$30k Guaranteed - well, not really

Entered the $20+2 $30k Guaranteed after washing out of the night's $15+1 too quickly. 1860 entrants, $37,200 prize pool. Top 220 pay, seventh paying $1.1k and progressing nicely from there to almost $8k for first place. Unfortunately the tournament (and all of Party Poker, it seemed) crashed at 10:45. Party Poker policy is to split the pool among the remaining entrants in the event of a technical malfunction, so I ended up getting paid out $86.90 based on my chipstack at the time the tournament crashed.

As usual, here's a running log of my play:

9:30pm - lots going on around the house so not a lot of time to blog this. But i've been catching cards like crazy. I won the first hand with A8c and have been chiplead at my table ever since. Currently sitting T3670, average for the tournament is T1606. 1159 players left.

9:50pm - first break. Bled off a little chips when I raised preflop with AJo and a smallstack pushed. I called, he turned over T9d but caught a nine on the flop and I didn't improve. Sitting T3290, third at my table. Average is T1960, 949 players remaining.

10:05pm - have mostly been bleeding off chips, but Jack-King-Off pulls a small pot and I'm back near T3K. Average is almost T2500, 725 players remaining. Blinds just bumped to 75/150 and are starting to become a real factor as there are a significant number of players hanging around below 1k.

10:15pm - Doubled the blinds on two different strong hands, got too many callers, and caught no help on the flop either time. I'm catching strong cards (suited aces, AQo, KQs, etc) but no help on the flops. After a pass through the blinds catching nothing, I'm sitting below average for the first time all tournament with T2K. Average stack just passed T3K. 570 players left. Time to double-through...

10:25pm - AQs on the button. Blinds now at 100/200. Three people try to limp, I push and everyone including the blinds folds. I add T900 to my stack, to climb to T2750. Not quite a double-up but a necessary chip injection. Average is T3750, 494 players remain.

10:40pm - I make a pass through the blinds, then our table gets busted and I'm dropped in the big blind next hand as well. So two consecutive passes on four hands. I drop to T2K. I then get ATs on the button and push when two people try to limp, a third raises double the blinds. The raiser calls and turns over KK, but I catch not one but two aces and double up. Hand history posted as Comment #1. Next hand I drop a little cash limping sixes, end up heads-up against the BB. I raise a flop of rags but am check-raised all-in and can't call. Sitting T3500 after passing the blinds again, and the table busts up. Average chipstack at this point is T5K, blinds are 150/300. 372 players remain, top 220 pay so we're more than halfway to the money.

10:45pm - Network problem? Party Poker crashes? We get the message that there's a problem, to close the window back to the lobby, and take our seat again. Can't seem to do that... Tried closing the lobby and re-launching, no dice.

11:55pm - Party Poker still offline... heading to bed.

9:00am next day - turns out my payout for last night's aborted tournament was $86.90. Well, I guess that's another money finish, but I'd like to think I could have finished even higher.