As the tourney started, I determined to play the whole thing just like a ring game as much as possible. I told myself "Hey, it's the same game you play all the time, but the blinds will be bigger and the fish will be playing stupider because it's not real money. Play tight, play smart, and only play real hands most of the time." I did steal a few blinds but mostly I had the best hand and took most of my chips from people who were on bluffs.
I was a big stack the whole game -- was #1 in chips for a while even. Went to the final table at #3 but quickly got blinded down and didn't hit anything for a couple of rounds -- and nobody was dropping out. All the all-ins were being won by the shorter stacks!!! Finally down to 7th chip stack UTG -- was about to be 9th after the blinds went through me -- so I went all in with AK, was called by TT and hit nothing. Down to less than a blind after that, and my auto-all-in from the BB on the next hand also lost and I was out.
I didn't feel like trying to hang on to 8th or 9th place, I wanted to make the real money. First place paid $500, which would have been an addition of like 40% to my bankroll, so that was what I was shooting for. But I ran out of luck. Ah well.
I'll try to post some details later. If I can get them from GC, that is.
Thanks to TK and everybody on the forum for their help. Still learning and improving, I hope!
I need to look on the bright side (won 30 bucks) not the bummer part (so close to a shot at $500).
So here's the smiles
Yes, I feel better now.
