I feel like I did everything I could. I am back in my hotel room right now. The feeling of losing a big tournament is horrible. Nothing else matters except the tournament. When you lose you just wish there was a way you could jump back in there. It’s more of a lost feeling I suppose. The tournament was your home and now you’re homeless, lol. Enough of the woe is me. I played really well today and I am not upset with myself, it just didn’t go my way. I’ll talk about a couple of big pots I played today.

I started with an average stack and looked up my table draw in the morning. I had 4 other HSMTT regulars on my starting table. Jcarver, Kleath, Allanon, and DaBears87 (puffinpurp, gimmeda1time.) I chipped up good throughout the day at this table with not many showdowns. In the first couple hours of play I think I won all but one pot without a showdown. My first interesting hand was against JCarver.

I raised the lowjack with AdQs to 2400 at 500/1k/100a and he called from the small blind. The flop came QJ9hh. We both checked. The turn was the Jd putting two diamonds up. He lead for 4200 and I called. The river was the Td. He bet 8500, I made it 19.8k and he folded. My stack grew to 61k.

I was up to around 80k when Allanon raised to 2700 utg with a little over 30k stack. I had 99 in 2nd position and called. The chip leader at the table called as well as JCarver. The flop came 658ss and we all checked. The turn was the 7d giving me the straight. Me and Allanon checked again and the chip leader bet 12k. Everyone folded to me and I decided smooth calling was best. The river brought the Ac and I decided to check again. He bet 19k, I called and he mucked his hand. I was now up to 139k.

At 800/1600 I made it 4k UTG with JJ. The player in 2nd position called and kleath shoved in late position for 22k. I reshoved when action got back to me and the 2nd position player folded. Kleath showed 88 and the board ran out A76A river 8. I couldn’t fade the 2 outter for a ~55k pot and I was down to 122k.

I make it 4800 UTG at 1k/2k and a player who was new to the table but had 3bet earlier before we went on break made it 13k. I didn’t have too much information on him and felt like calling preflop was the best plan of action. The flop came T84r and I check called a 15k bet. The turn came a 6 and we both checked. The river was a beautiful card, a Q. I had top set. The player had about 70k in chips and there was about 60k in the pot. He had 40k in blue (5k) chips so I bet exactly that. He called and showed KK when he saw my QQ. I was pretty lucky in this pot but I would have folded the turn if he fired again. I was up to about 190k now.

That table broke and I was moved to a new table with Vanessa Rousso and some other Internet players. One guy two to my right had about 500k in chips and was playing every pot. He played one pot where he opened the button to 5500, the small blind 3bet to 18k (with about 115k stack — he would never fold here in his life) and the button moved all in with K9ss. The small blind called with JJ and the guy flopped a flush with K9. He was overly aggressive and getting hit with the deck.

I was just getting used to the new table and seeing how everything was. I opened to 6100 in 3rd position with KQo. The button, who was an Internet player (JBT449 I just found out) made it 15.3k. I was pretty sure this was a 3bet bluff so I decided to 4bet to 33.6k. In hindsight I should have made a larger 4bet but I don’t mind it when I do have monsters. He decided to flat call me. He was probably 250-300k deep and I was about 180k deep. I priced him out to set mine but still put myself in a rough spot out of position. The flop came 952r and I bet 42k with about 110k behind. He thought for a while and just decided to call. The turn was a 7h bringing two hearts. I decided to check. He bet 20k into a pot of about 155k. I thought long and hard about this one… I’ll just keep my thoughts to myself. I wont comment on his play or my play. Ultimately I ended up folding after about 5 minutes of thought and he showed K5o, for the best hand. My stack was now at 110k.

I raise QJo in 2nd position at 1.5k/3k/300a. Everyone folds. The very next hand I pick up QQ and make it 7200 UTG. It folds to CrazyMarco who moves all in for about 50k. I call and he tables ATss. The flop came Txxxx and I was up to about 165k.

Here is my bust out hand. Vanessa Rousso was very short and moves all in for about 26-28k preflop in middle position (at 1.5k/3k.) The crazy/loose/overly aggressive chip leader calls her all in next to act from the hijack. Her range is huge here as well as his. I look down at AQo on the button. With over 70k in the pot already, this is a super easy shove. I move all in. The chip leader calls with AK. I table AQ. Vanessa turns up 44. The board runs out 96362 and Vanessa triples up and I am eliminated around 300th place.

225 players made the money in this tournament. I played real hard and have that feeling that there’s not much else I could do. I didn’t let the K5o hand affect me and I think the AQo hand is just a huge cooler, So I’m not mad, just disappointed like usual. I was about 45 minutes away from Day 3 and only 80 or so players away from making the money. It was definitely a grind but I was getting more comfortable the deeper I got. My instincts were spot on today and I wish I could have done better. I just have to keep playing and hopefully one of these big tournaments works out in my favor. Good luck to everyone who is still in. Hopefully one of my friends will win it.