So, so close

So after a low volume week at the tables (hence no updates), I was feeling recharged and fresh to mount a charge on Sunday. My day started by enjoying a 7:45am jog in the freshly fallen snow, followed by a trip to Vendome with Katy to have some killer coffee, the best benny in town, and despite our parents stern instructions 20 some odd years ago, talking to strangers. When 11am rolled around and it was time to get down to business I felt great and was totally zoned.

It was a bit of a mixed bag early in the day. I played decent and min cashed some tournaments, got unlucky in a few, did some stupid things in a couple that resulted in my demise, but I did manage to make a pretty ill run in one tournament. It was the $55 Sunday Special with a 300K gtd prize pool. The low buy-in, high prize pool combination usually draws massive fields. This version attracted 7925 entrants. The blind structure in this tournament increases slower than regular tournaments, so this one always takes a LONG time. The good thing about that is it lessens the luck factor when you are allowed to be more patient and not have the blinds eat you up as they increase.

Started with 3000 chips. Yada, yada, yada....10 hours later, and over 7900 people elimated I was the chip leader with 18 people to go. I had amassed a stack of over 2.6 Million chips and was in a great position to take it down. First prize was over 48K, not to mention a butt load of pride. Unfortunately, things unraveled rather quickly and an hour later I was eliminated in 16th place. A consolation prize of about 1K was shipped my way...feeling like a slap in the face after putting myself in that position. I always try and be brutally honest with myself when reflecting on my play...did I play bad and just get lucky? Did I play good and simply dominate? Did I do something stupid and deserve to get eliminated? Etc. Well, this time, I assure you that in my humble opinion I did everything right in the final stages of the tournament and simply got bit by some good old fashioned bad luck. Three particular hands unraveled my chances at the holy grail I had my eyes on and after replaying them hundreds of times in my head I don't think I could play them any differently. They were all pretty standard spots which you love to be in, the cards just fell in a very unpleasant manner. It happens.

I could spend hours analyzing the hands, the percentages, my opponents, etc.... but most of you would fall asleep on your keyboard and end up drooling all over the place and we don't need that. I still take a lot of confidence away from this tournament knowing I can put myself in position to win these types of events.

Thanks for reading.

Josh