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So after my miserable experience with Limit Hold’em I was really looking forward to playing in this tournament. We started off with 2,500 in chips and the blinds went up every 20 minutes. There was a good number of players playing in the tournament, definitely a lot more than I had expected. I sat down in seat 5 and looked around my table to see that I was by far the youngest. There was also a man with a cowboy hat, a man with huge sunglasses, and a man with an unlit cigarette…They’ve definitely been watching too much poker on TV…

About 10 minutes into the tournament, I got involved in my first real pot. The blinds were 25-50 a player raised and made it 300. I looked down at Q-Q. Since it was early in the tournament I decided that I just wanted to call and see the flop and then make my move if an Ace or King didn’t hit. The flop came 2-3-8 rainbow and the original raisor lead out for 400. I doubled it making it 800 and to my surprise he called. The turn was a Jack and he checked. I bet out 400 and he again called. The river paired the 8 and my opponent again checked. While his check surprised me, at this point I determined that there wasn’t much I could beat that he was calling beats throughout the hand with and I checked behind. He then made a painful look and flipped over pocket 8s for quads… Looking back I wish i had re-raised him preflop and maybe won the hand right then and there, but a re-raise preflop which such a small starting stack is a very risky play and committing a lot without even seeing what the flop brings. He might have even called my re-raise with his 8s and I certainly would have busted on the flop that came.

After that hand I was left with a little over 1,000 in chips. Josh had also come over to inform me that he had busted from the tournament when his Q-Q lost an all-in preflop to A-K so it didn’t seem to be our day..

I played pretty tight the next few minutes hoping to pick up a hand that I could play a pot with for all my chips. I picked with AQ suited on the button and made it 200 to go and the big blind called. The flop came A-Q-4 and decided that I was going to let the big blind do all my betting because he had played very aggressive thus far in the tournament. He bet 300 on the flop and I just called leaving me with about 600 left. The turn came a blank and I again checked but this time he checked behind me. The river blanked and I again checked and the big blind moved all-in and I beat him to the pot. I flipped over my A-Q and he immediately mucked his cards.

I didn’t get many cards for awhile after that and really just observed what the other players were doing. At the end of the first break I had about 2700 in chips, a little bit above what I started with. The blinds were starting to get high but I had a decent amount of chips compared to the other players at my table. I got involved in a hand when I picked up 9-10 of spades on the small blind. Everyone folded to the button, who was a very aggressive player that saw a lot of flops and just fired at pots to pick them up. He just called and I called and the big blind checked his option. The flop came 8-10-J. I checked, the big blind checked and the button bet, as he often had before when there were just checks in front of him to try and take it down. I decided to just call and the big blind folded. The turn came another jack, I checked and the button went all-in…

I thought about this one for a good amount of time. We both had around the same amount of chips, which was enough not to have to worry immediately about the blinds killing us. I started to think why would he push if he had the Jack? If he really had a Jack wouldn’t he make a smaller bet to try and induce a call? It just didn’t make sense to me and after seeing the way this player had played previously I couldn’t put him on it. I also figured that even if I were wrong I still had an open-ended straight draw to draw to. I ended up calling. He had the jack and I didn’t hit my straight.

After the tournament I played a $60 sit and go and was completely card dead and the very fast moving blinds (every 10 minutes) killed me. I decided to join Josh for some more limit hold’em after that and actually faired quite well making back all the money I had previously lost and even won about $60 on top of that…While I had come up ahead, I was a little disappointed in my showing overall especially in the tournament…