Just finished a $5 NL tourney on ladbrokes and am gutted to have finished 2nd!!
Throughout the tourney (not included free blind checks) I must have seen about 8 flops until I was heads up and when I was in hands I was agressive and generally winning. I went into the final three and brought a lot of pots down pre-flop such that when I went heads up I had about 10,000 chips to the 5,000 of the other guy. I bossed his brains out and quickly got him to a situation where he was in with his big blind with 80 chips left and I have over 10k! I put him all in with K4s and he calls (like he has a choice really!). He flips up some poor cards and hits! Oh well, these things happen!
So, I get A8s next hand and I raise him all in and he calls with 610o and makes a full-house! He doubles up AGAIN taking him to just 2k chips less than me. After a bit of blind stealing I again put him all in with superior cards (I forget what) and AGAIN he hits
Now I'm short stacked and I go have to make a move so do so on K2s and he flips up big slick - of course I don't get my miricle cards and go out in 2nd!!
Where did I go wrong! How can it be a skill game if I go from a 12k advantage to out and everytime I turned over the better cards preflop! Sigh, at least I got some cash but it really feels like I was robbed
Firstly, when you get heads up there will always be an element of luck involved. Unless you wait until you have a premium pair you'll quite often find yourself in a straight race (two overcards against a pair), or 2-1 favourite (two overcards against opponents two different cards). These put you in the driving seat but bad luck does happen.
If you watched the replay from the Ladbrokes.com Poker Millions on Sky last night you'd have seen Jimmy White get lucky on at least 3 occassions to double through.
By the sounds of things you played spot on and next time you'll probably win the tournie on the first all-in.
PS. Not sure how he could double through twice from 80 chips and be only 2k short of your stack though!
Siohmy, my flatmate questioned that as well - lol. I forgot to say that the blinds were massive. I forget what exactly but when I put him all in for his extra 80 chips there was already a good 2000 or more on the table.
The blinds were so big that you couldn't really 'play' poker. It was a case of each of us carefully choosing our all in's to either steal the blinds or to take a shot at putting the other guy out or seriously damaging his stack. This is why I couldn't wait for premium hands and why A8s was an excellent hand to move on. It sucks so bad when I flip up the leading cards serveral times and each time I kick back and smile thinking, 'this must be it, this time' and each time the flop has other ideas!!
You're upset because you only came 2nd?
So,he got lucky,and took 1st from you.....you can't honestly say that you made it to the final table without a bit of luck.
When you play multi-table tournaments,luck plays a big part.And I'd rather get unlucky heads up,than on my first hand.
2nd place is good....well done
