Bubble Boy - not going to Paradise!

Well I was looking for a change of pace on Saturday and decided to try a $10 rebuy to earn a spot in a $200 MTT to go to Atlantis. When I started playing poker I was doing quite well at SNG's but my ring game sucked. Since a lot of the action at casinos was of the ring type I decided to learn that aspect of the game. Because of the ring focus I was expecting to be a little rusty in a MTT.

Rebuy tournaments are full of idiots for the first hour as people try to give you chips. I took advantage of that and managed to more than double up in the first 15 mins. Then I make a standard raise with KK from MP and the big stack pushes all in... easy call and he shows Q10o!! MHIG and now I am the chipleader at the table and about 15th out of 45 left. All of a sudden I mention to the wife that I might have a shot at qualifying. Next thing I know I am at the final table with a good sized stack and I am wondering if I want to finish in the top 4 (get a seat for the 200 tourney) or to finish 5-6 and get some cash. Since I am rusty I am not too concerned either way but I still ended up in 4th and got a seat to try and get a seat to the live event.

So at 10 pm that night I see 59 people have qualified in similar qualifying events and when registration opens I am shocked that we end up with 133 people fighting for 2 seats with 3 others getting paid. Since so many people actually put cash down I figure I will be out of my league but decide to put on the A game and see how things go. Well half way through the first hour I get doubled up 2x and then I realize that I might actually belong! With about 50 people left I take the chiplead which I hold until the final table. The difference with the players at this level is that they had to protect their blinds much more than I have ever seen in the past. I lost a couple big pots and next thing I knew I had an average stack (my AJ lost to A6s all in preflop - he hit his flush). My A7s lost in a race with JJ and I was crippled with 6 left... pushed next hand with A5 and called by KQ and lost that one as well. So finished on the bubble and no monetary prize for 4.5 hours of playing poker. Time to finish reading Harrington's volume 2 on endgame theory... could have used it as I felt I was a bit weak-tight.

The good news is that I realized that the only thing keeping me from playing higher limits is the size of the bankroll. It isn't that I don't have the cash to deposit to make the bankroll bigger but that I want to earn my way up through the ranks. Once I get a couple rakeback deals setup then I will focus on taking stabs at higher levels when I am playing well.

Luckily the Steelers won and I managed to put some cash down on them to pay me for the next evening. Been a couple nights now for me with no poker but I am feeling good that I was so successful in developing as a player. The financial results will come with time.

Those of you who haven't read Doubleas archives are missing out. I feel we are almost in line but he jumped levels a lot faster than I will be able to jump. That is fine... at least shows us that it can be done... hopefully I will be able to do the same.