Caution, blind man walking

Slightly late but here is the recap of my poker tourney last Saturday night.  Cards were in the air at 8pm and we had almost 100 runners.  Starting stacks were 10K with 25 minute blinds.  You get some play in this tourney.  I was looking to build a stack for a change so I was working on being much more aggressive.  Unfortunately the cards did not treat me too nice.  Every position raise was called.  Every flop hit the guy in the hand.  Never hit me.  It was ugly.  I was bleeding chips like mad, down 2k in the first 2 blind levels.  That wasn't how I wanted to start.  I got AK under the gun and raise it up 4x.  Flop is K87 with 2 hearts.  With 800 in the pot I bet out 1000.  Guy 2 seats to my left pushes all in for a bit more than I have left.  Everyone folds and I tank.  He hasn't played a lot of hands and his bet is peculiar.  I figure he had to put me on at least KQ.  I was deciding between AK or KQ for him but I don't think he pushes it that hard.  Then again he might.  He could have 2 hearts and want to try to take it down.  That is where I was leaning.  But what 2 hearts would he call a 4x raise with in early position when he's played pretty tight.  The more I thought about it the more I became convinced he had either flopped a set or 7s or 8s or he'd gotten lucky playing 78 and flopped bottom 2 pair.  Much as I wanted to call him, I finally decided to dump it.  Never found out what he had but I think I made the right move.  Or maybe not.  At least I was still in it though now I'm down to 7K.

Finally it turned around some.  In the small blind I called a small raise with 8-5 suited.  Flop was 559.  Can you say bingo.  I check it as does the big blind and the initial raiser. Next card is a queen.  I almost bet but decided to check again and the raiser puts in a bet.  I raise him up and he calls.  River is a 2.  I'm hoping he has AQ or KQ so I put in a pot sized bet hoping he will push in over me but he folds instead.  At least I got back some chips though I was still below my starting stack. 

The next few rounds were more of the same.  Decent cards catching nothing, I did get AA once and everyone folds to my raise.  Then I finally hit a hand.  I'm in the big blind with 6-7 of diamonds and 4 people call the blind as I check it.  Flop is 2-3-4 rainbow with one diamond.  Close.  Guy across from me makes a smallish bet and it's folded to me.  I decide to see another card and see if I can get another diamond or even better, a 5.  Turn is the 5 of clubs.  Can you say Eureka?  I check again and call my opponent's half pot bet.  River is a nothing 9 of hearts.  For a moment I thought of checking the river but decided it would be better to put in a bet.  So I put out about a 2/3 pot bet and my opponent looks at me and shoves all in.  I instacall and he flips over 65 for a flopped straight and I flop over the nuts.  He was not happy giving me 3/4 of his stack but he took a chance and didn't bet hard on the flop and it hurt him bad.  For me I finally caught a big hand. 

It looked like the card gods had turned for me then.  I was able to make a couple of bets and push people off pots.  Then I get AA in middle position.  Guy under the gun limps and I raise him 3.5 times.  He had been pretty aggressive and got called down for a big chunk of his stack on complete air so I figured for him to play a hand he had a little something at least.  Everyone folds it back to him and he pushes all in for about half my stack.  Well Ok, I'll call an all in with AA.  He groans and flips over pocket 10s.  Of course the poker gods reward fools who push 10's into Aces and he hit's his two outer right on the flop.  Back grinding again instead of having the chip lead at my table. 

A few hands later I'm in the small blind with KJ off.  2 people limp and I call the big blind who checks.  Lady in the big blind had played a lot of hands but didn't raise much.  She called a lot of preflop raises but usually waited to the turn or river to really get crazy.  She lost a bunch of chips chasing a draw and had a bit less than me now.  Flop is KJ5.  Nice.  I check and it gets checked all the way around.  Turn is a 2.  No flush draw, no straight draw.  I bet half the pot and she pushes all in over the top of me.  Not sure what to put her on as her play was all over the place.  I figured her for maybe K2 and called her all in.  She flips over 22 and I figure it's time to go home.  But no, the poker gods changed their minds and the river is another king.  What a strange day at the poker table.  I win hands when I should lose and lose when I should win.   Just that kind of ugly. 

This puts me up a little over my starting stack and I keep grinding.  I drag a good pot when I flop a set of 7s and get 2 people to call me down.  I build my stack up over 20K but the blinds and antes are now accelerating pretty hard and I only have about 30 big blinds.  The PQ gets moved to my table and she's in worse shape.  She raises preflop with AJ and 2 people push all in for less than her stack but a large chunk of it still.  There's so many chips in the pot that I figure she has to call but she ends up dumping it.  Man is she pissed when they turn over K8 and 76.  And she would have taken them both out.  She got knocked out not long after and I am struggling trying to keep the chips coming but it's going ok as I have a good table image and have been picking my spots. 

Unfortunately the table was broken and I went to a table that was a bit wild.  I raised with some garbage hand and got 2 callers.  Again the flop doesn't hit me but it's a pretty innocuous 9 high flop and I push it.  One guy calls me down on every street with Q9 and takes a big chunk out of me.  Now I'm on death watch and I eventually push in with K8 suited.  I don't improve and lose to J10 when he flops a jack.  Good bye to me, out in 25th out of 96.

The good, I was much more aggressive especially early and moved people off of some pots when I had basically nothing.  I also played my position much more and though it didn't really pay off for me this time, it was due to some bad luck in that much of the time people called me with crap and hit and my crap mostly didn't.  The bad, I caught a couple of bad breaks (I also caught a couple of good ones as well) that kept me from really increasing my stack early when I could have done some damage.  My reads were fair at best.  I pushed chips in more than once when I shouldn't have, not reading my opponents well.  That is a major problem with not playing very much.  My feel for the game was very off and on. More off than on I fear.  Sometimes I read it very well, more often I didn't.  It was difficult. Unfortunately after getting a car for the girl and some other things, money is not gonna be floating all around for me to play much I think. 

So thats the my night in a nutshell.  I'm not sure how long before I'll play again.  Until then, stay lucky you nuts.