Full Tilt $30K Tournament

I decided last night to use one of my $26 tokens and play in Full Tilt's $30K Guaranteed Tourney. Wasn't expecting much as I am not a great MTT player but latey my MTT stats have been decent so I gave it a go. 1566 players were registered and the top 153 made the money.

Started out well, won my 1st pot in the second level with AA. I won a small pot with the Krablar in the 3rd level so I knew things were going well. lol.

Took a small hit in the 3rd level when I checked the BB with J8. Got to the river cheaply with and OESD and hit my straight but lost to a straight. Ahh, now that seems familiar to me. Later in round 5 I was able to get some of it back with KK. Overall I have been card dead except for a couple hands and staying around average in chips.

In the 7th round I got all in with JJ against a lagtard and knocked him out when he didn't hit with his AK. That is when things started to go downhill. Losing to a shortstak with AJs vs. KK and then stupidly called a raise against a better player with ATs and had to bail after the turn.

By the 120/240 level I had KJ and was low on chips. A donktastic player who had been going all in and showing horrific cards raised my bet on the BB and I called. He showed a hand I was expecting, Q4. Winning this hand should get me back to average and give me the chance to start playing again. Sadly he completed his 7 high straight on the river putting me down to about 1400 in chips with around 300 players remaining.

Now things start looking up. I stay around till the 250/500 level and get lucky to have a calling station with a stack to play with. I go all in with A3s with 2700 in chips and get called by KQ and trip aces. That puts me at 6,666 in chips. Shortly after that I am in the BB with ATs and the same guy raises to 2200 and I push. He calls and shows 33 and I win with Aces up. I am now back in the game and sitting about 87th out of 175.

Finally in the money and I get JJ in the BB. Again, the same guy above raises to 4000 and I push with 12K. He calls and shows AJ and I double up again and now sitting really well.

People start dropping like flies and I am just playing tight and stealing when I feel it is good. Then the bottom drops out. Blinds are now 800/1600 200 ante and I raise to 7400 with 77 in MP. It gets folded to the BB who eventually pushes all in for 10K. I call and he flips up Q9. 9 hits the flop and I am down to 18K. Next hand I get ATs and I limp for 1600. It gets folded to the table bully. He has half as much chips as anyone and has been stealing like crazy. He raises to 8000. I go into the tank. Is he stealing or does he have a hand. If I call I am left with less than 10K which is not good as the blinds go up. I decide to push all in and he calls showing 66. Bah! Nothing hits and I am out in 78th.

So all in all I am happy. I was all but dead with 300 or more to go and I stayed alive and gave myself a good chance of getting far. I don't play these tournies often so I am pleased. I have played this, a $12k and a $6.5K and finished in the money in 2. Maybe I should play them more huh? I won $58.25 for my $4.40 buy in and made my way through a large field. I have to be positive about it right? :)