where did I scew up?

[chopchoi]

I went to AC for the weekend, and had $300 earmarked for gambling. My first night there I went to Bally's. The smalleest NL table was a $1/$3 table with a $100 minimum and a $300 max.

I figured I would buy-in for max, because when you buy-in for the minimum, the bigger stacks try to bully you, and you don't really have money to play with. It turns into push or fold. At the same time, however, if I lost my entire buyin, I wouldn't have any more gambling money for the rest of the trip, so I would basically have to spend the whole weekend in my hotel room watching T.V. I told myself that this wouldn't be a problem, since I wasn going to play tight, and not put my chips in the middle unless I was pretty sure I had the best of it.

This guy, wearing a very expensive looking suit and a big gold watch, sits down on my left. He buys in for the max. Within 3 hands he goes all-in on the flop (with less than $30 already in the pot). Someone calls him, and he shows second pair. He looses and buys back in. A few hands later, does the same thing with a gutshot and two overs. Ordinarily, I would be delighted to have an ATM machine at the table. The problem was that it wouldn't be possible to stick to my game plan with him around. There were no other small stakes tables open, so moving wasn't an option. I figured the best thing I could do would be to change my seat, so at least I could act after him.

So I moved my seat. There was one player between myself and the ATM. This guy was pretty good. He would limp in with rags, but would fold if he didn't flop 2 pair or better. He had already taken down a few huge pots.

The ATM went all-in two more times, and lost both times. What I noticed about his play was: 1) if he folds, it will be on the flop, and 2) if he doesn't fold the flop, he will go all-in, either on the flop or the turn.

I find myself with Q [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]J [img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img] in an unraised pot. The ATM and the player after him have already limped.

The flop comes 9 high, with 2 hearts. ATM checks, the next guy bets 20, I call, and so does ATM. The turn is a J. ATM pushes, my opponent calls. I'm sure of 2 things: 1) that I am behind right now the other guy wouldn't have called that bet unless he could beat top pair, and 2) I aam getting great odds to call.

The problem was, If I called and didn't hit one of my outs, my weekend would be shot, and I probably wouldn't get another cance to go to AC for 6 months or so. I wanted to keep enough cash so I could enjoy myself for the rest of the weekend, so I mucked.

So, I'm wondering, what did I do wrong? Should I have bought in for less, avoided the NL table all together, or just said screw it and called the bet?