disconcerting...

First the good, I played 550 hands of Rush Poker tonight (in 66 minutes, holy cow!). I won $41 in short order. Aces got cracked twice, but I didn't lose a bundle on them. Won my big pot with set over set.

Had big chances with monster, hidden draws too (like raising with connectors and hitting 15 outers), but none of them came in, or I would have done better.

Now, onto the bad, I played 2 45man tourneys for more preparation into the big Firday live tourney, and I didn't do well in either. In the first, I got unlucky by flopping a set against the JT nut straight. Not much I could do there, except make a quick exit.

In the second, though, I made a poor steal raise against a smallish stack, and he shoved over me. I a bad hand (QTo) good odds (just over 2-1), and no plan. No mans land. He was a tight player, too.

I decided to fold, figuring I would save the chips and hope I could use them later. (this is the wrong decision, probably). I stayed alive for an orbit, and then my second mistake. The button raises. I have Ace-three in the small blind. I check his stats - he is a rock. 8/5. With a steal percentage of 7%. My first instinct says fold. But then I consider that he has been low on chips all game, and recently doubled up. Maybe he didn't have the chips to steal. Maybe he's got a better ace than me, but not one he's willing to go to the wall with.

I put him all in. He calls with big slick suited, and bang, out in 11th, with my second bad decision of the tourney.

That's all it takes. I had my fortunate double up with AK vs. A9 + (plus a flush draw). I shoved over a loose-aggro with AQ and QQ, he folded both times. this put me in 6th place for a bit, and somewhat comfortable, but my 2.5x raise with the QT, and my unfortunate shove into a rock who was playing exactly how his stats said he was playing, ended up costing me.

Bleah.