TopShelf's Journal: Poker tourney success

Had my first final table finish in a large tournament over the weekend - a freeroll over at Party Poker. Over 2000 players, and I took 3rd place. Granted, it was a freeroll so many players didn't play seriously, but even if a quarter of them did I'm feeling pretty good about that.

Of course, since it was a freeroll I only won $20 for my efforts, but hey, it's a start...

cool

[Mantorp]

playing online makes it easier to hide your facial giveaways, but then you can't read your opponents either.

Re:cool

[TopShelf]

What's funny is how people will look for any possible signal in order to read players online, particularly how long it takes someone to make their move. Usually hesitation is interpreted as weakness, when in my case it usually means I'm changing a diaper with one hand and trying to keep up with the game in another...

Re:cool

[LordBodak]

Lots of people who play online seriously play multiple tables. Because of that, you can't make any assumptions due to how long it takes someone to make a move.

Congrats

[LordBodak]

My poker weekend didn't go so well. Saturday wasn't bad-- won $15 in a $5 + .50 sit & go, then finished decently (260 of 2000) in a $1+0 tourney-- no cash for that, but I consider that a respectable finish.

Sunday sucked-- I lost two $5 + .50 sit & gos in under a half hour. After that I quit-- I learned a few weeks ago that some days I just don't have it, and I need to walk away when that happens (not walking away cost me about $30 that day).

Time for a song, children!

[Chalst]

You've got to know when to hold'em,
Know when to fold'em...

Seriously, that's impressive. Any chance of a more detailed account of your experiences?

Re:Time for a song, children!

[TopShelf]

Basically, it involved very conservative play on my part - by the time the final table was set, I was seeing 17% of the flops, and won 10% of the hands. When a flop hit me well and I was confident in having the top hand, I pressed the advantage with decent size bets, but not too much to avoid wiping out. I don't think I went all-in more than 2 or 3 times until the end, and only with the nuts.

The only bummer was the guy who took me out in the final three. Twice he caught lucky river draws after making ba