The Bubble Boy Strikes Again

Well, we had yet another poker tournament this weekend. What made this one different wasn’t that it was only for guys or it had a special name or gimmick, but that we started with the most chips we have ever had before.
We used a slow blind structure, too slow in fact, with the addition of antes while every person was given $25,000 in chips. This gave us a lot of room to play poker while taking out long-term luck as a factor.
I started out playing a lot of hands and quickly dipped down into the teens, which is normal for me. For some reason in these deep stack tournaments I am always throwing away a small portion of my chips and then I have to start rebuilding. If I would just play the way I would once I lose for the first hour then I would have an even larger lead once I start to get in the zone.
I had pocket aces three times and won the pot with them twice. The third and last time I got the mother of all starting hands I mucked it on the river when it turns out it was the best hand. There were four cards to a straight and three to a flush on the board and I had enough chips left that I felt confident I could still play normal and win, which almost worked out in the end.
We paid the top three spots out of 16 players and I finished in the worst spot of all: fourth place. I was the bubble boy, which has happened to me a lot in the last few years of poker. I seem to be making a trend of it, like losing a fourth of my starting chip amount at the beginning of a tournament.
With $400,000 in chips on the table my peak with four players left was $180,000. One would think there was no way I could be the first person out, but alas that is what took place. After doubling up my opponents I was left with a mere $20,000 stack and started making my moves for about three rounds of hands, since the blinds were at $2,000-4,000 with a $400 ante. My tournament ended when I pushed all in pre-flop with 4-5 offsuit and Mike (not Steed) called quickly with A-K, which got Nick to fold a pocket pair (sixes I think). I didn’t improve and he did, turning me into the bubble boy yet again.
The tournament ran too long but the increase in chips gave everyone plenty of room for errors. I hope everyone had a good time despite the aching backs we all went home with afterward.
By the way, Nick won the event with Mike Steed coming in third place. Brooke’s Mike took home the second place finish.