(Almost) Winning the $250K Wynn

Today I played in Day 2 of the $250K Wynn poker tournament. I played on Friday and at one point had a gigantic stack. However, I took a few risks that didn't pay off and ended up short stacked at the end of Day 1. The good news was that I was already in the money when I started today. The bad news was that I needed to get lucky early to stay in it. The game started at noon.

Early on I got down to 8 big blinds. I shoved with pocket Js. I got called by AQ. My Js held up! I then had over 20 big blinds. I was back in the game!

Later I won a big hand with pocket 8s. I had an OK stack (21 big blinds). I just made it to the first money jump with 62 players left. The next jump came at 52 players.

Then I made it to the next money jump! But I was once again short stacked. There were 51 players left. The next money jump was at 44.

I got pocket Qs and shoved. I got called by... pocket As. I busted out at 50 out of 697 players.

I guessed that the other player had AA before he showed his cards. I was under the gun, betting early. He had a big stack. He counted his chips carefully and hesitated before calling me. Usually, if he had a decent stack and a decent hand, he'd shove to prevent anyone later from shoving against him. By hesitating, I figured he wanted someone to call him. He would only do that if he had AA. And he did.

On to my next tournament.