Low Limit No Limit Part VII: How Not To Play a No Limit Hold Em Tournament

BY: Ashley Adams
Contact at: (Asha34@aol.com)
Author of Winning 7-Card Stud

I know, I know. I should know better. I've won these small tournaments and placed in the money many times. I should know better. I should. You're right.

But I acted like a true moron. I don't know what got into me. And it was an expensive mistake.

Here's what happened. I was in a $150 buy-in tournament with $100 rebuys and $100 add on. I had taken two rebuys and the add on. So I was in for $450. But now I was one of the final 20 out of 200 starters. 18 players would be paid. 18th-14th place paid $675 or so. First place paid $20,000.

Antes were at $200. Blinds were $1,000/2,000. I had $3,500 -- just struggling to hang on. In fairness, I had spent the last 2 hours getting one 9-5 off after 7-4 off. I had made zero plays for the pot with absolutely no cards. And my once prodigious stack was dwindling badly.

My opponents were about 85% typical no limit players these days. That is to say that they were a mix of timid callers and wild plungers. The other 15% seemed to be regular or otherwise solid players. I could be wrong by 5-10% or so in my estimates - but not by more than that. This was a soft assembly to be sure (so much softer than in the old days it seemed).

So I was actually quite proud of my place in the tournament. I just hoped to catch a strong hand or have other players knock each other out. If I could just survive the blind I'd be pretty likely to finish in the money. Hold On became my game more than Hold Em.

I anted and got the 9 of clubs and the 3 of diamonds in early position. No last stance here. I just folded. No one got knocked out Two more hands just like that. Still, 20 players.

I was then the big blind for $2,000 with about $900 remaining. If I didn't win some chips I'd be all-in from the small blind in my next hand. I was dealt 7d-5d. One player raised to $5,000 and there was one caller. While I surely was a big dog against the raiser and probably equally so against the caller, I figured that I was getting three way action when most hands were usually heads up. So, knowing that I'd be all in on the next hand from the small blind anyway, I called for my remaining $900.

Sure enough, the poker gods were on my side. The flop was 7-7-A. I was first to go but was all in so the pre-flop aggressor bet $20,000. The other player folded to me. We turned over our hands. He had A-K, making a pair of Aces, and failed to improve. I had trip 7s and took down $7,700. Woo Hoo! I was back in it having tripled up. I was definitely going to make the money now - and maybe I had a shot at some of the bigger money.

The very next hand, from the small blind, I was dealt K-2 off. A player in mid-position raised to $8,000. He got a caller and I folded. Hand after that, when I had the button, I had 5-2off. One raiser to $6,000 and everyone folded to me. I folded in turn.

Now comes the big hand for me. I was the cutoff guy. I was dealt K-10 hearts. Big blind is $2,000. He gets, uncharacteristically, 3 callers. It's now up to me. I figure that here's my chance to pick up some easy money. These callers must be weak. I'm not very strong with only K-10 suited - a hand that is well-dominated by a better King or even a strong Ace. But since they've just called, if I raise all in with my newly invigorated stack, well I'll get them to fold, collect their $8,000 plus the small blind who'll probably fold and the $2,000 in antes. That would be a total of $11,000.

So I raised all-in with my remaining $6,100 and sat back, ready to take down the $11,000 pot.

But it was not to be. The Big Blind called me with his A-Q and took down the pot when the flop brought a pair of Queens.

A player was knocked out on the other table at the same time. As I was getting up and walking away the tournament director added insult to injury by announcing, a bit loudly I thought, "Congratulations, you've all made the money."

Had I been inexperienced I probably would have sulked about how unlucky I had been that my great play ran into a guy with an unusually strong hand in the Big Blind. But I would have been totally wrong. I wasn't unlucky. I played the hand awfully. Though I had somehow managed to survive a terrible string of bad hands by getting lucky in the big blind, I then completely squandered that good fortune by being ridiculously aggressive when my stack size and the lateness of the tournament should have dictated utter and complete caution if not inertness.

Here's the lesson I learned that I'd like to share. Late in the tournament, when you're short on chips, your number one objective - in fact your only objective - must be survival. My risk was infinite - death. My gain was practically insignificant. Had I ventured and won I'd have nearly tripled my stack. But I'd still be short stacked and unlikely to finish much higher than 12th or so. The money was only marginally better than finishing last in the money. But if I ventured and lost I'd be out with nothing to show for my efforts, down $450 for the tournament.. By only looking at the positive possibility of my play, without considering the risk alongside it I committed a fatal mistake. It is a mistake that many no limit ring game players make when they sojourn over to a tournament. They fail to properly value the finality of losing.

In retrospect, my error seems obvious. I only had a slightly better than average hand. But in the moment, having just gone from being on my tournament deathbed to actually having something to play with, I succumbed to the temptation to make a play with a mediocre holding. But even with a stronger hand I would have made an error by betting, since the consequences of losing were so catastrophic and the advantage of winning was so small.

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