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[Tap the Glass]

It has taken me a couple of days to get over my dissapointment about this tournament. On Saturday I was in my first big buy in tourney $1000 + $50. There were 240 runners split into two days. On Friday they played down to 20 players. On Saturday I played for 10 hours only to be knocked out in the last level before they would be breaking for the night. 23 players were left. Every time the money went in I was a huge favorite except for the last time.I had played a short stack most of the day and night, before I ran my chips up to T32,500 when average was T50,000 (started with T10,000). Blinds were at T1500 - T3000 with a T50 ante. I pick up A-10 of hearts in the cutoff and raise it to T5000. Only the big blind calls. His cold call should have set off an alarm in my head because he was not the type to cold call. He had about T40,000. Flop comes 3, 7, 10 rainbow (one heart).He checks and I make my first mistake. I bet T13,000 into the T11,900 pot. I think a bet of about T7,000 would be more appropriate as he could still fold his hand if he had junk, but I might be able to get away from it easier if he pops me. A pot sized bet was too much considering our chip stacks (especially mine).Sure enough he reraises me all in. And after 10 hours of play I didn't think it through well enough. I'm more interested in the hands I can beat than what hands he beats me with. I just get the feeling he's trying to push me around so I think he's either got 9,9 or K-10 or A-K or maybe A-10 for a split. So I call my last 14,500 (thinking about the great chip position I'll be in if I win). Sure enough he has the Kings and I'm gone.Hugely dissapointing to play for 10 hours and have a really good shot to get a really good payday and then blow it on such a STUPID call. I guess the point of the post is 1) was my play as horrendous as I think it was and 2) to point out the respect I now have for players in multiday tourneys who can play for two or three days without making a mistake. I made 1 mistake the whole day and I was gone.Flame away.

[holman3rd]

Tap the Glass said:

It has taken me a couple of days to get over my dissapointment about this tournament. On Saturday I was in my first big buy in tourney $1000 + $50. There were 240 runners split into two days. On Friday they played down to 20 players. On Saturday I played for 10 hours only to be knocked out in the last level before they would be breaking for the night. 23 players were left. Every time the money went in I was a huge favorite except for the last time.I had played a short stack most of the day and night, before I ran my chips up to T32,500 when average was T50,000 (started with T10,000). Blinds were at T1500 - T3000 with a T50 ante. I pick up A-10 of hearts in the cutoff and raise it to T5000. Only the big blind calls. His cold call should have set off an alarm in my head because he was not the type to cold call. He had about T40,000. Flop comes 3, 7, 10 rainbow (one heart).He checks and I make my first mistake. I bet T13,000 into the T11,900 pot. I think a bet of about T7,000 would be more appropriate as he could still fold his hand if he had junk, but I might be able to get away from it easier if he pops me. A pot sized bet was too much considering our chip stacks (especially mine).Sure enough he reraises me all in. And after 10 hours of play I didn't think it through well enough. I'm more interested in the hands I can beat than what hands he beats me with. I just get the feeling he's trying to push me around so I think he's either got 9,9 or K-10 or A-K or maybe A-10 for a split. So I call my last 14,500 (thinking about the great chip position I'll be in if I win). Sure enough he has the Kings and I'm gone.Hugely dissapointing to play for 10 hours and have a really good shot to get a really good payday and then blow it on such a STUPID call. I guess the point of the post is 1) was my play as horrendous as I think it was and 2) to point out the respect I now have for players in multiday tourneys who can play for two or three days without making a mistake. I made 1 mistake the whole day and I was gone.Flame away.

First, how could you only raise to $5k? I thought the min raise would be to $6k?Secondly, thanks for posting about a big buy-in experience. Personally, I really like hearing about others' first-time experiences, as it gives me a little insight of what to expect (i currently only play up to $300 buy ins).Anyway, I would have done 2 things differently. First, i would have raised to between $9k and $10k preflop. 5k isn't nearly enough to get the BB to fold marginal hands. I didn't read anything into the cold call, other than the fact that he likely had a wide range of hands. Cold-calling $2k after already putting in $3050 is not unusual with marginal hands, especially after a mini-raise from a steal position (meaning, the bb might have viewed your mini-raise as strength--i.e., a bet that wants action).The second thing I would have done differently would have been to fold to the check raise. Yeah, yeah, i know that you know that i know the results. But as I was reading through the post, I paused to put the BB on a hand after the check raise. Most likely, IMO, were 33 or 77 for a flopped set. I didn't think 1010 or higher PP b/c I would have expected a re-raise preflop.Btw, i realize that the outcome would have been the same even if you raised more preflop. I still think that would have been the proper play.Bummer, but sounds like you did very well in your first big buy-in experience.

[Tap the Glass]

Sorry you're right. Min raise it was 6,000. And you're right that a larger raise would have been appropriate except that the table I was at, the min raise was the standard. I think this was because there were several good players at the table who really wanted the post flop play. It was strange, usually when I'm at a table in a tourney I consider myself the best player at the table (probably not right)=, but anyways). But at this table out of the 8 players, at least 3 and probably 4 players were much better than me. It makes it very tough to trust your instincts.

[holman3rd]

Tap the Glass said:

Sorry you're right. Min raise it was 6,000. And you're right that a larger raise would have been appropriate except that the table I was at, the min raise was the standard. I think this was because there were several good players at the table who really wanted the post flop play. It was strange, usually when I'm at a table in a tourney I consider myself the best player at the table (probably not right)=, but anyways). But at this table out of the 8 players, at least 3 and probably 4 players were much better than me. It makes it very tough to trust your instincts.

Very true about playing with tough opponents, but obviously we get better with experience. Playing against tougher and tougher opponents only makes you a better player. I trust this is just the first of many future entries at this level for you.

[Tap the Glass]

XXEddie said:

you knew he wasnt a cold caller, so why did you bet AND call the allin?doesnt make sense if you knew he was strong

I said that it SHOULD have set off alarms. Obviously it didn't, otherwise I wouldn't have bet or called the allin. That's one of the points of the posts. After that much time in the intense pressure a player like myself is probably going to make a mistake and I did.