"UNCLE"

I was playing in a tournament last night when this question occurred to me. What do you do when you are getting no cards?

I was at the final table but getting no cards to speak off and the blinds increasing. I would try to limp in with KQ0 and occasionally suited connectors, but nothing ever hit on the flop. I was the short stack at the table on the button. I got K3s, so I went all-in. Of course two of the larger stacks called me. I was dead after the flop. I felt it was worth the risk to gamble.

Normally I am extremely patient and wait for good cards, but sometimes that is a slow death.

I would be curious to hear thoughts on how players win when cards dry up. Is there a winning strategy or do you wait for another day? In the situation above I think I could have gone all-in with anything and just take a chance. Reminds me of a tee shirt - "But they were suited."

I would presume this is more difficult on line without tells. So online I take the WTF approach especially if it is getting late. In a live tournament I try to pick up on tells; however, my ability to pick up on tells is dependent on many factors. One factor might be how much Guinness consumed or tequila. There have been tournaments where I predicted everyone's hand accurately but still did not get any cards to save the day.

I would like to improve my game by understanding how to play well with crappy cards. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I have also jumped back into the freeroll circuit. I am using freerolls as a place to try new strategies.

If anyone stumbles on this blog please offer your input on "How to play with crappy cards?" Sounds like a good title for a book!

Play on!