Event 28 $1500 No-Limit Hold-Em

I got knocked out early in level 5. We started with 4500 chips and I drew another great starting table. I managed to run my chip stack up to almost 15K during the first two levels. The 3rd level I took a few hits losing a race against an all-in player and then running Kings into Aces. That had me down to about 7500, I was able to build back up to almost 17K going into Level 5 and then disaster struck in 2 hands. I played probably the worst tournament hand I've ever played, trying to bluff 3 streets against the biggest stack at the table. I had flopped a straight draw and decided I could bluff my opponent off a pair assuming he had one - unfortunately he flopped a set and filled up on the river. I still had about 5K left but was knocked out when I cold-called a raise from the small blind against a late position aggressive raiser, the big blind also called. The flop was A34 and it was checked to the raiser who bet about 2/3 pot. I moved in and the big blind tanked for a while and eventually called with AJ. In hindsight re-raising pre-flop would have worked out better but with blinds at 100-200 and a stack of 25 big blinds, I didn't want to open myself up to an all-in raise by my opponent by raising to 9 big blinds.

This one stung a bit going from a big stack to busto in a matter of minutes. With the exception of one hand I think I played one of my best tournaments. Unfortunately with no-limit tournaments, one poorly played hand is all it takes to undo all the other well played hands.

Next up either the 2K No-Limit on Monday or the 10K Limit Championship also on Monday. I'd really like to play the limit event but I can't bring myself to put up 10K. I might play some satellites tomorrow and see if I can get in that way.