Live Poker tournament 9/14

I had my best night ever, finishing 2nd from between 25 and 35 players. It felt good to cash in a money event and makes me feel a bit more confident of my poker play. I'm far from a good player and have a long way to go, but it was nice to see some reward for all the work I've put in over the past few years.

It was a mixture of luck and play that got me there. Fairly early in the session I was all-in with 400 chips left if I lose. Should have written this up sooner as I'm not sure of what my cards were, but it may have been my 99 vs QQ. I sucked out on the River with a straight and had a few chips under my belt.

One good play I feel I made was when I had pocket AA's and bet pre-flop 2 or 3 BB hoping to pick up a couple of other players, which I did. The flop was xQQ. I still had top pair but would rather not have seen those two Q's there. I bet about 1/2 the pot and was called by one of the players. I wasn't sure what that meant but obviously pocket Q's and my bet didn't scare him. On the Turn I checked (if I recall correctly that I was 1st to act), and the other player went all-in. Darn!! I liked my pocket A's and would have loved to continue BUT an all-in bet suggested he had something like a set, or I thought, more likely Qx giving him trip Q's. After thinking about it a bit I reluctantly folded.

I was 1st, very happy, I'd made the final table (1st time, as I've busted out after the 2nd or 3rd break previous times). There were seven of us and the top 5 would make the money. One player went out quickly in 7th, and shortly thereafter, we were on the bubble, with one player very short stacked. He won one all-in but busted out a few hands later, and now I was in the money. :-)

Head's up I didn't play well. I was a bit overwhelmed that I was in that spot and tended to play too passively against the other player who was more aggressive. Anyway it was good night and I went back home feeling very happy!