Well, I've had a few hours to cool off about my blowup today, so I guess I'll write about it now.
I showed up about 45 minutes late and had missed 2 orbits of blinds, bringing me down to a paltry 24,850 chips. Oh dear! I folded the first few hands (monsters such as A7 and KJs), and then went pretty card dead. After another 45 minutes, I don't know that I had played a single hand (I think I limped in latr position once or twice with limpers in front of me). It actually got so bad that I raised a couple of times with complete junk, just so when I did finally get a hand, I might get SOME action. Can you imagine how annoying it would be to finally be dealt AA and only pick up the blinds because everyone thinks I'm the tightest player in the room???
Finaly, I got 88 and raised. The button called, as did one of the blinds. The flop came K98 with 2 spades. With the draws out there, I decided to lead right out at the pot, so I did. The button called and the other guy folded. The turn was a blank. I bet again, and this time got raised significantly. The only hand I was worried about was 99, but I thought it was more likely he had a big draw. I decided to just call and reevaluate on the river. The river was.... a 9. So, unless my opponent had quads now, I was confident I had the best hand. I decided to check again and let him bluff at it. He thought for a long time and then came through for me with a large river bet, and I called. He showed 9T, having made what was IMO a terrible value bet on the river. Anyway, this gave my stack a HUGE boost. Suddenly, I as he table chip leader.
I picked up a few pots here and there, and then was dealt AA. I reraised a loose aggressive early poistion player (my future nemesis) and he called. The flop came AKK, and he checked. I said, "I'll slow play this and just check." Sure enough, he fired out at the Q turn for me. I thought for a bit, and just called, hoping he had a King and ideally KQ. The river was a J and he checked. I knew I wasn't going to get any more action, but I bet $5k anyway and he folded. Around here, I was approaching the 45k mark, which was my high for the tourney.
With 100/200/25 blinds/antes and me being card dead again, I raised an early position limper to 825 with 54o from the cut off. My nemesis called, the limper folded, and the flop came 356 rainbow. He checked, I bet 1200, and as I 100% expected, he check raised me to 3200. I was sure I was ahead, but decided to let him bluff at the turn one more time and raise him there. The turn was a Jack and he led out 4000. This is where I made the mistake that cost me the entire tourney. For some reason, even though he only had 13k left to my 32k or so (and with about 13k in the pot), I didn't put him all in. I just called. The river was another 6 and he checked, and like an even bigger moron, I didn't bet AGAIN. I don't know what stopped me, but I just wussd out and checked. He showed J8o. He had nothing on the flop and hit the ridiculous Jack on the turn. I could have taken him off this hand at ANY TIME (on all three streets!), but instead, he scooped the 17k pot and I was down to 33k or so, instead of up to 50k. Ugh.
That really had me mad at myself, but I shook it off. An orbit or two later, the same tard raised from EP when I was in the BB. He made some comment to the SB about wanting him to fold, because he knew he could get lucky against just me. The SB folded, and I look down to see the Kiss of Death. Yes, KK. I told him he'd have to pay to get lucky, and popped his 800 bet to 2425. He instacalled, as I knew he would. The flop came 5x5c3c and I said, "Did you hit that?" He said, "No," so I said, "OK, then I better bet." I bet around 4200 and he called. The turn was the Ac, possibly the worst card in the deck for me, right? Or was it? If he had a flush draw, it wasn't the nut flush draw (making hat less likely), and could he really smooth call me with and unpaired Ace on the flop? Maybe, but not ikely. Also, so far, I've played my hand exactly like I would Aces! So, I decided to check and see what he'd do, just like I would have with Aces. If he bet, I think I would have put him all in. He checked behind me, of course. At this point, I had the last hand going through my head and I glanced at his stack. I figured it to be about 17k, and I had around 23k. There was 14-15k in the pot, which at my incorrect glance, I thought was close to the size of his stack. I thought if I overbet the river, he'd fold, because it would reek of me having Aces......... blah blah blah blah....
The river came a blank, and I pushed in immediately. Keep in mind, I'm not typically a wreckless idiot, and I usually avoid big pots, especially when I don't have a huge hand. I couldn't even beat top pair here, and I pushed in. I guess I just really though he'd have to fold with his entire tourney on the line, but sure enough, he instacalled me.... with............ K5o. Yes, that's right, K5.
Admittedly, I played the hand badly and could have lost a lot less, but come on! How unlucky was it for me to even get in that situation in the first place??? Disgusting. He counted out his chips and has > 20k - ugh - leaving me with 2100 or so. I felt ill.
I pushed in with AQs not much later, right before my table was going to break up, and got two callers. The flop came Qxx - all hearts. One player checked, the other bet, and the first folded 23. 23!!!!!! I figured I was up against at least a big heart, but he flipped over KQ with no hearts and by some miracle, my hand held up and I more than tripled up to 7000+.
Our table broke up the next hand (not cool), and I got moved to the empty seat to the right of tourney chipleader (140k?) E-Fro - Eric Froelisch. Lucky me. We played one hand and then went on break. the first hand back from break - 200/400/50 now - I was dealt JJ and raised the UTG limper to 2300ish (about 1/3 of my stack). He called, and the flop came K55 (where was this flop when I had KK against K5 earlier?). He checked, I followed through with my 4600 or so all in, and naturaly he called.... without a King! Oh, right. QQ. Of course he has QQ. Why wouldn't he? I mean, he played it terribly, so of course that's what he had, and not TT or some other hand I could actually beat.
And then I was out and that was that.
Frustrated, annoyed...... ugh. I REALLY like the structure of this tourney, and I was feeling really good until I donked off al my chips...... Despite not even getting CLOSE to deep in this tourney, this may be the most frustrated I've ever been geting busted out of a tourney.
I've since shaken it off though, and I think Im going to go downstairs and register for the $1000 tomorrow. I have a much better track record with $1000 tourneys anyway.
