So far I have not spoken at all about tournaments, even though I have been playing quite a few of them recently. The tournaments I play most often are $22.00 180-man SNGs on Stars, the daily $50,0000 ($55 buyin), $3.30+R $25,000 Gtd. on Stars, and random other tournaments that I are there at the right time for me.
Generally, I have done well, though my sample size is very small at the moment (only 95 MTTs in my recent databa<x>se). I cash in roughly 20% of large field MTTs and over the 95 MTTs I have played, I am up about $1100 at an ROI of 56%. The reason for this post, however, is that I should have done a lot better. Today's incident at $11+R $45,000 Gtd. on Stars is what prompted me to make this post.
I picked up a few good hands during the rebuy round and managed to take down 2 big pots early on, shooting me up to 20,000 chips by the end of the first hour. I added another 2,000 chips during the addon break and entered the freeze-out stage with a stack of 22,000, ranked in the top 30 of the remaining 1000 pla<x>yers. Over the course of the next two hours, I greadually built up my stack by being selectively aggressive and getting my good hands paid off. At 3rd break, I was sitting on 96,000 chips, and with about 150 people left (top 225 paid), I was 18th in chip position. Easy coasting to the top, right?
After the break the blinds were 800/1600/150. With over 50 big blinds, I had plenty of time to continue being selectively aggressive while waiting to catch good hands. Instead the following takes place:
1. A pla<x>yer at my table whose stack was about same size as mine and who has been playing 22/20 and getting more and more aggressive as his stack grew, raised from UTG+1. I found myself holding TT in the blind. Now, when you are a big stack this deep and facing an opponent whose stack is big enough to bust you, TT is NOT a PF hand. The correct move, and one that I will make 4 times out of 5 is to call and continue playing post-flop. Instead, I 3bet, making it 25,000. The villain immediately pushes all-in, leaving me no choice but to fold, as his range there means I would either be flipping against 2 overcards or be dominated by a bigger pair. I fold. 25,000 down the drain, without even getting a chance at the flop.
2. I am down to 65,000 after the TT hand. Blinds have gone up and are now 1000/2000/200. I still I have over 30 big blinds and have plenty of time to play selectively. the villain from the TT hand, thanks to my 25k is sitting comfortably on 125k chips 2 seats to my left and keep turning up the aggression when I pick up QTo 2 off the button, with said villain on the button. I raise to 5,000, the villain 3 bets me to 15,000. Easy fold, no problem. BUT, just as I am thinking that, the warrior in me wakes up and pushes all-in. The villain calls with AK, my QT does not catch the 1-in-3 chance to beat the AK and I bust around 100th place, with about $100 to show for my troubles.
This has happened to me several times in the past. I am doing well and can take my time and play my own game. Instead, I make a rash decision or two that go against my typical selective st<x>yle and bust out way before I should. So my goal for the next few weeks is to control this emotional rush I get and keep playing my game throughout the tournament. Every time I feel this emotional rush hit (I have learned to recognize it) I will make a conscious choice to slow down and rethink my play before acting.
This weekend I will be playing several tournaments where I put this idea to the test:
1. The monthly 100k freeroll for Gold Star+ VIP
2. The weekly 20k 100FPP freeroll
3. The daily 50k $55
4. $3.30+R
5. $11+R
6. $22.00 - 180 Man SNGs maybe
I will make a post detailing how these go. I do well in tournaments right now, but I need to eliminate a few leaks to take it to the next level.
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