back into it

3 tourneys tonight to open up Feb - one second, one third place. All of my knockouts were ok pushes, just ran into better hands each time.

In the first hand of the night, I completed with AT in the small blind in a limpfest and flops trip tens. I nice start to the festivities. I checked the flop as did everyone else. One dude came along with my bet on the turn, but folded the river when his draw didn't come in.

The same dude limped into my BB in the next orbit and we were heads up. I had A4. I bet on an Ace high broadway flop and he called. The turn came a queen and we both checked. The river was a blank - he bet half pot, and I thought for a second and then called. I figured he had a pair lower than an ace since he checked the turn, or the queen gave him a big hand. Sadly it was the latter - he had KJ and the Q gave him a gutshot (he called a decent size bet to get to his gutshot, BTW, with no pair). He bet the right amount - I would have bailed to a bigger bet. This brought me from a comfortable 2100 back to 1200 and fighting it out again.

I know the strategy is to play tight early, but I seem to find myself dwindling down and down and then feeling the pinch of the blinds very often. It's much easier to play with a chip lead over others, of course. I'm wondering if there's something one should do early to take some shots and get onto the poistive side of the ledger.

Let me take a moment to wish Tony a fast recovery - he finally got his shoulder surgery today (he only injured it 18 months ago) - let's hope he heals up quick and we see him back online and at the tables in short order.