Getting Back on Track

I played in 4 tournaments this past weekend and although I only cashed in one of them, I feel pretty good about my play.

Friday night at the Cable Bridge I made it to the final table only to be knocked out two before the money, holding AQ in the big blind. A guy raised on the button and I think it was perfectly fine to go all-in with AQ in my position with the shortest stack at the table. He could have been trying to steal the blinds. Unfortunately, he had KK. Oh, well. I suppose I could have laid it down, but I don't think anyone else would have played it any differently.

Saturday morning at the Crazy Moose, I went out on the bubble. Boo hoo. Again, however, I felt good about my play and really can't think of any big (or small) mistakes that I made. Sunday morning ($25 tournament) was a different story, however. I played mostly OK, but got unlucky and the blinds go up so fast (every 10 minutes) that it's just impossible if you don't catch some cards now and then. I raised once with AK suited under the gun and got SIX callers because everyone is trying to catch a big hand and get chips early because of the stupid 10-minute rounds. I think I'll quit playing those.

I stayed to play the 10:00 at the Moose on Sunday and ended up making a tiny profit, coming in fifth for $100. I had A-10 in the big blind and my situation was very similar to Friday night, having no chips and not seeing any cards. Unfortunately the monster chip leader had QQ and they held up.

I did have a fun hand earlier in the tournament. A player (don't know his name) raised to $400 under the gun when the blinds were only 25-50. I was in the big blind and already invested for 50. Two other players called before it got to me. I looked down and had pocket fives. Now, this isn't the best hand in the world and I'd already folded pocket twos and fours earlier in the tournament to large raises. However it was only 350 more for me to maybe win almost 1600 (with my 350 in there), so I said to myself, "What the heck. It's early and if I don't hit the five I can fold and still have tons of chips." I called.

The flop was 5-5-8. WOW! I was my usual stone-faced self and prayed that the original raiser would do something crazy, which he did. He went all-in (over 3,500 chips) and I really couldn't blame him with that board. Now I let out a sigh and picked up my cards and fiddled with them, hoping the other two players would think I was folding and maybe one of them would call too, but they obviously had nothing and it was up to me. I almost felt sorry for the guy, but his chips (and a few other nice hands) helped me make it to the final table, so I really didn't feel too bad. I flopped quads on another guy a couple of weeks ago and had the same result. Gotta love it! For only 350, I got over 5,000 in chips!

All-in-all it was fun weekend, even if not profitable at all. I was actually down about $65 with all the buy-ins and only one small win, but that's OK. I felt really good about the way I played all weekend. I just have to keep it up. I'm going to try a couple of small tournaments at the Cable this week. We'll see how it goes!