Here’s the situation. I’m in a multi-table poker tournament. The stakes were $150 + a $12 entry fee. So, I have $162 wrapped up in this game.

A friend calls right as the game starts. In large poker tournaments, I usually play only premium hands. So, I figured I could talk a little bit while I fold 20 times in a row, then pay better attention later. That was the first mistake. You should be watching everything carefully, including who lost what hand with what hand after a showdown. You should be watching how people behave in general. You can’t do these things effectively while you are distracted.

Here are the details.

I’m in the small blind. Blinds are 10-20 because we are in the very early stages of this game. For the same reason, chip distribution among the 10 players at the table was fairly even.

Dealt to me
Q A

The player in first position calls 20. Everyone else folds until it gets to me. I don’t consider
Q A to be a premium hand, but I called 10 to get in, expecting the big blind to check, 3 players in the hand, and one who is only there because because their chips were already paid.

Instead, the big blind raises 205. I was leary of the player who called in first position to start with. My hand needed to improve on the flop for me to have any interest at all. Here are the mistakes…

First mistake, if I’m going to play crap like
Q A in the early stages of a tournament and in late position, I should have raised it a little in an attempt to get the big blind to stay out of the hand.

After the big blind raised 205, the player in first position folded.

Second mistake, I’m still on the phone with my friend. He’s also a poker player. At this point, I’m both distracted, and getting cocky because we are talking about poker. I put the big blind (that raised 205) all in. I should have folded since I was risking my entire tournament on one hand that I didn’t particularly care for to start with. The big blind calls my all in. I would have preferred he folded, but I made the move, and he called.

Here’s the result on the board…

The big blind was holding
4 A

He paired his fours, and I was eliminated. I think he made two mistakes, but it really doesn’t matter when he has all of my chips, and I’m gone from the poker tournament. He misplayed, but my mistakes were mine, and I still had an opportunity to only lose 10 chips in the hand after his 205 raise. I should have taken that opportunity, because there’s really no reason to risk the whole tourney over
Q A .

So, first… don’t get distracted. Second… don’t get cocky. The two of those removed $162 from my pocket in about 15 seconds, and my mistakes were completely avoidable.

Posted by as Learn Poker, Texas Hold Em, How to Play Poker at 4:20 PM GMT

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