The structure was fast , we got 3000 chips and 1 hour levels but by level 5 , the 150 300 with a 50 ante 200 players were gone !

I set myself goals for each level and was exceeding them everytime but eventually a couple of crucial pots and the increasing blinds got me .

Level 1 i missed out on a big pot , flop was 6 9 3 with two hearts , i had A2 of hearts and called a bet , we checked it down and my opponent won with K6 of hearts , then i won a nice pot , there was a raise to 225 and a call , i reraised to 650 , both called , flop was K Q J , i moved in , the next player reraised all in and the third who had TT passed , i was up against JJ so won that one .

Level 2 pretty much the same , came down to one key hand , patience and discipline are two of the key requirements in tournament poker , i had 44 , flop was A 4 6 , i check , bet 300 , one call , i raise to 850 , one call , turn a 9 , i move in for 1450 , he calls with a flush draw and misses.

In Level 3 i didn't play a hand but saw a good one , JJ bet , 99 raised , QQ reraised all in and both called , flop was 9 9 K !

We were now on 25 ante 100 200 and had already lost 100 players , i had 10,050 chips so in good shape , i could afford to see some flops , i limped in with 8Ts , flop was 6 5 2 with two of my suit , the BB said " i hit my pair , all in " for 1700 , if he was telling the truth i had two over cards and a flush draw , i called , he turned over Q2o !

I was gaining momentum , i limped with AK and called an all in bet from AQ and won , then i lost with JJ , i had raised and been called , flop was A 7 4 , he was a dangerous player could easily have a small A , i checked , turn a K and again checked , river a 9 , he had KJo .

However i got my chips back immediately with interest , flop was Q J 3 , i held 33 and bet 1100 , he called , turn a K , i bet 4000 , another call , river 2 , i go all in , he calls with KJ again , now up to 21,000 .

As we entered the 5th level there were 98 players left , i was lucky not to lose more in this pot , i held 9T of hearts , flop was Q J 6 with two hearts , i called a 1200 bet , usually i would raise , turn was a 4 , i called a 3000 bet , river paired with the 4 of hearts and we both checked , he had A8 of hearts !

Now i won a bit back getting lucky in a way that would later rebound on me , i called an all in of 1675 with 88 , he had JJ which all day had lost on this table , flop came Q 6 5 7 9 and i made my runner runner straight.

Then i lost a big one , i limped in mid position with AJs after a FP limper , there was one other caller , flop was J 6 3 rainbow , perfect or so i thought , the FP bet 1000 , i raised to 2500 , the last player went all in for 7200 , FP passed , unless he has 33 or 66 i figure i'm winning and call , he has 66 . Back down to 12,000 , only 57 players left .

I finally pick up AA , one player goes all in for 4150 , i call on the button , he has KJs and i am back up to 16,000 . I then saw a horrible call and outdraw , a player raised with 99 and was called by the " dangerous player " i mentioned earlier , flop was K 6 2 , the 99 went all in for 5700 and was called for 3100 of it by the AJ , there were two hearts on board and they both held one , turn and river were two more hearts giving the AJ the nuts , two hands later the 99 player went all in with K6o and i called with 99 and ironically knock him out .

We then had an amazing hand , there were three limpers , flop was 3 3 7 , all checked , turn was a 2 , BB bet 900 , one player raised to 6000 , all passed to BB who went all in for 17,150 and was called , he held A3s , the caller 22 , river was the last 3 !

As we started level 7 there were still 48 left , play had slowed down considerably , the player who had lost with the 22 moved in for 3400 , blinds were 300 600 with a 100 ante , two players called and with QTs in the small blind knowing the BB would also call i did too , the BB as i expected called and the pot was 17,900 , flop was T 6 3 , i moved in and the other three passed , the all in player had A4o , win this and i would be in great shape with over 26,000 , turn was a 5 river a 7 tomake his runner runner straight as i had done so before but for only a 3500 pot , this one hurt .

One round passed me by and i was now short stack with 7400 , i found JQs and raised to 1800 amd was reraised to 4000 , i called putting him on AK , flop was good for me 4 8 T rainbow , i moved in for my last 3400 , he called with his AK , i needed a 9 , J or Q but it wasn't to be and i was out in 37th . I don't regret gambling with the JQs , blinds were due to go to 400 800 with a 200 ante and sometimes you will have to take a chance to survive knowing you have the worst of it , when it works you make the money and sometimes go all the way , if it doesn't , well it's better than being aplayer who blinds themselves away.

37th of 258 is not a bad start to my trip here , i will now have the weekend off ready for the $1000 No Limit on Monday which is a one day event , then the $5000 WPT starts Saturday 27th , hopefully at last i will do well in this one.

ACES