Stupid Play (Maybe) and Deeper Problem

[lwestatbus]

I'm still smarting over a stupid play I made recently but also realize that the play is a symptom of a deeper problem I still have in tourny play.

I've been playing a lot of the Stars $2.20 satellites to the Sunday Hundred Grand, usually the 36 player 6-seat tournys but sometimes the open registration versions that go off at 25 and 55 after the hour. (All winners get the same $11 buy in to the Sunday Hundred Grand which I always convert to T$.)

I was very deep in this tourny with two players away from the money and a respectable chip stack, slightly above the chip average. Blinds were high and two players were going to be all-in the next time the blinds reached them and several others had an M of 2. Player to my right had shown himself to be very tight with his big stack and had just made a 3x raise and shown pocket kings to eliminate another player. The very next hand I have pocket queens and this guy makes the same 3 x BB raise. I reraised 3 times that for about 1/3 of my stack, he reraises again and I went all in. He showed pocket kings for the second hand in a row.

This post isn't about bad luck, it's about me not thinking about what was going on and being fascinated by this big pocket pair in my hand, to the exclusion of all else. In retrospect, there is a compelling argument for me to have just folded the queens to his raise and waited for two of the short stacks to get caught up by the blinds. Even absent this choice, I had all of the evidence I needed to see that this guy did not get aggressive on speculation and he had no motivation AT ALL to go after my chips on speculation (all winners got the same prize). And he'd played with me enough and seen enough of my cards to know I wasn't aggressive without strong cards. (I'm actually a little surprised he didn't put me on aces.)

The bottom line is that I just wasn't thinking. I just launched on auto pilot with these two queens and busted out two off the money after 90 minutes invested in this tournament--leaving one ecstatic short stack behind me. I don't know why I do this. I think that I do a great job in most of the rest of my life at having Situational Awareness (except with my wife--I can never figure out what's going on there). I do pretty well in FL ring games. But I keep making stupid decisions with a big hand in NL tournys.

I don't even know what kind of help I'm asking for on the forum. Maybe just someone to stand over me and dope slap me whenever I get a big pocket pair or flop a set. Of course, that might be a tell to the other players.

[jimmer]

It's all relative.

You can't expect to play 100% great poker every single hand for ever. It just doesn't work like that.

If you are getting into these positions you are doing something right.

May be 90 minutes is too long and you lose concentration? How long do you usually spend at the tables without a break? If it takes around 90 minutes to get into the money, may be you should be playing 'practice' sessions around 120 minutes.

How often is this sort of thing happening?

[xDiamond_CutteRx]

Most of the time, especially in tournaments, there is nothing wrong with being "fascinated" by a holding a big pair. Most of the time if you can get it all in with QQ, you're doing just fine. Stacks are rarely deep enough where you raise, get reraised, and then fold.

[lwestatbus]

Jimmer,

This particular situation doesn't happen all that often but variations on the theme where I get fascinated by my big holding and don't factor in all of the other factors/threats happens way too often. Again, I am positive that I could have just folded my way into the money in this particular tournament (remember, equal payouts for everyone) but I didn't stop to think. I did the same thing a couple of weeks ago, got crippled on the bubble with a hand I did not need to be in because I had flopped a big pair and didn't even see the straight threat.

I have very limited tournament time--very limited time to sit down in one stretch to play a longer tournament. So I mostly end up in these 36 player satellites and one or two table SnGs.

Diamond, I agree in a normal tournament. If it was earlier or if there was a typical scaled payout with 1st being significantly higher than 6th then getting aggressive with my QQ would be pretty cool. But not here. And, again, I didn't even think about it which was my real problem.

I'll keep plugging away.

Thanks, guys.

[Jernej Zorec]

how many players left ?
what are the stacks
and since its a satelite and if u are healthy stack u can easily fold QQ there

and while u should never fold QQ in mtt even if opponent shows AK and its first hand of wsop me , in sattys u shouldnt be taking flips when u are in good position to win the seat

[MrDarling]

Do you really think its profitable to plat an hour long satellite for a chance to 5X your investment?

Anyway, sat's strategy is different then normal MTT or SNG strategy simply because chips are worth even less then they are in normal MTT.

2 from the money, with average stack there is really no need for you to play any hand.
I would fold AA if a bigger stack open it. Why do I need to make my stack bigger, there is no risk-reward here as there is no reward to have a bigger stack when you get to the money.

[lwestatbus]

Do you really think its profitable to plat an hour long satellite for a chance to 5X your investment?

I like these and the time they take fits into my schedule. They usually play more reasonably than some of the FPP tournys I play. Not sure how good the practice is but I like the low risk and then the ability to use the "free" T$ to buy into a SnG that I might not otherwise play. I'm not making any claims to rationality here.

2 from the money, with average stack there is really no need for you to play any hand.
I would fold AA if a bigger stack open it. Why do I need to make my stack bigger, there is no risk-reward here as there is no reward to have a bigger stack when you get to the money.

EXACTLY!! So why did I do it? The play was so obvious in hindsight but I was so focused on these pocket queens. Like walking into a door frame when a beautiful woman walks by.

Darling: What happened to your picture?