How not to play in a Rivers Tournament...Probably...

I've made it a priority now(New Years Resolution, anyone?) to start playing poker more regularly, at least tournaments for now as my bankroll is pretty nonexistent.  My plan for now is to take $150 for this past pay period and start my bankroll from that, if needed refill either next 2 week pay or more likely in pay increments of 2(each month). 

I started my quest two Sundays ago when I registered for the 35+10+5 cheap bastard Sunday 2pm tournament at the Rivers.  I was slightly late to the tournament so I believe I sat down at the end of level 1, I played my 2nd hand at the table, pocket 9s. 
25-50, I raised it up to 225(3 other limpers) in the cutoff with 9s and got 2 callers, flop is A-Q-7 I think 2 diamonds.  Checked to me so I bet out 650 hoping to rep the ace and take it down right there.  Folds around, guy on my direct right calls.

Turn is a Q.  He checked, I checked.  River was a J and he bet out 650.  That seemed strange like unless he wanted to check-raise me with the 2^nd Queen and didn’t want to risk getting nothing on the river, however his bet of 650 seemed small if he was trying to get back lost turn chips and/or get value on the river, it seemed more of a blocker-type bet, like this is the amount he was comfortable with losing so instead of checking and allowing me to bet the amount I was comfortable with.  So after some thought, the only way I win this pot is a raise and if he’s capped at not having a Queen and might actually have only a weak Ace or not even and my range is much stronger than his, I raised to 1800.  He looked puzzled and thought for a few moments before finally calling.  He looked really puzzled/surprised at my hand/play and I was hoping I could use that against him later on, even though I lost the hand I felt like I played it pretty good and put him to a test he might have made a mistake folding on…  I think in retrospect the fact that any Ace chops and my small amount of raise was enough for him to speculate, though...  The perfect spot to look spewy landed a few levels later however, I was (to say it really pc) an F%$#ing idiot…

100-200, 4 limpers(including guy to my right) and I look down at Ks in the HJ, I have about 7K.  I raise it up to 800 and get 3 callers, 1 limper folds.  Flop is 10-J-7 rainbow.  1^st guy checks, 2^nd guy checks, guy to my right looks really confident.  Since my previous hand above, He’s been playing a lot of connector kinda junky hands.  As he reached down to bet I was already hoping it would be enough that I could shove.  He bet out 2500.  In retrospect, this is a great amount and afterwards he did bet “pot” on a lot of flops he hit, however at the time it appeared really strong and slightly high bet to me.  I think it seemed too good to be true so I looked for the thunder in the clear blue sky.... I got a strange feeling like I was about to get coolered and I started to feel “monsters under the bed” syndrome…  8-9, 10-J, 7s, strangely played 10s…were all I kept thinking he was going to flip over and so I actually folded my Ks…WTF…right…?  It was only afterwards that I thought, “Dummy, he probably just had A-J or something, that also fits, QJ or KJ, too…ugh.  I couldn’t decide prior to folding what would be more gross, thinking about how I folded that hand or thinking about how I got coolered and I finally decided “I’ll find a better spot”  (I know...I'm not sure where a better spot can be found...) I never did find a better spot...duh....and soon after I found myself at 4000, 200-400 blinds and all-in or fold mode.  I looked down at A-8 UTG+2 and folded instead of shoving my 13bet stack.  I have a history with A-8 that I don’t like and so maybe against better strategy I folded…Wow...I'll never win with this style...

After that I won 2 straight hands preflop shoving with 5s, a postflop shove with A-J after hitting an Ace and then I look down at A-Q, 5900 total in chips at this point, 3 limpers at 300-600 and I shove, girl to my left(now this was the 3^rd time I saw someone do this) puts in a stack of 1Ks, like 10K, having like 2K behind.  I’m not sure why you’d do this, if someone actually goes over the top of her, could she decide to fold?  And if someone does go over the top, their range has to be really tight that she’d have to be crushed, I guess I just don't like calling off my chips as much as shoving them in first…? All folds to her and it’s AQ vs Js and the board ran out low, low, low,....low and..... low…gone in 60 minutes or less it seemed… I asked the guy what he had that hand he bet 2500, “Jack with an Ace”…blech…sometimes you just play like crap, right…?(I really never ever feel this way, but I did actually play like an imbecile...hence, feeling like crap...) 

I’ll be thinking about my stupidity all week now till I play again next Sunday to try to redeem myself…

Some things I really loved about my table that I never got to utilize:(maybe next time...?)

 -People were post-flop betting extremely large amounts a lot, like a flop with 1500 in the pot was getting a bet of 2500 or 3K for some reason…my strategy at that point was to play suited nuts and connectors, set-mine, etc… try to get a large pot with a flopped nuts hand.  I actually looked down at 7-10suited and had a strange feeling but since I lost a few hands in a row that I played I folded it, low and behold the flop is 6-8-9rainbow and 2 guys betting into it…ugh…

-Everyone was really passive, nobody was raising preflop, a lot of limped pots and then as I said, larger postflop bets…

-1 woman was betting 4x-5x preflop that’s always good if she’s a nit, which she was, call and then bet the flop, she folds…however, later I 3bet-shoved on her 4x raise preflop and she folded so I guess her preflop raise range was wider than I was giving her credit for, or just her calling range is a lot tighter than her preflop raise range…which makes the 4x-5x betting patterns that much nicer!

Another hand 100-200 I raised to 600 with QJsuited, 2 callers and flopped a Q with a gut-shot straight draw(I think needing a 10), 1^st to act, I checked and Girl in seat 1 bets out 6K(she had 12K, the pot was like 1500…wtf…?) I was seat 9, girls were in seat 6(older lady), seat 10(20-something who ko’d me later) and 1(30-something) at my table)  I folded…what else can I do, right…?  Lots of females in this tournament, which is always good to see (for the game)

 

In the end, I still can’t believe I folded Ks for what turns out to be basically no good reason…that’s as textbook-shove as it gets, right…?  Conversely, I suppose if the guy said he had 10-J I’d feel good about the fold, though…nope, I hate playing badly...it eats my soul...