I played my first tournament in an invitational at the Mirage last March, and did pretty well for a rookie. I’m playing in my second this coming Thursday (an invitational at Foxwoods), so I’m finally trying to learn from what I did last year. In the quarterfinals I had the following situation: In hand 16 I was on the button as BR1 at $24k and I bet small. The player to my left bet bet a large chunk of their chips ($8k of $21k), the player to my right bet all their chips ($10k plus), and the whole table won. So on hand 17, I was BR2, and my once unassailable chance to advance had become very vulnerable. ($10k starting chips, $100 minimum bet, no maximum bet, 20 hands per round, 2 players advance) BR5 $14,000 bet $1,000 BR6 $12,000 bet $3,000 BR3 $20,500 bet $100 BR2 $24,800 bet $8,200 BR1 $29,000 bet $100 BR4 $15,000 bet $1,000 The button just passed me, so this was my last chance to act before BR1, and I wanted to take the lead. Both BR1 and BR3 bet small after their big bet wins on the previous hand. 1/7th of my stack wouldn’t do it, so I played 1/3rd of my chips, thinking that if I got to $33k in either this hand or through going all-in on hand 18, I would have a pretty good shot at advancing. I don’t remember the other player’s cards, and given the bets above they really don’t matter too much. My cards were an 8,8, with a dealer upcard of 6. I couldn’t figure out whether I should: a) stand, stay with my original strategy, shoot for $33k after this hand or hand 18, and then try to defend $33k against several close players b) split, and go for a chip result that should be much harder to catch, but if I don’t win hand 17 I’m all done. I split. I caught a 2 and doubled (my last $8k was worthless on its own), then caught a 10 for a total of 20 on my first split hand. I caught a 10 for a total of 18 on my second split hand. And after a few seconds of jubilation at my pulls, the dealer turned over a 10 and pulled a 5 for 21, sending me home. What would you have done?
Split, no DD Joshua, you don't say how the players are listed. Going by your description of players to your left and right I assume they are seat 1 thru 6 from top to bottom and you are seat 4. I'm pretty sure you misspoke (mis-wrote?) here. The button having just passed , you are now of course acting last. I think you are correct in wanting to take the lead here as you will be betting before seat 5 (currently BR1) on the last 3 hands. The question is how big of a lead. You are 4200 behind the leader so you need to put out at least 4400 given his min 100 bet. With no max bet the amount is somewhat arbitrary as you can't use the guidline of a 1/2 max bet lead as a first objective. The one-third BR bet (for a negative progression) is not really a catch-up bet at this point but a go-ahead bet. Having made that bet, now to the play. Although a six is the highest bust probability at 42% for a dealer upcard, that still leaves 52% to make a hand. You are probably aware that splitting eights is a defensive play, i.e., you lose less by splitting. I believe the correct play is split with a no-bust strategy, but I would not have DD when the deuce came. You already have a double bet by splitting and a successful outcome will give you a comfortable lead for the end-play. The actual dealer draw to 21 was a real bummer, but that's the nature of the game. Another time it will go your way. --jr p.s. Check your private message. I have some info for you about Foxwoods (I live just 14 miles from there).
I think... Two advance, you're in 2nd so why bet your lead away? As Jackaroo pointed out you were $4,200 behind BR1, BR3 only bet $100 in front of you so I would have bet $4,200 (my lead over BR3 -$100). Now if you win and BR1 pushes or loses you can tie or take the lead while staying in BR2. Even if BR1 and you both win you'll only be $100 behind with the top two advancing. Now if you get the same hand (8/8 vs dealers 6) I would have stood (assuming hand 18 was the last hand). This way you retain BR2 going into the last hand. Lot of my play is based on assumtions, not knowing if hand 18 was the last hand or not and the assuming I had the correct betting order.
Tunnel vision Tex, you overlooked the 20 hands in the line, and I got so wrapped up in the split/dd that I overlooked the "2 players advance" :laugh: I have never played a tourney with no max bet so I have no experience with that. The closest I see is everyone betting max and dd on the last hand. We agree on the bet, so with 4 hands left how would you play the 8-8 vs 6? --jr
Going blind Sorry about that, I did miss the 20 hands (at least I pointed that out...lol). With four hands to go I would have bet 1/3 of my lead over BR3. I would try to make a little move towards catching BR1, while retaining my lead over BR3. Why only 1/3? Just in case I caught a DD or a split (less say 8/8). Now I could split my hand without giving up my lead over BR3 should I lose (which is what happened). Now with the DD you would have still been $100 up over BR3. As long as I have hands to play I do not like to commit to one hand until I have to. In your case you went for the lead with four hands left and it backfired on you. Had you only played 1/3 and split and got beat (like you did) you still would have been sitting in BR2. You chased BR1 and you didn't have to, you gave away your postion. You may have been passed and beaten, but until you were you would have been the one advancing to the next round.
First, thanks Jackaroo for pointing out my misstatement - of course this was my last chance to act AFTER Br1, not before. As to the rest of the comments, I kind of figured that I'd placed too high a value on getting the lead before the last hand. BR2 is an ok place to play the last hand from, right? What was going through my head was that I had been in BR1 with only one player in striking distance on hand 16, and now I was in BR2 and BR3-5 could all catch me by going all in. It was probably an overly emotional play, again overvaluing getting back into BR1 at this stage. Thanks for the feedback...
No all-ins with a big BR At least you won't have that problem at Foxwoods. Starting BR is 10,000. Maximum bet is 2500, minimum is 100, betting is in increments of 100. Each round is 35 hands, countdown after 29. BJ pays 2-1. Foxwoods allows late surrender at the regular tables, so the tourney probably will too (written rules don't specify). Good luck Thursday, --jr
Not Bad Joshua, in my opinion, you played the hand very well. Your bet sizing can be improved upon. You didn't need to risk as much as you did. Either bet your lead over BR3 or enough to become BR1 (no more). I prefer the latter. You want to be BR1 going into the final hand if at all possible. As for your playing of the hand, it was perfect. You correctly pointed out that the remaining chips were useless, so you may as well take the strong double. You called yourself a rookie, but you played the hand better than many tourney veterans would have. We sometimes forget that basic strategy is still the best play in most situations. Good luck at Foxwoods!
