Life without suckouts
09/13/08 14:30 Filed in: Poker
I have been in suckout hell. Now, it doesn't mean
some weren't coin flips. In some cases, I was a
heavy favorite. I might have a straight against two
pair. I might have a flush, but the board is
paired. However, it has seemed, any time I have my
money all in, I am ahead. When the hand finishes, I
am the one sending my chips away.
For example, I recently had a hand at a casino. I am the big blind with AK. Everyone at the table decides to limp in. I flop the straight with the 10 Q J rainbow. I check. UTG+1 bets $120. Behind him, the next player goes all in. He has 350. Everyone folds to me. Now, I had been watching these two. I knew the first guy would make a play, hence my check. I didn't expect the reraise. At this point, I am either looking at a split pot, or I am really ahead.
I push all my chips into the center. UTG+1 folds, indicating he had the straight with his 8 9. My opponent now has 2 pair. Queens and Jacks. I am looking good. The board then runs two 10s on the board, giving him a full house. I am a 82% favorite on the flop. And so it goes. AA vs Q7s. He catches the flush. I am out on the bubble with a player who should have never called.
I had been playing online, receiving similar suckouts. Occasionally, I would deliver one but more often than not, my chips moved away from me. And with that, came tilt. And with tilt, my bankroll diminished until my online stake was gone.
After a week's hiatus, I decided to deposit some money into my online account.
I decided to play a simply 90 player multi-table tournament. I went out in the middle.
I noticed a large MTT that had been running for a few minutes. With 540 players, the top 54 will get paid. I decided to join. Right off the bat, I had a couple nice hands. I picked up AK under the gun. I made a bet of 140 when the blinds were at 20/40. Two callers and the flop is AQ8 with two spades. I bet pot, two folds and the chips run my way.
Three hands later, I pick up QJ on the button. With a bunch of callers, I decide to raise it to 140. The flop is 96J. I bet pot, and get a caller who is UTG. Another 6 comes, I bet pot after my opponent checks. And another 6 drops. He goes all in. I can only realistically be beat by a 6, a pair of 9s, or a higher pocket pair. I check the river. He reveals 10 9 unsuited. I make my first knockout of the tournament. Not a bad start.
I go the next 27 hands before I get a real play. I had a minor bluff. I had AQ, but missed the flop. Now I have Aces. The blinds are now 80/160. I am in middle position. The player in front of my has decided to raise to 480. I like this, I am going to reraise him and isolate him. I push in 1680 chips, giving him a good indication of my strength. This represents about half of my stack. If I win this, I have a nice pot. If I lose, I am going to have a hard time climbing back into the tournament. I can live with that considering my hand. Everyone folds except the original raiser. He calls, putting him all in. The board comes up J82Q-10 He had KQ. Another player is gone.
In the next ten hands, I have two low pocket pairs. My 8s and 5s didn't hold up, costing me a few chips. But, on the 10th hand, I pick up A5s next to the button. I am feeling a wee bit frisky, so I decide to play. The player gives me enough room to hang him. I catch a straight draw and my 5 hit. I need a 4 to complete the straight. On the turn I also catch a flush draw. On the river, a 4 hits to give me the straight. His King high hand is no match and I gain more chips.
Eight hands later, I pick up my best hand of the tournament. It wasn't the best paying hand, but I liked it nonetheless. I picked up pocket 4s. Whenever I pickup a pair, I am simply hoping to hit trips on the flop. If not, for most of my mid pairs, I will simply back off. This time, I hit the mother-load. The flop comes 44Q. Quads on the flop. I am hoping someone has AQ, KQ, or QQ. I am in mid position, so I simply check my strength. No one bets. The turn brings a 2. This isn't an action card. I simply min bet. I get two callers. The river shows an 8. No flush. No straights. I put in a minimal bet and get a caller. I extracted as much as I could. He had paired his two and called. With the antes and blinds, I earned about 4 BB from that pot.
I then pick up my dreaded QQ two hands later. I put the player all in. I ended up with a full house, fours full of Qs. His pocket 7s gave him a lessor full house.
My next hand, 44, beats pocket 2s.
Ten hands later, I pick up pocket queens again. This time I catch a queen on the flop with an ace. A single bet brings the pot into me.
I made a mistake on this hand. My favorite hand is KJ. I picked it up in late position. I bet and had a reraise. Without thinking, I called an all in bet. I had him covered and decided to make a risky call. I was given ok odds, but not great ones. I caught a king on the river to knock him out.
Now, during this game, I had moved into the top 10 pretty early. This allowed me to deal with my poor hands for a while. But it also allowed me to be more aggressive without risking all my chips. I lose a medium chunk of chips playing QJ. I am now slipping down the leaderboard. I contain myself and keep playing, hoping I don't have a blowup.
I go another 20 hands before I pick up AK against AQ. All in preflop. The board goes low, I win. Pocket 7s taking the pot preflop.
I am now at the point of making a tournament decision. We are getting close to the bubble. I have 38K in chips. I am under the gun. I have pocket 8s. I decide to bet the pot. I get a reraise and a call. The call is near 5600 chips, but the reraise is 14K. A couple players had called and raise before this. But with their folds, I decide to call. I am against pocket 6s and pocket 3s. My eights hold up to bring in a nice 26K additional chips.
I have 65,000 chips. The rest of the table is spread out from 9,000 to my table leading 64,000. I can now open up my play a lot.
I now pick off some pots. And I pick up 88 again. This time, I bet and get reraised and a call by a smaller stack (dead money). I am getting decent odds and decide to call his all in. 88 vs AK vs 10 7s. The Ace and King elude the big stack. The 10 7 also never catch, so I rake in another 80,000 pot.
I soon make the final table.
I am now in decent shape. With 8 players, I am in second place. I am 100K chips behind the leader. There are two stacks at 50K below me. And everyone else is under 100,000 chips.
I pick up pocket 10s. I am going to play. But, I lose. Call two all ins after my bet. 10s vs AK vs AQ. The ace falls on the flop and I never catch up. I am now at 45K chips. With 8 players, I am now 8th.
Two hands later, I pick up A5 UTG. KQ os calls. I pick up an Ace on the flop. I have been rescued. I am now third.
Two hands later, I pick up 2s. I go all in, hoping to steal the substantial blinds and antes. I get a caller. Oh crap. I end up catching a 2 and queens to make a full house. We now have 5 players left in the game.
After a few hands we are at 3 players.
I take a hit with 10J. I make up for it with A10. I go all in and the big stack calls with QJs. The board stays low, giving me a pair of 10s. I win. I am about 60K chips behind the leader's 410K. The person in third has 75K.
I pick up those nice 8s again a few hands later. I am the big blind. The button raises about 4x BB. Being three handed and the long time chip leader, he can be raising with almost anything. The small blind folds. I have just over 900 chips more than him. I decide to push with my pocket pair. After a long delay, he calls. To his dismay, he turns over his pocket 5s. Neither of us get any help and my hand wins.
I am now the overwhelming chip leader. I have 730K chips to the other player's 112K. It takes me 15 plays to knock out the other player. I double him up and knocked him down.
In the end, Gr8DaneMom was grateful to me for knocking out Starshot21. The difference in payouts for 3rd and 2nd was significant.
I made the entire game without horrible suckouts. I wish they were all like that.
For example, I recently had a hand at a casino. I am the big blind with AK. Everyone at the table decides to limp in. I flop the straight with the 10 Q J rainbow. I check. UTG+1 bets $120. Behind him, the next player goes all in. He has 350. Everyone folds to me. Now, I had been watching these two. I knew the first guy would make a play, hence my check. I didn't expect the reraise. At this point, I am either looking at a split pot, or I am really ahead.
I push all my chips into the center. UTG+1 folds, indicating he had the straight with his 8 9. My opponent now has 2 pair. Queens and Jacks. I am looking good. The board then runs two 10s on the board, giving him a full house. I am a 82% favorite on the flop. And so it goes. AA vs Q7s. He catches the flush. I am out on the bubble with a player who should have never called.
I had been playing online, receiving similar suckouts. Occasionally, I would deliver one but more often than not, my chips moved away from me. And with that, came tilt. And with tilt, my bankroll diminished until my online stake was gone.
After a week's hiatus, I decided to deposit some money into my online account.
I decided to play a simply 90 player multi-table tournament. I went out in the middle.
I noticed a large MTT that had been running for a few minutes. With 540 players, the top 54 will get paid. I decided to join. Right off the bat, I had a couple nice hands. I picked up AK under the gun. I made a bet of 140 when the blinds were at 20/40. Two callers and the flop is AQ8 with two spades. I bet pot, two folds and the chips run my way.
Three hands later, I pick up QJ on the button. With a bunch of callers, I decide to raise it to 140. The flop is 96J. I bet pot, and get a caller who is UTG. Another 6 comes, I bet pot after my opponent checks. And another 6 drops. He goes all in. I can only realistically be beat by a 6, a pair of 9s, or a higher pocket pair. I check the river. He reveals 10 9 unsuited. I make my first knockout of the tournament. Not a bad start.
I go the next 27 hands before I get a real play. I had a minor bluff. I had AQ, but missed the flop. Now I have Aces. The blinds are now 80/160. I am in middle position. The player in front of my has decided to raise to 480. I like this, I am going to reraise him and isolate him. I push in 1680 chips, giving him a good indication of my strength. This represents about half of my stack. If I win this, I have a nice pot. If I lose, I am going to have a hard time climbing back into the tournament. I can live with that considering my hand. Everyone folds except the original raiser. He calls, putting him all in. The board comes up J82Q-10 He had KQ. Another player is gone.
In the next ten hands, I have two low pocket pairs. My 8s and 5s didn't hold up, costing me a few chips. But, on the 10th hand, I pick up A5s next to the button. I am feeling a wee bit frisky, so I decide to play. The player gives me enough room to hang him. I catch a straight draw and my 5 hit. I need a 4 to complete the straight. On the turn I also catch a flush draw. On the river, a 4 hits to give me the straight. His King high hand is no match and I gain more chips.
Eight hands later, I pick up my best hand of the tournament. It wasn't the best paying hand, but I liked it nonetheless. I picked up pocket 4s. Whenever I pickup a pair, I am simply hoping to hit trips on the flop. If not, for most of my mid pairs, I will simply back off. This time, I hit the mother-load. The flop comes 44Q. Quads on the flop. I am hoping someone has AQ, KQ, or QQ. I am in mid position, so I simply check my strength. No one bets. The turn brings a 2. This isn't an action card. I simply min bet. I get two callers. The river shows an 8. No flush. No straights. I put in a minimal bet and get a caller. I extracted as much as I could. He had paired his two and called. With the antes and blinds, I earned about 4 BB from that pot.
I then pick up my dreaded QQ two hands later. I put the player all in. I ended up with a full house, fours full of Qs. His pocket 7s gave him a lessor full house.
My next hand, 44, beats pocket 2s.
Ten hands later, I pick up pocket queens again. This time I catch a queen on the flop with an ace. A single bet brings the pot into me.
I made a mistake on this hand. My favorite hand is KJ. I picked it up in late position. I bet and had a reraise. Without thinking, I called an all in bet. I had him covered and decided to make a risky call. I was given ok odds, but not great ones. I caught a king on the river to knock him out.
Now, during this game, I had moved into the top 10 pretty early. This allowed me to deal with my poor hands for a while. But it also allowed me to be more aggressive without risking all my chips. I lose a medium chunk of chips playing QJ. I am now slipping down the leaderboard. I contain myself and keep playing, hoping I don't have a blowup.
I go another 20 hands before I pick up AK against AQ. All in preflop. The board goes low, I win. Pocket 7s taking the pot preflop.
I am now at the point of making a tournament decision. We are getting close to the bubble. I have 38K in chips. I am under the gun. I have pocket 8s. I decide to bet the pot. I get a reraise and a call. The call is near 5600 chips, but the reraise is 14K. A couple players had called and raise before this. But with their folds, I decide to call. I am against pocket 6s and pocket 3s. My eights hold up to bring in a nice 26K additional chips.
I have 65,000 chips. The rest of the table is spread out from 9,000 to my table leading 64,000. I can now open up my play a lot.
I now pick off some pots. And I pick up 88 again. This time, I bet and get reraised and a call by a smaller stack (dead money). I am getting decent odds and decide to call his all in. 88 vs AK vs 10 7s. The Ace and King elude the big stack. The 10 7 also never catch, so I rake in another 80,000 pot.
I soon make the final table.
I am now in decent shape. With 8 players, I am in second place. I am 100K chips behind the leader. There are two stacks at 50K below me. And everyone else is under 100,000 chips.
I pick up pocket 10s. I am going to play. But, I lose. Call two all ins after my bet. 10s vs AK vs AQ. The ace falls on the flop and I never catch up. I am now at 45K chips. With 8 players, I am now 8th.
Two hands later, I pick up A5 UTG. KQ os calls. I pick up an Ace on the flop. I have been rescued. I am now third.
Two hands later, I pick up 2s. I go all in, hoping to steal the substantial blinds and antes. I get a caller. Oh crap. I end up catching a 2 and queens to make a full house. We now have 5 players left in the game.
After a few hands we are at 3 players.
I take a hit with 10J. I make up for it with A10. I go all in and the big stack calls with QJs. The board stays low, giving me a pair of 10s. I win. I am about 60K chips behind the leader's 410K. The person in third has 75K.
I pick up those nice 8s again a few hands later. I am the big blind. The button raises about 4x BB. Being three handed and the long time chip leader, he can be raising with almost anything. The small blind folds. I have just over 900 chips more than him. I decide to push with my pocket pair. After a long delay, he calls. To his dismay, he turns over his pocket 5s. Neither of us get any help and my hand wins.
I am now the overwhelming chip leader. I have 730K chips to the other player's 112K. It takes me 15 plays to knock out the other player. I double him up and knocked him down.
In the end, Gr8DaneMom was grateful to me for knocking out Starshot21. The difference in payouts for 3rd and 2nd was significant.
I made the entire game without horrible suckouts. I wish they were all like that.