Beware of a paired board

Wow - I can't remember any time I busted out of a tournament on the first hand!

It was the $69+6 NL $7000 guaranteed at Full Tilt. They had 122 players and the first hand I received in EP was Ah7h. Due to the position I just called it. Here's how the hand developed:

3 callers, the BB checked. Flop came Qh 4h 9h giving me the nut flush. As any bet would have been suspicious here I checked. It was checked to the LP who bet 90 on a 165 pot. BB folded and all the others folded. Heads-Up now.

Turn was 9c and paired the board. Now here comes my bad mistake. I should have realised that any pocket Q, pocket 4 and of course a pocket 9 had beat me here. I checked again and he bet 150 on a 345 pot. Mistake no. two and three. I should have bet here instead of checking. Not that it changed anything - but it would have been the correct play (maybe I could pretend holding QQ's). And after he bet to my check it would have been time to fold the hand. He wasn't offering me good pot-odds so there was no need to continue here. But of course it is hard to lay down a nut flush. Now on to mistake no. four: The river was an Ad and I checked again. He bet 615 and I raised all-in to 1230. He called and showed pocket 4's for a full house.

What a bad beat! NO ... this wasn't a bad beat! This was just the worst hand I played in my entire life. He deserved to win this and I deserve to lose it. I was out 116 of 122. Just 6 people lost their money faster then me.

I think the biggest mistake was to check to much early and to raise late. I should have bet the flop and take the 165 (as he would have probably folded). It was more difficult after the second 9 but again I think betting would have been the better option. And there was definitly no reason for a raise on the river (even a call would have been wrong).

Well, this session was intended to be a practice lesson for tommorrows live tournament in Schenefeld. It was a short but intense lesson... :-((