Attempting a deep run against 500 players

A few hours ago I finished a $5.50, 503-player tournament.  Most of the tournaments that I enter have around 100 players. The larger tournament runs twice a week on americascardroom.com, and I had played it a few times, but not recently.  I thought it would be interesting to try it again and see how I did.

I always think about that particular tournament carefully before I play it, because with that many players it's a pretty big time committment, and the larger the tournament, the less often I'm going to cash.  I struggle with the idea of playing for several hours, and probably not cashing, when I desperately need to build my bankroll.

I decided to give it a shot last night, and it went pretty well.  I played for 3 hours and 20 minutes, finished in 28th place, and cashed for $13.83.  I got some good experience, went pretty deep in a large tournament, and I got a little money for my time.  I'm pretty happy with that outcome, and I definitely learned a few things that I can do differently the next time.

I would have loved to last another hour.  It was a very nice prize pool, with final table prizes ranging from $42.75 for 9th to $490.42 for first (as always, the big money is in the top 3 places.)  As with any tournament, with a few breaks I could have gone deeper, and I now believe that I'm capable of making the final table of that tournament.  It certainly wouldn't happen often (you have to catch some breaks to get through 500 players) but with that kind of money, even an occasional good cash would make a huge difference in my bankroll.

Overall, it was an interesting tournament, and I feel pretty good about my chances when I play it again.