A Couple Interesting Home Games

Results: 8 hours played; up $115 (doesn't count towards bankroll)

While the computer was down two weekends ago, I played a home game to keep me sharp. It was a ten player, $10 buy-in no limit hold 'em tournament; after the first one was finished, we played a second six-handed $10 tournament. They were interesting games, but I lost both.

On the first hand of the first tournament, I was dealt AKs in middle position. Everyone limped to me ($100 bb), and I raised $500. A few hands to my left, someone went all in, and I called. He had pocket 10's. By the river, I would win with a 10 for a straight, any heart for a flush, or an A or K for top pair (16 outs or 1.88 to 1), but I never improved.

In the second tournament, I made it to third place, but only the top two payed. The guy who came in first place misplayed a couple hands to let the short stack stay in the game, and he ended up coming in second place. It was a fun evening, but it left me with a bad taste in my mouth even though I only lost $20.

Last night, I played in another home game. We had six players, and played 3 $10 buy-in no limit tournaments with one rebuy allowed during the first hour. I won all three tournaments for a total of $135.

I won the the first one (no rebuy) playing pretty conservatively. After winning the first tournament, I played very loose in the second tournament and eventually had to rebuy. At times, my aggressive play hacked off the other players. I called a fairly large bet with 87s pre-flop (the bet felt like a bluff), and ended up beating two pair with a flush; the loser was pissed at my call. In the third tournament, I played pretty much by the book, but the cards just kept falling for me.

Over the course of the two evenings, was involved in some play that I thought I should share. Most of this is common sense, but each could be the difference between winning and losing a close tournament. Maybe these will help someone else:

• If someone goes all in, check down unless you have the nuts
There were four of us in the hand, and the short stack went all in. After one check, the chip leader raised (fairly large) and one of the others folded. The short-stack won the hand and the folding player folded the winning hand (he would have drawn a flush). Unless you have the nuts, you're better off having as many players as possible draw against the single player to get him out of the tournament.


• The goal of the tournament is to get each of the other players to lose all of their money
The short stack was in the hand with one other player who bet enough to put the short stack in with 90% of his chips. He said, "I'll leave you a few." The short stack lost the hand but lived to come in second place in the tournament. This seems so obvious, but you absolutely must put someone all in when you get the chance (see the next point). If you think you have a good enough hand to win a big bet, make it a little bigger and get make the other player decide if his hand is worth losing the tournament over.


• When you're big stack, put the small stack all-in at every opportunity
In my second tournament last night, there were two of us left in, and I had a huge chip lead over the other player (I had thousands and he had a couple hundred). I made him go all-in on every hand he wanted to play; he beat me (and doubled up) four hands in a row, but I won the fifth. No matter what he draws pre-flop, he's not going to win every showdown. If you dominate enough, use your chips to push him out.


• If two players go all in or nearly all in, get out of their way and let one lose
There were three of us left late in the tournament, and I was chip-leader by a large margin and big blind with pocket nines. The dealer went all in, and the small blind called (he barely covered). I thought about calling as well with a chance to almost win the tournament with the one hand, but decided to get out of their way. One showed AA and the other pocket tens. The flop came J95 giving me the winning set, but the turn was an ace. Had I stayed in, I would have been short stacked to the winner and probably would have come in second to him in the tournament. Since one of these guys was going to be out or nearly so, it was a much better play to sit out with almost any hand pre-flop.

If all goes well, I'll play some online poker this evening. Maybe my luck from last night will hold up.

posted by Kent @ 9:10 AM