I think nobody likes to be the bubble boy or the bubbly lady (in the rather rare case that you are female, unfortunately). Sometimes, it even happened twice to me on the same day. It is particularly ugly, when you don´t drop out of a “normal” MTT but out of a satellite, like the 109$ GTD on ACR.
Today was one of those days. After surviving dozens of other players and being the chipleader at some point, I found myself holding A3o in SB with a mere 5-6 BB left on rank 6 out of 9 with places 1-7 receiving the 109$ ticket and 8 getting “some change” – I think around 70-90$.
In a “normal” MTT or SnG scenario, this is an absolute no-brainer, a clear push, an “all-in”! But in a satellite scenario it is most likely a clear fold! I had to learn it the hard way. At least, ChatGPT told me that it is a clear fold, and in hindsight, Chat is right, of course.
But when you are in the very situation, under pressure, then nothing is clear. You see your blinds going away, and you “fear” dropping out and going away from the tables with empty hands. And then, you (as in I) push from the SB and run into the big blind with 14-15 BB behind calling you with 33 and kicking you out.
Frustration after the bubble burst
The very next MTT gave me a similar scenario: I can´t remember the exact spot but I was the bubble boy again! And then, I got the revenge and won the next 11$ SnG with KK, AA, and some other bombastic hands. Sometimes everything goes right, and in other instances, you feel that you lose everything.
To top it off, I beat AA in the last hand by pushing all-in with KTo!
Maybe the poker gods wanted to make up for the fact that I was a tiny little bit unlucky with my A3o hand against 33 to be kicked out as bubble boy from the satellite. Well, I am happy to take the 102.30$, since it almost makes up for the 109$ ticket that I really should have won. But lesson learned, and I hope that I won´t make the same mistake again – esp., when it is a satellite for a big main event like the Aussie Millions, the EPT, or even the WSOP!