I had another good weekend at the poker tables. There were two tournaments that I played particularly well in but I got railed when I lost to a larger set deep in both tournaments. Not much I could do about that. On the other hand the proliferation of All-In pushes pre-flop was bizarre to say the least. I mean any time a player had pocket Aces or Kings he would simply re-raise All-In. I saw this move in $20 tournaments as well. Most times players would fold but every now and then someone would call with Ace King or a medium pair. I still have no idea of where the value is in making this play when a healthy re-raise will accomplish the intended task of keeping your opponent in the hand. Why would I want to push my opponent out of the pot pre-flop with Aces or Kings?

Apparently I am one of the few players that thinks this way because it was very prevalent.

I did make the Final Table in the 180 player tournament and took down 5th place. It was a great lesson in short stack play as I picked my spots and continued to survive until I could pick up a few hands to get a few chips. I even surprised myself by making that Final Table. With 17 players left I took a beat and only had $83 dollars left in my stack. After consecutive All-Ins I managed to build it all the way back up to over 22K with a LOT OF LUCK. I just refused to give up and I hit some cards at just the right time several times in a row. Once I built back up to 5K I picked up Aces and tripled up.