Trials of a Poker Apprentice: Bubbled again

OK, I admit, it's been hard to get back into the blogging habit, but I'm giving it my best shot.

Today might not be the best day for it though. I was up way too late last night, thanks to my attempt to try a multi-table tourney that started about the time I should have gone to bed.

You see, I don't play the multis much. I know that seems to be where all the money is, but I've always been more of a cash game player. Still, just because like any poker player I have dreams of someday playing in one of the big tournaments, I give them a try from time to time.

Anyway, about the time I was thinking of going to bed, I noticed a $5 tournament starting in three minutes. I figured I'd give it a shot, so I signed up, not really expecting to do anything, but thinking I could get a lot of play in for just $5.

At first, things didn't go so well. I made a move at one of the very first hands, only to have someone else push me off the hand. I had nothing, but I wanted to try to take control of the table early, so I was bluffing and just happened to pick the wrong time. It ended up costing me nearly one-third of my starting chips.
After that, I just sat back and waited for cards. Near the first break, they came in a rush. In the span of three or four hands, including a back-to-back 10-10 and K-K, I managed to build my stack from an anemic 1,000 to a healthy 8,000 and top-10 standing.

From there, I tried to take control of the table again and was having some success, chipping away at the table to gain another 3,000 chips. But then my AQ in the small blind doubled up the big blind's AK, and I was once again in average stack territory of about 6,000.

From that point on, I went on a rampage. I don't mean I started playing better. I mean I went crazy, raising every single pot for about 20 consecutive hands, my stack went up and down like a yoyo. Finally, at 6,000 once again after seesawing between 4,000 and 8,000, I got lucky with a KQ against AQ and got back to over 12,000 and I settled down again. Shortly thereafter, I got moved to a new table.

At the new table, I felt I could change gears once again, since I came in as an unknown. One of the big stacks in the tournament was to my immediate left, and he had me doubled. There were also a couple of 10,000 stacks at the table. We were just a couple of hands away from the second break and I was in early position, so I just folded my way to the break and tried to form impressions on the style of play at the table. Afterwards, though, I came back on the big blind and started getting aggressive, picking up about every third pot without having to show down. Before long, I was up around 20,000 and was third in chips, when I got moved again.

At the next table, I was the chip leader. However, things started getting ugly. The tournament had started with 287 players and I saw we were down to 40, with only the top 20 making the money. I started thinking about Erick Lindgren's book at this point, about how that I should start using my big stack to steal the blinds near the bubble so I build a huge stack for the final table, but my timing was way off. The table had tightened up considerably, as everyone was trying to fold their way to the money. However, I never seemed able to take advantage of that. I suffered my first big setback when, in the small blind with blinds of 500-1,000, the action was folded to me. I tried to steal the big blind, although to my credit I did have AK. I raised to 3,500 and the big blind smooth called. The flop missed me, coming queen-high, but I tried to go ahead and steal the pot and best most of the big blind's stack. He went all-in and I was in a position where I had no choice but to call. While I picked up a king on the turn, he had flopped bottom set and he cut me in half.

Down to around 12,000 in chips, the blinds went up the next hand to 600-1,200. With only 10 BB left in my stack, I was in desperation mode and started pushing all-in with any ace, any king, any pair. I managed to take the blinds a couple of times, which weren't insignificant, but then got called the third time and lost a race and most of my chips. When I was in the big blind again, I had only 22 chips more than the blind, and I just tossed it in. Miraculously, I doubled up that hand and the next hand I played. I still only had a little over 4,000, but we were getting very close to cashing now. I then scanned the table for the next smallest stack and made a decision to push all-in regardless of my cards when it got to his big blind. The table was very tight at this point, and I felt my 3 1/2 BB raise would scare away all but the big blind, and with him being short-stacked and trying to hang on, I figured it would be likely he would fold as well. However, he managed to double up when he was under the gun, so the conditions had changed considerably when he got the big blind. But I decided to chance it anyway, thinking he might be relieved to have doubled up and gained a better chance to survive, so that he might fold anyway, not wanting to risk that many of his newly acquired chips. I pushed all-in, holding 3-5, and he called with an A9. I think that was a questionable call on his part, especially that close to the money and with a hand that could very likely be dominated, but I suppose he had the pot odds to make the call. His hand held up and I was out in 25th -- five out of the money.

Clearly, I was frustrated by the finish, but not nearly as much as I have been in the past with similar finishes. For one, I didn't find myself thinking, "If only I had just sat out, I could have folded my way into the money." While that was certainly true, I was playing to make the money. I was aiming for first, or at least top three, and I feel like I did what I needed to do to try to get there. It just didn't work out.

But I did learn a few things. Most importantly, I learned that there are a lot more loose calls in $5 tournaments, so bullying near the bubble isn't nearly as effective. Certainly, I knew that the level of play in a $5 tournament wouldn't be anywhere near the level of, say, a $10,000 WPT event. But I figured going into hyper-aggressive mode near the bubble would still work, because who wants to get that far and leave with nothing? But, as I found out last night, there are quite a few people who either don't mind that fate or don't consider it until it is too late. I sent quite a few of them out of the tournament, but I also ran into a bunch of them who did the same for me.

Anyway, like I said earlier, I don't really have that much experience with the multis, and last night was enjoyable, despite the end result. Maybe I have learned a few things and will be able to fare better the next time around.