Re: [ba-poker] Question about a tourney play

[Nick Christenson <npc(deleted the rest)>]

> Est 200K chips in play
> 12 players left, 10 spots pay, but 8-10 are not much
> at all.
> 
> 6 handed at my table.  I have not played a hand in
> almost 2 laps taking my stack from 19k down to 10k. 
> Blinds are 2k-1k with 500 chip ante.  So there is 6K
> in the middle pre-flop.  The last lap there has been a
> fair number of Raise - all-fold hands.  I am UTG and
> pick up A-4 offsuit.  

Plain and simple, 40% of your present stack must go into 
the pot over the next three hands, so you're going to play 
one of them for all your chips.  I'd rather raise with
a weak ace six handed than take my chance on a random 
choice of the next two hands.  I think moving in with this 
hand is the right play.  After the tournament I doubt I 
would have had a second thought about it.

I have a question for you.  I hope you don't take offense.
Assume for a moment that everyone folded to you in this
hand so you won this pot uncontested.  Then let's assume 
that three hands later you busted out with, say, TT vs. AQ.  
After the tournament, would you have spent time thinking about 
whether making the play with A4 was the right one?  Think 
carefully about this.  If the answer is yes, then fine.  If 
the answer is no, and I suspect that would be the case, then 
why fret over it when the results were bad if you wouldn't
reconsider your play when the results are good?  It's the 
decision that matters, not the results.

A lot of folks seem to dwell on the hand they go bust with.
I believe it's a good idea to think about hands you've played
away from the table, but not because the results are significant,
but because the hand itself is interesting.  Probably in about 
90% of the tournaments I play, the hands I think about after the 
tourney don't include the final hand I played.  The final hand 
is usually a pretty easy decision so there's less to be learned 
from it compared to other situations.

-- 
Nick Christenson
npc(deleted the rest)