GUKPT crapshoot.........No thanks ! !

I got a bit of freedom Saturday evening, so decided to pop down to Manchester and play the opening side event of the Manchester leg of the Grosvenor UK Poker Tour (GUKPT).
It was a £100 freezeout with almost 200 runners starting at 6pm which should have made for a great comp, but to be honest it was only slightly better if that of a normal evening casino game. You got just 5000 chips which meant lose your first hand of any size and you are under pressure. There are some missing levels on the structure and the clock is just 30 minutes through.
So sounds as though I had a disaster, far from it really, but was still out within 3 1/2 hours.
I started brightly and floated a 4xBB raise hand from the BB with 63 of spades. The flop brought 934 with one spade and I decided to continue to float it versus a pot bet and call. The turn brought the 2 of spades so I was now drawing to the flush and gutshot. Checked it and two players bet pot and called......trap sprung perfect.....pot is the right size, board is low ,players have just enough in front of them and they are both fairly TAG so in I go with a 2k raise. Obligatory stare down from the pre-flop raising DONK who has obviously now got an overpair. minute or so go by and I start thinking "look Dude, your not calling now. For god sake let it go you only got a poxy pair". Sure enough a bit more acting from him and he releases it as does the other guy and I pick up a nice little 2.5k pot.
Not a true float all the way as I was semi-bluffing on the end, but I was very pleased with myself. It is much easier to find a spot in bigger games like this but you still need the balls to pull it off and I would have been very crippled if called and if re-raised would have been committed with my 12 to 15 outs.
I then get my chip stack upto 9k with some nice play and hands before the superb buffet, worth the reg fee alone!
I then tinker through the next level, before this hand:~ On the button I get AJ, decide to push against a raise from a tight guy I have played before and the old guy on the SB wakes up and tanks for about 3 minutes. I know he has AQ, what else could he have here??? and in hindsight I should have said something along the lines of " I ain't got a pair , can promise you that" giving him the impression of AK. But I didn't , I stayed quiet and he made a great call. Original raiser says "I can't call , only got AJ" LOL. He folds and I then tell the old Geezer he has AQ, which he is quite impressed with and duly turns it over. The cruel flop comes AQJ (double LOL) and I miss my only out and am down to a single 50 chip with BB about to go to 600 (triple LOL). Somehow I manage to get my stack upto 1450, and then miss a flop for what would have put me right back in it.
Anyway, that is that for the game report.
Basic premise is I won't bother with another single day GUKPT game as 30 min and the stack doesn't allow enough play. Might play the B'pool £150 GUKPT 2 dayer in Nov, that has 6k chips and 45 min clock with a couple of extra levels, just about worth it.
The monthly B'pool game is by far the best value in terms of playability and will stick with that for now. Talking of which there are two coming up on Sat 2nd and Mon 4th May, anyone fancy coming down for it?

Didn't get the local tour info up but will try to on next entry. Stay Lucky guys