tournament life

home poker tourney $60 buy in 20 players to start, down to 11 players over two tables.  Villian in seat 5 is Jamie W. who in my mind has been playing pretty tight and straightforward as per his usual play.  my thinking here is that I know this could be the tournament for me (chip lead or severely crippled) if I call.  the stacks are relatively correct, going from my memory of the hand. I'll have to run the equities, etc for this hand but wanted to get some thoughts on my play here.

Seat 1: Hero ($24000)
Seat 2: Seat 2 ($10000)
Seat 3: Seat 3 ($12000)
Seat 4: Seat 4 ($8000)
Seat 5: Seat 5 ($14000)
Hero posts the small blind of $300
Seat 2 posts the big blind of $600
The button is in seat #5
*** HOLE CARDS ***
Dealt to Hero [Kh Qh]
Seat 3 folds
Seat 4 folds
Seat 5 calls $600
Hero raises to $1500
Seat 2 folds
Seat 5 calls $900
*** FLOP *** [: Jh Jd 10h]
Hero bets $3000
Seat 5 raises all in for $12,500
Hero calls $12,500
*** TURN *** [ERROR INVALID STRING: Jh Jd 10h] [5h]

*** RIVER *** [ERROR INVALID STRING: Jh Jd 10h 5h[Qd]

Hero shows [Kh Qh]
Seat 5 shows [Qc Jc]
Seat 5 wins the pot ($28600)

hand history converters

It may make it easier for people to post and read if we use a hand history converter.  I'm a newb to online hand history converters. If anyone has any suggestions let me know.  Here are the two I have found.

http://www.tournamentpokeredge.com/hand-history-converter/

http://www.handconverter.com/

posting hands guidelines...

Polaris suggested we sticky some basic rules about strategy posting so that we get the best strategy talk possible and I think he's got the right idea. Here is what he posted from 2+2's guidelines on the topic. Please try to follow this as it really helps get better responses for your threads. It's really important to pick a good title and not give results as outlined below. Thanks! 1. Guidelines for Posting Hands: a) Do NOT post bad beats: Step away from the keyboard. No one cares. Your bad beat is not special. We've all had ‘em. I don’t care if someone runner runner runner runner'd your quads with a straight flush. My dog doesn’t care either. My cat might, but he's a donk. Cliffs notes version: Don’t post bad beats, we don’t care. Finally, keep in mind that bad beat posts are no less unacceptable if you try to disguise them behind a silly question like ‘should I waited until the river to go all in with AA since I knew he would call with anything?’. b) Use the converter: Raw Hand Histories are difficult to read and cumbersome, using the converter will be doing everyone a favor and making your post more likely to get replies. Note that you should try and use the converter even when posting hands in "Official" tournament threads. c) Have an informative title: A quick summary of the hand in the title is helpful. "Calling all-in with 99 on the bubble in a $55' is a lot better as a title than 'Should I have folded this instead?" d) Introduce the hand clearly: First off, what’s the situation here: Online or live? What’s the buy-in? Secondly, you should set up the context in which you want to discuss the hand. Basically, what you should do, in one sentence at the top of your post, is answer the following question: Why am I posting this? This will give us a good idea of where you’re coming from and make the discussion more productive. i.e.: "By not controlling pot size early in the hand, I think I paint myself in a corner by the river' or 'I really think this was a solid execution of the squeeze play." e) Include pertinent information: Buy-in, stage of the tournament, reads on the villains, your image at the table. This stuff is generally very brief, but crucial (consider the problems in HoH an indicator of how to do this). Also, thinking of reads and such when you post hands is good practice to make sure you’re thinking about it at the table. Notice how the great players always seem to have reads to include, this isn't a coincidence. f) Do not post results (at least initially): Consciously or not, it’s impossible not to be impacted by the results of hand. Accordingly, not posting them is necessary to getting the best possible discussion. Therefore, results should always be absent, and should not be implied in the title or preamble to the hand (incidentally, if you only seek out advice on and discussion of hands that you lose, you probably have a lot to learn about poker). Not only should you not post results, you should stop all the action at the point in the hand that you want to discuss.

Intro

This blog is for general hand history review and other poker training discussion by its members.  I'm starting to realize being open to discussion and criticism of your poker play is one way to get better at a game we all enjoy.  For years I've just played, read books, and tried to learn from my mistakes at the table.  But have recently started to read on forums like tournament poker edge and 2+2 as well as subscribing to poker training sites.  Talking hands with people who's game you respect has also helped.  Hopefully my personal posts and discussion isn't too novice but it should improve and advance with repetition.  Also, it helps to have suggestions for training and resources that people recommend to improve your game.

Any forms of poker and formats are welcome (tournaments, cash, hold'em, PLO, etc).  See you on the forum and at the tables.