that one crucial hand

In tournaments, it's often true that a single mistake or even a single unlucky board card can send you to the rail. This is the reason that in order to win tournaments in the long run, you not only have to play a little better than the competition, you have to have your hands hold up, and you have to get a little lucky.

I think I played it pretty well last night, but I took three tough beats in significant spots, which made it tough for me to finish better than I did (third). In two of the pots, I got all-in in domination situations against my opponents but they got there on the flop. In fact, in one of the hands, I held A9 of spades versus the T9 of diamonds, and the flop came 83 of diamonds, T of spades, which is a total nightmare board. This was a critical hand, in fact, because if I won it, I would have placed second, eliminating Chip.

The blinds at the time were $1/$2, and we were three-handed. I raised to $6 from the button with the A9 of spades, with about a $30 stack to begin the hand. Chris, who had me covered, folded the small blind. Chip, on the big blind, went all-in, for only $4 more. I was pot-committed here, and in fact was a huge favorite, but it wasn't in the cards.

Still, Chip gained only a point on me and that means I'm in the lead by fourteen points.