I had built up five free entries into the single-table qualifiers by placing in a few $8 sub-qualifiers, so I went to work playing those. I ended up winning the first one I played. I didn’t catch a playable hand in the first few orbits and had to go all-in w A2 for 400 chips at the 50/100 level. I was called by A7, but luckily split the pot. Then I started playing aggressively and once the other players got fed up with it, they started calling me down with some marginal hands. Fortunately, that’s when I started picking up some real hands. I soon won the satellite.

Later that night I sat down to play my entry and I had a tough time getting into the tournament lobby. My software froze or something and I missed the first hand. I checked the hand history and it turns out I got 77. I would have limped and folded to all overs on the flop, so no big deal. I get AA on the third hand I’m dealt and limp in UTG. One other player limps and the BB checks. The flop is ten high. I overbet the pot and don’t get played with. Alright, AA won me about 35 chips!

I don’t catch much else during the first two levels. The first hour is squeaky tight, which I’ve never experienced on Party before. At the 15/30 level I start moving some chips. The two big hands I play are both hands where my opponent and I make a big hand, with mine being slightly better. I get dealt Kc6c in the SB and complete after some other limpers. The flop is all small cards, with a 6 and two clubs. That’s pretty good for me. I check and it gets checked around. The turn is no help. Once again it’s checked around. The river is the 3c. I bet 100 into an 80 pot with my flush. The EP limper makes it 500. Nice…..or is it? He could have easily limped in w Ax of clubs. A bluff is very unlikely for this small of a pot. I decide this is an okay time to play second best possible hand for all my chips and raise all-in for a couple hundred more. He quickly calls. He shows Jc 8c for a smaller flush. I’ve now doubled my initial stack to 2,000. A few hands later I bust someone with my AQ against his Q9. He made a king-high straight on the turn, right when I made the nut straight.

I end the first hour with around 3,300. The second hour is much less interesting than the first, although I did play two big hands. I made a huge pre-flop bluff in the first one, when five players limped for 150 and I raised all-in for 2,000 from the BB with T4. Everyone folded, except for a player who was already all-in for 6 chips (he won the main pot of 36 chips), and I won 700 chips uncontested.

The best hand I get during the hour is AK. I get all-in with it before the flop and am called by AQ. A queen on the flop brings me down to around 1,200. I end the hour with about 1,400. I then go in to what a friend of mine calls “Hoyt mode” at the beginning of the third hour (referring to Hoyt Corkins). I push all-in with any decent hand if the pot hasn’t been raised yet, trying to get maximum folding equity. Picking up blinds is important to me at this point, since I am short stacked.

At the 150/300 level I pick up 88 in MP. UTG limps in and I slide the bar to all-in. I quickly stop to check my notes on him before committing my chips and cringe when I see it says he “likes to limp in with AA.” However, it also says he plays trash hands like K4s, A6s, A9o and the like from EP. Given the range of hands I put him on and the fact that picking up the pot now will increase my stack by 50 percent, I push all-in for 1,500 with the eights. UTG thinks for a while and calls with A3o. The flop is A-x-x. The turn is a blank. The river is………..an 8!!!!!! What a relief.

That guy is soon eliminated and comes back 20 minutes later just to taunt me. I ignore him, but desperately want to say “way to call with what was 100 percent certain to be a dominated hand, buddy.”

I lose a little money semi-bluffing with a QT on a board of 8-9-5 and carry it too far when an 8 falls on the turn and a 9 on the river. I bet out a small amount on the river and am raised. I put him on a 5 that got counterfeited, but don’t have the balls to make the huge call down, esp. since K5 and A5 have me beat even if I’m right (these are possible hands because this was a battle of the blinds). A full house is also a possibility. I end the hour with about 2,600.

The next half hour is a blur to me, but I definitely acquired some chips. About halfway through the fourth hour, we were down to the final two tables. I went into “Hoyt mode” again and never got called, so I gradually increased my stack. I re-raised a raiser all-in twice with AKo and both times my opponent also had AK. I also moved in with 66 and had it hold up against an Ax. I go into the final table with 12,000. The average stack is about 22,000. The top three players win a cruise package and fourth, fifth and sixth win a cash prize.

The final table took almost three hours to complete, as the short stacks continuously survived their all-ins. I was in Hoyt mode for much of the beginning. I tried a smallish raise a few times, but it didn’t work. Half the times I took down the blinds and half the times they came over the top and I had to fold my KJ-type hands. When I was the 2nd smallest stack at the table, I moved all-in with a J9s from the button and was called by the SB who had QQ. He won, but the good luck part about the hand is he was the only guy at the table who couldn’t bust me. I was down to 4,000 , but managed to scrounge my way back up. I was soon all-in for 9,000 with A5s against 99. The flop was a lucky one for me, A-5-x. I was now close to average with 19,000.

After a minimum raise gone awry, I am down to 13,000 when I pick up 99 in the cutoff. MP moves all in for more than I have, but not much more. I call. He turns over 88 and my hand holds up. I soon pick up 99 again six-handed (in the baby money) and move all-in UTG. The BB calls me with AK. My hand holds up once again.

A little later I get QQ and move all-in. No callers. The game is 95 percent flop-less now, as we are either raising, re-raising or folding. I find myself 2nd in chips when we’re playing five-handed, but when a short stack takes out another short stack, we are four-handed with nearly identical chip counts. The final three get the cruise package, with 4th receiving just under $3K.

The cycle of play soon becomes steal, surrender, steal, surrender, steal, surrender. If you miss a steal, or get played back at, you could quickly go from chip leader to last place without seeing a flop. That happens to me after I raise with KTs and get re-raised al- in. I fold. A few hands later I get AKo in the BB. The SB raises the 4K BB to 9,500. I push for 44,000 and am called. He turns over JJ. I am out if he wins. The flop quickly spreads……K-K-x. No jack comes on the turn or river, bringing him down to 7K. He soon goes out and we all celebrate.