Yes, our denoms were crazy: reds were 10, blues 25, blacks 100 (the only normal one), and whites were 500. But we had a nice piece of paper displayed in plain view saying what the colors meant. And we've used reds as 10 cents, blues 25 cents, blacks 1 dollar for years. Of course, I now know this is crazy, but when we started all of us thought that was a fine way to denominate the chips, and I was certainly used to it. So I guess my confusion might have stemmed from the fact that I knew the chips were now worth much more in tournament value, so a BB of 4 red chips must have been 400 in my mind, not 40. We did NOT have a blind schedule in plain sight, but I did know the blinds were 20/40. I really can't explain it...And why I didn't make a mistake with the larger chips, I don't know.
And yes, I clearly announced "raise, 1200" before putting the proper number of chips in the pot: two whites, two blacks.
Conclusion: I am clearly some kind of idiot!
PS: Thank you capt for your kind words. It was tough getting to 3rd, and when we started 3 way, I had about 10,000, the other two about 40,000. I stole my share of blinds, but could not get a hand to actually play (as opposed to steal with!), not even a low pair or two high cards, all 83o, J2o, 94o and suchlike. Finally got an ace-7o, raised, got called by 10-2 off, flopped an ace, went all-in, but my opponent had flopped a ten and rivered a 2.
