Ugarte's Poker Grovel #34, or Earning Minimum WageI played a multi this morning on Party Poker - the first real money online multi that I’ve ever played. It started well and then crashed spectacularly because of one stupid play.
There were 971 entrants into the $5+1 multi that started at 10:30AM. Top 100 places paid.
The first two hours were not completely uneventful, as I had won enough to keep myself comfortably ahead of the average stack in the tournament and close to the chip lead at my table. My starting table was actually very tight - there were 350 people eliminated overall before a single person was eliminated from my table.
The only play of consequence early on was when I knocked out AK with A9s by sucking out and hitting a 9 on the river. I’d feel worse about it, but I had him outchipped 5:1 at the time, so the call wasn’t very expensive. (He didn’t see it that way. Comments?) Otherwise, my stack was built by taking advantage of the tightness at the table by being selectively aggressive.
After two hours, 800 (!) players had been eliminated. I had about 2x the average stack with T8000. I limped in from EP with 44 and. The player on my left (Runaway_Jim) made a minimum raise. Three people called, including me. The flop was 6-4-3 rainbow. I checked my set, Dadieo went all-in for his last 4K and I went over the top all-in, convincing Runaway_Jim and the fourth player to fold. My set held up against Dadieo’s x-6, he was knocked out in 170th and I was up to T14000 (roughly 6th in chips overall).
Runaway_Jim claims that he mucked AA. Assume he is telling the truth. Should I have just called Dadieo’s all-in, hoping for a call from Jim, or was reraising to push him out the right move? An A did not come on the turn or river, so my set would have held up, but that doesn’t seem to be the point.
Interlude for regrets: (1) Very early, I mucked 33 in the cutoff to a 4xBB preflop raise. The flop was x-3-3. Shortly after taking the chip lead at the table, I threw away 66 to a similar preflop raise. Flop, 3-4-5; Turn, 2, River 5. The hand was won with a KJ. I think I played both hands correctly, but still…
I let someone else strangle themselves when I flopped top two pair with KQs and just check-called him until he was all-in, but that was the extent of my adventurous play. I never got above T16000 and by the time disaster struck, I was probably only barely in the top 20 in chips.
Disaster: I had A8 in LP. UTG went all-in for his last 500 chips. I called, as did the BB. I underbet the pot on the flop (it was insignificant) and the BB called. I had the BB outchipped by ~T3500. When an A hit on the turn, he bet out 2000. I put him on AJ. I don’t know why, putting him on a better hand than me, I decided to push him all-in. I think I decided that I had too much invested in the pot already (stop shaking your head) and I figured that the only way to win was to get him to lay down his hand. (I said stop shaking your head.) What I didn’t think about was that he was far more pot-committed than I was. If I was unwilling to lay down my A, why did I think he would lay down his? He didn’t. He had AJ. He took almost all of my chips.
I went all in from the BB the next time it came around (BB was at 1000) holding K5. I was called by the KQ, who had limped in from the button. Neither of us improved (unless you count the K on the turn; I don’t) and I was out in 84th.
To tell the truth, the heading of this post isn’t quite true. 84th paid, but it paid a whopping $9.71. I played for over 3 hours for $1.24/hr. And now I will remember: it only takes one stupid hand. (The guy who took most of my stack lasted until 19th. 19th paid $33.99.)
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