ZipRake.com - Complete Hand History - $69+6 Tier Three SNG (8/9)

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Complete Hand History - $69+6 Tier Three SNG (8/9)
Despite the sub-par finish in this one, this hand history actually lasts longer than you would expect, spanning six levels of play that include a number of very interesting hands, as well as one very sour river suckout. I entered the tournament with the last of my $75 Tokens, hoping to salvage a profit from my little experiment with the Tier system. In a previous $75 game I had played a 2-table tournament and happened to be the unfortunate soul that bubbles right outside the money. Earlier in the day that I played this one, I had also bubbled in a 2-table $26 Tier Two tournament when my pocket Kings went up against pocket Tens that rivered a set. Needless to say, my luck had not been kicking in at the right times, and I was really looking to turn it around in this one.

Right off the bat with Hand #1 my luck seems to be improving, though the cynicism still lingering in my mind figured I would run into pocket Aces here and be out on the first hand. Some would argue for a little first-hand trickery here and limp or min-raise, hoping to catch a loose-aggressive player who comes over the top. Having no reads or feel for the table though, I would hate to find myself in a 7-way pot with a bunch of tight-passive limpers who are just trying to play small ball poker in the first three levels. At the same time, I don't want to scare anyone away with the obvious "I have a big hand and don't want to lose within the first two minutes" raise to twenty times the big blind. So I make my standard 3xBB raise, somewhat hoping for a reraise behind me that I can come over the top of. I should add that even in this $75 game, there's no way I'm not putting KK all-in here on the first hand, especially with no reads on any of my opponents. QQ and lower I would most likely lay down, but early on here I'm always playing KK preflop exactly like AA. Getting back to this hand, I hit a relatively safe flop, bet it hard since I've got two callers and poor position, and take it down without a complaint. Not a bad start.

Picking right back up with Hand #2, where I find myself in another decent position. Often in this situation I might re-raise to about 200 give or take, but given that it's only the 2nd hand and I have no reads, I just elect to call and keep the pot small. I especially don't want to have to lay the hand down to a re-raise, and I have position after the flop to boot, so why not see it? After the SB's check on the flop, I had a feeling he didn't want a call, and he completely missed everything on the board. Still I had nothing myself and wasn't looking to make any fancy moves this early on, so we play nice and check it down. A bet of about half the pot on the turn or river would have also served my purposes alright, but I didn't want a medium pocket pair calling my bluff and costing me my nice little early cushion. I definitely could've been more aggressive on all streets, and in other cases I definitely would've been, but given the nature of this tournament I decided to slow things down and just try to get a feel for my opponents.

Alright now we're keeping the streak of interesting hands alive with Hand #3. However, this situation is made even more interesting with an early 3xBB raise and a strong middle position re-raise in front of me. Now I might have made the same raise that the middle position player made here if it had folded around to me, but putting those 240 chips into the pot with a call in poor position and with the BB and original raiser left to act is not what I want to do. I hefty raise is also going to mean that I'm pretty much committed to going to the felt right here, and in this tournament situation is not something that I want to do with a drawing hand. Let's also consider what the middle-position player could be raising with. Assuming that he's a decent player, since we have no read, I'd have to narrow his range of hands here down to AA, KK, QQ, AK, and maybe, but most likely not, JJ. So that's two holdings that we're drastically behind (AA and KK), one or two that we're slightly behind to (QQ and JJ), and one that we're tied with. This doesn't look like a good spot for us to be putting all of our chips on the line. At the same time, a call doesn't look good, because in the situations where we're slightly behind, we're even further behind in only being able to see the flop, and on a flop with all low cards we'll most likely be done with the hand as soon as we check to our opponent and he fires out a continuation bet. In the case that we're a tie, missing our hand will yield the same result if our opponent makes a continuation bet, and will likely return only a split pot if we both hit something. Plus we have to remember the original raiser, who would now be getting better odds to call and make this a 3-way pot if I were to get involved. Seeing the action in front of me, looking at my poor position, realizing that I have very little invested in the pot at this moment, and given the whole context of the tournament, I elect to make a disciplined fold and wait for a better spot. In the context of another game though, I may very likely play this differently though.

Moving right along to Hand #4 where the cards keep coming. It folds around to me and I make a standard raise. I'm not concerned with the two callers, and on this flop with no high cards and only one over I don't have much reason to be concerned, so I go ahead and take it down without a fight, adding a little more to my small lead. Finally things cool down a little, and I pass on Hand #6 with a mediocre holding in solid position, just trying not to let my chips whittle away and abiding by the almighty Gap Concept. Perhaps a little tight, but not poorly played in my mind. Then things get heated up on Hand #7 and we lose our first player. Also make note of Hand #9, where the player two to my right shows an interesting bluff. He turns out to be a fun one.

On Hand #10 I pick up another solid starting hand, but I'm not looking to get into any elaborate and messy situations here with a medium pair, especially considering my position and the range of hands that would likely call a standard preflop raise (99, TT, maybe JJ, sometimes QQ, plus a whole range of overcards that are going to scare me on any flop without an 8). Instead I elect to just call and encourage a passive multi-way pot in which I can hopefully hit a set and drag some serious chips. I'd much prefer that over a heads-up situation where I feel inclined to make a continuation bet out of position. When we get to the flop I'm facing a fairly weak bet and a somewhat passive call. Not a terrible position for a sandwich play, but not great either having two unknowns that both seem to be saying that they have something. There's only one overcard on the board, and against one opponent I might throw in a raise, but I'm looking for a better spot than this here, and can save some chips with a little patience.

Now for a few less interesting and fairly standard hands - Hand #11 is an easy check and toss, and same thing with Hand #12. Thank you for the cheap flops but I'm just not that willing to pay a penny for another card. Now Hand #15 on the other hand, is one worth talking a little more in depth about. My preflop raise is standard, and I'm well aware of who I'm raising in the Big Blind (the big stack). A call from him doesn't mean a whole lot to me, and I'm thinking he could have anything from a small pair to suited connectors or random high cards. When the flop comes I'm not entirely convinced that the flop helped him, of course I'm sure he's well aware that the flop didn't help me. Nonetheless I make my standard continuation bet and am greeted with an unpleasant check-raise rather than just a quick fold and small takedown. My instinct here was to go all-in, and my thinking is as follows. For one, his raise is essentially saying "I'm calling you on your semi-bluff continuation bet, and I'd like to take this pot down right now" . Secondly, he has the chips to make such a play, but he would be hard-pressed to call off the majority of his stack without some hand with a 10, pocket 4's, or a slowplayed premium pair (seems unlikely). And finally, if he does have a 10 or pocket 4's, he is most likely not making this raise here. If he's smart, which he seems to be, he will flat call my continuation bet and allow me to hang myself on the turn and/or river, maybe even letting me catch an Ace or King so I can think that I'm ahead. Of course if he's really really smart, he's making this raise with one of those made hands hoping that I'll call his non-bluff and try to push him off. Still, chances are that I'm either ahead or can force him to fold a medium pocket pair by going all-in. So why didn't I? Honestly, I guess I just didn't have the guts to put my tournament life on the line when I could fold here and still have a decent stack. The context of the tournament forced me to play a little more passively than I normally would, and I didn't want to be smacking myself upside the head afterwards for not being able to fold AK on a dry flop and running into trip 10's or something. So I saved my sanity in that regards and just decided to try to find yet another better spot. Part of me felt stupid for making such an obvious continuation bet and thought that I should've just checked behind on the flop in hopes or hitting an Ace or King and seeing a cheap showdown. Given the chance to play the hand again though, I think I might've gone for the push.

After folding weak hands in the blinds to small raises I jump in a multi-way pot on Hand #21. With two limpers in front of me and good position this is certainly a decent enough hand to see a cheap flop with, and when the BB puts a weak bet out and it folds around to me I'm definitely going to take advantage of my situation here and throw in a solid raise. That does the trick this time around and I start scraping back some of what I lost on that AK hand. On to Hand #31. The early limper here has been playing very goofy, limping with all sorts of crap in all sorts of positions and making interesting bets and all out bluffs. My raise here is partially for value, assuming I have the best hand, and partially in an effort to either take the pot down there or at least isolate my opponent with good position after the flop. Of course that flop is not exactly what I'm looking for, and although I don't put much strength on his all-in bet, I'm simply not in a good spot to call. Sure enough he shows his hand and didn't have much... definitely a loose limp-call before the flop. I was still ahead on the flop, but not by a considerable amount, and I could've been in much worse shape. I was probably steaming a little bit on Hand #32, as I make a somewhat loose limp in hopes of tangling with the UTG fish again and getting my chips back. Nothing interesting there though, and probably should have not gotten involved in the first place.

On Hand #37 I pick up a pretty looking hand, make my standard raise, and pick up the blinds. The two players to my left did seem to be tighter than average in this game, so perhaps a smaller raise would've ensured a little action - possibly a call but most likely no re-raises. Still, I have a drawing hand myself and don't mind just taking the blinds here. I should note here that at this stage in the tournament and in this situation I would be willing to get all my chips in preflop, and for three main reasons: 1) my stack is dwindling just a little, the blinds are going up, and a double up would put me in very good position, 2) I'd prefer to see all 5 cards, rather than try to navigate bets on the flop, turn, and/or river, and 3) this is a BSB (Button-Small Blind-Big Blind) situation, meaning that a raise from the blinds is more likely to be a steal attempt, based on an opponent's assumption that I'm stealing myself, and I could in very good shape to take down a big pot. Of course none of this happened and my pretty looking hand gets the same job accomplished that a number of much less attractive hands would here.

Alright, so on Hand #44 I must have had something up my butt preventing me from completing this small blind. I don't think folding is terrible, as I really hate playing weak unsuited Aces, especially out of position, but calling to see a cheap flop wouldn't have been so bad. So of course then I get a stronger Ace on Hand #46 and try to see a cheap one with good position, but there's no way I'm calling that raise from the small blind. Make note of the interesting flop and turn bets... a sort of strong-weak-strong betting pattern. Hand #52 probably deserves a mention since I probably could've put a little bet out on the flop or turn and taken it down, and that's what a more aggressive me would've done, rather than just succumbing to my out-of-position-with-a-crap-hand sense of weakness. At least I took advantage of decent pot odds and completed the small blind here though... probably a sign of me getting a little desperate at this point. Of course when my prayers to the poker gods are answered and I actually pick up a hand, on the very next Hand #53, I take the blinds down yet again and fail to get the action I'm looking for with the third-strongest starting hand.

Now we get to the beginning of the end, with Hand #59. My stack is getting a little short, but not exactly in the red zone just yet. We have an early limper, a short-stack all-in, and a solid hand that we want to play in this situation. Most importantly though, we want to win this hand and knock the short-stack out, and our chance of doing so will be increased with one less player in the pot. Especially since we are still far from the money, this is not the time to cooperate and check it down to the river. The easiest way to get rid of that limper (and also get his dead money) is to push all-in. Most likely we'll have a good shot at taking the short-stack out (who could have a wide range of hands) and adding a little to our stack. And if the early limper just happens to call, that's not going to be the worst thing in the world either, as we do have a solid starting hand. Unfortunately we lose a little coinflip here and find out stack a little shorter.

Two hands later, on Hand #61, I get yet another pretty pair (I've now had 77, 88, 99, JJ, QQ, and KK), and I make the command decision that I need to get moving here and double up. The big stack could be raising with a wide range of hands here, and chances are I have the best hand at the table. A push from me is also more likely to be seen as an act of desperation and I'm more likely to get a call, plus I might get a little fold equity against hands like KQ or decent Aces... though I'd really rather take a near-flip here and hope to double up to get back in the game. So by now you've probably seen the results and saw that I was indeed a big favorite before the flop, on the flop, and still on the turn. Of course no hand is complete without the river card, and this one just happened to be the difference between 8th place and going on to get a healthy chip count and hopefully play a little deeper. Without a doubt a tough one to take. His call wasn't bad really, and he just happened to get a little lucky... but hey, that's poker. Enough said, I suppose.

Best of luck at the tables. ~ B.

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