O-Poker

Two completely different NLH tournament situations and how they were handled

March of 2004 was my first “big” live tournament cash. It was downtown in Vegas at Binion’s Gambling Hall and Hotel (yes, that’s what Harrah’s calls it now) in their daily $70 with one $40 rebuy tourney. I lost a big pot early with KK to a young college kid to my right holding AQ when he spiked an A on the river. We had been talking in the early stages of the tournament and he was moved shortly thereafter saying “I’ll see you at the final table” as he walked away.

I was able to double up three times before the first break and won a huge pot shortly after break-time marching into the final table with a solid stack in the top 4. As if it were scripted, I look over and the kid from my first table is once again directly to my right and this time has a HUGE stack. He bullied the final table from the get go and was able to build a healthy 2 to 1 lead on his nearest competitor in the first 30 minutes. He was raising nearly every hand preflop which allowed me to sit tight and wait for premiums. Long story short, I ended up busting him when we were three handed by going over the top more than a few times and finally catching him with QQ against my AA.

I was then heads up and we decided to chop based on chip counts which gave me a nice $1,900. Even though I feel I could have won the tournament, the decision based on a few factors. First place was somewhere around $2,300 and second was near $1,400. With the chop I was assured $500 more than a second place finish. Second, we had been playing since noon and it was now almost 7pm. With plans for the evening it unfortunately became a time issue as well. Did I make the right decision? Did I make the decision too quickly??

On the other side of the (MUCH LARGER) coin

The weekly Sunday night $1,000,000 guaranteed tournament on PokerStars has become a complete monster. 5,000 plus entries is a regular occurrence and you can count on at least 10k when reaching the final table.

Last night Roothlus made the final table finishing third for 56k. This sounds great, right? Well, the question is; how good is 56k if you’re assured 95k? Roothlus turned down a 4 way chop that assured him of a 95k finish with a chance at winning 115k as PokerStars requires 20k to be left on the table.

With four players remaining, the group agreed to discuss a deal based on chip counts. The chip leader (bsbarber) was guaranteed 97k, Roothlus would have made 86k and the other two were near 80k. All agreed immediately except Roothlus who said no deal unless he was given 95k. The others were not happy, but reluctantly agreed to give up 1k each while bsbarber would make up for the rest. Everyone agreed until Roothlus had a last second change of heart and forced the others to play on.

The first hand back Geoeng went out 4th and Roothlus went out soon after holding AK vs. 99. The final two (bsbarber and Huck Biggins) immediately chopped based on chip counts and went home with over 100k each. Roothlus explained later, “I lost a 50k coinflip but honestly these 2 players were the WORST I'VE EVER SEEN this deep.” on pocketfives. Here's the rest of the story: ABOUT THE CHOP

I'm interested to hear what others think of chopping in either of these situations.

Loopy