Picking Your Spots to Double Up
If you are going to be a champion poker player, you need to be able to pick the right spots to risk your tournament life and to double up. Let me give you an example of a situation in Tunica, MS that was key to keeping me in a major WSOP Circuit event.
Play was beginning to approach the end of the 300-600 with 25 ante Level in a NL Holdem tournament. I was in late position and looked down to A-9 suited. I had been waiting patiently for a while for a good hand to try and pick up some chips. I had 850 in chips and needed a pot.
I was intent to go all-in here and then something happened to stop me. Three people limped into the pot. With a hand such as A-9 suited, you really want to be the first player into the pot, especially if you are going all-in. The pot was 1,350 pre-flop before any players come in, so if I could have only one caller, this would be a good time to get lucky. However, odds were that I would face at least four, maybe five other players if the small blind came in.
I decided to wait. I folded my hand and the level completed. The next level was 400-800 with a 50 ante. I had 775 after the ante. The first hand, I was dealt A-6 offsuit. However, this time it was folded to me. I moved all-in and the only player that stayed in was the big blind that held 7-5. I was able to win the pot and was up to 2,500 in chips. A few hands later, I was able to double up again to a respectable stack and then was able to move up to over 12,000 in chips by the end of the level.
Granted, I should have never allowed my stack to get that short, but the point of this story is to point out how that making the right decisions can pay off at the poker table in shoving for your tournament life. Sometimes, just blindly shoving can leave you in a situation where it is next to impossible to win. Picking your spots will help you to stay alive and thrive in NL Holdem tournaments.
Tags: holdem, Holdem tournaments, Texas Holdem