Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Final Table Bubble in Skills Game....And How I Discovered a Problem
Out of 87 players in the Skills Game last night, for NO LIMIT Omaha (Not sure what Chad was thinking on that one!), I managed to get my way all the way to 10th. Amazing enough we lost only about 30 in the first hour, and still had 24 or so left after two hours. I really expected far more donkey moves in No Limit H/L Omaha. Started slowly myself, staying near the starting chip stack of 3,000 most of the first hour. A few good hands early in the 2nd hour got me to 5,000. On a QxQ flop, with me holding QA37, I figured my set, top kicker might be good. I pushed and got a caller, and was head and the 7 on the river gave me a Full House to finish it. A few other nice hands/lucky hands, and I was in 2nd place with 28,000 chips with 15 left. Then is when I discovered when I had a problem with my game. A little bad luck and/or bad call on my part cost me 10,000 chips, but I was still a middle stack with 13 left, and 9 getting paid. My problem I FINALLY figure out, is I have a very hard time playing a medium size stack on the bubble. A big stack I have no problem with, and I actually take pride in my ability to play a short stack pretty well. But with the middle stacks, I play scared too much, giving both the big stack and the shorties too much credit for what they may or may not be holding. Needless to say after an long bubble when Lucko pushed and/or caught cards at the right times, I ended up pushing my QQxx in the big blind into A347 or some other crap like that. Of course an A hits the flop, and with no low draw, I am dead in the water and out in 10th.
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3 comments:
It should be called the No Skills Series for guys like me. I just played for the heck of it last night. Was doing well until I called a few bets I shouldn't have. I guess that is where the skill comes in ...
Hey Cem -
I've had the same problem - usually in freerolls where I've been cautious in a large call-anything kind of field and haven't built myself a big stack.
I think that you have to take the risks and open push whenever you get a chance - if you run into a monster so be it. Big stacks likely won't want to double you, and small-medium stacks may be hoping to squeak in to a money spot. You know that if you simply fold, the blinds are definitely going to take your chips away. You have to get lucky to get dealt a big starting hand. You might as well make your own luck and start picking up blinds and antes when you can.
Thanks for entering my poker academy giveaway contest at my site! It really is a good poker simulation.
GG last night... tough bubble loss.
I understand your thoughts about being less comfortable in the midstack range. I found myself quickly going from top 3 to bottom 3 at the Final Table by playing what I feel in hindsight was too passively, passing on a couple opportunities to get my stack involved where I likely should have... and where I likely would have had I been a shorty or a biggie.
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