3 hands from tonights 30.00 NL on Party 1645 entrants

[Hotrod0823]

Late in tourney about 45 players left.

I have a decent stack of 58,000 blinds 1500/3000 and I see AJs in BB.

MP min raised to 6000 all fold to me and I call. Flop comes K high and I bet out 1/2 pot hoping that he was on a steal or has an under pair. He called. Turn was a blank I check folded.

Should I fold AJs to a min raise, he had and showed AA. The bet on the flop was a mistake that cost me 6000 more in chips.

A few hands later I have about 37000 in chips. A realtively loose raiser bets out 12K and leaves 15K behind. I pushed with AQs, at this point I figured him for a small PP or possibly a weaker ace. This was the 4th or 5th time I have pushed having only been called before with AKs and AA winners.

He calls with 88 and I don't improve and have ~9K in chips.

The very next hand I get KJs and push from MP. BB calls with JT and manages to knock me out in 35th.

I could very well have just sat back and folded my way to better money but felt that AQs was strong enough to put the pressure on for him to fold or call with his under pair. And also felt that AJs was good enough to call the 3K to see the flop. Both plays it turns out were the beginning of the end for me.

Anyway, overall I was pleased with my play up until the last 10-15 hands that cost me the tourny.

[JARID]

HotRod,

I just busted out of this one in 20th. Judging by these hands, I dont think we were at the same table.

AJs hand:

What were his open raising patterns up to that point? Did he always min raise, or is he normally 3-4xBB and suddenly opens for a min raise? I become very suspicious when people do that.

Anyway, without a read I would look at a flop too, but stabbing at with nothing redeemable about your hand seems silly since chips are so precious at this point.

Its late, but I think your other two hands were fine. You're not typically gonna be folding AQs at this point. Truth is, you gotta win some coin flips to do any real damage in these tournaments.

The last hand is just a tough beat. No worries there.

-Jarid

[xerostar]

I think all three hands were played well. Maybe you shouldn't have been so aggressive on the flop of the first hand if the initial raiser has a lot of chips and can afford firing off a card.