Fourth of Forty

I was lucky to even get to the final table last night. Some aggressive betters were eating away at my chip stack until I put on the sunglasses, found a good hand and re-raised right back. After that hand, one player turned to my opponent and said, uh-oh, you created a monster. A couple of buddies from the stadium club were also in the tourney. The one at my table won every hand I played against him, and the other got knocked out in the second hour from his table. Four hours into this thing and I start thinking about my alarm that's going to go off in five hours time. No worries, stick to my game plan and doubled up twice quickly at the final table to about middle chip position. Then just sat back and watched short stack after short stack start to get knocked out. With each person that goes out, the remaining get a raise in prize money. The top nine agreed that tenth place should be paid, and ten percent of the pool to the dealers, so there was no need to worry about those issues. Eighth, seventh, and sixth place finishers leave the table and I'm still here. Grinding up to third in chips with a steal thrown in from the button now and then. Fifth place finisher is knocked out and there is just four of us now. I look down from the big blind and look at two black queens. I should have raised right there, but just let the flop come out. The only other person in the pot was the small blind who limped called my blind. When the flop came, he grinned and checked. I bet half my stack and he re-raised all in. The board was a jack-four-nine and I did not put him on a set, but maybe a straight draw. He was the short stack so I would still have a couple of thousand left, and with blinds at three thousand and fifteen hundred, it was now or wait. Wait? This is the best hand I've had in an hour and I could knock out the fourth place player and get another raise to at least third place prize money. I call, he turns over jack-nine for two pair. No queen appears on the turn, nor the river, but the river does pair the board with another jack which gives him a full house. I'm crippled as I put up the ante and small blind. Fold to their raises on the next hand. On the next round I'm down to a single chip for five hundred. The ante amount. Chip leader to my left goes all in and the other two fold. It's a race for the antes, he pairs, I don't, and am out in fourth. Half past midnight I collect and cash in, say my goodbyes and wish one of the players remaining some luck. Didn't stick around to see who won, my alarm was going off in a few hours...