It’s been a while since I’ve written an update here, since my play has been limited exclusively to playing for futures and micro stakes cash games and tournaments, plus about fifty dollars worth of online play. It just seems like it’s tough to get a good game together without a week after week presence and a large tournament to draw people in. I’ve been doing well at the games I have been playing, whether through good play or excellent luck I’ll leave that for any potential commenters to decide. It’s just that for one reason or another I’ve chosen not to share any observations I might have made. Fortunately I finally found one that I will share.
There is a long held belief in no-limit holdem tournament play that it jinxes a player to refuse to negotiate a deal when it gets down to the last two or three people, especially when, as in the case I’ll describe here, it’s a winner-take-all tournament, where in the absence of a deal one player gets all the money. I’ve never believed in jinxes, but one player did indeed cost himself in a small stakes tournament I participated in Saturday night by refusing to make a deal. As these stories usually go, the player who would not make a deal was the next out, and the remaining players (myself and one other) split up the money. His reason for not making a deal was that he was too tired to play another tournament anyway, so he might as well finish the one he was in all the way to the end. I found that to be honorable enough, but I could tell by his indecision on the matter that he also really wanted to take down the whole pot, and was very interested in the way the tournament might play out. He had a pretty good stack of chips, about three quarters as many as I did, enough that the blinds weren’t starting to hurt yet at any rate. The deal I proposed was justly weighted in my direction with me taking sixty dollars of the one hundred forty dollar pot leaving the other eighty for him and the third player to divide however they saw fit. Considering that I had him out-stacked about four to three and the other player about three to one, it seemed pretty reasonable. On the next few hands I took a few chips from him. The critical moment came when I held A5 of spades and opened for two big blinds. He called. The flop was KJx, maybe a 7 or an 8. I can’t remember. I bluffed at the pot, and after a split second of hesitation he called. At this point I put him on a jack, and I knew he’d be difficult to force out of the pot. The turn was another K though. He checked it to me. After seeing the second K fall I thought, “I believe I can sell him that I just tripped up, so what is my best bluffing strategy?” I bet about half the pot, which was about what I thought he might think I was betting my three kings to stop a draw at a flush. Unfortunately, he called again. I knew the only way that I could win was to get him out on the river. I was convinced he had a jack in his hand, and was going to call me again if I bluffed again. The river was a blank, not making the possible flush. After he checked, I thought about it a moment, and realized that with the chips he had remaining he would still have a chance to win the tournament if he folded now. Of course if he had to call for all his chips he would be out and on his way home. After a moment’s thought about his demeanor and the fact that he REALLY wanted to win the tournament, I decided to fire the last barrel. I bet all-in. He thought about it for a while, but I knew that he couldn’t call what should have looked like trip kings with nothing but a jack. I knew from the way he refused to make a deal that he really wanted to win, and that he felt that he was confident that he could win. He finally folded. The decision to make the big bluff on the river is one that I rarely make. There’s just so little chance of success after being called all the way down. Had I been in his position I might have called, because after all, there’s always another tournament if I lose, but he was going home after this one was over, and I just didn’t think he was ready to quit yet.
I felt bad about showing him the bluff after he folded, but it was just a few hands later that he got all his chips in against a legitimate hand and that was that.
There is a long held belief in no-limit holdem tournament play that it jinxes a player to refuse to negotiate a deal when it gets down to the last two or three people, especially when, as in the case I’ll describe here, it’s a winner-take-all tournament, where in the absence of a deal one player gets all the money. I’ve never believed in jinxes, but one player did indeed cost himself in a small stakes tournament I participated in Saturday night by refusing to make a deal. As these stories usually go, the player who would not make a deal was the next out, and the remaining players (myself and one other) split up the money. His reason for not making a deal was that he was too tired to play another tournament anyway, so he might as well finish the one he was in all the way to the end. I found that to be honorable enough, but I could tell by his indecision on the matter that he also really wanted to take down the whole pot, and was very interested in the way the tournament might play out. He had a pretty good stack of chips, about three quarters as many as I did, enough that the blinds weren’t starting to hurt yet at any rate. The deal I proposed was justly weighted in my direction with me taking sixty dollars of the one hundred forty dollar pot leaving the other eighty for him and the third player to divide however they saw fit. Considering that I had him out-stacked about four to three and the other player about three to one, it seemed pretty reasonable. On the next few hands I took a few chips from him. The critical moment came when I held A5 of spades and opened for two big blinds. He called. The flop was KJx, maybe a 7 or an 8. I can’t remember. I bluffed at the pot, and after a split second of hesitation he called. At this point I put him on a jack, and I knew he’d be difficult to force out of the pot. The turn was another K though. He checked it to me. After seeing the second K fall I thought, “I believe I can sell him that I just tripped up, so what is my best bluffing strategy?” I bet about half the pot, which was about what I thought he might think I was betting my three kings to stop a draw at a flush. Unfortunately, he called again. I knew the only way that I could win was to get him out on the river. I was convinced he had a jack in his hand, and was going to call me again if I bluffed again. The river was a blank, not making the possible flush. After he checked, I thought about it a moment, and realized that with the chips he had remaining he would still have a chance to win the tournament if he folded now. Of course if he had to call for all his chips he would be out and on his way home. After a moment’s thought about his demeanor and the fact that he REALLY wanted to win the tournament, I decided to fire the last barrel. I bet all-in. He thought about it for a while, but I knew that he couldn’t call what should have looked like trip kings with nothing but a jack. I knew from the way he refused to make a deal that he really wanted to win, and that he felt that he was confident that he could win. He finally folded. The decision to make the big bluff on the river is one that I rarely make. There’s just so little chance of success after being called all the way down. Had I been in his position I might have called, because after all, there’s always another tournament if I lose, but he was going home after this one was over, and I just didn’t think he was ready to quit yet.
I felt bad about showing him the bluff after he folded, but it was just a few hands later that he got all his chips in against a legitimate hand and that was that.
posted by Brinton at 11:09 AM
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