First taste of success

Lost one more 5 dollar tourney tonight, but hit third in one. I played very well, no blow by blow, though. I got lucky once when I hit three of a kind and so did another guy. I was outkicked but hit a boat on the river. That saved me from getting booted early and doubled me up to a nice stack. Then I won a couple big hands and was in the top 3 for most of the tourney. Had a small setback when I caught AQ and raised the short stack. He called 3x and I missed the flop. So I'm in a quandry. I act first. If I check he almost certainly bets something unless he's just a coward or really thinks I'm trapping him. I pretty much have to call anything he bets, because he's at that point where his stack size is less than the pot. On the other hand, his stack size is big enough where I'm gonna lose a good 2k. I went with the aggressive move and bet the pot. He calls. He had JT suited and had hit the flop. I probably should have put him all in to begin with. He might have still called, but that'd have given me more folding equity and kept me from being in a bad post-flop decision.

I got my chips back and even got back in the lead because the chip leader loved his cheap chips. Went all in with Queens (three limpers), he called with A7 suited. Ridiculous call. I mean, this is for a hell of a lot of chips and he's got basically nothing worth calling that big a raise with. Lucky for me he missed, but he came close to his flush.

From there, it was downhill. I got decent cards twice in a row and raised 3x. Both times the guy to my left, now the chip leader, called. First time I missed the flop with AQ and he bet out. I was dubious, but there was a ten or a jack on the board, so I went ahead and folded. Next hand I catch sevens and raise 3x. He calls. Miss the flop, but there's just a Jack on the board, with two under rags. I made a small bet and he reraised me all in. I almost called, but I'm sitting in 5th and the other two are seriously short stacked. So now I'm down to pathetic levels and can't really do anything, because the two chip leaders have me outchipped 6 to 1 each and the short stack only has a third of my stack. Made more sense to let him die. He did, and I actually briefly doubled up, but I just didn't have the cards.

Still, took third. By my calculations, I only need to finish 6th twice and 5th twice every ten of these to more or less break even, so this finish puts me on pace to cover that. One third place finish in four attempts. I'm feeling pretty good about my chances.