Comeback Kid

First of all let me get this out of the way.  I am no longer a kid.  That said, Friday was probably my best comeback ever.  I made the decision not to deal to test my theory that I play better when focused on playing only.  Early on I got my butt kicked.  Had two failed bluff attempts, one with a flush draw that failed to deliver.  Funny how you can't bluff a straight and flush board against a donkey who has two pair.  I fired all three barrels and mucked the river when he called.

Somehow surviving until we consolidated to two tables I was definitely the short stack at our table.  With blinds now at 200/400 I was down to 600 chips and in the big blind.  Naturally the small blind, the dealer with a large stack, raised to put me all-in.  I snap called with K/8 and he tabled K/2.  My 8 played and the first double up happened.  After that is kind of a blur, but let it be said that the deck friggin' ran over me!  I was dealt AA twice, once doubling thru JJ, then another double.  Then my QJ got it all in against two players, one with K10 and the other with Q2 on a flop of Q/J/2.  I tripled up when another queen fell on the river plus posting the high hand of the night (ultimately worth $64).  I had a massive chip stack for the final table, probably 1st or 2nd largest.

My final finish was 3rd place worth $165 but the two players who finished higher had to get super lucky against me and the 4th place finisher.  The first "lucky" break for the ultimate 1st place player was my small blind raise with 3/3 vs. his snap all-in with Q/Q.  I called, the flop was x/x/3 and he had one foot out the door.  The river brought his two outer queen and he was now healthy but still in 4th place.  His next hand he got it all-in against the chip leader with 8/8 vs. Q/Q and hit his 2 outer again. The new short stack was soon out.  I doubled up our resident pro when he shoved his short stack holding 7/3.  I tanked for a bit but finally called with 10/8 suited.  He hit a 7 on the river to put me in the short stack.  I got it in good against the leader with my A/3 vs. his K/10, but he managed to hit a 10 and send me home.

In retrospect I was very lucky to even make the final table and if not for a couple of lucky breaks by my opponents would have come in no worse than 2nd.  The resident pro complimented me on my play, saying that I had played well but people had just gotten lucky against me.