When the Antes Kick In, It's Easy to Get Kicked Out

In no-limit hold'em tournaments, you usually have to start putting in an ante at the beginning of the fourth round. At the Festa al Lago III $2,600 buy-in no-limit hold'em event, the blinds were $100-$200 with a $25 ante at the beginning of round four. Starting the round, I increased my chip count to about $6,000 and had picked up the blinds and antes during the early hands of the round to offset my expenses. I was somewhat handicapped, in that the chip leader at my table was sitting to my immediate left, but I was fortunate to pick up a small pot from him in heads-up action when I called from the small blind with A-3 offsuit and hit an ace on the turn.

My next confrontation came when I was sitting in the big blind with 10-7 offsuit in an unraised pot. I got lucky: The flop came 10-7-4. I could have checked with top two pair in an effort to trap my opponents. But since several players had limped into the pot, I chose to bet out $700, hoping that someone would raise so that I could play back at him. One player called and then Jesse Jones, an expert opponent who isn't exactly the loosest player in the world, moved all in for $1,450! I also decided to move all in, to force out the third player just in case he was on a draw. (Indeed, he was; he later said that he folded an open-end straight draw.) I thought the pot was big enough at this point and I wanted to protect my hand.

I wasn't completely positive that I had the best hand, however. Certainly, it was possible that Jesse could have flopped a set. As it turned out, he had K-10, giving him top pair with a good kicker. Since he was short-stacked going into the hand, I saw the logic in his all-in raise. Getting no help on the turn or river, Jesse busted out of the tournament. This hand illustrates the danger of giving the blinds a free flop; I could not have called a preflop raise with 10-7. On the other hand, Jesse was hoping to see a cheap flop with his K-10, and just got unlucky.

I played only one more hand that round, pocket tens from early position. I brought it in for the standard raise and two players called. The flop came A-3-2. I checked, the next player moved in, and the other player and I folded. I don't like leading into a pot with a pocket pair when looking at an ace on board and two players have called my preflop raise. There is a good chance that at least one of them has an ace in his hand. (The player who moved in showed A-Q.) I ended the fourth round with $7,750 in chips, and we were down to 89 players. Only 71 more players to go and I would be in the money.

Jack McClelland, tournament director for the Bellagio tournaments, is renowned throughout the industry for his humor as well as his talent in running tournaments. With a monster field of 800 players, and after about 130 or 140 players have gone broke, he will announce something like, "Only 664 more players and you're all in the money!" His levity allows players to take a deep breath, relax, and enjoy the battle. Jack sometimes likes to make me the butt of his jokes. When I bust out of a tournament, he will announce something like, "Attention, everyone! Tom McEvoy is now available on the rail to sign autographs and sell you his books." This can be quite brutal when I'm trying to slink out of the building with my tail between my legs. Jack also likes to congratulate me over the microphone when I make it to the second break, implying that it seldom happens these days. (I wonder how he treats people he doesn't like?!) But I was determined that today was not going to be one of "those days."

With more than half of the 207 starters eliminated by the end of round four, I was below par in chips, even though I had added more than 50 percent to my starting chip count. The action would really start to heat up in the fifth round, with the blinds going to $200-$400 with a $25 ante. The first hand I played was J-J from an early position. I made it $1,500 to go, and another player stalled and stalled before finally moving all in on me. Everyone else folded, and I had to decide what to do. It occurred to me that some players put on the big stall when they have pocket aces, trying to lure you in with their acting job (maybe they've been watching too much TV poker). But I didn't think my opponent had aces, although A-K, A-Q, or some pocket pair was a possibility. I wouldn't go broke if I called him, so I decided to take a chance, hoping that I was not up against anything worse than two overcards. In that case, I would be in a coin-flip situation. To my surprise, he turned over pocket sevens. He didn't have to get involved with this hand, but chose to make a stand with it, anyway. He got no help and headed for the rail while I stacked up his chips.

A little later, I raised from late position with K-J, and got no callers. Again, my tight image at the table had allowed me to pick up a small pot to offset the cost of playing a round. Tune in next time for the skinny on what happened to my $14,000 in chips. Until then, I hope to meet you in the winner's circle in 2005.

Editor's note: Tom McEvoy is the co-author with T.J. Cloutier of Championship Hold'em Tournament Hands, available through Card Player. McEvoy also is affiliated with PokerStars.com.