Here’s a blow by blow or maybe hand by hand account of a recent free poker tournament of mine, I hope it gives you some guidance on how to think and play in such situations.
Tonight’s game is 10 of 31 paid, good odds here about 1 in 3 so lets play it smooth for a little and see what happens. Some hands that I’ve played early are 52 suited in the small blind and K9 off with 6 to 1 pots odds, AJ off I slip in cheap. Pot odds are simply the ratio of the cost to call to the size of the pot example $100 to see $600 pot would be 6 to 1.
Up about 1k playing the K9 aggressive with Q9Q flop and hitting a free A on the river with AJ. I tell people this countless times that they have to bet in these unsure situations if no one else has either wise you have nothing else to go on.
I bet 3x with my KK and get one caller, the flop comes up 5,8,10 and he bets so I string his J10 along for another 1k. Slow playing should most often only be done when you have an unbeatable hand but the action here is few and far between.
Some hands I’ve limped in with are A2 suited, A3 suited, AJ off, and 88 because of implied odds. Implied odds are basically how much money the other player has and knowing you can bust someone with the right hands calling $5 with junk may not seem as bad if you can win his 50k doing so.
Some hands that I have passed on now that the blinds are higher and pot odds are getting slimmer are K10 suited, J10 suited and Q8 suited and the Q8 turned out to be a bad fold. About 1 hour 30 minutes in and I still have the 2k I made early plus another $560 with random small pots.
I am folding AQ off suit here because we are two away from payout and it looks like smooth sailing to the final table. Folding these higher hands takes a lot of discipline but becomes easier with each bubble you get. The bubble refers to the last person to go out before the pay. I end the match in 6th place which I’m very happy with…you can make living from places like that if you’re consistent. So start small, play on free poker tournament sites and work your way up in line with your growing confidence and bankroll.
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April 7, 2010
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