i was playing a 200 buy in nl holdem tourney today in Tunica at the Grand American Classic ...whatever its called at the Grand Casino. heres the details:

starting chips = 5000
blinds increase every 30 min. 25-50, 50-100, 100-200....etc. (break every 2 hours)
my stack =5200
opponents stack = 7000

im sitting on the button with pocket Jacks, guy in 4th position raises to 500 (bb200 here). everyone folds to me. i consider raising here. going all in seemed too much to win just his 500 chips + 300 in blinds. instead of making a small raise and leaving him the option of reraising all in, i limp in. (at this point im sure that both the small blind and big blind will be folding their hands, they both are waiting to muck as im thinking, so i nkow i will have this guy isolated without making a raise)

flop comes: A 7 7 - all different suits

-opponent comes out betting 1000

-i stare him down a tiny bit to try and get any info - he's staring at me strong and sitting forward, acting very strong in general, so my inclination was to think he might be weak (been reading caros book of tells too much maybe)

-i call

turn comes a blank, maybe 5 hearts

-opponent leads with 2000 this time

-i start laughing under my breath and mumbling about what ive gotten myself into.
i decide i either have to go all in now or fold. (i have 3500 in chips at this moment)

-i push all my chips in not sure at all whether this was the right thing to do or not

-he quickly calls

-he turns over A-10 offsuit, river comes 10 hearts, im out of the tourney

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as soon as i walked out of the tournament room, i realized what an obvious mistake this was. if i really thought he was bluffing, how many preflop raising hands could i beat with my measly jacks, king-queen but that seemed unlikely to raise with in early position. maybe, maybe he has a pair of 8's-10's, if im lucky.....i was sure he didnt have a 7, but ace anything and im done, or Queens or Kings in the hole and im done.
basically, i realized that the risk of calling all my chips, risking my entire tournament hoping to catch him on a semi bluff of some sort just to double up my chips was NOT worth it. not even close. the funny thing is, im usually pretty tight at post flop play and im not afraid to throw away a pair when i see an ace fall, ESPECIALLY in the early stages of a tournament. i guess i just couldnt let go that i might catch him bluffing......uuggghhhh. anyways, thats my story

hoping you guys will share your thoughts.......analyze my mistake(s).....give me a different point of view, etc. im especially interested in advice thats geared towards tournament play in general cause thats what i mostly play. i gave as many details as i could remember to facilitate your ablility to give feedback.

thanks, had fun at the negreanu open tonight after losing this hand. came in 11th. see you guys soon!

by the way, rip me apart as hard as you want......i wont take it personally.

well you pretty much summed it all up yourself to be honest. How many hands from that flop could you possibly beat? You should have probably re-raised with JJ, because if the board comes up rags, you'll likely be able to pick up the pot right there. You also have a made pair of J's, which is not so bad with only 1 other player in there. Now, when the flops comes out A77, you CAN"T call. You either raise to see if he's bluffing or simply fold. The worst thing you could have done was call, because all that shows is you either missed your flop or you have Ace and a weak kicker or your slowplaying a set of 7's, very unlikely. Also, on the turn, when an opponent bets 2000 of your 3500 you have left, you can be pretty sure, he'll call the other 1500 with just about anything. Players will usually not bluff at a board with an Ace out there if they don't have 1 and there was a pre-flop raise.

There's no point to me posting, that was all I was going to add. Jay beat me to it.

thanks jay, i see your point and agree, i was really just curious to see if my analysis of the play (after the fact) was right...it was really dumb, but what can you do but learn , right?