[dachiwaiian]

I played a milestone satellite in the Pokerstars Manila series. As each player reached the milestone amount, the target got removed and the player was allowed to continue with the balance of the chips for a chance to win another seat. It was a multi starting day tournament so you could win multiple seats. This made the calculation very simple, we knew what the milestone was ahead of time because it was a set percentage of players winning a seat. Once registration closed they had a formula for how many seats were available. Because the balance of chips were still in play once a player’s chips were removed, it never changed the milestone. Everyone had to reach the milestone to win a seat – there was no survivor feature like a traditional satellite. In our case, we had a 20K starting stack with a 80K milestone. I liked this format because it was super simple to understand. I just didn’t like that good/lucky players could win multiple seats leaving the rest of us dry. I didn’t know it was milestone before the satellite started and once we approached the “bubble” I was told about the format which completely changed up the strategy. You can no longer wait around for players to knock out and have to take control much earlier in the game to build up a big stack while play is loose and take advantage of weaker players. The play tightened up significantly as we got into the “bubble” range which made it more challenging to reach the milestone.

[dachiwaiian]

I figure that my mindset is my most important asset on and off the table. Developing knowledge and experience in the game takes time but day to day the thing I have control over is my mindset. One of the things I like to do is to purposefully stress test my mindset. After I find myself on tilt or when I find myself unfocused because of fatigue, rather than just quit, I’ll experiment by recognizing my unproductive state and force myself to work on correcting it. I’ll try different things like taking a break, going for a meditative walk (mindfulness walking), going for vigorous walk, taking deep breathing exercises, etc. I figure there will be times where I’m in a state like this in a long tournament where I can’t quit, and I’ll need to figure out productive ways to become focused at the table again. So, when I find myself in a non-optimal state, I’ll play around with a few things to see what works. But if you really are burnt out, taking some time off, resting the mind, exercising, meditating, eating a good diet, can be just the cure to getting back to the felt.

[dachiwaiian]

Thanks so much for your insights, Chris. This was exactly what I was thinking but didn’t have the tools to show it. As a result, I did want to proceed cautiously since this is my first bracelet event and folded. In the moment, I tended to think of the ranges on the top side with most of big pairs and Broadway over cards. But as I thought about it afterward, I added a bunch of hands in their ranges that I could be beating. Both players had AQ and a King came on the Flop, so if I just called, I would have probably folded to any aggression. As it ran out, the players didn’t hit their pair and I would have won the hand. It’s good to see the numbers on this. Appreciate your help.

[dachiwaiian]

For those interested in the results, hero calls the river shove and villain shows A8o for a turned 2-pair.

[dachiwaiian]

@Jim Thanks for featuring this post in the podcast. It’s painful to hear about my mistakes but your insights have been so helpful. You asked about why I had classified the villain as a LAG despite having a 40VPIP/15PFR. He would limp with a wide range but attack players when he sensed a weakness or when the board favored his range more than the opponent. He was very active raising and check-raising postflop but we didn’t see his hands at showdown so I can’t tell how much of his aggression was bluffs. If he was nittier, I probably would fold to the Turn raise but he was so active, I thought I needed to turn it into a bluff catcher. I have since run into a similar situation 2 more times where I ran AK with an ace on the flop and got check-raised on the Turn. It’s a perplexing situation for me and appreciate your thoughts.

[dachiwaiian]

For those who are results oriented, the hero called and villain showed AK. Board runs out 45A2A and hero is eliminated in 5th place. The commentator was saying that the hero may have made a $80,000 mistake for taking on the big stack with so many small stacks behind. It was unfortunate that he ran into the top of the big stack’s shoving range who then hit their card.

[dachiwaiian]

Yes, I found it difficult to get in the reps to develop a good deliberate practice program since we only get hands like Jacks once every 220 or so hands. This mental exercise has been helpful to think through how I would play them under a variety of situations so I don’t need to wait until I see the hand live to practice it. But more importantly this meditation has helped me to develop focus and preparedness for any playable hand. I found it great to have a feedback loop between how I think I should play the hand, what actually happened when I played it that way and then researched what the books and videos say I should have, or could have, done in that situation, then add it to my mental practice.

[dachiwaiian]

Yes, this has been super helpful. I realize now how important knowing how to use the right tools are. I’ve been studying ICM strategy and this one really had me stumped. When I first watched the video, I thought QQ was an easy call but as I thought about the ICM implications and the presence of the small stacks, I thought it might have been a huge mistake. I went back and forth many times before posting here and this cleared it up.

[dachiwaiian]

That’s awesome! This is very helpful. I appreciate you running this. What app did you use?

[dachiwaiian]

Thanks for this breakdown. Does this take ICM into account? I’m kind of torn. On one hand, the chip leader should be attacking with a pretty wide range, knowing that the hero should not be incentivized to call wide with the 2nd biggest stack with so many short stacks. QQ should do pretty well against a wide range. I also don’t think the chip leader would play AA/KK that way as they should want to get more value from those hands. But the flip side is the hero should not be putting their stack at risk because of those short stacks – even if they knew the chip leaders range from the button was any ace. I just started studying ICM and how the middle stacks should think about tough spots like this, but not sure what I would do with conflicting concepts like this.

[dachiwaiian]

good question. Yes, the villain was a double flatter – called the $10 then called my $55. He was in the CO. He is a good player, and usually the aggressor in the hand. Most of his big bets never went to showdown so I can’t tell if they were value or bluffs.

But I agree with you, the Turn XR and River shove felt strong since I played the hand like I had a big ace. I was thinking he might have done it with AQ/AJ but he might have 3-bet those hands himself from the CO. So, on the dry board it kind of leaves me with hands that beat me or a bluff – which thinking through it doesn’t make much sense since I was showing strength the entire way and one of the open-ended Turn bluffs came in on the River.