There were only four tourneys to go and I’m not running that good in my series of ‘deepstack’ tournaments. So from that point of view, I was happy to at least cash in tourney 15 ($2+.2), but my prize had to be much bigger, if it wasn’t for the joking PokerStars dealer. I finished 12th, winning $4.41 .

After all, I played a véry solid tournament. I won my first big pot with A8 suited, which I played reasonably good I think:

I really like these kinda hands so I decide to let my opponents pay some limper’s tax. They do and I hit the flop very well with the nut flushdraw and a gutshot straightdraw. But I don’t bet the flop because you can easily be reraised on such mediocre boards against some original limpers. My free card gives me the nuts and when laguna 856 reraises the 60 bet, I suspect him of also holding a flush and decide to keep slowplaying my hand. Board pairs, but I’m not really scared of this and place a value bet, not too big because he might suspect me of slowplaying JJ: excellent result. Then I missed some flops completely with premiums like TT and AK before the next important hand was played:

I flop a set in a limper’s pot and I bet because at least one player must have picked something up on this board. My only caller leads out on the river (which happens to be a great blocking bet) and I only call here for two reasons. First one is that my opponent can easily have TQ in this hand and I don’t want to make a very big pot against the other big stack of the table. Secundo, if he was as weak as he happened to be, he wouldn’t have called a bigger bet anyway.

In the period that followed I even became chipleader, but I lost a big pot with JJ which brought me at fifth place during the period towards the bubble. It took a VERY long time before the bubbleboy was eliminated and I’d become a shortstack. However, if everything would have gone normal, I would have doubled up in this hand:

Instead, I got eliminated…

My fourteenth tournament ($2+.2) was in fact one big joke. This experience really showed me the aspects of low stakes poker and made clear once more how difficult it is to make profit by playing those tournaments.

It was already during the very first hand of the tournament that I noticed the particular ‘low stakes phenomenon’: there are a lot of loonatics in this tourneys (maybe just searching for some cheap tournament to steam at after a bad beat in a bigger tournament) who just push during the first hands. That makes my knock-out hand a little ironic, as some of my opponents really had a quality hand and it was just time for a little ‘jokerstars’. Watch:

Now WHAT THE F*CK IS HAPPENING HERE? OK, of course this AA vs KK vs QQ thing is a big joke already in the first place. And the fact that the Queens take this pot down is an extra joke. But above all, how bad do those morons play those hands?? Pocket fives minraises an early position raise and calls for whole his stack when it’s reraised two times, pocket Kings just call a reraise preflop and Pocket Queens (which makes a good play when just calling the 200 raise) thinks he’s not against Aces or Kings when three players go all-in preflop… I get so tired of these jokes, when my series are over I will definitely not play those $2 tourneys anymore.

That about says it all: played another $2+.2 tournament a few hours ago and finished in 21st place after some interesting (to say the least) situations.

I’m beginning to learn some specific skills that are required in such tournaments and one important lesson is to try to play a lot of hands when the blinds are still low. So did I, for example:

I even get the button here with my 63 suited. Flop is a welcome surprise and I bet this flop: I’m in last position so people will think easily that I’m trying to steal this one. It obviously works against this guy and he even tries to bluff me off my hand. Notice there’s no value in raising the river here: a bluff won’t call me here, only a hand that beats me. Then I took a small pot with AK before I received a gift in this hand:

For some reason this guy thinks he must shove here against a raise with his KQ off and helped me building up a decent stack. But then I was carddead for a really long period before I lost a big pot with KQ myself: I raised it up preflop and a shortstack shoved with TT. I lost the flip and became a shortstack myself. I doubled up again with QQ against JJ but when the blinds increased, I was becoming short again towards the bubble. That’s when I was eliminated:

I think my only mistake is being made preflop: I should just shove all-in there instead of raising it three times the big blind. Anyway, I shove with a flushdraw and a gutshot but instead my opponent gets runner runner quads…

…did I survive during my 11th tournament, a 90 player sng with a $2+.2 buy-in. First I lost a big pot against what I thought was a steamer, and then I got eliminated because I think I was steaming.

So what happened exactly? Well, in the very first hand of the tournament, the player on my left had to face a harsh bad beat. Then the second hand is played:

The same guy immediately reraises the next hand and I know he will push on almost every flop. So I kinda already decide to call when I hit my 5 of course, but also on this kind of flop, with a paired board. A steamer would never push here if he has hit a set of Aces. But he actually had another good hand… Some hands later I get AK:

Kinda frustrated by my earlier beat and the retarded reraise on the button I immediately shove all-in. It happens to be a coinflip situation but I don’t hit my ace or king, finishing in 82nd place. Better next time.

After the ‘big’ deepstack game I returned to the 90 players sng with a $2+.2 buy-in. I did pretty good, but wasn’t able to reach the money, finishing in 18th place.

However, I’m not thát disappointed because I enjoyed playing this tournament. The key hands I selected for you exactly show the interesting aspects of playing deep stack. With the first hand I took down a nice pot in an early phase:

I limp and even call a raise because the blinds are still low and I know exactly what I’m looking for with such a hand. I get a free card which gives me a very good draw. When my opponent makes a very weak bet I raise of course, maybe I can already take the pot right here. Of course when he reraises, my read completely changes: he slowplayed a big hand (hitting my straight might not be good enough anymore). On the river I know my flush is good and make a value bet. A few hands later:

A typical deepstack play: two people want to limp cheaply in late position so I raise. On the flop it’s not difficult to win the pot: whether you hit your hand or the flop comes high cards which you can represent. Then followed a period with a lot of eliminations and I was constantly just below the bubble. I eliminated a guy who went all-in with 33 holding AK myself but then I was eliminated myself with a little bad beat:

This is were deepstack poker backfires: the button is really deepstack and decides to see a flop with Q9 suited. He also knows where he’s looking for and finds it on the flop…

Well, the most important thing is that I finally reached the money again, in a $2+.2 tournament. I even sat down on the final table. For like five seconds. However, I made the magnificent $5,4 in ninth place.

I started the tournament with a long period of being carddead. Luckily, this isn’t lethal (at all) in the beginning of a (deepstack) tournament. I took a small pot with AJ, but THEN began my good run. First, I was sponsored by a delicious donkament:

Now as I wrote earlier , getting minraised on the flop is always suspicious and could be a sign of somebody having flopped a set. But this time I just felt my opponent didn’t and it wasn’t likely he would have flopped two pair on this board so I just shoved. One minute later:

Now I think I play this hand perfectly by the book. My small raise gets reraised with a small amount and most of the times this is a move made by AK: just create an heads-up situation (in position). That’s why I shove immediately with my kings: he will probably call here but he won’t if he doesn’t catch anything on the flop. So I deserve that great pot .

In the period towards the bubble I took some important pots with QQ (raised it preflop, represented a big hand on a AKx flop) and I finally reached the money again. We were down to ten players when I got the QQ again:

Of course I get called by a reasonably good ace in this phase. But while our showdown was proceeding, the table filled up with four other players: I had just reached the final table…

Just like in my third tourney I finished 35th again in my sixth one, another sit ‘n go with 90 players with a $2+.2 buy-in. However, I can mention you some classic (deepstack) tournament situations.

For a start, I lose about a quarter of my stack relatively early in the tournament, during the first blind level. I think I play the hand rather correctly (if you disagree, let me know ), but lose the hand because I came short of one kicker notch, to use Vanessa Rousso’s words^^:

Just a little bad luck I guess. After I’ve been moved to another table, I win a pot by a play which I can only make in a deepstack game:

I really like those suited Aces and maybe I could have taken the pot by betting the flop, who knows. Anyway I take a cheap river card on the turn and my opponent (who has a lot of chips) bets weak again. On the river I realize I can perfectly represent AK in this spot and take the pot by raising. After this hand I was unlucky a couple of times when I flopped two pair two times against a flush and I became shortstacked. Then I got pocket cowboys and a classic showdown followed:

Kings versus Aces, what I’m gonna do? More luck hopefully next time, when I’ll play a $5 one again.

That pretty much describes the story of my fifth tournament. I didn’t get a lot of bad beats or cold decks, I wasn’t able to make a lot of good plays, it just wasn’t destined to be this time: 53th.

It all started reasonably well: I took a couple of small pots with QT suited (paired a Queen) and AA, but most of the time I just didn’t hit any flop. Then I lose half my stack on the following hand:

Now this is what’s called losing because your opponent plays bad, or just doesn’t have a clue at all. I mean, I don’t put him on an Ace because he would probably have raised preflop in that case. When he calls on the turn I’m almost a 100% sure (why wouldn’t he raise with a double flushdraw out there? or just because he has the best hand??) and am only afraid of a better 9. At the end he shows me the AT…monkey.

In what follows I become a short stack because I try to bluff a lot of loose cannons: bad plan. Anyway I make a comeback with this hand:

So that flop sucks, but the turn makes up for it. However, I lose some ammo again and finally I make my last move with KQ:

I am a huge favorite this time, but the flop is killing me again. This time no help on turn and river…

Another small deception in my third tournament ($2+.2). However, I had more fun playing this one than the previous one, where I was just carddead. This time I finished 35th.

I took a nice pot in the beginning with mediocre suited connectors:

This hand is just about representing everything: by minraising the flop I can represent a very strong hand like a queen as well as a flushdraw. Of course if you choose this tactic you better follow trough with it and it succeeded.

Subsequently I woke up with pocket sevens:

It’s important to know that the original raiser preflop just lost a big pot with a bad beat and I kinda expected him to steam so that’s why I just limp. So I wanted to be heads-up and I put in a big reraise, but the other player (who was playing fairly loose passive) calls anyway. We check towards the river and I know there’s no value in betting there.

What happens after this was really cruel: I went from deepstack to elimination in a rather short period. First I faced a bad beat with QQ against KT and then the following cold deck followed:

Now I should have figured he flopped a set after the minraise on the flop, it’s a standard move from most online players. So I guess my preflop raise was not bigh enough to get the deuces out of the way…After that it was pretty much over.

How nice it was to cash in the first tourney, how disappointing my second one was. I finished in 55th place without a lot of exciting moments…

My ‘carddead period’ was located right in the beginning of the tournament this time. I saw a lot of crazy moves though during this period, probably caused by the low buy-in. When I díd wake up with a decent hand, it was because of the same reason I didn’t build up a big stack. I got AQ offsuit two times and raised a decent amount (3-4 times the BB), but got a lot of callers anyway. I didn’t flop anything and it’s hard to take the pot with a continuation bet in those spots with all the multiway action. So I guess the lesson learned is that you’ll have to play VERY tight aggressive during those first levels (I’ll post some other tips now and then here).

I ended up with 700 chips during the third blind level (20/40) when I got pocket Jacks:

So I got eliminated in a coinflip situation, better next time I guess!