Bounty Tourney on UB
by SluggerWV on 03/09/08
I play a lot of the lower buy in bounty tournaments on UltimateBet.com (UB). Last night's tourney was the first in awhile where I was able to play well and have a chance to get deep in the tourney. I was the early benificary of a great hand which tripled me up when my KK ended up all in pre-flop vs JJ, AQ and AT. When that held, I won a bounty and went from approximately 1400 chips to 4900 chips. A short time later I believe my failure to act aggressively, combined with some bad luck, combined to prevent me from having a monster stack.
In the first of these two hands, I was dealt 99 in middle position and the action was folded around to me. Blinds were 50/100 so I raised to 300. Given that my table image is usually tight, I was surprised when I got 3 callers.
The flop came 2c 5c Kh. I checked. This was a mistake in hindsight. The pot had 1850. The player to my left went all in for 905. It was folded around to me and I called. I thought it was a move by the short stack in response to my check. He turned over 66 and I was happy until a 6 came on the turn.
Had I bet the flop I believe the player would have likely folded as he couldn't have got me to lay down my hand and I would have avoided the bad beat.
The problem rolled over into the next hand as I was dealt TT. Believing that the table would feel that I was on tilt, I decided to limp. I felt that I wouldn't get anyone to fold overcards and might set myself up for a quick exit from a tourney I had been playing well in. Two players called my limp and the button, who had me covered, went all-in. The blinds folded and I was faced with a decision made more difficult because of my failure to raise initially, there were two players to still act behind me. I felt that I couldn't be any better than a coin flip with the one all in and if another called I would likely be dominated. I folded. The next player folded but the last called. The caller had QcJs. The all in had 88. I had folded the best hand. By trying to keep from making a mistake, I had made two. A J came on the flop but so did a T so I missed a chance to triple up.
I did end up finishing 17 0f 337. I always shoot for the final tables at UB because there is decent money in a run that deep, but I was disappointed that I didn't final table during this tourney.
I continue to try to play more aggressively when I don't have a great hand but am hamstrung by my fear of making a stupid play. I will continue to improve my game by plugging this leak. Thanks for reading and good luck at the tables.
Comments
SixWays says
WOW !!! That 99 hand is straight out of my hand history. That is the same situation that I run into all the time. You played it well just got turned over. As for the thinking you need to play more aggressively, I found that after running bad a few tournys I start to be too passive. Or if I'm uncomfortable due to playing out of my bankroll I play bad. I play alot better if I'm not scared to get knocked out. But thats just me. GL03/09/08
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