How do you play?

[arathemis]

I had a frustrating last evening home tournament with some friends. I had really crappy cards all evening long. I`m not kidding. Most of the cards I was dealt were of the type 8 4, 9 2, 7 2, etc. When on rare occasions i was dealt K Q, I missed the flop completely.

I managed to steal 2-3 pots by bluffing, but that was about it.

When I was dealt A A, I re-raised pre flop, 2 guys called. Flop came 4 8 Q offsuited. I re-raise again. I`m called by one guy. Turn is a 2. I`m going all in. Guy calls and shows Q 10. River...another Q for a set and I`m busted.

How do you play a tournament on a night when no good cards seem to come your way? I mean you cannot bluff you way throughout the tournament, can you?

P.S. I stayed in the tourney for as long as possible. I was not busted in the first 15 minutes, but after about 2 hours.

[Martini]

Fold, fold, fold. If you need to steal a pot to keep a decent chip stack then do so from position. You picked up a big hand and got a guy in who was down to five outs on the River and you more than double up the vast majority of the time. What else do you want?

[luckystraights]

if your opponents are thinking about anything over then "lets see what I make by the river", then try to out think them and pick up pots by playing vs there range and manipulating your percieved range.

If there drolling at the prospect to see what the river card will be, just play really tight, down size your raise size in the btn when blind steal and preserve your stack whilst you wait for a hand.

[Wedge Rock]

Yeah, what Martini said.  You played that hand well enough.  You can't always count on your cards holding up.  Take solace in the fact that you played it right and you were a 88% winner when all the money got in the middle.

If statistics hold up, you'll win that hand the next eight times the situation comes up.

[NotFadeAway]

My advice is pretty simple:  don't think in the way or terms that you're thinking.  You ask what you can do when you catch bad cards all night.  I kind of want to say that the answer is nothing, but the best answer would be to say that the question is misguided.  Just play every hand without regard to how you're running (the obvious exception being something like not bluffing if you've won four or five pots in a row, for instance, since you're more likely to get called.)
Poker is just recognizing situations and making decisions.  Don't worry about if you're running bad:  just keep trying to recognized the situation and make the correct decision.  In the example you gave it sounds like you did fine, but just got unlucky when you picked up a strong hand.  Don't worry about the bad beat, and don't worry about whether you should have stolen pots with you 8-4 or 9-2 type of hands.
Again, it sounds like you played just fine, but just got bad luck.  That will happen at times, and don't worry about it.  Just try to play good poker every time you play and not change your game if you encounter bad luck.

[Martini]

Try picking up a copy of "Zen and the Art of Poker" because as NFA points out, your questions aren't about mechanics.

[Jacks Up]

Try picking up a copy of "Zen and the Art of Poker" because as NFA points out, your questions aren't about mechanics.

I can second that.  It is a wonderful book - easily the most key poker book that I own.

[arathemis]

Thanks guys.

Being pretty much a begginer without much experience, I was just wondering if I could have done something different that night. It seems that there`s not much that I could have done different.

Thanks again.

[Martini]

Thanks guys.

Being pretty much a begginer without much experience, I was just wondering if I could have done something different that night. It seems that there`s not much that I could have done different.

Thanks again.

You are doing what is called Results Oriented Thinking. You could have done things differently but that's not what you want. If I tell you that you have the opportunity to double up in a hand 90% of the time then you should be jumping at the chance to get your money in. The only reason why you are even considering whether you should be doing something different is because the hand ended up being one of the 10% of the times where you bust.

Poker is about making good decisions. Any changes to your game should be to improve your decision making regardless of the outcome of any specific hands.

[Nerre]

Or as it can be said:

You can lose a hand even if you play it right.

And that you won the hand doesn't mean you played it right.

As long as you play right, you are a winner in the long run. But you might still lose a lot of hands.

1% can occur more than once over 100 hands... But over 10k hands it shouldn't occur more than maybe 150-200 times. Over 1 million hands it will probably occur less than 11k times.

[stooks99]

Quit poker, sell your computer, move into the mountains.

You're asking a very popular question, but it's one that basically can't or shouldn't be answered.  What do I do when I run bad?  I do the same thing I do when I'm running great:  I keep playing.  Results don't matter.  Winning and Losing don't matter.  Decisions matter.  That's poker...making a lifelong series of decisions.

[FSL009]

dont be affraid to get busted. that is what wins poker tournaments.

if your getting bad cards then play a hand like its AA no matter what.  most people miss the flop as well so you just got to fire some bullets.

if you get caught out go back to tight play for about an hour or so. then start at it again.

sometimes your gonna lose (in fact most of the time)

cheers