Played at Bentwater tonight. Started off with a crazy laggy table with 2 really bad players who played every pot. I chose to sit back and play my big hands for max value and not get caught in a bunch of marginal spots or try to bluff them. Good strategy, but I unfortunately had really unplayable cards. They both eventually were knocked out and I was able to make a few key double ups and brought my stack up to 55K at the 1k/2k level. At Bentwater, that is a really nice stack.
Overall I felt like I was playing my B game most of the night before that. Not based on the hands I was playing but the reads I was making. I wasn't fully engaged in each hand and I was feeling a little sick/cloudy headed. In some hands I was thinking through all the factors and some I wasn't. One hand that I fully thought through was right after I doubled up shoving AQ for 9bb. An early passive player limped 7 handed for 1k, Snow (with a big stack) made it 3,500. It folded to me in the small blinds and I had ATs with about 22K. I was still stacking chips and was thinking through my options. I felt like I was ahead of Snow because I know he was going into big stack bully mode. I thought about folding since I was out of position, but I was pretty confident I was ahead. I then thought about calling, but again being out of position sucks and I'm just playing my cards and "hoping" to hit a flop. I decided that shoving was optimal since a normal raise would commit 1/2 my stack. I also felt that with my image, I could get him to fold a small pair or even AJ. I shoved and scooped the pot.
My bustout hand was kinda of crappy and I felt like this was an example of playing my B game and not fully thinking through the hand. I probably thought through 90% of it. We are 5 handed on the final table bubble and Brian Sullivan limps utg for 2k. I have KT and decide to be aggressive and raise to 8k. Brian often limps here with hands like QJ, J9, etc. Brian looks really annoyed and decides to call. At this point I put him also on a weak Ace. The flop is J97 with two spades and he checks. There is 18K in the pot because there was a dead small blind, so I c-bet to 11K. I'm not sure c-betting is the best here because it hits a lot of his range. Not that c-betting is always wrong here, but I felt like I wasn't playing my A game because I blindly c-bet instead of thinking through the optimal line in the hand, stack sizes, etc. I just bet hoping to win. Brian calls and the turn is a blank. He checks. There is 40K in the pot now and I have about 28K behind. I considered shoving, but thought he might have a J. I also thought a flush draw with an Ace was in his range as well. I decided to check behind. The river is the 8 of spades giving me a straight. Brian checks. Here is where I misplayed the hand. I did put him on a range of hands which included a J, maybe a 9 or a flush draw. When he checks the river I thought he didn't have a flush although it was still possible. After thinking through a bit, I decide to shove because..."I have a straight. Maybe he'll call if he has a J. I don't want to lose out on a value bet here." The problem with shoving here is that I'm only getting a better hand to call me. Brian also sees there is a flush out there and would fold in fear that I had it. He could also have QT here for a better straight and checked, but would still call because the pot got so big. So while I thought through the hand, I didn't consider that value shoving had no value and that he only calls with hand that beats me. He could have a small flush or he could even be inducing me to bet. It turns out he had As3s and knocked me out.
So overall, I played decent. Definitely not a C game tournament, but not A game either. In the last hand I needed to think through his entire range to determine if I can get called with a worse hand...not "I have a straight, so I should shove". Why am I shoving if all worse hands fold?
Good lesson learned tonight.
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