My 30-minute Tournament

I played a tournament at Northway Lanes this afternoon.  It didn't last long.

It was pretty uneventful for abut half an hour.  I flopped top two  pair on an AKJ flop, meaning I probably had the best hand but someone could have a straight draw.  Ten on the turn, making it likely that someone had a straight or was drawing for one. Check check on the turn, then I bet enough on the river to price out draws.

Player to my right went all in and I thought for about a minute.  I decided  that he was bluffing and I called.  The river was a queen, giving villian the straight, knocking me down from about 49,000 chips to 6,000.  Two hands later, I shoved QJs and was knocked out of the tournament.  After the big hand, villian said that he knew I bet enough to chase out a draw--but he misread his hand, and thought that he already had the straight!

So, I made the mathematically correct play by betting enough to chase draws away.  Villian then made the wrong play by calling because he misread his hand.  I called because I thought he was bluffing.  It' wasn't a bluff, because he thought he had the best hand.  I was out of the tournament when the queen came on the river.  Strange things happen in poker, and it was the first time in quite a while that I was out in the first hour.

As Doyle Brunson says on the commercials, that's poker folks!