First live tournament this year

So some guys from work talked me into getting up Thursday morning to play in a $30 tournament down at the Casino. I wasn't overly eager just because it meant a big schedule switch for me and I'm not good with that, but I reluctantly agreed and got my ass out of bed. This is one of those tournaments with an uber quick structure and you only start with $1k in chips, that is unless you play some cash game for a few hours before hand. I played for about 2 1/2 hours before the tournament and while I started off great, it quickly turned on me and 3x I flopped 2 pair only for someone to catch the river on me so I went from up to $190 to down to about $20 just before the tournament started.

So because I played before I started the tournament with $2k in chips with the blinds starting at 25/25 for 15 minutes, I started on the button and when the BB got to me there was 2 min left in the level lol, hell I didn't even get the BB for level 2. A few key pots for me in the first hour with the first finding me on the button with JT, I limped in with 3 others and the flop came J96 check to me and I bet out 200, 1 guy called, turn was 8 again check to me and I bet out 700 this time, he called. River was another J and he checked again and I made it 1k, he called and I don't know what he had but he mucked, that was a nice scoop.

A few hands later I picked up AK and with 4 limpers I made it like 550 and one limper shoved, I called for another 200 and he had KK that held. I was still sitting good so not really upset at all about it. Next hand I picked up 67 and limped in the flop came 986 and I bet out and got 1 check caller (same guy from before) turn was a K and he bet out small, so I just called, river was a 6 and he bet out yet again, I popped it up 3x his bet and he folded. I think at the end of the 1st break I went from 2k to 6 or 7k.

Right after the 1st break I was in the BB with 92off, 2 limpers and the flop came A35 I checked, another checked and the button bet 200 into a 600 pot, I called and the other guy folded. Turn was a 4 and again I checked, he just bet 200 and I was happy to call at this time. The river was a J and again I just checked, he bet out and I raised him all in, he thought about it a sec and called turning over AJ and I got a nice little pot there. It wasn't long before the blinds were killing people just forcing all in after all in which forced me to fold a lot of hands I would of liked to play, after being up to 11k at one point and now down to about 8k I got KQ on the cutoff and made it 2100 to go, both blinds flat called, the flop came 226 and the BB bet out 800 into a 6k+ pot, I thought about it for a while and was quite tempted to come over the top all in, but ended up folding. Found out later he had 33 but was trying to make it appear he flopped a FH with 66, bravo him cuz that's the only hand I could put him on that made sense lol. By the end of the 2nd break I was down to $5k in chips and we were down to 14 people of 83 with the top 10 getting paid.

After the 2nd break the blinds were $1k/$2K and I had the button it was folded to me and I had A6 and just shoved, luckily they both folded. People seemed to be dropping fast and I just wanted to keep in contention with everything. Finally we were down to hand for hand and I had 67 in the BB, the SB limped and the flop came 579 he checked and I shoved my last $6k into the middle, I was shocked how fast he called and turned over A8off, the board ran out and I doubled right as they announced we were going down to the final table.

They asked about a chop but this older guy, who apparently never chops, refused and we were off and running. 1st hand found 3 people all in and suddenly we were down to 8. I'd say the majority of the final table I was sitting with about 3-4BBs, hell the average was probably 7 with the blinds. A big turning point for me was when I picked up JJ in the BB, the SB raised and I shoved my 12k in the middle, he had to call since it was only like 1k more to him and he showed A9off. The dealer had just exposed the Ad so I was pretty happy until the flop came AT8 lol, however the turn came a Q and river a K to give me the str8 and put me close to 30k and probably 2nd in chips to the old guy. Soon we were 4 handed and I got AJ in the BB and again the SB shoved, it was equivlant to a 4x BB raise, but with the blinds 2k/4k that was a lot lol. I called and he turned over AK, oh well I still had some chips and was good, but then the J hit the river and he was gone! 3 handed we were. It wasn't long before the old guy took out the other dude who wasn't much of a threat with his stack, I think they got it in with AA vs 77 though which was funny to me. HU lasted 2 hands, old guy had me covered by about 15k and he raised it up to about 18k when I shoved over the top with AQ, he didn't even hesitate to call and show QT. I was good with that, but he hit the T on the flop and that's all she wrote. I would of liked to have won my first live tournament, but 2nd is good also. $30 into $430, not my biggest live cash, but I can't complain at all.