I did not like the structure of this tournament very much. Blinds went up too fast, 626 entrants and more than half of them were eliminated in the first hour.
I survived the first hour with an average stack, which is a pretty decent result. Early on I played an important hand that really could have changed the way things went for me today.
I'm in MP with 7c7h. Blinds were at 15-30 and I have about 1500. I limp and there's another limper, the SB folds and the BB raises to 60. Me and the limper call. Flop is great for me. As Qs 7d. BB bets out 150 into the 195 pot. I raise it to 350 as to avoid cheap cards. To my dismay the guy behind me cold calls the bet and raise. The bettor calls the raise as well. Mission not really accomplished, but oh well, I have a nice pot and a big hand. Next card off the deck is the 3s. What a terrible card for me. The pot is now around 1250. BB checks, I check along cause I pretty much know the cold caller has the flush. He now bets it, but bets small giving me the odds to to try to draw out. Unfortunately, bozo in the BB goes over the top for all his chips. I'm now forced to fold, even though I know I have the BB killed. The other limper calls the raise and shows Js9s for the second nut flush. The BB flips over Ks......Jh? Huh? What a fish. Anyways, he hits the 7s on the river to win the hand. Of course that is the same 7s that would have given me quads. Sigh. I actually am pleased the way I played the hand though. I like my calls PF, I like my raise on the flop, and I like my check to the cold caller on the turn. I also really like the disciplined fold that most players couldn't make. I left myself with ~1100 chips and still a good chance.
Second hand after the break I pick up AA with ~2800 and blinds at 100/200. It's folded to me in the CO, and wanting action I just min raise. In retrospect maybe this was the wrong play. It folded to the BB who called the raise and the flop was JJ6 rainbow. Ok, but not good. Buddy checks the flop, I check behind. Turn is a blank, he bets 400 into the 900 pot. I call. River is another blank, he bets 800 into the 1700 pot and I call. He turns over QJo. What went wrong here? I mean, I got unlucky for sure, but could I have done something better? I think it all comes down to the PF play. From the flop on I think I played the hand perfectly. I'm thinking I should have raised to 500-600 instead of just min-hitting it to 400. Winning the blinds when they get that big isn't really a horrible result, and I lost touch with that fact. I like my check behind on the flop, as a lot of the time this will induce a bluff from a random hand or a value bet from a hand like two nines or two tens or maybe even A6. When faced with his turn bet, this was what I was thinking. I beat anything but a jack and there were numerous reasonable holding he could be betting half the pot with on the turn and also some unreasonable ones (stone bluffs). So I definitely like my smooth call. A raise was an option here, but I don't want to commit myself in case he has the jack and I don't want to stop him from blowing off his chips at me with a hand like two tens. After the river was a blank, I figured I was going to call any reasonable bet that would leave me with some chips in case I was beaten. When he bet only 800 into the 1700 pot, I was pretty much forced to call getting better than 3-1. He flips over QJo and I lose the pot.
The hand I went out on was pretty much unavoidable. Blinds are at 150/300 and I've got ~1100. A guy in EP raises to 900 and I look down at AJo two off the button. Now in retrospect I suppose I should have given the EP raiser a little more respect, but I only had 4BB and I needed to make a move while I still had some chips. So I go all in and he flips up AK. A flop of K9x later and I'm out in 192nd place out of 626.
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