There's a new article over on Low Limit Holdem Strategy and Tactics about changes to strategy when playing at jackpot tables. It's a work in progress and will probably undergo some revisions in the coming days but check it out.
SillySpade and I decided we hadn't played live poker in too long so we went down to the Bicycle Club in Bell Gardens (Southern California) to play in one of their middle-of-the-day weekday tournaments
The buy-in was $30+$10 (which reminded me of one of the reasons I like to play online nowadays--the same tournament would be $30+$3 at any of the online rooms, but that just isn't doable in a live setting where you have to pay real dealers, etc.) and there were 120 players and a starting stack of 2000T. It felt strange to be back at a live cardroom after several months away and I definitely wasn't playing great poker, although I was playing tight enough that I wasn't dumping my chips. I got involved in the very first hand with T6o in the SB (blinds were $25 and $25 at the first level so I didn't have to put in any extra to see the flop) when I flopped top pair on a 2 3 6 rainbow board and got called by the BB when I bet $50. The turn was a 4 making a one card straight on the board and I bet $50 into the pot again and was min raised by the BB. I thought about it a moment and called thinking he was making a move and didn't draw to a gutshot on the first hand. I check-called another $200 on the river fully believing he was on a bluff and he showed down T5o.
Needless to say I woke up after that and stopped making the donkey payoffs. The next hand I was involved in I was on the button and it was folded down to me with AQs and I made the standard 3x raise. The big blind wasn't having any of it and reraised all in (which I had barely covered). I was getting 2-1 on a call and unless he had aces I had odds so after 10 seconds or so I called the raise and he showed A8o and didn't improve almost doubling me up.
After that I wasn't catching cards at all (I only had 3 pocket pairs during the entire tournament) so when my stack dwindled down to about 1000T and the blinds rose to 50-100 I started playing all-in poker. I took the blinds twice with AQ and AK and then on my third attempt my all in on the button with AQo was insta-called by the small blind(!) I knew I was in trouble and after the BB folded he shows QQ. Ouch! However the poker gods granted me the suckout with an A on the flop and no more queens in the deck (someone else at the table said they folded one) and let me double through.
I played decently for a while and managed to get my stack up to 7700T and we were down around the bubble so I was avoiding unnecessary confrontation. I looked down and found JJ in the SB and was happy until the player to my right who was never showing down anything worse than AK raised it to T6000 on the button first in the pot. I thought the raise was excessive and that he probably had a hand like AK/AQ and I thought a long while about it but then folded the jacks not wanted to run a race that close to the money. He flips of pocket kings... ! Nice laydown.
After a break we are down to 19 people and top 18 pay. Of course I find KK UTG and am conflicted about what to do but cannot bring myself to dump it. With blinds now at 300-600 w/ 100 ante and my stack around 7200T I push. All fold to the dealer button who was a young asian woman who sighed and said 'I call'. She shows As Qs and my kings are ahead. The flop has two spades and the turn is the 4s so I'm drawing dead. Ouch! SillySpade lasted almost as long and went out around 27th. Not a profitable day, but all things considered a decent ranking and a fun tournament. If you're in the SoCal area definitely worth a try...
