Poker? Bollocks

Good afternoon campers,

I hate this game. Granted i am partly to blame as always but; God Damn it!

I have just played tourney ($4.40 - 180 players) and gone out 11th (yesterday i busted in 7th - did i write about it - i don't remember). What do these 2 days have in common - I was in the lead in both of them and then fucked it up. Yesterday i was big stacked right to the end today i was close to busting with 35 players left. The good thing was "close to busting" was only in leader board standings, not versus the blinds - so i could afford to wait. I made a tonne by folding for what seemed like forever. The players slowly ebbed away and i doubled up with QQ, then i got it again the very next hand. By the time the bubble came i was no longer afraid of bubbling, nor had i put myself in a position where i was behind in a hand. I was so confident i was counting my virtual money. And then this happened...

I made a really bad play which decimated my stack but didn't cripple me. I called a raise in the sb with QQ - me and the raiser to heads up on the flop. Flop K high 2 diamonds and low cards. I check he insta bets 2k into a 6k pot. I see this guy who has been playing good cards well making slow decisions and reasonable bets. His bet looks like a move as he has acted so fast. I am sure i have the best hand and move all in. (raising him would have been to 6k at least and he only had 10k left - i had 30 so moved in. He is only gonna call with me beat though isn't he?) He insta called that w KQ off suit. Gutted. No help as he had one of my 2 outs anyway.

As is say though, this was bad play, but fine and now i had to tighten up. A raise in first position was too big to be strong and i moved all in with JJ. He insta called that with AQ spades and made the nut flush on the turn. My final 3k - half went into the bb and the other half called the button raise - miracles can happen right? No -i call with Q9 - he has pocket Queens. Bye!

What have we learnt?

1) be encouraged - 2nd final table in 2 days - playing well - calling raises in position and not really risking lots of chips or calling shabby hands

2) On the bad side - still get too impatient

3) Be stronger pre flop. Keep finding myself in spots where i was likely to have been a favourite pre flop.

4) Give credit and pass even the prettiest of hands if you feel the heat. - with the KQ guy - even if a raise would have set him near all in at least you wouldn't have lost it all - a smaller raise probably would have got him to push anyway. And there would have been the answer to the question "are my queens beat here"

There is probably more to learn - that will do for now

br - $59.52