Local poker tournament

[Chris]

I just got back from a very interesting tournament at my local casino in Plymouth. It was a private tournament for the members of the plymouth universty poker society, 41 entries I ended up 7th. The payout was top 6.

Anyway I start of getting terrible hands and folding, eventually I look down at J3 suited and decide it's the best hand I've had all day and I call. The flop comes and I hit a jack it's 3 handed and a player bets into me, I call and everyone else folds. On the turn the bettor checks to me and I take the free card, I decide his hand can't be that strong if he's not going to bet again and when I river 2 pair I know I'm ahead. He bettor bets again and I raise 3 times his bet, he pays me off. Despite a decent start I got shortstacked when I made a very risky bluff and it didn't come off.

I raised pre-flop with JJ about 3 1/2 times the big blind, I get one caller who has Q9 (loose call in my opinion). He hits his queen on the flop and I'm sure that he's hit in so I check and he bets. I check raise him a very high amount committing a lot of my stack to make it look convincing, I know I'm trying to push him off a better hand than me but it does not work. It does get me 2 free cards but I don't hit my J and I'm left shortstacked.

Anyway I manage to rebuild I won a couple of decent pots, I got aces limped it then after I got a pre-flop raise I went all in and got called and knocked out someone holding AJ. I had the aces UTG so I was confident I could trap someone as it was an aggressive table. I get to the final table shortstacked, I get in a position where I have to move in the next 2 hands because the blinds would pass me leaving me with almost nothing. I fold 104 UTG hoping to get something better on my big blind. I do, I get Q2 suited, someone raises before it gets to me, I go all in and fold myself against a pocket with 1 overcard which I hit on the river.

The hand that I went out on was a very risky call by me but I think it was worth the risk. I am still very short and there are some huge stacks on the table, I know I am one position away from the money but I'd rather go for the win so when 2 people go all in pre-flop and I look down at 44 I go all in too. I expected to be up against 3 overcards and I was right. This is what I was up against:

Player 1 - A9 - more chips than me
Player 2 - AK - less chips than me

If I win this pot I put myself in a position where I have a big enough stack to give me a chance of winning and where I can play normal poker, this is why I took the risk. I obviously expect one of the overcards to hit but each different overcard gives a different outcome.

9 hits - Me and Player 2 are eliminated but as I have player 2 covered I come 6th place he comes 7th and I make the money.
K hits - Player 2 wins but I win a lot of chips from player 1 giving me more than what I had.
A hits - Player 2 wins but Player 1 also beats me leaving me with no chips and no money.

Then of course there is the small chance I make a set or the 4s hold which leaves me with a very good stack.

The A hit on the flop and I'm hoping that either I hit a 4 or that the 9 comes down so at least I get some money but it was not to be. Even so I'm still quite happy with a final table.

[Tim]

Hey Chris,

It's hard to see what's risky and what's not without knowing the chip stacks, blind levels, etc. I don't think pushing all-in short stacked with 44 is risky.

The A hit on the flop and I'm hoping that either I hit a 4 or that the 9 comes down so at least I get some money but it was not to be. Even so I'm still quite happy with a final table

You still lose after the Ace on the flop unless you hit a 4 or some crazy running cards. Hoping for a 9 changes nothing.

[mattjacknine]

I don't know, Tim, calling two all-ins with pocket fours is fairly risky. But in the circumstances well worth it IMO.

Thanks for the report, Chris. What's the poker scene like in the South West?

[Tim]

Oh I didn't know it was calling two all-ins. My bad, I should have read it properly.

[Chris]

I saw this topic got moved but I didn't post it here originally because it looked like this section wasn't active.

Anyway if the 9 had come out after the A have then Player 1 would have made 2 pair and knocked out me and the other player at the same time but I would have been given 6th place and the other player 7th place.

The South West poker scene is quite annoying aside from the poker society, but that has some flaws to. The poker society has great players and although it has a fair few clueless players they don't show up ever week generally mid term and near the end of term you get about 60-65 entries of mostly good players however because it's a student tournament the buy in has to be kept low at £3 also because the student union kicks all societies out at midnight the blinds are fast to make sure tournaments don't drag on for too long.

At the local casino you get mostly bad players who have no idea what they are doing and very few exceptions, on top of that although the blinds are reasonable the tables do not have dealers assigned to them (is this common?) and so the players have to do a very long dealing system, the left shuffles, the right cuts and the person on the button deals this means that it often takes ages to get a hand in and depending on how good the people on the table are at shuffling and dealing you may get few hands in every level.

So I'm hoping that after I finish uni I will end up somewhere with a better poker scene, probably London is where I'll be.

[mattjacknine]

Chris, self-dealt tournaments with shuffling as you've described are common place for small buy-in casino games. You usually only get dealers at the larger buy-in festival type events. At least that used to be the case when I played live.

That shuffling system is a good one 'cos it makes cheating much harder. You'll also find it used at well organised home games.

Keep the reports coming.

[Chris]

I know it's to make cheating difficult but it also makes play go very very slowly it also means that some tables get more hands in than other tables.

[Tim]

Some places nominate one player to shuffle and deal, and this is obviously someone comfortable with it who is happy being an unpaid dealer.

[Chris]

Yeah this sometimes happens but it only happens on some tables which leads to some tables getting lots of hands in with other tables getting significantly less hands in so it's not perfect.

Anyway I'm more interested in what people think of my call, I feel I had to do it if I wanted to get out of having a shortstack and have any chance of winning. If I had folded I could have come 5th at best probably.

[Tim]

Anyway I'm more interested in what people think of my call, I feel I had to do it if I wanted to get out of having a shortstack and have any chance of winning. If I had folded I could have come 5th at best probably.

It's hard to say with limited information. Knowing your stack size, it's comparison to the other players, the blind levels, the payout structure, etc, would help. As with all things in poker, it depends.

But on what you've said I'd probably fold and try for a better spot. And I don't know what you mean by "If I had folded I could have come 5th at best probably" - If this is true then you have to call, but maybe this is your way of justifying a poor call? I don't know.