Ended up busting about 837th with 747 getting paid. I doubled up early on with AQo vs KQ and was up to 105k. After that I bled away down to about 80k at 1500/3000/400 when utg who was the $5k NL bracelet winner young laggy guy opened utg to 7k and I decided to flat in the BB with 6s4s. Flop was 3d4d9d. I almost just check/folded right there, but ended up check/calling the 9k flop bet so going into the turn the pot was ~35k. Turn was the 9s and I led for 15k, he called pretty quickly. The river is the Jh and I check, he thinks for a bit and bet 15k into the 65k pot. At this point I have 45k to my stack and tanked for a couple minutes before finally folding. He told me later he had aces with no diamond so I’m pretty happy with the way I played this one.
After that I got it in with jacks vs the same guy from above who also had jacks and ended up chopping. Opened AK from EP once to be flatted by the bb, we ended up checking it down and he won on the 9857Q board with A7o. I folded 77 vs an EP opener who showed AJs and ended up overflushing someone on a 347QT board. Waited awhile and then shipped A9o utg+2 with 25k or so at 2000/4000/500 only to be reshipped on by another shortstack who held A8o. I held and was up to 50k or so thinking there’s a pretty good shot at me making the money at this point. The shortstack from above ended up shoving his last 21k into my big blind with 8Ts, and with me getting 2:1 I had to call with J9o. Flop was Q55, turn 6, river…8. Not much I could do.
After that I was pretty crippled again and folded for awhile until my last two hands. It was folded around to the button who had been playing pretty snug up til now and he shoved his 50k in on my sb with me starting the hand with 25k. I held As4s and tanked for a bit before finally letting it go. He tabled Qd9d, so I would have been ahead, but thought I could find a better spot. Very next hand folded to me on the button with 23k still at 2000/4000/500 and I shoved it in with 87o only to be reshipped on by the sb with AK. Flop was 952 rainbow giving me hope but turn and river bricked out and I busted after 28 grueling hours of play in this tournament.
I maybe could have waited a little longer for a slightly better hand since I had already paid the blinds, but whatever I’m sure my shove is +EV enough. I learned a lot this year and I’ll definitely be back again next year. I really regret my AQ hand from yesterday, as it basically cost me $30k if not more, but all I can do is learn from my mistake and not make it again in the future. That’s it for my series, shoutout to my roommate ceegee who’s still cruising in the main with like 400k. GL sir!