I'm not even mad!

Yo! So I'm sitting here relaxing, watching some golf, and contemplating all the things I did right and wrong yesterday at my first final table @ a major event. It was the Brantford Spring Poker Classic $1500 No Limit Hold'em main event - a huge tourney with about the sixth biggest payout in Canadian Poker Tour history. In getting there I played some of the sickest poker of my life, which included a huge bluff in a multiway pot, an all in reraise with only second pair, and some ballsy blind steals when we were down to the bubble on qualifiying day. I was able to keep up the fearless play in the finals yesterday, which began with 25 players guaranteed a cash out of $2000. I started the day in 4th place with a chip count of about 72,000, compared to an average stack of 50,000. I arrived about ten minutes late, having had only a couple of hours sleep after playing eleven hours of poker and not getting home until 6 am. After getting down to two tables by grinding it out and getting involved in as few big pots as possible, I got caught in a massive 120,000 chip race. I picked up AK in early position and was reraised all in by a player two spots to my left who I had covered by about 40,000 chips. After a solid three minutes of contemplating the scenario and him staring me down, I called his raise and as I expected he turned over an underpair, QQ. The race was on and I was pumped to see an ace spike on the flop. From then on, I cruised to the final table, which I began in 3rd place with 162,000 in chips. The top four chip leaders were all within about 10,000 in chips so it was really anybody's game. Early on I picked up AQ on the puck. Play had been folded around to me and I made a standard raise. I was called by the small blind, a crazy old man who had me just covered in chips. I spiked an ace on the flop with a rainbow board and decided to check behind him. After his bet on the turn I raised all in and he called quickly. He turned over AJ, meaning he had only three cards that could save him on the river. A queen hit on the river and I had a huge chip lead. I got involved in another large pot when we were down to seven. I picked up A4 suited on the puck and once again made a standard raise when action was folded around to me. The small blind folded and the big blind immediately reraised all in. I was getting about 2-to-1 so after another tough decision I made the call and was psyched to see him turn over KQ off. The flop came down KQ10 but I made my four outer on the turn when a J hit. The river was a brick and I had almost half the chips on the table with six players remaining. Right away I got involved in another huge pot. I picked up 99 and after a UTG raise by this guy Winnie, I decided to play it aggressively and put in a reraise. After play was folded around to him, he took a few minutes to decide and reraised all in. It was not what I wanted to happen but given that I was very pot commited, my call was automatic and he turned over JJ, which stood up to my Gretzkys. Winnie was the new chip leader and took out another player who also held 99. Ironically, Gretzkys were not holding up in his hometown. Once were down to four I was really starting to go card dead and after taking down one big pot with a bluff, we were down to three players and I was the short stack. I wasn't able to double up and after overplaying a medium strength hand I was forced to move all in with Q9. I was immediately called by the small blind, Chris, who was a crazy character himself. He turned over 44 so I was glad to see I had about a 50% chance to double up. But it wasn't to be and I was out in 3rd place in a field of about 260 with a 35k paycheque - not a bad result at all! Needless to say, I'm pumped to pay off my student debts and add a nice cushion to my poker bankroll. After having played 20 hours of poker in the span of 27 hours, I was elated, exhausted, and seriously concerned about how this result would affect my motivation to play in these type of high level tournaments. But after getting a good night's rest I'm totally determined to make a name for myself... outside of Brantford and the K-Dub... ha. I'm leaving for LV in ten days and I can't wait. I'll definitely be playing in at least one world series event, most likely the $1000 SHOE event, and I'm going to continue to try to qualify online for some other events, including the main event, although time is running out. So start checking in regularly beginning June 27th when I try to survive the likes of Daniel Negreanu, 40 degree desert heat, Carlos Mortensen, a carrraaazy bachelor party, and Phil Hellmuth. Peace!