448 of 530

So much has to go right in a tournament. I made a decent play early. I held AK under the gun and raised to $60 and got two callers. The flop came A4A. The only hand the worried me in the least was 44 so I decided to set a trap. I bet just $30. The next player raised to $120 and the other guy called. I immediately went over the top to $550 and got both to drop. It gave me a nice cushion.

About 15 minutes later I get KK one off the button and raise to $140. I get one caller and the flop is 533. The pot is $300+ and I decided to bet $250 to see if I can get a bluff raise. I get better than that. The other guy goes all-in. I know that he doesn't play a 3 for $140 so I figure he has a smaller pair. I call and he shows AQ and the miracle A comes on the turn. I was an 86%-14% favorite and it made little sense for him to re-raise all-in when he would only get a call if he were beat. A simple re-raise may have earned him the pot or let him drop the hand if I continued to show strength.

Of course, guys usually don't do what they should in tournaments and that's why it isn't terribly difficult to get into the money when you can pick up chips from bozos like that. So I leave the table knowing I outplayed him and I'm on my best game. These are the guys you bankrupt once you have a bigger stack.

And I guess its better to leave early than spend two hours and get the same result.