Cardzilla presents …

There are many situations that present themselves during a tournament, where, if you don’t make the right decision, you’re gone. I have been focusing on a few problems that have come up in my recent tournaments, and one in particular has knocked me out the most: QQ in early position, early in the tournament, or later in the tournament with an average stack. Some of the things you have to consider are how much to open with, what to do if raised in front of you, what to do if re-raised, how big are the stacks behind you, how desperate are the players behind you, etc. It is a very tough situation to be in. Below are some of the options you have when faced with the dreaded QQ in early position:

• - If first to act, raise 3-5x the blinds. Most of the time, I like this strategy, but I get into trouble when faced with a re-raise or a call from a good player.
• - Push. Depending on the situation, this could be OK, but unfortunately, the only call you will get (usually) is from someone that can beat you. So, you risk too much to win just the blinds.
• - Fold. This is absolutely out of the question, UNLESS there is a significant raise in front of you and your stack is large enough to wait for a better chance because you are close to the money.
• - Limp in. Definitely not my favorite, but it does have an advantage in that you can get away cheap (hopefully) if faced with some serious action behind you.

The problem for me lately is I cannot get away from flops that are seemingly harmless (J high or worse flop). I’ve successfully thinned the field by my raise, but there is one player left that either out-flops me or has me with AA or KK. So, what’s the answer? As always, the answer is “it depends”, but more often than not, it is ME who cannot fold QQ, even with some heavy signs that they have me beat. Here is a list of my latest situations with QQ.  See if you can find a way out of these:

• - I raised 4x, folded to the button who re-raises to 10x. The player is seemingly tight, but I had just sat down and didn’t know the players well. Flop came 9xx. I went all in, he called with AK and spiked the A on the river.
• - I raised 5x, folded to the small blind who re-raises to 12x. This player is very aggressive and I’ve played with him many times. Hard to read. I called and the flop came Jxx. He pushes, and I call, but he turns over AA.
• - Raise in early position, I re-raise from middle position, and a late position player pushes. I just sat down, have an average stack, don’t know anything about anyone, and they have me covered. I call and they turn over KK.

Poker can be SO grueling, tiring, and time consuming if played properly.  If you are not prepared to put the time and effort into it, you might as well not play.  I honestly did not expect to last very long with my horrible luck lately, so I decided to enter into the 7:15pm $500 NL at Mandalay Bay, which was hosting a series of WPT events.  It was my wife’s birthday, so I decided to get a suite at Luxor, have a nice romantic dinner, play a little poker while she went to the Mamma Mia show (you wouldn’t catch me dead in there), then relax for the evening.  Boy, was I in for an unexpected marathon.

I felt kind of bad when I finally reached the final table at 1:15am because it was her birthday, but was happy to hear that she had some luck at the video poker machines, liked the show she saw, and was having a blast.  I am so lucky to have an understanding wife when it comes to poker.  But that was just the beginning.

I had come to the final table as chip leader.  One guy was nicknaming me “Superman” because the next closest stack had 1/3 the chips I did, and I was lucky enough to run into some monster hands, and people were just, basically, dumping their chips to me.  Then, I went completely card dead for the next 3 hours!  I just sat back and watched everyone kill each other.  When it got down to 3 left, one player resorted to either folding or moving all-in.  This strategy stayed the same even when he took the chip lead!  I told him that that strategy works every time, but once.  But, he was persistent until he tried it once too often.  I limped with AKo in the small blind, thinking that there was a good chance he would push.  Sure enough, I heard “I’m all in”.  So, with authority and happiness, I said “I CALL”, and was elated to see him turn over 52o, LOL.  I just don’t’ understand this strategy.  Why commit all your chips when the only hand that will call you is one that will probably beat you?  To my horror, the flop came 2QJ rainbow.  For once, the poker gods were nice to me and blessed me with a T on the river.  He was pretty upset, but I just said “With that strategy, what did you expect was going to happen?”  It ended 3 hands later when the runner-up ran into my KK and he called all his chips off with QTs.  9 1/2 hours later, I was finally going to enjoy the Jacuzzi suite.  A Jacuzzi never felt better.