Dakota Kid Presents - Deadwood Nuts

Playing Small Pocket Pairs in a No Limit Tournament
By
Mike Randall

      John asked me to be his partner in a partners no limit hold�em tournament being held the night before Thanksgiving at the Gold Dust in Deadwood. I accepted my poker playing friends request even though his loose aggressive style is much different from my tight aggressive play, thinking this could make for an interesting combination. These partner tournaments are a lot of fun when you are playing with someone you know and like anyway.
      In tournaments I had noticed that John is more of what I call selectively loose aggressive in that he will pick his spots to be aggressive with hands I would not even consider playing, sort of a Gus Hanson type of tournament player.
      John was enjoying the live game so I volunteered to play the first round, which was uneventful for me until the last hand of the round. I picked up ace king off suit in middle position and opened the betting with three times the big blind. All players folded to the blinds of which both called and we saw a flop of an ace and two small hearts. I bet about half the pot and got called by Vicki, the small blind. The turn was a blank and when it was checked to me I moved all in, wanting to take the pot there so that a flush draw didn�t beat me on the river. Vicki folded, telling me later she laid down the nut flush draw not wanting to go broke early in the tournament on a busted draw.
      In the second round John continued to build our stack with his Gus Hanson style, raising with ten eight suited in middle position, playing the bully with the big stack. A short-stacked player went all in and John took him out when he caught a ten on the flop. The next hand he knocked out another player when his strait draw came home. Then the first small pocket pair came into play.
      John now had a big chip lead when he picked up ace queen and made a large raise, about four times the blind of $100. A player called with about 15% of his stack with pocket fives. In tournaments calling with small pocket pairs trying to hit a set is fine if you don�t have to pay to big of a price. If the call takes to big of a percentage of your chips when the blinds are not big enough to hurt you then it isn�t worth the risk. This amount was not quit big enough to cripple his stack if he didn�t hit a five.
An ace and a five came on the flop with queen on the turn forcing my partner to go all in with two pair against a set. This loss cut our stack in half and we were back to our starting amount of 3000 chips. Again this was not a bad play for our opponent as the call didn�t jeopardize a large percentage of his stack and he hit a great hand with the set of fives.
      The next two rounds were uneventful for both my partner and myself and we were able to maintain our chip count; the only problem of course is that the blinds continue to get bigger each round. At the end of round five we had made it to the final table from a starting field of 20 teams.
      Early in the sixth round I limped-in in early position with pocket sixes wanting to see a cheap flop. I groaned inwardly as Lenny, a loose aggressive player raised four times the blind bet. This was about a third of my stack and was going to make this a tough decision for me, as I knew Lenny could be raising with any two face cards. Then things really got complicated when a player I had perceived as being tight came over the top for all of his chips. Now I would be committing about two thirds of my stack instead of a third. I could easily have the best starting hand if Lenny was on two face cards and the other player had got antsy with ace face. Heads up it would be a toss up to call or not, but with two other players at best I�m looking at four over cards (that could pair) or worse two over cards and an over pair. The odds are against me, but as I�m about to muck my hand I remember that this is the dealer�s favorite hand. Should I play it anyway for good luck? No, I have no room for superstition in tournament play, so I muck it anyway. The flop brought a six and I would have made quads on the turn. As it was Lenny won with the hand with a flush and I was still satisfied that I had made the correct decision.
      A few hands later I again faced Lenny with a similar hand with a much different scenario. Lenny had lost a hand and was down to about $2000 and I had close to double that at about $4000. I had the big blind of $600 when Lenny, in early position, went all in. We were getting short handed and the remaining players folded to me. I look at my hand to find pocket threes and again a tough decision with a small pocket pair. This time I made the call putting Lenny again on two face cards witch made it a coin flip heads up and the deciding factor being that Lenny couldn�t bust me and I would have a fair amount of chips left if he beat me. Nether one of us improved, Lenny was out and I had moved close to the chip lead. Now I don�t play �heaters�, but because it was short handed (five players), I raised repeatedly with face cards, playing off the momentum of repeated uncontested wins. In a few hands this put us in the chip lead.
      My partner started the last round four handed and with his continued aggressive play finished by winning the tournament.
      So the next time you are holding a small pocket pair in a tournament, remember they don�t always play the same way. Take time to think what might be the best play. Also if you get a chance to play a partners tournamentm give it a shot, it is a lot of fun.