Bubble Boy

After winning (3 way chop) the Friday morning Moose, I was feeling in good tournament shape. The Saturday morning went well for me, making the final 6, with a deal cut to pay 4th & 5th $50 each. I went out on the bubble with AQ. I raised under the gun to $3500 with the blinds at $500-1000 and the big blind called me with 8/9 offsuit. The flop came king/Jack/9. He checked and I went all in for another $3500 with 10 outs (3-aces, 3 queens, 4 tens). He makes the hero call with his pair of 9's and they hold up. Unbelievable! Even though he was in the big blind with "only" $2500 more to call, it was still a very weak call. Then, with my preflop raise in mind and the big card flop, it was just dumb to call the all in. I am ahead of him with almost any hand you would raise with including pocket 10's up, the ever-popular AK, AJ, and almost a coin toss with my AQ. Oh well. I should however in honor of the fairness doctrine and truth in advertising tell you that I knocked Derek, a very good player, out of the tournament with a 3/5 offsuit. I was running very card dead early so I took a chance by limping in the small blind. The flop came out with a 10 , queen and another small card. Everyone checked around (4 players). The turn brought the 3 and Derek bet 500. I thought long (and probably wrong) and eventually called. The river brought the 5 and I checked, Derek went all-in with his pair of 10's and I called to knock him out. Lucky me. You just have to "adjust" sometimes and switch gears. The mistake that I made with my AQ was not just going ahead and pushing with them, as the blinds would have folded to that sized bet, though I commented that I was happy with the call cause I did need action to chip up. Ya gotta be careful what you wish for sometimes.