no main event seat

well - in all honesty i thought going into the events that i had as good a chance as anyone at winning a seat. and after playing both events i still feel that way. i played them both well until my demises, and was even 1st or second in chips at my tables for a majority of the time that i was in, but i was knocked out by my own stupidity in both events. that is what upsets me the most.

the poker stars event had 8076 people entered. we were 2h and 40 min into the tourney at the time i was knocked out. i was second in chips at the table in second position and i look down at pocket jacks. i put in a standard raise of 3x the big blind. everyone folds over to the cut off seat (the person just to the right of the button) and he shoves all in (just so happens to be the chip leader at the table) everyone else folds. he had bullied people who had raised a couple of times by making this move and most people had folded. he had been called and had shown a mid pocket pair once and over cards (AJ) once. i did think it was possible that he had one of the three hands i was behind, but more likely that he was playing something he didn't want a call with and that meant i should call him. well i do think i had the right read and he was playing something he didn't want a call with and that's pocket QQs. they held up and just like that, i was out.

i was really bummed about this, because i actually did consider folding here. it did cross my mind that i hadn't put that much out etc... i would still be in the tournament if i don't call, and if i do call and lose, I'm out - i honestly don't know what the right play was. do you lay down everytime someone comes over the top of you like that unless you have AA just to survive the tourney? that is a great theoretical question and one i will pose to my poker crew the next time i see them...

what say you porqchop and coolio? what do you do there? i ended knocked out at 3837. a long way from a seat.

but.... what this tourney showed me from a playing perspective is that i'm right there with everyone else. being one of the chip leaders at the table for most of the time validated how i'm feeling about my game. bad news is, in a tourney, one mis-step and that means your life.

in the full tilt event, i predicted 6k players, but there only ended up being 3385. i had already outlasted more than that in the poker stars event. which was good news, so i felt good going in.

my demise in this game happened over the course of two hands played back to back about 3hours in. in first position, i had pocket jjs again. (you know what they say about pocket jacks, three ways to play them and they are all wrong!) standard 3x big blind raise. one caller from the big blind. flop comes out 276 rainbow. big blind bets out about a pot size bet and i raise his bet by 3x. he takes a second but smooth calls me. turn is a 7. big blind checks, i check, (i should have bet here - ) river is a k. he checks - i check. we show and he has QQ against me. so i lost probably 2/3 of my stack in that hand was down to about 3800 in chips.

next hand i'm big blind with Q9. 2 callers preflop - no raise. flop comes out 7QA. i bet out and get one caller. don't think he's on the A since he didn't raise me on the flop, but he might be. he's been playing a lot of mid connectors, so he could be calling from just about anywhere so i decide if he is drawing i will make him pay to draw. turn comes a 4. i bet about 2/3 of the pot, and he calls. river is another A. i push all in (which is only about a pot size bet) since he missed his draw and the second A makes it even more unlikely that he has an A. he calls (and had me covered because of the previous hand) he turns over Q10 and im out in 1673rd place to a higher kicker.

i'm not sure what to think about how i played this hand - i think i royally f-ed it up in a couple of places.

for those reading who play poker - i would love to hear your thoughts. critique my thinking on the hands i discuss here - i would love feedback on how to get better and will do my best to be objective when retelling so you have all the facts of my thinking.

until next time
peace and love and happiness to all.
kk