[Lloyd]

This obviously was a tough hand, not only because it knocked me out but because I just didn't know what to do with it at any stage. 8-handed, essentially in middle position I thought it was pretty weak to fold especially given that I hadn't played too many hands and my raise has to mean something.

On the flop, I figured he had anywhere from two pair (QJ) to a middle pair to a draw to a complete bluff. I went in the tank and pushed figuring my Ace was possibly live plus the 4 outs to Broadway. Afterwards I figured that he'd have to fold at least 30% of the time to make a push worthwhile given that I was probably at best a 3 to 1 dog if called.

He called me with JT. I was a bit surprised by that. It was an insta-call in fact. Yeah, he was the chip leader but I still had enough chips to damage his stack. As one poster said, I did go into the tank and wondered how that was perceived. But for me, even if I had an overpair I'd pause and think about for a little bit before committing all my chips against such a funny bet. I think he took my hesitation as weakness (rightfully so, of course). So it was either a great read or a horrible play by him - funny how a lot of situations end up that way. Just like someone playing a hand in such a way that they have absolutely nothing or the nuts.

I wasn't on tilt during this hand as I had actually gone from about 18k in chips to over 100k in the span of about 20 hands taking advantage of a lot of tight play at my table when down to 20 players. But it was late in the evening and I think me being up for quite awhile impacted my decision. In hindsight I think this was a fold pre-flop because of the shorter stacks who could bust and move me up in the money, and the bigger stacks in the blind who could bust me. Tommy Angelo talks about "tiltless poker" and this is an example - I should have done things to increase the liklihood that I was sharp and focused on the decisions at hand.