Tournament #80

Decided to try something a little different - a 50-man tourney for $1.10 instead of the usual 45-man $0.25 tournament. Same blind levels and chip stack as the others, but blinds go up twice as fast. Should be fun!

First thing I notice is that, because there's 50 players, there's 10 guys at each table instead of 9. This means my seat is shifted visually and it's a little off-putting at first. Second thing I notice is that the pace of play is slower in that no one is all-in right away.

First pot I take down is a nice one. 9/9, I raise to $60, 3 callers. Flop is Q/9/10. After I bet $300 and get a couple callers, I say to myself "a 10 would be nice, but a 9 would be better". Turn is a 9 - quads, baby! Checks all around. River is a deuce, I push in $300, get called. $1800 for me, up to $2600. Holding me own around $2500 as the blinds shoot up. Very quick - 3 to 4 hands per level, tops. Took down a $1400 pot with A/10 when an ace hit on the flop. Pushed all-in, no call. Up to $3300, 13th of 21. Had a chance to win a big pot go awry - A/3, flop is 8/3/3. Bet $300, called. Turn is a Q, push all-in. Other guy has 3/2, so I'm way ahead so long as the board doesn't pair...which it did on the river. Cost me $1800 by having to split. Still have $3200, 12th of 20. We're down to 16, me in 7th with $3600. Blinds jumped to $200/400 with me in the SB with A/7. Want to push all-in but guy in front of me goes first, so I fold. All in for $3000 with K/Q suited, one caller - and he's got A/K. But I flop a Q and double up to $6800 - blinds and antes immediately take $650 of that. I push all-in with A/Q, no callers, win $1200 pot, just in time for the blinds to go up again. In the BB with A/10, I call an all-in and the guy turns over J/8. Bust him, move up to $11000, 2nd of 10. And now have K/K. Push all-in, called. Naturally the guy has A/A. I'm crippled down to $225. No way I play that any different at any point there. All-in with J/2, I turn a set - I'm golden! Noooo...somebody else has K/J. Busted in 10th place. Played really well this tourney just got really, really unlucky the last 2 hands. Same as last one.

FINISH: 10th place
PAYOUT: $0.00
PROFIT: -$1.10
BANKROLL: $60.38