Aria 4/19

$125 Buy In $10k in chips 30 min levels GREAT STRUCTURE

This is a great tournament.  I bought in late as an alternate and they opened up a new table for us.  Problem being i saw soft tables all over the place and the table i drew was pretty tough.  Every hand seemed to be either raised or 3 bet.  Also seemed like there was a lot of floating going on as well.  I felt pretty relaxed, did get to make it a couple of moves, overall i felt as if i wasn't really ready to play in these fields.  Maybe because of bankroll, but i really felt as if i didn't have the experience to compete.  It was expected to be a 9 hour tourney, and i don't think i was really mentally prepared to go 9 hours.  I've never played in a tourney for 9 hours, and I haven't played poker straight for 9 hours in a LOOOONG time, so that's something i need to work on. Expecting to maintain a high concentration level for extended periods of time.

Had a hand early, with a pair and got called down with a gut shot draw and dude runner runnered the flush, that took some chips away.  Also got caught double barrelling a guy with 7 high which got me some action.  Which leads up to the next hand which was kinda fun.  Had 3c4c on a 245 board, checked to me i bet and a really good player check raised me to 4k which was 3x what i bet and half of what i had.  I shoved he called with 9To and i took down the pot.  Had another hand i double barrelled with air and took down a pot. This time against the same guy who drew the club flush out on me earlier.  So i felt good i could still fire bullets after losing a hand like that.  Also against the 9T guy, i double barrelled him with air and got him to lay down too.  I played well.  I made a bad call with AK versus "9T guy". He had been playing pretty loose, but the board was Q7854 and he bet the turn and river, and i felt like that was well in his range, even a J4 or 24 beats me, but i still felt compelled to call.  He had Q6.  I raised to 1100 with 2/400 blinds and 50 ante.  That was gross, he value bet the river and i called... shipped it.  A few hands later, i open shove with AK and get called with AQ and he hits 4 to a flush to knock me out. this was "clubs flush" guy.  Seems like now that i think about it, i played most of my hands against the same two guys, but they were the most active. 

The "9T guy" seemed like a very good player.  He made a 3bet with A3 when 4 or 5 limpers to the button who shoves for 6k with KQo.  There was a lot of meta game going on with "9T guy" and "Club flush guy".  They were giving chips back and forth with "club flush guy" seemingly getting the best of it.  There was a hand that changed everything when "9T guy"/seat5 called seat8(club flush guy) with bottom pair, pair of 4s,  Seat5 led out and Seat8 raised it up for almost all of Seat5's chips.  All he did was call which i thought was really strange.  BUT, it got him an extra check on the river because Seat8 shut down because most of Seat5s chips were in and assumed he would stack off to any bet on the river.  So they checked it down and pair of 4s took the pot.  Which was a huge pot, not only by size, but because it brought Seat5 back into the tournament.

I need to learn and know how to utilize this play and other plays. Always learning!!!