Good, But Not Good Enough

This evening I played in a $2.25 large field tournament.  There were 569 players.  This is the first night I haven't played "The Ferguson" in a couple of weeks.  The $2.25 tournament starts much earlier and the field is not as large, so it works out much better for me.  I am not up as late as I would be in "The Ferguson", which was starting to be a problem beacause when I made it deeep, I was getting really tired and barely staying awake.  I am looking forward to playing more of this tournament.

  It took a long time for me to accumulate any chips.  In the beginning of the tournament, I limped in position with a lot of suited connectors, small pairs, etc...  I was unable to hit with any of them.  I didn't pick up any other playable hands for quite some time.  The failure to hit a flop along with the blinds whittled my stack down to 1000 from the original 1500.  By the time the blinds reached 40/80, I was down to 860.  I finally picked up a couple of good hands and had my stack up to 1200 by the time the 50/100 level came.  This hand is where I finally turned things around and started to accumulate chips.  I had 22 in the hijack.  I limped hoping to see a cheap flop.  The SB who had been pushing the table around, raised to put me all in.  I was 100% sure he didn't have a pair.  At this point, with the blinds getting higher, I didn't mind a coin flip.  I called and he showed J9.  He failed to improve and I doubled up to almost 2700.  Now I had some chips to play with!  I continued my patient play and picked my spots carefully.  I played position and tried to control the size of the pots I played.  I made a couple of good calls and one huge laydown.  The following is my big laydown.  The blinds were 100/200.  I had TT in middle position.  I raised to 550.  The cutoff reraised to 1800 and the button smooth cold called.  Something about his call screamed AA or KK.  I decided to fold.  The flop was 963.  The cutoff moved all in and the button called.  The cutoff showed 88 and the button showed AA.  If I had called the reraise, I'm sure I would have been all in on the flop and would have been eliminated. 
After this hand, not much happened, I slowly and steadily built up my stack by taking stabs at small pots and taking down blinds and antes.  As the money bubble approached, play slowed down quite a bit.  Most players at my table had me covered, so I wasn't able to be too active as far as attacking the blinds.  I did pick up a couple of hands and took down some small pots.  The money bubble finally burst and one player at my table snuck into the money with only 54 chips left and the ante was 75. 
After the bubble burst, play picked up again.  I was able to take down a few good pots and moved up to 9th in chips out of the remaining 50 players.  I was hoping to make a deep run, but the following hand came up.  I had JJ in late position. I had about 39K in chips.  The bliknds were 500/1000 with a 125 ante.  I raised to 3000.  The button reraised to 10K.  I wanted to see a flop before I decided if my hand was good, so I called.  The pot was now over 21K.  The flop was KKT.  Not a good flop, but not a bad one either for my hand.  The only hands I am afraid of are AA, AK or QQ.  I move in for my remaining 19K.  The button called and showed AA.    I was eliminated in 42nd place for a cash of $3.70. 
I am kicking myself for not getting away from this hand before the flop.  I was out of position in what was going to be a big pot.  If I had gotten away from this hand and continued my patient play, I am sure I could have made it to the final table.  First place paid almost $300.  That would have been a bankroll booster.  Oh well, there is always next time.
My bankroll after this tournament is at $116.81