I'm Liking the Full Tilt 25K guaranteed Tournament!

If scroll down few posts, you will see that I played in this thing a week and a half ago. I ended up busting out in 15th place, for a nice ~ $350 profit.

Last night, I played in this again, and finished in......... 15th place!

This time it was only for $277 (A lot less people on a Wednesday than a Friday), but still, a nice finish.

I think I played some really good poker. I can't think of any big mistakes that I made. The only one I can think of is where I had a huge stack (Top 5 with 80 or so left), and I called in the blinds with AK when there was a Bet, call, and a re-raise before me. They were all short stacks, and it didn't cost me too much more to call and win a really big pot. I was up against 4's, 8's, and Aces. Aces held up.

I won a lot of chips defending my blinds to 2-2.5x BB PF bets. I doubled up early on when a late position player raised it up only 2x BB, and I called with 54o. Flop contained a 4. Dude checked. Turn was a 5 giving me two pair, and we get it all-in, and he has Aces.

I hung around, playing good tight poker when the money bubble was nearing. I had a below average stack, but was able to push all-in and steal a bunch of blinds. There was a stretch there were I never got called. Then I hit a run of cards and built my chip stack to top 5 with around 100 or so left. I tripled up with Aces. Won a couple huge pots where I defended my blinds, including busting two guys with 98o and flopping two pair on an all heart board. I got it all-in to someone's over pair and another TP hand with a heart draw. Turn was another 9 giving me a boat.

I stayed in the top 10 for quite a while, stealing many blinds. The guy to my left never defended, so whenever it folded to me in the SB (And it did a lot), I would raise, and he'd fold.

Once it got down to three tables, I took my first real big hit when I ran Kings into Aces. And in fact, we both flopped sets. Argggg. That knocked me back towards the bottom, but I stayed alive until the final two tables.

My bustout hand was brutal. UTG, who had about 9 BBs total limps in. I find Pocket 9's in LP and go all-in. I had about 6-7 BB's. Folded to UTG, and he calls...... with pocket 3's. How someone can call most of their chips away knowing that at best they are flipping a coin, and at worst a 20/80. Of course, his play is rewarded with a bright and shiny 3 on the flop, and I Go Home Now.

This finish was a very nice way to end the day, because I am getting brutalized on the cash games as of late. Set over set, flush over flush, you name it. It has happened the last two days. If it weren't for bad luck on the cash games, I'd have no luck at all.