19 players. I must say, our league is way more fun with way more people!
I was feeling fine and good - raising on the button with nothing, and sometimes in the cutoff as well, and believe it or not people were folding to me. I found myself at a slightly above average chip stack (2K+) as the blinds made the big jump from 30/60 to 50/100.
In the past when I've found myself near the top of the heap, I've shifted gears and tightened up - translation; I've stopped trying to steal entirely and waited for good cards. This time, I DID tighten up - but I didn't stop stealing. How, you say? Instead of automatically popping a pot sized bet on the button, cutoff or hijack seat EVERY time in a limped or unraised pot, I carefully considered the players who were limping AND who was behind me. I also gave great thought to chip stack sizes.
Who was going to fight me? Who was going to lay it down? Who was ready to go to war? As the tourney progressed, I wasn't always right; but it was a noticeable improvement in my game to actually play the players, and finally, FINALLY, be SELECTIVE with my aggression.
I was relentless. But more importantly, every single aggressive move had a thought and purpose behind it - rather than just blind scrapping, I was picking my targets carefully.
The player to my right, Chipper, I had pegged early on (and in previous tournaments) as pretty much a rock. A guy who only played solid hands. He raised pre-flop only a handful of times, and every time I got out of the way. The few showdowns he got to proved my analysis.
The player to my left, Cali, I knew pretty well. He also was pretty darn tight, and he hated to go to war without at least a piece of the flop. So I stole him blind all night long.
Besides Chipper, there were also two other new guys at my first table; Sammy and Viking. Both struck me as very typical Play Chip Style Internet Donkeys. Any two cards will do, raise with nothing, give absolutely no consideration to bet size or position.
That said, they have both cashed this season; so don't think I completely wrote them off. But I knew they were both crushable, simply from their lack of understanding fundamental poker. They may think they are "maniacs" or "unpredictable", but actually they're VERY predictable and remind me of myself when I lose the selecting part of selective aggression.
I read Sammy perfectly early on. As I had been aggressive in late position, he had been routinely smooth calling me, and then folding when I bet the flop after his check. Finally, he'd had enough. I raised in the cutoff, he called in the BB. Flop came a big blank for me. He checked, I fired half the pot. He min raised. I thought for a minute and then popped him with a pot sized bet.
I honestly didn't know what he had, but I also knew that now was the time to show him who was in charge. If he had hit the flop solidly, he would push all in and I could still get away with an okay amount of damage (the chips I had put in were under 20% of my stack), if he had a piece of the flop (middle pair or such) even he would be hard pressed to call such a large amount. If he blanked, even he would have to fold.
He folded.
Let me side track and point out that this was another big difference in my game the other night; PRE-PLANNING my hands. Just a nugget I picked up from a book on NL Cash games (Professional No Limit Hold-Em), a completely simple but also revolutionary idea. Pre-plan, your hand. Think in advance, what you are going to do and how far you are going to commit depending on what happens.
Again, it sounds simple; but it really helped me. I knew every time going in, before I fired a bet, what I was going to do if someone fired back. If I had premium cards, I was going to get all my chips in as quick as possible. If I had two overs, I was going to be cautious about who I called - and make sure that I was in position. Much of this pre-planning was subconscious, but I was AWARE that I was anticipating the possible scenarios and exactly what I was going to do.
The other new guy, Viking, didn't need my help to get smacked down rather early on. Rabbit, the solid player from last season who's also a good friend and going to be playing in a live cash game at my garage this Friday, schooled Viking on the dangers of trying to be aggressive with someone who has next to the stone cold nuts.
And so we got down to the final table. As I mentioned, my tendency at this stage had always been to tighten up. I still tightened up, but I didn't lose my aggression at all; rather I was more SELECTIVE about which pots to fight for and which to let go. Paramount in my mind, even more than the cards, was position and who I was up against.
I really felt my game had stepped up a notch, as I won pot after pot WITHOUT showdowns. My stats at the end of the night showed I played about 30% of all the hands, and won nearly 20%! Most amazing, almost two thirds of those winning hands never made it to the river. I think I may have taken another small but significant step in my poker evolution.
Maybe best of all, by pre-planning and being highly aware of my chip stack in relation to my opponents, I was even able to weather the occasional suck-out well (especially one against Sammy who I had dominated on the flop, he hit a runner runner straight) and use my selective aggression immediately after to get right back in the game.
But before I pat myself on the back too hard, I need to mention that variance was on my side last night as well. I won a half dozen pots or so by being on the winning side of races, a simple but necessary fact of life in finishing well in a small and very fast sit-n-go tournament. The good news is, that nearly all the races I was in were pre-planned.
And then there were a few mistakes, most of them minor, but one major that could have been fatal.
I found myself UTG five handed with A7os. With blinds in big and scary territory, I fired a "pot sized" raise (x1.5 BB). Everyone folded around to chipper on the BB, who called. I put him on 2 overs, AJ or similar. With any pair (except maybe deuces or threes) he would have likely pushed all in. My semi-subconscious pre-plan for missing the flop was: if he checks I fire, if he leads out 'm gone. If he checks, I fire and he calls - he's hit it big and I'm gone. Likewise, if he check raises me; I'm done.
Flop came Q x x rainbow. He checked. I bet the pot, which was 3K, almost a third of my stack. This was my BIG mistake. I was essentially committing myself to the hand with nothing - no draws and only one over card. In hindsight, if I had bet half the pot, or even less, I could have gained information AND been able to get away. With such a large bet I had all but sealed my fate to getting all my chips in.
He then re-raised (but not all of his chips). Strange bet that told me he didn't have a set, but was trying to convince me that he had top pair OR he actually did have top pair and had slow played me! Nah, he wasn't that good. I smelled BS! And there was too much of my chips in the pot to leave crippled; I pushed all in. He called me with QJ. Wow! I was outplayed. He really did have TP big Kicker, and respected my play enough (and was skilled enough) to trap me out of my chips. Well done sir.
An ace spiked on the turn.
Thank God he didn't have AQ, I would have been crushed. But thankfully he had played a good but not great couple of cards (QJ) out of position. A small but costly mistake on his part , that in spite of my much bigger mistake - led to his elimination.
With the bubble burst, I cranked up the aggression. I had been shifting gears all night, but the only thing I was focused on changing was the SELECTION of my aggression. The aggression itself had been with me all night.
Needless to say, when we cashed; the pressure lifted (though I had been pretty good about APPLYING pressure during the bubble period) and I really cut loose with stealing.
As Harrington has pointed out, when your chips give you the right odds, you only need win a steal 1 out of 3 times to make money; and in the tournaments last half hour this is basically what happened. I managed to thieve mercilessly, and also catch sweet cards on occasion to keep the other guys off balance. I had KK, that I showed to great effect; I had QQ that busted a player who went all in against me with A8os.
I pushed relentlessly against Miles, my tricky nemesis from last season, who was on my left. When he called or bet I simply folded - he played way too tight and I was finally able to read him like a book.
Finally, after pillaging and pillaging my stack grew so large that any two cards would do. I was able to almost relinquish the selection of my aggression and bully my way to victory. That's right kids, I took this one down.
Of course I sucked out to win on the final hand, but hey: the damage by me had already been done. I fucking bludgeoned that table.
Next week I imagine I'll come in cocky, and go out early. But if I can somehow maintain both SELECTION and AGGRESSION in just the right harmony, this could be a very profitable season.
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