Out of the Darkness

So my local casino has a $70 buy-in tournament every Thursday night. Three tables, 3000 in starting chips, and a pretty quick blind structure. While fast-structured tournaments such as this one obviously increase the influence of luck on results over skill, I think they are a good opportunity to help a player develop their short-stack play (as in this tournament, you are pretty much always short stacked after a couple of blind increases).

After a solid first 9 months playing in this tournament, I'd been running bad for about 2 months or so. Bad cards, bad beats, some bad play - and after this had been going on for some time - a loss of confidence.

This Thursday seemed to be no different. After the first four levels (25/50 - 50/100 - 100/200 - 200/400) I had played precisely ONE hand. Normally I play a little looser in the first couple of levels - limping with suited connectors or small pairs and trying to see cheap flops. Unfortunately, I just wasn't given the opportunity at my starting table: a maniac kept raising nearly every hand pre-flop, and a solid player to my right was hitting good cards and raising every other time. In addition, there were a couple of calling stations to my left whom I figured would probably call if I tried to steal their blinds. So I folded for pretty much the first hour, raising once (on the very last hand of the 200/400 level) with 77 on the button to win the blinds. At the first break I had about 2600 left in my stack.

We came back at 400/800 and after catching nothing for a few more minutes, I found AJ in middle position and pushed. When a short-stacked player on the button called, and an early position limper also called I didn't figure I had much hope (Cloutier rightly calls AJ the biggest trap hand in Hold'em - when an A on the flop you are often outkicked, when a J falls you could be up against an overpair, it can't stand a re-raise, and when you raise with it and get called it is often by a better hand). Anyway, my two opponents, determined to prove Cloutier wrong, turned over A2 and A5, and after floping a J and surviving a flush draw against the A5, I was up to 6500.

The blinds then jumped up to 700/1400 (ridiculous, I know), I was on the BB when UTG limped and the SB paid the extra 700. I looked down to see 45 offsuit and checked my option (the UTG player was pretty loose and could well have called if I had tried to push pre-flop). It didn't matter - the flop came out with a beautiful 355. I checked, UTG bet 1400, SB folded, and I check-raised all-in for 5100. UTG thought for a long time - there was two hearts on the board and I thought he may have had a flush draw. Eventually he folded and I breathed a sigh of relief, my stack now up to 10000 (I know I should have been hoping for a call, but there comes a time, after continually being outdrawn on, when you've taken repeated bad beats without respite, when you are happy to take down pots without a showdown - no matter how far ahead of your opponent you may be).

After the BB special I went card dead again (or remained card dead), and by the time we were down to the final 10 I had 6000 in chips after losing a couple of blinds (which were now at 1000/2000). I had about 5 minutes left before the next blind increase to find a hand and push. If the blinds got to 1500 - 3000, it was obviously going to be difficult getting the BB to fold to my bet. But, to be frank, I was happy just to have made the final table. I'd been through my worst run ever with live tournaments recently and by this time of the night I was usually at the bar trying to persuade myself - through the medium of beer - that it was the donkey plays of others and not my own mistakes that was causing these early exits.

There were a number of short stacks at the table and they went to war immediately - on the first hand UTG, and an early position player, went all in - I folded A9 and someone after me went all in as well. The three players then turned over, respectively, 72o (nice), KT and QJ - I had folded the best hand, but KT ended up hitting trips, and I can't see a call with A9 being correct in that spot in any case.

At the 2000/4000 level things were looking pretty grim - I found myself with only 3500 left after I paid the BB. A woman in middle position limped (she was new to the game - she could have had anything but a suspected she had something solid) and the SB folded. I looked down at Q7 and checked - I wasn't going to make her fold by pushing pre-flop after she had already limped for 4000 . I did feel, however, that she would not bet unless she hit the flop and could well fold if she missed and I bet at it - even if the pot odds demanded she had to call (she was still learning the game - it was the first time she had made it to the final table). I checked the flop of J63, and she checked behind. When a second J hit the turn I immediately threw in my last 3500 - I knew it couldn't have hit her, and let's face it, I had no other options - she folded straight away. I raked in the 13500 chip pot and was able to breathe again.

The next hand the action was folded around to me in the small blind. I looked down at Q5s (in spades) I considered calling the BB as I knew the player to my left wouldn't make a move without a premium hand. As I picked up some chips to call, I heard the BB emit a little groan of disappointment - so I immediately grabbed the rest of my chips and pushed.

He called instantly - I laughed thinking he had trapped me and got up from the table as I flipped my cards over (we were about equal in chips). The speed of his call made me think he had a decent pocket pair, maybe even something horrible (for me) like AQ. When he did turn over his cards I could not believe what I saw... Q2 of clubs! I couldn't believe my luck and sat back down - the dealer, in turn, lay down a perfect flop: a five and two spades, by the turn my opponent was drawing dead, and I doubled up to about 26000 in chips (later he said he called 'cause he thought I was stealing - sure, ok, but Q2?).

The final table had soon thinned out to about 4 players. The woman I had bluffed earlier was still in - the other two players were good tournament regulars. I busted the lady when I raised with A9 and she was forced to call on the BB with 96 as most of her chips were already in the pot. I raised with decent hands a couple more times to win the blinds and semi-bluffed with a four-flush to work my stack up to over 50 000 (of 90 000 in play). I knocked another player out when he was forced to go in from the small blind with K3 (he was short-stacked) and I was forced to call from the BB with A6 (inspiring stuff). I won the 60 - 40 and was heads up with about a 2 - 1 chip lead over a young player called Alex - she played a good game, and while she was pretty tight on a full table, I had seen her make moves in the past when it was down to either short handed or heads up.

I tried limping on the first heads up hand with T7s and she promptly pushed all-in. Fair enough. Clearly I had two options against this opponent, and limping wasn't one of them. We traded blinds for a while. Whenever Alex raised I would have trash cards and therefore an easy fold - and every time I raised she threw her cards in the muck pretty quick. After this went on for a while and the blinds had escalated to 5000/10000, I knew we were getting to a point were I would have to push with a marginal hand to try to take down one of the blinds. Alex had a little under 30 000 by this time and losing one BB would pretty much cripple her. Just as I was going over this in my mind I found myself with 99 in the SB (the best starting hand I had had all tournament) and pushed. She said "I think you've got me beat but I call" - and flipped over 88. Not much she could do in that spot. The flop, turn and river didn't bring any surprises and thank god, I had broken my losing streak.

So I won a t-shirt and 750 bucks. No complaints there.

More importantly was a feeling that my exile in poker purgatory might be coming to an end. I shouldn't jinx myself, but perhaps the light of the poker gods will shine down benelovently for a time.

...

One point that should be made about short stack tournaments such as this - while everyone talks up aggression as THE key poker trait in NL hold'em (and they may well be right), I don't think patience gets the credit it deserves. Being able to control your frustration - and picking the right spots to play - is crucial. I see a lot of players who confuse aggression with stupid bluffs and macho obstinence - people who can't lay down a hand and who think the only way forward is coming over the top. I see this online, on TV and (less so) in live play.

I guess TV is where a lot of players learn this mindless, shove-all-the-chips-in-the-middle type play. But I also think perhaps it's a male thing (and this is obviously a game played predominately by males) - a male ego thing, that is. I don't want to overemphasise this point, but, in particular with younger male players, a simian, chest beating inability to slow down, be patient, fold a hand, and yes, back down once in a while, leads them right to the rail.