Can't Lock up a win at Razz

I've final tabled the nightly Razz tourney back to back nights, but a victory eludes me. I got 6th place on Friday, and this close last night:

AHHHHHHHHHH!

Why does 2nd place sting so much in a tournament? AltronIV went through the same thing in the Brawl last week. We might seem like cry-babies, but aside from the money, I'd rather finish 5th or 6th than 2nd. You're too close to victory. You can smell it. They always say that, in a poker tournament, only one person walks away truly happy. And I think the only person that can truly understand this statement, is the runner-up.

I've got to give some credit to thatslife1969. I haven't seen him at the Razz ring games, so I don't really have an indication of his game other than his performance at the final table last night. When we got three-handed, he relentlessly completed every bet if he didn't have paint showing. I felt like he was stealing a lot of "my pots" because I'd be sandwiched in-between him and the bring in holding (K,Q) 6 and have to fold.

At one point, I pokerdb'd him and saw that he had over $5k in Razz cashes, so I decided to back off and let him take out the short stack in third place. They battled back and forth a bit, but eventually he was able to felt him.

We got heads-up with pretty even stacks, and I was feeling confident that I could take the tourney down. thatslife1969 seemed to not be able to switch gears once we got heads-up, and would complete with hands like (X,X) 10 against my (A, 2) K. I'd smooth call, and then check raise when I improved on 4th, knowing he was firing 100% of the time. This got me into a lot of situations where I was drawing better heading into 5th. We traded the chip lead back and forth for a good 15 minutes.

Unfortunately, we got into a raising war when I made a 7 low on 5th against his (X, X) A, 5, 6. We both bricked 6th, and I really thought I was taking down the pot, but he tabled a 6 low, which I believe he made on 5th right along with me. It's possible he was drawing to it heading to 7th, but based on the action through the hand, I think we both were made on 5th. In any case, it was an awesome heads-up battle, and I owe thatslife1969 credit and a thank you for giving me some good heads-up experience in tournament Razz.

So here I am...a nice MTT day for me, but no victory to enjoy.


Damn Donkeys,


Bmore