Today's Live Tournament

I played a live $50 tournament today.  Lately I have played a lot over in the next county, but this was my second straight tournament in Muskegon.  The room is conveniently located 1.8 miles from my house.

It would have been a nice one to win.  There were 72 players, which means that first place would probably be over $1,000.  Unfortunatey my downswing, both live and online, continues.  I can't seem to win or cash anywhere.

Of course I know that much of it is negative statistical variance.  I'm spending a lot of time doing some serious studying..  Almost every week I hit my goal of at least 25% of my poker time being spent on study.  I had some small cashes ($250 or less) a few times in late 2015 and in January 16. I have no live cashes in the last three months, even though I know I'm a much better player than I was a few months ago.

Eventually I'll start cashing again, but it's always tough riding out the downswings.  I played pretty well and at one time today I had a very large chip stack.  Then something happened that was a big blow to my chances of cashing.

I had about an average stack when I was dealt pocket aces.  I raised with them and got two callers, always an exciting situation when holding aces.  I was about to make a big bet that would have caused the other players to make a tough decision--there was enough money in the pot that I would be happy if they folded.  Then the dealer said something, and I thought she was telling me that I forgot to post the blind (I know,it doesn't make any sense, I had a major brain fart) so I put the chips in the pot.  What she was telling me it was that it was my turn to play, and since the chips I put in the pot were more than the minimum bet, that automatically forced me to make it a raise.

Since I had raised, I had to bet enough more chips to make it a minraise. I put in the chips that completed the raise.  I had intended to make a big bet and put my two opponents to a decision but I never got the chance.  Both of those players bet big (a raise and a call) and I had to consider the possibility that one of them had flopped something better than top pair.

I lost the initiative.  With half of my chips already committed to the pot, I decided to fold.  I eventually got my chip stack up to where it was before that fiasco and it stayed there for a few minutes as we got down to four tables. I had rebuilt my stack until it was above the tournament average, but it didn't hold up..  I was unable to keep up with the rising blinds, I got all it all in, my AQ lost to AK and I was out in 26th place--far short of the final table finish that I needed to get into the money.

I'll probably take another shot at that tournament next Sunday.