Event? $2500 NLHE 6max

I finished up late tonight at 44/1068. Really frustrating day of poker and not much satisfaction in an $8500 cash when the top spot paid half a million. I already registered for the $1500 nlhe shootout tomorrow at noon and I'm really needing to get a workout in so I'll keep it short.
Started with $33k today and 28 or so from the money. I opened AJo utg, got flatted by a lag big tournament winner from japan. Jc Tc 7h, I checked, he bet 6600, I shipped 25k more, he called with A4cc, I won the 70-30 shot. I'm up to 66k or so. Stealing early, playing way tighter than a cash game 6max table so I can get some folds near the bubble. Bubble burts, I flat 77 in bb vs co open. Ac Qc 7h, flop goes c/c. 4h on the turn, I lead 7200 into 12200, he raises me to 23000, I decide although his hand doesn't look like much, he thinks I'm loose, I can't find a line to take to disguise my hand, I min-reraise him, he ships, I call. He has A4o, I dodge the A, get up to 130k. I steal and 3bet my way to 160k, then lose an 80k flip with 55 vs J9o (Internet kids these days :) ). I open the button to 6500, he ships 30k in small blind, I call with 55 and lose. Back to 100. I grind down for a bit, get moved to a table with 3 guys all over 150k (I have 118 at this point). There is 75 people left.

I played really tight on this table for a while. I felt that vs. this loose aggressive table, I really wanted to avoid the high variance spots, wanting to be able to 3bet lightly and win some pots without showdown. Oh and it didn't help that every open I made got three bet to shit. Oh, and by the way, AJo and 99 where the best hands I saw all day. So, I lose the tournament essentially on what I view as a semi standard hand. Folded to sb who raises 3x (4handed at this point), I defend bb with J9ss. K97 rainbow. Bet, i call. Turn is a 6, bet i call. River is a Q, he checks , i check. He shows K8, i lose 50k on that hand. A lot of players play the hand differently and lose less or win the pot preflop. I think J9ss 4 handed in position is 1. too good to fold, 2. i can win without hitting, 3. we're relatively deep that we can play more than one street 4. he knows nothing about me and vice versa ( you can argue that's a reason to fold) 5. blind battles people spew through over aggression. I don't feel he folds after the flop to any line, I think I have value on all streets so no reason to play the hand differently, I felt the Q may have rivered me though. Irregardless, I got down to 68k on that hand and never looked back on my way to busto, eventually running 99 into the bb's JJ.

Poopy day of tournaments, no hands on aggressive tables, did what I could with little cards...blah blah, tournaments, blah. Hopefully I can win the sng tomorrow in the shootout.

On a side not. Bill Edler and Howard Lederer are great dudes. Class acts in poker. Tournament poker is a lot tougher now, especially in no limit hold em. So many tough young players. Name pros, either online or live, are often worse than the unknown players. Point in case, online phenom 'shaundeeb' is on my last table today. Played 2 hands incredibly 'questionmarky' and then his buddy loses a 400k pot at the 1500-300 blind level, all in preflop with AQo. My mind really hurt when the dust cleared....so many suspect pots I paid witness to today.
Anyways. better luck next time, I guess I got the min-cash monkey off my back in 09'. Time for Andrew and Wes.