| I have been curious to get an idea of how big the
difference is between the $50 and $100 level, so this was my first show at
this level.
I was very surprised at how tight the play was in general. I just played
my normal game (but probably a little more tight that normal). There were a
couple of very aggressive player. I was equal chip leader with just over
4000 chips (from a 2000 starting stack) with 6 players left. The came this
hand. I held 88 on the big blind. The aggressive player was under the gun
and called. Everyone else folded and the small blind called. I raised to 4
times the BB. The aggressive player went all-in and the SB folded. I had a
pretty good read on him and saw him play K7 and a small suited connector
through on a showdown. I reckon he would have raised with any pair or even
Ax or Kx. H had just over 200o chips and I decided to call. He showed 56 of
spades. The board came X23X4. Suck out! Happy about the read though.
I just didn`t get a hand from here, and eventually went all in on the BB
with A8 suited. My "M" was about 6 (Dan Harrington in volume 2 of his expert
tournament strategy books uses the concept of your "M" to determine what he
calls inflection points, i.e. how you should play at different stages of a
tournament, depending on your stack. That level of "M" is pretty much in the
danger zone and you need to make a move - Hey Marc you should write an
article about this ;-) I got called by an earlier limper with AK off.
Pretty happy though and found that I have no reason to fear this level -
I probably just need to grow my bank roll a little more first) |
