An Admirable Failure at a Final Table

I secured 8th place in the Mookie last night, amongst 59 runners. Which was the final place before the cash payouts began. Me = bubble boy.

I can't complain too much, however, as I made a strong, +EV play at the final table against the chipleader with a preflop jam on the button with AJ -- he had open-raised to 4500 from middle position. He ended up calling off nearly 90% of his total stack with only 15% invested prior to my re-raise, and long-term I think this was a good play on my part for several reasons:

1) My tight jamming range (55+, ATo+, AJs+, and a few bluffs thrown in) is ahead of 99 half of the time or more;

2) I have some pretty significant fold equity (truth be told, not so very much in a blogger donkament, but still ...) against non-premium hands, including pairs 22 - TT;

3) We're on the bubble, so the environment is conducive for this calculated aggression to pay dividends;

4) I am playing to win the tournament, not to cautiously fold my way to a 5th or 6th place finish.

It just so happened this time around that my opponent couldn't find a fold and I didn't win a key race with 50% pot equity. C'est la vie.