Full Till $400k Guarantee Agony

[RoccoTerrier]

First of all, I have been following this board for a while and it has been incredibly helpful. I am an OK, but not great player who is trying to get better.
Yesterday, I played in an $8 super satellite that got me en entry into the $50/5 satellite which got me an entry into the $400k guarantee. Yay! Three and a half hours into it, there were approximately 375 people left and 351 were getting paid. I was in 255th place and had approximately 12,500 chips. The blinds were 340/170 with a 75 ante. I was dealt QQ UTG and raised to 2200. Everyone folded to the button who reraised to 7800 (he had approximately 18,000 chips). I pushed the rest of my chips into the center. He called and my QQ lost to his AQ when an ace came on the river.

Questions: Regradless of the outcome, was my play smart or stupid? On the one hand, I really wanted to at least make the money (even winning only $200-300 on an $8 investment is nice), but I felt like I really didn't have that many chips and I needed to accumulate to make a play for some great money.

Side question: How do you deal with those crushing bad beats? AQ for crissake.....

[skiier04]

Of course you made the right play, you got all your money in with QQ against AQ.

It sounds like you shouldn't be playing these satellites anymore because the money involved has far too much of an effect on your bankroll, and your play may be suffering because of it.

[RoccoTerrier]

Skiier, thanks for the response. Can you elaborate a bit more on your point about "the money involved has far too much of an effect on your bankroll"? I have been playing in some low limit satellites to try to win seats in the WSOP main event qualifiers, but, it is starting to get frustrating because the low limit satellites are full of crazy plays and bad structures. Should I just suck it up and buy directly into the Main event qualfiers for $200 (Tuesdays) or $300 (Sundays)? The $1000 Thursday is a bit steep.

In general, any advice on a WSOP main event qualifying strategy?

[DeeKay]

Do you even have a bankroll, or are you set enough financially to keep redepositing? Because even though you got in through an $8 satellite, you're still technically putting up a big entry fee. If that entry fee constitutes a large percentage of your BR (> 2%), you're going to play scared and second guess yourself in spots like this.

[lyerly]

So noone's even going to touch on the preflop raise amount?

[RoccoTerrier]

Lyerly, what are your thoughts on the preflop raise amount? I had considered simply starting out by pushing it all in.

[TimberBee]

Did you mispost the blinds? Are you considering shoving here with 40bbs?

Raise less in the first place, like 1000 seems good, then you also have some FE to shove if someone 3bet.

[RoccoTerrier]

Timberbee, you are correct, I missposted the blinds -- I just went back and checked and they were 600/300 with a 75 ante. Do you think I should have raised more or less?
Sorry for the confusion.

[kniper]

your raise PF is fine with those blinds

the main issue here is your worrying about making the money. gettin in the bubble and aiming to make like 2x the buyin is not the right approach to MTTs. You are better off playing $8 mtts looking to get the first few spots. Here, you were probably lucky to qualify under both satelites, and once you get to this big tourny you are playing with scared money.

cliff notes: play smaller buy ins, look to take down teh tournament. build a bankroll so you wont be so scared of bubbling the money

[kosher]

[ QUOTE ]

Side question: How do you deal with those crushing bad beats? AQ for crissake.....

[/ QUOTE ]

Lol... just gotta deal with it man. "crushing" bad beats like this one happen all the time in tourneys.

As you play more you will begin to not get too worried about it. Water off a ducks back after a while.