bluffs. Then they'll whine in the chat box and at Pocket Fives about how there is no skill in the game.

Damn, I wish I were playing [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[RatFink]

I am playing, hence the less than stellar advice :-)

Seriously though I walked a few of them through the basics to keep their heads above water, hopefully a place or two behind me though!

[BadPenguin]

There definitely were some hold'em experts there who played pretty much as you say. In fact, I did notice their tendency to bet after the draw with unimproved big pairs, as you pointed out. (Sometimes I think that some of the hold'em players look at the best two cards in their hand before the draw and play it as if these were their starting cards in hold'em - oooh, AK suited.)

At my first table there was a guy who claimed to be a NLHE pro and cheerfully claimed to have never played draw before. He was a card rack early and knocked out another player who claimed to be a draw expert and who never stopped verbally abusing the NLHE guy about his playing style.

And I think people also play satellites in general more aggressively because they're either winner-take-all (or at least have a bigger gap between the top prize and any other prizes) and they think they need to take lots of chances to build up a big stack early.

- Brian

[DOMIT]

So is Hollywood a skin of 24h or something?
IE is this possibly something that I already have an account on? or something that I'll need to sign up [img]/images/graemlins/wink.gif[/img]

[RatFink]

On the Pokerroom network. Hollywood, Bayou, Bet-on-Bet, Americas Card Room, Full Contact Poker, etc.

[kutuz_off]

[ QUOTE ]

I predict lots of hyper-LAG NLHE guys will go to the rail overplaying stuff like two small pair and getting picked off with silly bluffs.
Damn, I wish I were playing [img]/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what I saw yesterday in PLO. Lots of raising pre-flop in early position, lots of trying to push people out of pots with bupkus, etc. Not your typical PLO game.

I think pulling a Hellmuth would be a correct move for you, given the overlay, and your edge over competition. First two levels are 25-25 and 25-50 30 minutes each. 5-handed you would lose how much out of the starting 5000 chips?

[DOMIT]

thank you [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]