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Old 07-19-05, 05:34 AM
DoubleG6 DoubleG6 is offline
 
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: California
Posts: 13
My 22 Hands to Victory

Every time I enter a tournament, I can't help but feel that I have a chance to win it. I feel that I need this self confidence in order to perform at my best. Although I don't win every tournament I enter, I almost always leave feeling as though I gave my best effort and was just a little unlucky. Last Wednesday, I played and won a NLHE tournament at a local casino. I have won or placed in a few of these daily tournaments before and have tried to take note of what events, plays, or specific hands led me to have such success. In this particular case, I believe that it was the amount of hands I didn't play which enabled me to win.

In the 5 1/2 hours it took to from start to finish, I only played 22 hands. I managed to win 17 of 22. Of the 5 hands I did not win, I never made it to the showdown once, meaning I folded all 5 hands on the flop. Of the 17 pots I did win, I won 3 races, bluffed 4 huge pots, and put 1 horrific beat on some Kings before all was said and done. I was dealt approximately 240 hands and I played just 9% of all those hands. One factor of my hand selection had a lot to do with the players who I would face or potentially face in those particular hands. I picked and chose who I wanted in the pot and did not let the cards determine whether or not I took a flop. Another factor which helped me keep all the chips I had was the fact that I had 2 big laydowns when I really should have gone bust.

The first big laydown I had was when I held K10. I raised double the BB and got 2 callers. Flop was K 10 J rainbow and I bet out 2x BB again and a player moved all in for more chips than me. The other player folded and I had to make a big decision. I had more than half of my starting chips in the pot and was mathematically committed to the pot. I took my time before laying the hand down and the player was more than happy to show me his set of 10\'s. The next laydown was a little easier, I held QsJd and flopped Qh3s4s. I bet and was quickly set in by the only other player in the pot. I was tempted to push in on the flop but wasn't really happy with the 2 spades on the board. I layed down showing just the Qs and my opponent then showed me AsQd. Those were the only 2 hands in the tourney where I felt as though my tournament life was in jeopardy.

Surprisingly, most of my chips came off 2 huge bluffs I did late in the tourney. The first bluff came when I held 8 5 in the BB and had only 1 limper. The flop came 9 3 2 and I bet 2x BB. Limper doubled my bet and I called. The turn was a K and I checked. Limper bet 4x BB and I pushed in for a total of 12x BB. He took his sweet time but folded. I showed my hand and he wasn't to happy to say the least. The next bluff came on the very next hand when the same player raised 4x the BB and I called in the SB w/ J10. The flop came 9 9 7 and I checked. Steamer bets half his stack which was about 6x BB and I then set him all in. Disgusted, he mucked his hand. This time I didn't show him the semi bluff.

I cruised to the final table and had a relatively easy time collecting the blinds. I dont really know if it was my table image or if the others were just playing very conservatively. I imagine it was a bit of both. Nonetheless, the outcome was very favorable for me. I called an all in bet with 55 when my opponent had KK and I flopped a 5. I called with the 5\'s because I had him outchipped 5 to 1. I won a race with my AQ vs. A9 and then again with 77 vs. A5. I then cleaned out the 2 shortstacks when I had 10 9 in BB and called the 2 all ins for less than a full bet. I was up against 10 2 and A 6. I flopped a 9 and that was that. When we got 3 handed, the other two gave me a great offer for $100 less than first place money which I took and they worked out a deal between themselves. We were also playing for player points and I took first points as well. I can only hope that the next tourney I play allows me to duplicate my strategy, but we all know that what might have worked once may not work as well the second time around.

I am traveling to Los Angeles tomorrow and I hope I have enough time to check out the action over there. Thanks for reading and good luck on your 22 hands to victory.

Last edited by HPG ADMIN; 05-16-13 at 01:31 AM.