So last night played in a small 25 people tourney and was sitting pretty good the whole game until there were 11 of us left…Blinds were 600/1200 already and I haven’t had played a hand in over an hour so lost a few thousand just on the blinds with about 8000 in chips left. I was in late possition and got KQ so decided to push all in to steal the blinds since there were no raises. Unfortunately the player on the button called and turned out he had AQ. He had about 9000 in chips so I though my night was over but this time around that hated river card worked to my benefit. The flop came out 3 hearts with one of them being a Q but that didnt do much for me since I was dominated by the A kicker of my opponent. Thankfully I got one more heart on the river and ended up taking down the pot with what is a bad beat I would say in my opinion. That put me at around 20,000 so I was sitting comfortably at that point. After knocking out 2 people at the final table and having 50% of the chips in play I dominated the rest of the game and took down 1st place for $9000 all because of that hand. I should have been out of the tournament 11th instead and Im happy to say it I took down the whole thing

I managed to build my stack back up to what it was before that hand but by then we were moving to the final table and the average was way higher than before. I was shortstacked at the final table but was determined to grind it out and so I did. I lasted until there were 6players left wihtout playing a single hand but the blinds were 800/1600 now and my total stack was 3800 so it was time to win some all-in’s…I got a bit lucky I must admit, sitting on big blind and having 2200 left I got JJ and got called when I pushed by the chip leader. He had K9 and I ended up winning with the Jacks. Then when I was sitting on the button I got AA and obviously pushed after there were a couple of callers before me. The other short stack called and I ended up winning with the total pot bringin me up to 24,000 with everyone elses blind’s that were in the pot.

This kind of made me loose my focus as I got excited and stopped paying attention to details of the game. There were 5 of us left and blinds 1000/2000, I was the big blind, chip leader right after me and after him a player who had 2000 exactly in chips left. I had Q6 and ended up catchin top pair on the flop and pushed in my chips against the chip leader in a reckless move. He called having Q10 and I ended up getting out 5th. If I had only paid attention that the next 2 hands have I waited the player with 2000 would have most likely been blinded out and I would place at least one higher and get at least $1000 more in prize money…Unfortunate but a valuable lesson not to get to excited over winning big all-in’s when they are really needed for if you loose focus the outcome turns out the same either way…

The only good thing out of going to play on monday night was that I entered a very small tournament and didn’t loose much money. When I sat down at the beggining everything seemed fine, I was just playing my game and managed to build up my stack a bit. Then the break came and after smoking a ciggarete I started feeling a bit odd. My head was hurting a lot and I wasn’t concentrating on the game. This resulted in me calling raises with cards that didn’t even deserve to call the blind with. I just ran out of patience and in a matter of about 3 or 4 hands I was out of the tourney. So with this said dont ever play while your sick for your patience and concentration wont be with you. It is always a big plus to be well rested before playing in a tournament since you will have to sit there for a few hours if you are planning on winning!!!

Took down a 50 player tourney yesterday after being almost out of chips 2 hours into the game. Started of with 2000 chips and was sitting back for the first hour getting some horrid hands that arent even worth waisting the blinds on. Then the cards started coming in but my luck was still missing. Lost a couple of big hands after flopping a full house one time and then my opponent catching a higher full on the river. Then picked up a King high spade flush on the turn went all in and was called by pocket aces, one of them being an Ace of spades. River came out another spade and that brought me down to 450 chips with blinds beign 150/300. At this point I though my night was over until I got moved to another table. I got a little lucky I must admit, getting dealt KK 3 times in a row which was followed by JJ. Got called all-in on all four hands and won so in a matter of 10 minutes my stack was over 8000. Now that I had a decent stack I started playing my game and by the time there were 2 tables left I was chip-leading with close to 30,000. Once we moved to the final table my stack was still at near 30,000 but very soon I took control of the game. Knocked out 4 out of 9 other players at the table and when it was time for heads up I had 2 1/2 times the stack of the opposing player. One on One play didnt last too long as I was faced with an all-in just after a few hands. Having A,3 of hearts I gave it a go and was up againt 9,8 of hearts. Neither one of us caught anything on board so the final hand was kind of plain but the important thing is that I got the win under my belt and proved that you are never out of the game untill you have actually lost.