Couple of HH - 5.50 PS

[west13]

MP1 had been playing very loose. Watched him bet large with middle pair very early in tourney, and bet hard on drawing hands.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t30 (8 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP2 (t1135)
CO (t1330)
Button (t2915)
SB (t1665)
BB (t1885)
Hero (t1405)
UTG+1 (t2300)
MP1 (t865)

Preflop: Hero is UTG with T, A.
Hero calls t30, 1 fold, MP1 raises to t120, 5 folds, Hero calls t90.

Flop: (t285) A, K, J (2 players)
Hero bets t150, MP1 raises to t745, Hero calls t595.

Turn: (t1775) 5 (2 players)

River: (t1775) A (2 players)

Final Pot: t1775

UTG in this next hand I had watched play hands earlier that seemed absurd to me, calling sizeable bets early in tourney with garbage pre-flop.

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t50 (7 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP2 (t2460)
CO (t1890)
Button (t2915)
SB (t1330)
Hero (t845)
UTG (t1445)
MP1 (t2615)

Preflop: Hero is BB with A, A.
UTG calls t50, 5 folds, Hero raises to t200, UTG calls t150.

Flop: (t425) Q, 9, J (2 players)
Hero bets t645 (All-In), UTG calls t645.

Turn: (t1715) 3 (2 players, 1 all-in)

River: (t1715) 6 (2 players, 1 all-in)

Final Pot: t1715

Comments and obvious results posted in white below:

I have an idea where I went wrong here but is the pre-flop bet in this last hand what is called 'don't get cute' at this level buy in? I rationalized it as wanting someone to call and felt much pressure to double up as opposed to taking down the blinds. Short stack, holding AA I should have went for 5x BB at least here since I was not under 10x BB?[ He was holding the Kc and 10s

[taipan168]

Hand 1 - early in the tourney I tend to fold this preflop from UTG. Alternatively if you want to play you should be raising this to ensure you don't end up with 5 callers. As played, fold to the PF raise. On the flop, I think I check/call rather than leading, that is a very dangerous flop that might have hit a lot of hands that would have raised preflop and have you crushed.

Hand 2 - you played it fine, nh. PF is good, and at the $5.50s I would expect to be shown hands like xx non-spade, AQ/AJ/A9 much more often than a made straight or flush on the flop.

[tcpj4]

Fold ATs UTG. Fold it when MP raises. You're going to be out of position with an easily dominated hand. It just isn't worth the risk early in the tournament. It is just too hard to win a big pot against even a maniac with AT. Are you sure you want to have to wrestle a pot away from a player who won't give them up easily? You're going to be risking a lot of chips for a chance to win so few in relation to your stack.

Hand 2 is a real assy situation, but you don't really have enough money behind to fold AA here.

[west13]

Thanks for the advice, I will remember this for future play. I do feel as if I am improving somewhat, but I've failed to get ITM in the last 5 tourneys (variance I'd guess).

Here is another critical hand from my last tourney:

PokerStars No-Limit Hold'em Tourney, Big Blind is t100 (6 handed) Hand History Converter Tool from FlopTurnRiver.com (Format: FlopTurnRiver)

MP (t4090)
CO (t1165)
Button (t785)
Hero (t3640)
BB (t2245)
UTG (t5020)

Preflop: Hero is SB with Q, Q.
UTG raises to t300, 2 folds, Button raises to t785, Hero calls t735, 1 fold, UTG calls t485.

Flop: (t2455) 6, J, 9 (3 players)
Hero bets t1000, UTG raises to t3900

Hero?

[taipan168]

5 OOTM is standard variance, nothing to worry about. I've only played about 500 tourneys total but have had a few 10+ OOTM streaks.

Push over preflop. As played, call the flop raise.

[tcpj4]

Getting knocked out out of the money 5 in a row is really nothing, it shouldn't phase you if you are brolled properly. As long as you keep analyzing your play, you're going to be a long term winner at $5.50s.