I was invited to play in several tournaments at the recent "Beat the Pro" series held at the Gold Coast as a columnist for Poker Player. The tournament personnel did a good job overall considering it was their first big tournament (the Gold Coast was a very popular room for $100 buys in tournaments in the past). Given that I have played in a number of major tournaments it would be unreasonable for me to compare this tournament to them. Tagg and Jack did a fine job and I really appreciate their hard work.
A number of the dealers were brand new having just completed dealer's school. Overall, they showed a lot of promise in becoming very good dealers in time. There were several experienced players at the table who assisted them during the more complex situations such as the correct way to make a side pot or to count down a large stack vs. large stack confrontation. Several of the players though were not so patient and it was quite evident that as a result they revealed a less than admirable state of mind. This actually makes playing against them easier. Going on tilt because of a dealer's inexperience actually improves your read on them.
The tournament was a fast structure with the blinds moving up every 20 minutes. The stack to blind ratio became a significant factor by the 3rd level for most of the players and a raise and take it or raise, reraise, and take it preflop strategy prevailed. There were a few confrontations early on that I did take advantage of but even doubling my stack in the first two levels was not a big enough factor to influence most of the opponents' play. Their relative short stacks made an all in strategy correct for the most part. An interesting confrontation in the third level was a major key in my outcome. A player to my left had a little bit of an ego and used intimidation tactics to try to run over the players, including me. He was experienced in tournament play and played a tight aggressive strategy. That did not mean that he was not capable of making an all in bluff or semi bluff. With the blinds at 15-30 everyone folded to me and I looked down at an ad-4d. I decided to raise it to t95. We both had doubled up our starting stack to over t3,000 (initial stack was t1,500). He had about t500 more than me. Surprisingly my opponent reraised me. Of course he was trying to intimidate me with his talk but I did not let that negatively influence my analysis. My opponent was certainly capable of reraising me with just two face cards, a bigger ace, and any pair. I needed a little more information and was not ready to fold my hand to him yet. His raise was to t300. I called for an additional t195 and we saw the flop which was jd-9c-4h. I checked and my opponent moved all in. Now I had to make another analysis of the situation.
Given his prior play of making all in moves on the flop or making pot sized bets I discovered a betting tell on him. When he bet the size of the pot he had a made hand. The times he moved all in I did not get to see his hands except for one time when I showed my A_Q and he revealed his A_K (we both had missed the ragged flop). Given this limited information I just knew my opponent had to hold one of two hands. He either had A-K or he had A_Q. I called his all in bet. Before he revealed his hand I informed the table that my opponent held one of these two hands. He showed his A_Q off suit and my pair of 4's held up.
As a result I had 3 times as many chips as everyone else at the table. I also devastated the one opponent who could have eliminated me and had position on me as well. This one hand was one of two key hands that I played and ended up winning. The next article will describe the second key hand as well as my strategy at the final two tables.
