Stars Sunday $250K hand

[HalfSugar]

Here is my final hand from tonight's tourney. In any normal tourney, I would not play this hand the same pre-flop but in this one, with 7,500 players still remaining and 10 minute levels, if I can flop the nut spade draw, get my chips in the middle and hit, I'm setting myself up for a deep run (the pot size won put the winner in the top 50). As it turns out, I flopped exactly what I wanted (with the jack to add two bonus outs!) and bricked but I think I played it 'right' for this tourney. The actual winner of the hand shows what the quality of this tourney is like until you get WAY deep.

PokerStars Game #27272875640: Tournament #155233218, $10+$1 Hold'em No Limit - Level IX (200/400) - 2009/04/19 17:06:42 ET
Table '155233218 32' 9-max Seat #9 is the button
Seat 1: rockit (10429 in chips)
Seat 2: 4KINGACEMAN (14125 in chips)
Seat 3: markon65 (7345 in chips)
Seat 4: B.T.B. (4115 in chips)
Seat 5: 89Zero89 (11310 in chips)
Seat 6: TheLocke (18090 in chips)
Seat 7: TheBlackCat (12820 in chips)
Seat 8: HiRoller88 (9790 in chips)
Seat 9: GenoTHP (10980 in chips)
rockit: posts the ante 50
4KINGACEMAN: posts the ante 50
markon65: posts the ante 50
B.T.B.: posts the ante 50
89Zero89: posts the ante 50
TheLocke: posts the ante 50
TheBlackCat: posts the ante 50
HiRoller88: posts the ante 50
GenoTHP: posts the ante 50
rockit: posts small blind 200
4KINGACEMAN: posts big blind 400
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to GenoTHP [As Js]
markon65: folds
B.T.B.: folds
89Zero89: folds
TheLocke: raises 400 to 800
TheBlackCat: folds
HiRoller88: folds
GenoTHP: calls 800
rockit: calls 600
4KINGACEMAN: raises 1200 to 2000
TheLocke: calls 1200
GenoTHP: calls 1200
rockit: calls 1200
*** FLOP *** [Jc Qs 5s]
rockit: checks
4KINGACEMAN: bets 2400
TheLocke: raises 2400 to 4800
GenoTHP: raises 4130 to 8930 and is all-in
rockit: folds
4KINGACEMAN: raises 3145 to 12075 and is all-in
TheLocke: calls 7275
*** TURN *** [Jc Qs 5s] [4h]
*** RIVER *** [Jc Qs 5s 4h] [Td]
*** SHOW DOWN ***
4KINGACEMAN: shows [Ad Ah] (a pair of Aces)
TheLocke: shows [Qd Tc] (two pair, Queens and Tens)
TheLocke collected 6290 from side pot
GenoTHP: shows [As Js] (a pair of Jacks)
TheLocke collected 35240 from main pot
stirthepot is connected
*** SUMMARY ***
Total pot 41530 Main pot 35240. Side pot 6290. | Rake 0
Board [Jc Qs 5s 4h Td]
Seat 1: rockit (small blind) folded on the Flop
Seat 2: 4KINGACEMAN (big blind) showed [Ad Ah] and lost with a pair of Aces
Seat 3: markon65 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 4: B.T.B. folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 5: 89Zero89 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 6: TheLocke showed [Qd Tc] and won (41530) with two pair, Queens and Tens
Seat 7: TheBlackCat folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 8: HiRoller88 folded before Flop (didn't bet)
Seat 9: GenoTHP (button) showed [As Js] and lost with a pair of Jacks

[Jernej Zorec]

seems kinda standard

[Jauron]

I can't decide if I like BB's play.

Preflop is meh to me, once BB raises I'd probably pass. I dont' like being in big multi way pot with hand that is easily dominated and your stack is at risk.

Flop is standard.

[HalfSugar]

Preflop is meh to me, once BB raises I'd probably pass. I dont' like being in big multi way pot with hand that is easily dominated and your stack is at risk.

Any other tourney and I play it way differently but in a $10 tourney with 10 minute levels, 25,000 players and the chance to be top 50 with 7,500 left, it seemed like a good enough spot to ship it.

[Ciso_B]

Gin flop, played it fine getting it in.

Preflop , even with this calibre of player is a bit iffy, I'm not a huge fan of re raising before flop, but im pretty sure with this structure , re raising that first raise/getting it in there, is better than playing the hand multiway for 20% of your stack. Especially since you need this type of flop to feel like you can continue.

I agree that the villains played their hands poorly too, the AA re raise of 1200 is pretty yucky especially.

[lwestatbus]

I agree that the villains played their hands poorly too, the AA re raise of 1200 is pretty yucky especially.

Cisco, what do you think that AA should have done differently? Raised more, less, or just called?

Geno, I've never played this tournament but have played a LOT of satellites to it and, as you know, what you saw can unfortunately be par for the course. I do agree with your reasoning for playing this hand this way in this tournament. I think that there are some tournaments online where if you can't get deep stacked early you are better off finding something else to play.

[HalfSugar]

I agree that the villains played their hands poorly too, the AA re raise of 1200 is pretty yucky especially.

Cisco, what do you think that AA should have done differently? Raised more, less, or just called?

I don't want to speak for Ciso but AA should raise WAY more in this spot. The pot is 3,250 when it reaches Mr AA. Again, it's tourney specific because of the nature of this one but raising 1,200 more to 2,000 is especially awful here (it's awful in any tourney) because it's crying out to be called twice leaving him facing a multiway pot with a very good chance of being outflopped because of the pre-flop action. If there is any doubt over the veracity of my claims about this tourney, check out the min-raise in MP with QTo from TheLocke

Given stack sizes, he has to make it at least 5,000 to go here and tbh shoving is not that bad because in the Sunday quarter mirrion crap-o-rama, more bad hands are calling here than in any other spot online.

[lwestatbus]

I agree that the villains played their hands poorly too, the AA re raise of 1200 is pretty yucky especially.

Cisco, what do you think that AA should have done differently? Raised more, less, or just called?

I don't want to speak for Ciso but AA should raise WAY more in this spot. The pot is 3,250 when it reaches Mr AA. Again, it's tourney specific because of the nature of this one but raising 1,200 more to 2,000 is especially awful here (it's awful in any tourney) because it's crying out to be called twice leaving him facing a multiway pot with a very good chance of being outflopped because of the pre-flop action. If there is any doubt over the veracity of my claims about this tourney, check out the min-raise in MP with QTo from TheLocke

Given stack sizes, he has to make it at least 5,000 to go here and tbh shoving is not that bad because in the Sunday quarter mirrion crap-o-rama, more bad hands are calling here than in any other spot online.

I thought that might be it but wanted to be sure. I'm not sure in this tourny whether even all in would discourage calls.

What is the deepest you've been in this particular tournament and how long did it take you to get there?

[HalfSugar]

I have only played it maybe 8 times and only once cracked the top 1,000 coming 922nd. I forget how long that took but given the 10 minute levels, not too long.

The buy-in value and structure mean that numbers plummet from hand #1 and don't really slow down. You immediately get the all-in nuts who are either massive or out in the first five minutes, then after some reasonable play for the next 90 mins or so, people are forced to start throwing chips about. Then, to compound the issues, they pay out WAY too many places and usually there about 800 spots that pay an identical amount. Once the bubble bursts, you get another huge slew of bust outs as all the douches who delayed the game around bubble time (literally hate those guys) push their tiddly little stacks in the middle and say sayonara with $10 + change in their pockets.

I recall that when we hit 1,000 players left, the BB vs average chip count was ridiculous and I vowed never to play again. Needless to say, I've played it since.

[kompis]

omg

geno u changed ur avatar

had to check who it was like 5 times

hehehe wp!

[HalfSugar]

Decided I was sick of looking at it, especially as it's my avatar at Stars too and since I've already changed it once before, they won't let me change it again! The new one is genuinely me this time