One Flies In, One Flies Away

Home tournament again last Friday. Finished 8th, top 5 got paid. I need to do something to step up in this game and cash. I seem to be able to make the final table by playing with selective aggression but never seem to be able to make the plays that will get me to a powerful stack size while there.

A few hands to recap:

4th hand of the tournament, 25/50 (opening stack: 1500). I look down at 8c9c and raise to 150 in middle position, get one caller, then a guy in the small blind reraises to 375. Another 225 into 725(big blind folded) and I make the call and the other caller folds. Pot is now 950 and we're heads up. Flop is a bonanza for me 8,8,3. He leads out for 600 and I reraise all in for another 525. Again, with two rebuys allowed I know he's going to call as there is no benefit to folding and playing short stacked. He even says to me "I have to call you," and I expect he knew he was behind. We flip and he shows K,K no flush draw. Turn is a brick, river brings him another K and fills up his boat. Rough. I would have loved to have been an early chip leader and to start to lean on people and loosen right up.

Rebuy. Get A,8 suited right away and think that I don't like it so much but I have to play it so I raise and sure enough end up losing even more when the flop misses me by a mile and my c-bet gets reraised all in. Now 40% of my second rebuy is gone and I know I have to tighten up and either wait for cards or the right spots to shove over the top. I pull of the latter a couple of times and rake in a few hundred each time, slowly trying to build back up. I give some chips back trying to make something with a pair of threes but then finally wake up to a few hands. I shove with 10,10 and get a call by a guy who didn't want to and his Ace/rag combo goes down. Then I get K,K and unfortunately my raise draws no callers but I pull in the blinds. Then at 200/400 I get A,10 suited, raise it up to 1600, get reraised all in (I'm at 3200), another person on a short stack calls and I realize I'm priced in and with a rebuy in my pocket there is no sense in folding into the big pot and being left with 1600 when I can rebuy for another 1500 so I call. Dominated by A,Q on the big stack and 9,9 on the short one. No flush falls for me and a 9 hits the turn and I bust again.

Rebuy #2. Short stack blinds at 200/400 and about to raise up. I shove almost right away and my A,J suited rivers me a flush to double up. I decide to be patient even though I need to accumulate chips, probably a bad decision, but I was hoping to get some decent cards and lop some chips off the table chip leader who had more than the rest of us combined. Finally after hovering for awhile I reraise all in with J,J and get a call by shortstacked A,9 and the jacks hold up and give me enough chips to not sweat the ever-increasing blinds for a couple rounds, as well as knock out the player that allows us to consolidate to the final table.

Final table. Well, I just played awfully here. I barely made any moves. In fact, I can only remember playing two hands. First, at 300/600 I raised to 2000 with A,Q suited and got no callers, including the big blind who folded 5,5. He had me outchipped by maybe a couple thousand but didn't want to play for most of his stack with that hand. Not sure if I wanted him to either but since the play was aggressive at the table and I was not making moves a race was probably the best I could hope for. Then a few hands later in the small blind at 300/600 I outthought myself and felt the burn of knowing I made an awful play. After three limpers into the pot and with my stack at about 4400, I look at K,5 off. Another 300 to call but the big blind to my left has just used his last rebuy and I feel certain if I limp he will shove for his 1500 and I decide I don't want to play K,5 for 1500 so I fold. Of course, he doesn't shove, only checks his option and the flop comes king high, which ends up would have been the winning hand. Just brutal. The very next hand on the button, I fold J, 8 off under a raise and the flop comes J,8,x and the raiser shoves all in and my burn is gettting worse by the second. So I think you know how this song is going to end. A couple hands later I find K,9 of diamonds, raise it up to 2000, get reraised all in for my last 2400 and after checking the time (blinds went up to 400/800 right after this hand started) decided to make the call. I had had success earlier with King high when going all in, and I generally (not always) would rather do it with a hand like this than with a weak ace but in typical fashion, he flips over the painkillers (A,A). I pick up an inside straight draw (Q) on the flop, a flush draw on the turn but nothing materializes and I'm out again.

I have to mix up my game more and make the necessary adjustments at levels like 100/200 in this game to accumulate chips. Playing back at people in earlier levels with rebuys available usually draws calls and in later levels usually draws shoves. But I am handcuffing myself with tight play in all rounds and need to fix that, and quickly.