Bombing out of an MTT

Or in this case a $4.40 180 person tourney. I hate that crap. You know the feeling - in the top 10 in chips the WHOLE tourney just to blow up short of the money by screwing up tangling with another big stack. Live and learn I guess.

About 10 hands in I more than doubled up with KK on a Kx77x board when genius bluffs all-in on a busted flush draw (he bet 1400 into a 500 chip pot - nice). I remained in the top 10 (mostly top 4) from then on and had a great time. 25 people left and 3 of the 4 big chip stacks are on my table. It always seems to work like that for some reason. I get AK and call a minimum raise of 800 from one of the bigger stacks - blinds are 200/400 and I have around 16k and he has 14ish. Now I have a decision to reraise or not and I decided to play it conservatively and just see a flop. For some reason when the flop came an ugly 235 I called his pot sized bet. The lovely 4 gives me the wheel and I only call another bet on the turn. The river blanks off and he fires 7k into the 15k pot. Yuck. Does he really have 66? Yes he does and I am suddenly down to 2k in chips and 22nd out of 25 remaining.

I fight back up to almost 6k but lose about 10 hands later when 33 can't spike a 3 against AA. Out in 23rd. Wow. Glad it was only $4.40 but it still feels bad to blow chips late in a 180 person. I've played 3 of these now and cashed in 1, blowing up in one late and getting taken out by an 8 outer early in the other. I need to play them at least once a week if I have time. Play is super soft. Maybe next time I'll keep my head... and my chips.

In other news at about the same time I was busy losing a $41 pot on a .05/.10 table to a maniac who sucked out hard with a flush draw on the river. Down $30 and on tilt I jumped up to .25/.50 on 2 tables. Not recommended - easiest way for my little $200 bankroll to go buh bye - but in this case it worked. 30 minutes later I had won $20 on one table and $30 on the other and went back to 3 .05/.10. It's a great feeling when it works but it also feels great when you don't quite buy the farm in that near head-on collision. Kind of the same principal.

I won most of the money on two big hands. I have KK and raise it to $2 (4X blinds) and get one caller who has KQ. QJ10 flop and he calls me all the way down in a ~$50 pot. The other hand I had AK and hit my ace on the flop (AJ9) and get reraised all-in after my pot sized bet. Being on tilt I immediately call and am surprised as it's pushed to me after the river. Oh - he was bluffing with J10. Nice. 2 hands later I went back to .05/.10.

Up to $229 now on Stars. Made $19 earlier Thursday playing .05/.10 for 30 minutes. That's how it's supposed to work. Screw this tilt moving up crap.