"Shuffle Up & Deal" 66300 - We actually managed to start on time at 7pm. But do to the steady flow of "Almost On-Time" players, I didn't get to buy-in.
End of Level 1 (100/100) 64700 - I finally got to buy-in. Ended up doing more TD stuff then playing cards. My table draw is good. Only 8 players at our table. I'm the Big Stack, with two other close behind. Also a few Action Players with smaller stacks.
Level 2 (100/200) 24600 - I'm away from the table, doing my TD stuff. It's a standing policy that if I'm not at the table, then fold my hand no matter what. I walk by the table and see the cards are dealt. I take a quick peek before going to do more TD stuff, and look at Ad Ac. So I sit down, and raise it to 700 from Mid position. Two or three players call. Flop Kc Td 9d. It checks to me, and I bet 1500. The Button (Gary K) calls. The UTG+1 player (Yosh) check-raises to 4200. I decide to just call, and the Button folds.
Turn [Kc Td 9d] As. Bingo! UTG+1 bets 8500. Right now I have the 2nd Nuts, behind the QJ Straight. Yosh has a good chip stack, and likes to splash around somewhat aggressively early in tournaments. With this being such a draw heavy board, he could have a Combo Draw like KQd or KJd. He could also have Two Pair or a Set. So I decide to raise to 20k.
Yosh instantly shoves All-In. After we count it down, it was 21k more to win around 76k. Now a I'm positive that he's got a made hand. Obviously, the Straight is likely, but a Set is also possible. With me getting around 3.5/1, I feel I'm pot committed with the Full House Draw, so I call. He shows QJ for the Straight. The River doesn't pair the Board, and I'm down to 16500.
Later, I win a decent pot against him with AK to get a few chips back.
Level 3 (200/400) 23200 - I lost some small pots, and got down to 17k. In the last hand of the Level, I picked up AA, and they held up.
Level 4 (300/600) 28500 - Up and down all level. My best win was calling a raise in the SB with AK. I check-raised a C-Bet on a K-high pot.
Level 5 (400/800/100) 23100 - I don't think I won a single pot. One of the Action Players (Gary K) is intentionally playing retarded, and catching cards.
Level 6 (500/1000/100) 21500 - Very card dead.
Level 7 (600/1200/100) 14400 - I called a raise with 66. I took a stab at the 3-way pot on Turn, but I was a distant 3rd place in the hand. The hand ended up being a Flopped Set (Caveman) vs a Turned Straight (ProWest) that was over 100k chips. One or two hands later, ProWest was given a gift of 60-70K from Gary K, who knocked himself out with a horrible River call. ProWest has over 200k, and is on my direct Left.
Level 8 (800/1600/200) 0 - Limped pot, and I'm the BB with 73c. The Flop of J 9 7 was checked around. The Turn [J 9 7] A was checked around to the Button (Monsignor). He bet 3000. I called because I think it's likely that he would have raised with an A on the Button. River [J 9 7 A] 7. I check. He bet 4000. I raised to 10k with my Trip 7. He grabbed a stack of 5k chips, and put me All-In. I've only got 13k left. I think for a minute. I'm now positive that he's got a real hand, and my Kicker doesn't play. I think that he would have bet Two Pair or a Set on the Flop. Another 7 is likely. With the A and J on the Board, there is a decent chance of a chop pot. A7 is also a possibility.
As I said, I've only got 13k left if I fold, and were only a few minutes from the end of this level. I kinda want to fold, because it's unlikely that I have the best hand. Either we're chopping or I'm beat. But I think my raise pot-committed me. I call, and say, "I hope you don't have A7."
He did, and I was out in 18th place.
I think that my undoing in this tourney wasn't just bad luck. I certainly don't think that dusting off chips in my two ugly hands was Donk-a-riffic. But the reason that I lost so much was because I raised, rather than just called.
One of the fundamental difference between Cash games and Tournaments is your state of mind. In Cash games, you should have the mindset of "How do I win the most in this situation?" With Tournaments, your mindset should be, "How do I lose the least in this situation?" I think that is especially true in longer Deep Stack structures, rather than the average $50 Casino daily tournament.
I came into this tournament with the wrong mindset. I mentioned before that I had a gameplan for this Main Event. That gameplan was to splash around with part of my starting stack to accumulate more chips, but keep some if it in lockdown. I think that was the wrong approach to this tournament. The players who finished 1st & 2nd in this tournament went with the ultra-small ball approach for most of the tournament, or "losing the least". I think that's what I should have done, especially since there were other players at my table who just love to splash around.
This concept isn't revolutionary, nor is it something that I didn't already know. But maybe in our Poker growth, we need to re-learn some concepts that have gotten away from us. This tournament was a bit of an epiphany in that respect.
Next Saturday is our end of season Summer Blowout. It's a cook-out, followed by a Team Tournament. It is loosely based on the Dream Team tournaments that ran at last year's WSOP. There should be between 45-50 player this week, and the structure should be decently long. I will go into it with the "Losing the Least" mindset, and hopefully end this lousy season on a high note.
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