Playing Blind...

[kingsnthahole]

ok so today, i got donked out like 3 times today, even while playing the hands correctly...someone shoves and hits runner runner twice...so i took a lil break, ate lunch, and came back...

this book i have been reading, THE Poker Tournament Strategy: Vol 2, advocates that to increase your chances of finishing ITM, to play a few tournaments blind...sounds crazy, BUT, if you think about it, if your playing blind, this makes you so much more in tune to your opponents, rather than your cards...
8.80 token game 18 person SNG...top 5 get 26$ tokens and 6th gets $14.00
so i took a shot at it, the only stipulation being that if i got reraised big, i would peek at my cards to make sure i wasn't folding the nutz or a BIG hand...it worked out pretty well for me i must say...i was a maniac at the table i raised over half the hands that were played and before i knew it, i was sitting at about 2500 in chips with 12 people to go..not too bad, i was in 4th overall...

some big hands were...
on the button, blinds at 30/60, i raise to an unopened pot to 180...small blind folds, big blind shoves...i peek at my cards, and 92 suited goes into the muck...very next hand, one off the button i do the same thing, same raise...big blind reraises me for 1/4th of his stack...i sit there and i say to myself, HES WEAK...i shove on him...he thinks and folds...i had no idea what i had, so i clicked show cards...and i flipped up and revealed J2 suited to the table...the big stack laughs and goes "very nice play i thought u had a monster"...hahahaha

another one...
i min raise from early position, and the button calls, and the big blind calls...flop comes down 2d 5d td...i immediately say to myself, bet it like you have the flush...so i bet half the pot, the button folds, and the big blind min raises me...i immediately say to myself he has the Ace of diamonds, maybe even already has the flush...i smooth call, turn is an offsuit big card, and he checks again, i bet 1/2 the pot, and he insta calls...i wind up deciding that as soon as he insta called the bet, he had Ax suited, i pegged him for A9s honestly...and i put him on the flush...i said to myself the only way im making any play at him nowis if i have a big flush...he leads out on the river, for 1/5th the pot...a SUCKER bet...i knew he wanted me to reraise him because hed been playing cat and mouse with me this whole hand...i pull up my post it note over my cards and to my amazement, i flopped the flush with Q6 diamonds...i said to myself, "stay true to what you just saw before you looked, i smooth called his bet of 160, and he flipped up A8 of diamonds...and the guy instantly goes..."wow, how did you not get your money in there?"...my response to him was "i already knew what you had before you had it, baby"

the final table came and i made some small plays, i hovered between 2-3k, and i decided that if imade it to the bubble, i would take my post it down and play real poker...i made it down to 7 people, ON THE BUBBLE...took it down and played tight poker to try to get my chips in good...i dwindled down to about 1900 in chips when some guy made a play with AQ and got called by AK...BAM im in the money...i pick up pocket Tens with 1800 left, UTG...blinds at 100/200...i cant raise in this situation, only shove...a raise would be well over 1/3 of my stack, so i shoved and off to the races, the button called me, and flips over AK...ouch...flop KQ2 turn Q river 5..oh well,

so i finshed ITM with 14 bucks, but it just goes to show you that playing blind can really improve your game...i feel it makes the game purer, because you solely focus on your position and your opponents...another thing it does is teaches you to ATTACK the weaklings at the table...people who limp into pots continuously, people who dont defend their blinds, people like the guy playing back at me for 1/4 of his stack when all he prob had was Ace weak...EVERYONE KNOWS J2 SUITED IS A BETTER HAND THAN ACE WEAK!!!1
hahaa
hope this helps and good luck trying it out...till next time
peace out my brethren

[thenutzaa1]

playing blind got to love it. Sounds like you had fun playing blind. keep up the good work and try to win a tourney blind. that will be a story to tell your kids...hahah

[esmordan]

sounds like donk play to me haha jkjk gl mike...hope i deff seeing you this comming weekend

[diamondbaby]

It drives me crazy when people raise the blind and don't have a hand it makes no sense to me to keep stealing the blinds. What I do love is when they get slapped for their stupity so DONK is the word!!!

[klinkman]

It drives me crazy when people raise the blind and don't have a hand it makes no sense to me to keep stealing the blinds. What I do love is when they get slapped for their stupity so DONK is the word!!!

I wanna sit 2 to your right!

[kingsnthahole]

first off, i really think your missing the point here, I DONT PLAY EVERY TOURNAMENT THIS WAY...i did it one time, and the 2 reasons i did it are because;

1. Aggressive play in tournaments gets rewarded most of the time...think to yourself how many times, you lost a race to an agg when you shoved, short stacked with pocket nines, and they called with QT offsuit BECAUSE THEY are big stacked...bottomline, aggressive play is necessary to consistently win or finish ITM in tourneys...you can have your tight aggressive, BORING, nlh tourneys style that you play...

2. To hone my reading skills for tournament play...to find out which players are weak, and attack them, not the tight aggressive player...the reason i raise so much, ESP when the blinds get to 50-100, is becuase there is alot of free chips out there to be won, every hand, if someone has a marginal hand...not every hand someone gets dealt AA or KK, or even AK for that matter...look at the odds chart for the % of these hands being dealt to you, and to the table in general...thats why i raise so much, so that nits who are sitting back waiting for monsters, lose alllll those little pots to me, when i have them doubled or tripled in chips, and they make a play at me, i see a flop and maybe i outflop them, and win the rest of their chips, with their own chips...think about it that way!

[kingsnthahole]

ps, i concur with klinker on this one...hahaha someone call the waaaambulance