Giant Gaping Hole in my game #185684

So last night I played in my first tourney at Bodog. They have a $1k guaranteed freeroll every night at 7:45, which is the richest regular freeroll I've ever seen. Only problems are the aggressive blind structure, and the fact that those with real money can rebuy, so you have to fight through that crowd. But if you make it past the first hour, you're good to go. I didn't. I was headed in a positive directon from the very beginning, but just short of the first hour, in the big blind, I get Q x, and get it all-in pretty confidently on a 9 Q 9 board. I was willing to draw for a better kicker. But drawing against KK proved to be a little tougher. This tourney was the tightest freeroll I've ever played in. It played like a tourney w/a decent buy-in. I'm going to have to keep trying at it.

What I want to talk about is the PokerRoom tournament I was in. I was fortunate enough to get up around 4k in the first couple levels of this tournament thanks to what I thought were some pretty clutch moves. I promply put it into cruise control through the garbage until the first break, where I had somewhere in the mid-to-upper 3k range. Throughout the 2nd hour I managed my stack well and kept it between 2800-4000. Then I fell to 1300 when I chased an inside straight-flush draw. But I'll chase a straight-flush draw in a freeroll anytime. I was willing to be done. I needed the 10h on the river and the Jh fell. Usually its not even *that* close. Needless to say, my flush didn't even hold up against my opponent. After that, got it all-in with a pair of 3s, and a 3 on the turn tripled me up to over 10k. Shortly after that I doubled up again to 22k when I had a guy's K 9 dominated w/my K 10. So here I am, about 1 3/4 hours into this thing, and after grinding it out for over an hour I'm sitting in 46th (30 pays), and just above the average stack size. I maintained my stack for over an hour while everyone else's kept growing to 5 digits, I stick it out until my cards came, got into position to cash, got to the average stack, and then what do I do? About 10 hands later, I piss it down my leg. I get A 10 suited in the big blind, and re-raise a middle position raise from 1600 to over 3k. He calls, and we see a 9 J Q flop, no help on my suit. I bet 5k, leaving me with 15k, and he fairly quickly re-raises me all-in. With 5-7 seconds of "thought", basically consisting of "I'm willing to draw to my open-ended straight, and if I pair my A that may be good enough, too", I call. He shows K 10 off, and a made straight. Overlooking the fact that him calling my preflop raise was debatable, WTF is wrong with me?? I am SEVERELY up against it if he's got K 10, A K, A Q, A J, J Q, A 9, 9 9, J J, Q Q, K K, A A, or at this point any other pocket pair. I can draw a 10 or an A to beat a low pocket pair, I need runner-runner A to beat a high pocket pair other than A A, and I need one of the remaining kings or 8s to win in almost any other scenario. As it turns out, I was in the worst case scenario and was dead to a K to win. But as I've illustrated, I was pretty well hopeless for any other preflop calling hand.

This is a GIANT hole in my game. I am too quick to act, and I don't stop to think what my opponent might have. I'm extremly happy with my preflop play. I needed to re-raise to see where he was at, and if he didn't call then I take it down. But when there isn't *at least* an A on the flop, I need to get away from it. I maintain a stack that is getting tinier and tinier respectively for over an hour, then I finally work my way to not only an average stack, but a position on the cashing bubble, and I give it all away on a draw that was WAY smaller than I could've even hoped. 121st out of 2k.

So I think I need to implement some sort of Jesus Ferguson strategy, where I think about my move before I act every single time, because when I barely even recognize the strength of my own hand, let alone spend a split second thinking about what I can beat, I'll never be successful.

The story of last night was trips on the turn. No less than 4 times I hit trips on the turn w/a pocket pair. The first 3, I had folded my PP to action on the flop, and then the last time was my triple-up hand when after my 3 3 had held through the flop, a 3 on the turn made me breathe a sigh of relief.

So...that's that. If I'm going to be successful at this game, I HAVE TO consciously stop and think before I act, not only about my hand, but about my opponent's hand. Every single time.

Originally Posted 8/1/2006