Decided to play another my.888poker tournament as they have a smaller field which means I get still get up for work and still be able to function as a human being. I play the bigger field tournaments Friday and Saturday nights as I can just sleep-in if I run really deep.


Tonight was the $150 Team Challenge game although the Reds failed to win the team game even with 3 of us making the final table, I managed to claim another cash. The Yellows were deserved winners with 5 of their team making up the final table, so well done.


I became unstuck near the end of the tournament with the cursed river card dealing me a few blows which eventually busted me out 5th in a field of 32 runners. Still happy with the result but disappointed I couldn't run deeper in to the tournament and failure to win the team side of the tournament.





Won't be playing any of the my.888poker tournaments tomorrow night as I will be down the pub, so good luck everyone who plays and possibly see you in a tournament on Thursday.


See you on the tables.


ChipPhilfer

If I had known on Thursday night when I sat down at my PC ready to play the team game on 888 that things would have got so heated when I was knocked out of the tournament, I may have bought popcorn from Tesco earlier that evening or simply not played (not sure which).

Before I start with this blog I do not proclaim to be the best team player when it comes to these events but I do try to adhere to the spirit of the competition, however sometimes I put myself in to some dubious spots where it could be questioned am I playing just for myself or the team.

Since the creation of team events whether it be live or online there has always been a debate amongst poker players of what you are allowed to do, how you should play against teammates, what is classed as cheating and what is frowned upon. Needless to say these debates usually lead to arguments and I will outline way in this blog (in my humble opinion) as well as setting the scene for the scenario which transpired on Thursday.

The must simple and glaring reason that quarrels erupt in team games is it goes completely against the grain of other poker tournaments and the apparent guidelines on how to play are at odds with the poker player mind-set. The majority of games of poker we participate in are purely our individual performance, we sit down at table and pit our wits against 8/9 opponents and nobody is there to give you a helping hand. If anyone thinks that changes because it is a team game are sadly deluding themselves, it is a constant battle in my head to make plays that benefit me and keep me in the game and act in a manner to benefit my side to win the team challenge. At the end of the day I want to finish in the cash places if my team wins as well then it’s a bonus, playing only for the team win only enters my mind when all else fails.

My final point is that there are so many grey areas to exploit and be able to defend yourself in team poker. No matter what I do in the game I can usually defend my action, people might not like what I did but least I can defend myself. Let us look at a situation, my teammate shoves all-in and is called by a member of another team, I have a hand not amazing may even be mediocre but I feel my fellow team member isn’t that strong so what do I do. I know you shouldn’t knock your fellow team members out of a tournament but don’t want the opposition to get their chips. I have been in this situation before and got a lot of flak for what I did next after 5 minutes of thinking I decided to call. I hit trip fives and knocked both of them out the tournament, needless to say got grief of the team for doing it but isn’t it better to take teammate’s chip than let an opponent take them and if I lost to my teammate they would have tripled up which also aided the team. As you can see it is very easy to twist things round and say you did it for the benefit of the team.

So what happened on Thursday night, well I was motoring along quite nicely when I stupidly called a river bet when I knew I was beat which then left me playing the short stacked game when I could have walked away easily. Please click video link below.

http://my.888poker.com/chipphilfer/go/video/view?vid_id=1494379&video_pg=1&video_num=5&com_num=10&com_pg=1

I am fighting to stay in the game and at this point the reds weren’t dominating the game so I was frantically trying to stay in the game and double up as soon as possible. I get pocket aces in the small blind and my fellow team member raises to 700 (blinds are 100/200), action folds round to me and I shove 1100 in to the pot. It is only another 400 chips so they call with ATs, the RNG kicks me in the proverbials and they complete the flush on the turn. Please click link for video below.

http://my.888poker.com/chipphilfer/go/video/view?vid_id=1494377&video_pg=1&video_num=5&com_num=10&com_pg=1

What happened next surprised me. There was 20 minutes of giving this person stick and most of them weren’t even on my team, a golden rule of team poker had been broken.

“DO NOT KNOCK OUT ONE OF YOUR OWN!”

I know some of what occurred at the table was just banter to wind up the individual but there were certainly some comments made that were deadly serious .

To be honest I wasn’t that bothered that a fellow team member had knocked me out of the tournament I was too busy ranting at the monitor, screaming at the RNG “Why have you forsaken me”.

So was it right or wrong to make this call or should they have folded you decide I have posted a poll and rather than ask should they have called or folded I will ask instead would you call or fold in this spot. Please vote by clicking on the link.

http://my.888poker.com/chipphilfer/blog/2012/03/24/you-get-dealt-ats-in-a-team-tournament-the-blinds-are-100200-you-open-raise-to-700-action-folds-to-sb-who-is-on-your-team-he-sho
   
Unfortunately when I tried to embed the videos it wouldn't work so could only post the links to them.

On a lighter note my team eventually went on to win so got my buy-in back and a little bit more. So congratulations to all of the Reds team and no matter how small a contribution someone made it all helped to secure the win, also well done to the winner and anyone on the final table. Please see screenshots of the finishing positions of everybody in the tournament.

 


See you at the tables


ChipPhilfer