Day 2
01/22/08 07:20 Filed in: Poker
I put my money into the tournament and waited.
After a few minutes, someone joined the tournament.
Usually, I like to be a little aggressive. I have
found some players like to go all in on the first
hand so they can get a quick chip lead. Some
players like to go all in preflop. So, I am used to
it. In some cases, I have won some very quick
tournaments because I will get AK or AA or KK first
hand and they have something like KQ, JJ, or other
decent hands.
I have also found some people like to go all in every hand. It's the strangest thing. I usually wait as they build a small lead on me. Then, when I have a hand like PP or two high cards, I call. And I usually win. So was the case of my first tournament today. I had horrible hands. It was easy to fold. Then I picked up AJc. As expected, he went all in preflop. I called. His Q3 never caught up when I caught a Jack on the flop. Three hands later, my KQ knocked him out.
I am developing a theory on the Heads Up games. I think some people have simply gone on tilt. They look at a Heads Up game with the prospects of doubling up their stakes against a single person. And they want to win so bad, they simply push every hand. Well, against players like that, I believe it is proper to wait for a superior hand and call. In this situation, they could be playing literally any two cards. If that's the case, I want the biggest advantage possible. And, if the odds are in my favor, I will get paid off for my patience.
For example, let's look at the hand that gave me the overwhelming lead in this tournament.
He went all in against me 4 hands in a row.
I had 10 3 OS. 6 2 OS, 10 7 Diamonds, then A J Clubs.
10-3 against a random hand, I am 43% to win. Not good.
6-2 against a random hand, I am 34% to win. Again, not good.
10-7 suited against a random hand, I am 50.6% to win. Ok. It's a coin flip. But, I didn't want to risk it all on one hand.
And now for AJ.
AJ suited is over 65% to win against a random hand and nearly 67% against Q3. So, knowing that I am only a dog to a better Ace or a decent pair, I called. I won.
I have also found some people like to go all in every hand. It's the strangest thing. I usually wait as they build a small lead on me. Then, when I have a hand like PP or two high cards, I call. And I usually win. So was the case of my first tournament today. I had horrible hands. It was easy to fold. Then I picked up AJc. As expected, he went all in preflop. I called. His Q3 never caught up when I caught a Jack on the flop. Three hands later, my KQ knocked him out.
I am developing a theory on the Heads Up games. I think some people have simply gone on tilt. They look at a Heads Up game with the prospects of doubling up their stakes against a single person. And they want to win so bad, they simply push every hand. Well, against players like that, I believe it is proper to wait for a superior hand and call. In this situation, they could be playing literally any two cards. If that's the case, I want the biggest advantage possible. And, if the odds are in my favor, I will get paid off for my patience.
For example, let's look at the hand that gave me the overwhelming lead in this tournament.
He went all in against me 4 hands in a row.
I had 10 3 OS. 6 2 OS, 10 7 Diamonds, then A J Clubs.
10-3 against a random hand, I am 43% to win. Not good.
6-2 against a random hand, I am 34% to win. Again, not good.
10-7 suited against a random hand, I am 50.6% to win. Ok. It's a coin flip. But, I didn't want to risk it all on one hand.
And now for AJ.
AJ suited is over 65% to win against a random hand and nearly 67% against Q3. So, knowing that I am only a dog to a better Ace or a decent pair, I called. I won.