Disturbing Exits

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I’ve been playing in a lot of tournaments and getting very close to getting into the money in a few of them since I last wrote, but I keep running into what I’ll call “disturbing exits.” Maybe worse than just bad beats, disturbing exits are when a bad beat leads directly to getting busted out of a tournament close to the money.

I was playing in the WSOP Gladiators of Poker, a very cheap tournament ($300 entry fee) that attracts a huge number of people, in the tens of thousands, so first place is worth around $500,000 or more. However, because the return on investment (ROI) is potentially so great, people tend to just go all in a lot, hoping to double up quickly. If they bust out, they simply buy back in. This is derisively called a “shove fest.”

We were really close to the money bubble when I got pocket 6s under the gun. I had only about 8 big blinds left, and I would use up at least 2.5 blinds in the next two hands because I would be in the big blind position followed by the small blind position. I was thinking about what to do when three players after me folded, thinking that I had already folded my cards. That made my decision much easier since I only had to beat 5 other players. So I shoved. Four of those five players folded to the big blind who on the previous hand had shoved and doubled up his small stack. But he still didn’t have a big stack, so calling me this close to the money was extremely risky. If he lost, he would lose about half his stack and maybe not get into the money. I believe he should have folded, but instead, after thinking for a while, he called with A6. I was ecstatic. Only an ace would help him. The odds were over 2:1 in my favor… but he turned an ace and I went home.

Yesterday, I played in the WSOP Mini Main tournament., also with a first-place prize of over $500K. From the start, I was running great. Early on, I got pocket As. I raised, another player reraised, I reraised yet again, he shoved, and I called. He had pocket Ks and I doubled up. After that, I won almost every hand I played. I was feeling really confident. My big stack gave me the ability to take a few risks now and then and to bully other players off their hands.

After a few hours of play, I was the table chip leader, with about 160K in chips (more than twice the average for the tournament), when another player was moved to my immediate left at my table. His stack was slightly larger than mine. On the first hand after he sat, I got A2 under the gun. I raised from 2K to 5K. He reraised to 12K. As I said, I could afford to take some risks, so I called. The flop was A52, giving a beautiful and fully disguised two pair. I checked. He bet 10K. I raised to 25K. To my surprise, he called. The turn was 7, which I assumed didn’t help him. I bet 35K. Again, to my surprise, he called. The river was 3. Given how he had been betting, I put him on AK or possibly a big pair (Js, Qs, or Ks). If he had AK, it would make sense to raise a lot pre-flop and would also explain why he would call my bets when there was an A on the board. If he’d had a big pair, he would be afraid of that A on the board. I didn’t think he had a set (3 of a kind), because no decent player would raise so much with pocket 2s, 3s, 5s, or 7s before the flop. These hands are only good if you flop a set. Again to my surprise, he shoved. I figured either he thought he had the best hand with a pair of As or he was just trying to bluff me off my hand. It wouldn’t work, I thought, and called him. He showed A4 for a straight.

The thing that bothered me so much with that hand was that the other player was playing stupidly all the way to the river. With A4, he must have known, or should have known, that he was behind any hand that I would keep betting with. He had only one hope, and that was to get a 3 on the river to make a straight. Or that my hand would be borderline and he could bluff me off it. Even a 4 on the river wouldn’t guarantee him that I didn’t have a bigger two pair. So this player kept betting and finally got one of only three cards in the deck that could help him.

I just get so frustrated. I think I’m playing as well as possible (poker players out there, feel free to correct me and point out my mistake, but I don’t see it). I continue to play great games and still find these disturbing exits.

I’m trying to stay optimistic about the WSOP Main Event that starts later this week. But it’s getting difficult. If I continue to play the best I possibly can, and yet can only win occasional minimum cashes, why am I playing? Or will my luck turn around eventually? Soon? This week? I guess when the entire WSOP is over at the end of the month, I’ll reevaluate my poker “career.” I really do enjoy it because I enjoy the strategy, and each hand is new and challenging. But I also enjoy at least the possibility of winning. But if winning is not going to come soon… well... I’ll need to think about it.

About the author

Bob Zeidman is a high-stakes recreational poker player. He created Good Beat Poker, a free online poker site using patented technology for audio and video—see and hear the other players at the table if you choose.