BEMOANING A BAD BEAT

I played a $50 MTT at Full Tilt last night which paid 18 spots. I played patient, conservative, Harrington poker, yet never really got a barrage of cards, so I had to make due with staying afloat and not making a big splash. At one point, I was getting desperate and tried to steal with JT. The small blind put in a min raise, which I called, hoping to get lucky. The flop came K62 rainbow and he checked to me. I was sitting there with just $400, and I recognized the trap, so I was willing to let this one go and hope to double up by pushing all in on the next two hands, regardless of my holdings.

When he checked to me, I figured he had AK and was hoping I would voluntarily push my remaining chips in. I checked, figuring I would hold onto it, or I would get it in if the turn brought a jack, ten, or queen. The turn brought a ten, giving me a pair. He bet this time, forcing me all in. Between my pair and the prospect that he might be sitting on AQ, I decided to take whatever chance I had at winning this pot and go for it. He showed AA. I still had the QJT as outs, and the river brought a ten to double me up. He bitched about getting sucked out on, but that was a classic misplay of aces. He bets the flop, I'm out of there, never to see the running tens.

Instead, I had some chips and felt like I was freerolling the rest of the way. I got active and built my stack up with an eye towards the final table. With blinds at $1k/2k and a $250 ante, the blinds/antes were obviously worth stealing, and the table was short-handed with 13 players remaining in the event. I got dealt AJc on the big blind, and when the button raised to $4500, I immediately went all in with my $11k. He thought a long time, and the longer he thought, the more I figured I had him dominated. Either he's got a weaker ace, or more likely, a weaker jack.

I really don't mind if he folds here. In fact, I would rather see him fold here to mitigate my risk and practically double me up without a confrontation. He finally elects to call, a bizarre gamble with QJ, even if I was on a total bluff. I guess I'm happy to be involved in such a large pot with such good odds, but I recognize that it is these kind of confrontations that can unjustly remove me from contention. If I win the pot, I am in second place. He is dead to three queens, but there's one of them on the river, ending my day. I finished 13th and didn't even get paid twice my initial investment for over three hours work. That just sucks.