[ChuckyTheGoat]

Not claiming any skill. Maybe I'm a donk.

Plan to play the Tuesday tournies. Noon/7pm/830pm.

[GUMMO77]

Good luck, Chucky.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Thx, Gummo.

[SharpAngles]

Take it down Chuckster We believe in you

[franklee168]

Get it Goat!

[sweep]

good luck. take some pics

[Chipup]

Goat if there was a bracelet for effort pal you'd be 10 time winner!

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Thx, Chip. I try to help the boys whenever I can. FORUM REP is the most important thing to me.

Follow the JJGold motto: "POSTING...is more important than family."

[ChuckyTheGoat]

good luck. take some pics

I'm not really a photo-guy, sweep. Had fun, tho.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Get it Goat!

Wound up taking 2nd, to clear a nice profit. I somehow did NOT win a bounty, so blank there.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Got to L2, heads-up. Was chip-leader, wound up giving up 70% of my stack on a dumb hand.

It's a hand that I've struggled with in past. I hold 55 in BigBlind. Villain limps, so I raise to 3.5x BB.

Villain comes over the top, All-in. I'm staring at about +130 odds to call. Heads-up that late, getting it in pre-flop w/ pocket-pair can never be that bad. But he's repping a bigger hand and willing to go broke here.

The old story of smallish pairs not dominating any (many) hands. I feel like I mis-played it, just b/c I've mis-played similar hands in the same manner.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Take it down Chuckster We believe in you

Almost, sharpy. Close but no cigar.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Will probably play the $65 Noon tournament on WED, b4 I head out of town.

If any NY locals want to meet up, let me know.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

One cool excursion:

* Visited the Boxing HOF.

[tatddy]

Gl Goater!

[tatddy]

Goat if there was a bracelet for effort pal you'd be 10 time winner!

If there was a bracelet for forum rat, lying, human garbage stiff/sociopath disguised as a nice guy you'd be a 10 time winner!

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Thx, Tat.

[Optional]

Nice job on the 2nd Chucky

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Thx, Opti. More luck than skill sometimes.

Came up short on WED tourney. Won 3 all-ins, was in good position. Ran card-dead and just couldn't play any hands. This is the worst. Blind levels move up quickly. Effectively wind up blinding up w/o ever really having a chance.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Did have one hand where I flopped Set but ran up vs flopped Straight. TBH, was lucky I didn't go broke on that hand.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

One comment I'll make re: opponents. I'm normally used to absorbing Aggression. In this particular tournament, players were very Passive. They limp, like to play many hands.

Makes for a different dynamic. A lot of multi-way pots. Hands that you normally think are good, they're up against all kinds of draws. Just an observation. Have to be aware of the opponents you're playing against.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Have seen a lot of older "retiree" players that simply don't raise Pre-Flop. It might be an old-school theory that they don't like to reveal the strength of their hand until they have to.

Saw that a lot, where you'd say "Where did that AA come from?" Problem w/ that limping style. If you lose w/ AA...your Aces didn't GET CRACKED. You LET THEM get cracked.

[Optional]

Have seen a lot of older "retiree" players that simply don't raise Pre-Flop. It might be an old-school theory that they don't like to reveal the strength of their hand until they have to.

This is me a lot of the time. But think it's a bit of a symptom of playing mostly SBR.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Opti, I DON'T necessarily think it's a bad strategy. There IS some value to not revealing strength of your hand until u have to.

My experience is this. If an OPPONENT limps, YOU raise, and OPPONENT comes over the top w/ a huge raise...he's holding dynamite. He has a monster. You better have equivalent hand-strength to play w/ him.

Reference my 55 vs 77 above. When he comes over the top, basically going 1 BB, and then re-raises to 20+ BB on my 3.5BB...that's a much stronger holding than mine.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

One other tournament tip. Players USUALLY send out a tell on their pre-flop hand strength. Have seen more and more limping. I just hate playing in pots like this. Have to feel like the big re-raise is coming behind your action, in which case u have to give up modest holdings.

Some other basic tells on pre-flop hand strength:

* Raise to 3.5BB is often AK. It's a hand that players don't want much of, in case they whiff the flop and have to bluff it.

* Raise to 5BB is often JJ. Players hate this hand. They feel like they'll invariably NOT flop an overpair, so they feel like they have to overbet.

Pursuant to above items, I saw a player today get a string of big pocket pairs. He raised to at least 3xBB and kept showing. Didn't get any action and wonders why he's only picking up the blinds.

Made finalTable today, but didn't cash (Top6). Was in good position, same story of being card-dead and effectively getting blinded out. Can only think of one hand (suited A4) where I could have been more aggressive.

[ChuckyTheGoat]

Opti, I'm of the opinion that if u play enough tournaments, you can (almost) see thru the backs of cards. You should know w/ some certainty what range of hands your opponent is holding. They USUALLY tell you the strength of their hand w/ their betting patterns.

Back to your note re: limping. I HAVE seen players that do it w/ some effectiveness. They like to play a variety of holdings. Most contemporary poker-pros advocated a rule of "enter the pot for a raise." You always want to be taking a shot at the blinds. This, of course, means that you're entering the pot w/ a variety of hands. If your opponent gives u credit for Premium holdings every time, he's making an error.

[Triple_D_Bet]

One other tournament tip. Players USUALLY send out a tell on their pre-flop hand strength. Have seen more and more limping. I just hate playing in pots like this. Have to feel like the big re-raise is coming behind your action, in which case u have to give up modest holdings.

Some other basic tells on pre-flop hand strength:

* Raise to 3.5BB is often AK. It's a hand that players don't want much of, in case they whiff the flop and have to bluff it.

* Raise to 5BB is often JJ. Players hate this hand. They feel like they'll invariably NOT flop an overpair, so they feel like they have to overbet.

Pursuant to above items, I saw a player today get a string of big pocket pairs. He raised to at least 3xBB and kept showing. Didn't get any action and wonders why he's only picking up the blinds.

Made finalTable today, but didn't cash (Top6). Was in good position, same story of being card-dead and effectively getting blinded out. Can only think of one hand (suited A4) where I could have been more aggressive.

Those BB values for preflop holdings will vary considerably by location and player, can't put a whole lot of faith in them usually.

Opti, I'm of the opinion that if u play enough tournaments, you can (almost) see thru the backs of cards. You should know w/ some certainty what range of hands your opponent is holding. They USUALLY tell you the strength of their hand w/ their betting patterns.

Back to your note re: limping. I HAVE seen players that do it w/ some effectiveness. They like to play a variety of holdings. Most contemporary poker-pros advocated a rule of "enter the pot for a raise." You always want to be taking a shot at the blinds. This, of course, means that you're entering the pot w/ a variety of hands. If your opponent gives u credit for Premium holdings every time, he's making an error.

Most tournaments spend a lot of time in blind levels where the hands basically play themselves. Unless you're playing early on, a real deep-stack or are far ahead of the pack, there's not a lot of room for anything but the basics...decisions are usually over on the flop.