PokerWorks

Alright I’m back with another exciting installment. In the last article I discussed some hands that ultimately led to me bubbling the final table of the Sunday 2nd Chance on Poker Stars . The very next Sunday I managed to bubble yet another Sunday major final table. This time it was the 200 rebuy also on Poker Stars, a tournament which is said to have one of the toughest fields in all of online poker. Let’s get right into discussing how I accomplished this great feat.

I began by taking a few gambles during the rebuy period, a strategy I find definitely helps in winning online rebuy tournaments. However, if you are not running, well, it can also be very costly. It’s advantageous to have a stack to work with after the rebuy period is over when you are playing in a field as tough as this tournament often is. I find that an easy way to get chips is to take advantage of the overly aggressive players that are taking any chance they get to make moves and are firing away at every pot. It’s also important to put pressure on players as stacks get shorter, and to know when to make marginal calls based on the range of hands you believe your opponents could be moving in with when they are shorter stacked (which I consider to be between 10-15 big blinds). There are three hands that stood out in my mind after I tossed my laptop off the balcony when I busted on the stone cold bubble once again.

In the first hand I’m the chip leader with 220k in chips and 19 players remaining in the tournament at 2k-4k blinds with a 400 ante. I am dealt 3-3 in the small blind. I am very surprised when the action folds around to me, and as always I have a decision at hand. The player in the big blind has around 55k in chips, which is a pretty awkward stack when playing blind versus blind. If I just open raise for the standard 3x the big blind I’m allowing him the opportunity to shove all in on me with marginal holdings, then I have to decide if I want to call in a situation where I am at best racing. This wouldn’t surprise me since many of the players in this tournament play very aggressively. After thinking a few seconds I decide that the optimal play is to just shove all in on him and force him to make the decision of whether he wants to call off his stack. If he does call we’re probably off to the races, which isn’t the worst thing. Unfortunately our villain shows up with the ladies (Q-Q), and somehow the worst hand doesn’t win, weird I know.

Our next hand of interest takes place with 15 players left and blinds at 3k-6k with a 600 ante. I’ve been moved to a tough table that includes Annette_15, Thay3r and USCphildo. The action folds around to Thay3r in the hijack position, and he has 58k in chips which is just under 10 big blinds. In this situation I’m expecting him to get his stack in with a pretty wide range of hands, since he is a good player that is very aware of tournament dynamics. Because of this I’d say he makes this move with almost any A-x hands, broadway cards, suited connectors, and any pair. As expected he moves in, and I’m sitting in the cutoff with 7-7. Again if we use the Poker Stove program we can find that my hand is definitely ahead of this range of hands that I put him on in this situation.

I now have 144k in chips, so there is another decision to make. If I do just call then I’m giving other players the opportunity to shove all in over the top which would be terrible in this spot and it would be pretty awful to fold with nearly half my stack in the middle already. However, if I move all in over the top, thus isolating the player in an attempt to see a showdown where I’m only against one other opponent, I have a much better chance of winning the pot and I’m also putting the rest of the players at a decision as to whether they want to call in this tough spot. I decide it’s best to just move in, and as expected the rest of the players fold. I am in great shape to regain my chip lead when Thayer flips over A-5o, until the board dishes out the A on the river just like Barry Greenstein had foretold. Poker sucks sometimes, but I still have chips.

We are getting closer and closer to the final table bubble, and the blinds are still the same. I remain card dead for a few orbits, which isn’t much fun when you find yourself sitting on the short stack. Finally with 10 players left, WSOP London champion Annette_15 decides to put the nail in my coffin like she has so many times before. The action folds around to her in the cutoff and she makes a standard open raise. I’m now sitting in the big blind with T-T, a hand that has often led to my demise in tournaments.

With 55k and the blinds at 3k-6k to me this is a no-brainer shove, as I feel like I have her crushed so often here and the fact that she almost has to call given the odds in the situation. My chips go in the middle, and she actually thinks for a few seconds before calling with what I have found to be the equivalent to A-A on Poker Stars, K-Q.  The board doesn’t even need to roll out for me to know that my tournament is over, but it becomes abundantly clear just how unfair life is when the Q hits the board on the turn. What can you do…? Anyways I hope you guys enjoyed reading about my pain, and I hope to have some good news soon.