The Challenge Is The Destination
Wednesday, March 08, 2006
The Challenge Is The Destination
I have a book titled The Journey Is The Destination. I always liked that title. For todays post, I'm going with The Challenge Is The Destination. The 45 Player SNG Challenge is exactly what I need right now. Yes, I have started back again on my own SNG Challenge, but it is nice to jump into another challenge that includes other broggers to keep me motivated to play. My game has not been on its mark lately because I haven't had any drive to play. This is not to say I've been playing bad, but I have been playing flat caused by not having the desire to log on and hit the tables. Now, however, I'm ready to roll. For details on the 45 Player SNG Challenge click the link.
As for my personal SNG Challenge noted above, I made it to Level 2 ($140+) a while back, then hit a rough patch of ice and skidded into a ditch. The tow truck came and pulled me out, but when I finally got the damage estimate, I was right back in the middle of level 1 ($80). In other words, I gotta get my ass in gear.
People say Tuan Lee is just plain lucky. I take it one step further. I think he is also decidedly not unlucky. To me, those are two different things. When he has the goods they will usually hold up (not unlucky). When he needs help he knows his cards are coming (lucky). He exudes confidence and it comes out in his play. To be a good player, a risk taker, a lucky (and not unlucky) player and an overall bad ass rolled up into one player...why wouldn't he be a champion?!
I want to discuss one particular hand I think has already been discussed in some other brogs, but I can't remember where. It was a classic example of Tuan Lee looking lucky, but really playing the hand correctly. Tuan Lee raises it up pre-flop with AJ. He has been raising with crap often, so it is a great move for him to be the first to raise with a semi legit hand now. Eli Elezra re-raises Tuan with, I believe, pocket 8's. Mark Gracz is short stacked with pocket 6's and re-re-raises, but does not have enough to double Eli. This is where it gets interesting.
I think if Mark was not short stacked he would fold his pocket 6's and let Tuan and Eli battle it out. Tuan would have called Eli and the hand would play out from there. However, Mark felt that, even with a raise and a re-raise, getting his chips in the middle with a pocket pair and a chance to triple up were best for him at that point. I agree with him. What if both Tuan and Eli both had A Big. And even if they don't, Mark could get the board he needs and be back in the running. Otherwise, he is going to have his short stack blinded away and possibly not have another good scenario to get his chips in the middle to triple up.
So here is where I believe Tuan played the hand correctly, but some might think he was wrong if they don't know the full deal. Tuan knows that because Mark could not double Eli's raise, that Eli cannot go all-in if he just calls Mark's bet. He can get a relatively small amount of chips (relative to his chipstack) in the middle with a chance to knock two players out. Knowing Eli can only call Mark and not raise him makes Tuan's decision to call the re-re-raise quite simple. I would do the exact same thing. From there an Ace hit the board and Eli and Tuan checked it down giving Tuan the pot. Again, I probably play the post flop play the same way as those guys did as well.
So it might look like a bad play to call a re-re-raise with AJ in that position, but under the circumstances, I say nice play Sir (and for once it is not facetious).
That will have to do it for me today. Please comment on the above hand if you feel differently or if you recall it going down differently. And don't forget the DADI event in my Announcements section.Thanks for reading!
posted by TripJax @ 9:51 AM,
0 Comments:
Post a Comment