Soon after that, they broke our table when I was about to be the button. I was sure I was going to be moved to the BB, but got lucky and got a seat between the button and the SB. I stole a few small pots to get me to about 16000, with 40 players left. Finally, with the blinds 600-1200, I woke up with pocket aces in MP. I raised to 3000. It was folded to the SB who was a short stack with about 10000 total. After a bit of hesitation, the SB just called. The BB was also a short stack and he reraised all in. After asking three times for an amount so I knew if I could reraise, the dealer finally counted it down, and he did have enough for me to reraise. I pushed all-in and the SB called. The SB had pocket 8's and the BB had 9-7 of hearts. The aces held up without too much drama, and I finally got my first (and second) bounty chip.

All of the rest of the interesting action happened at the 800-1600 level. I had about 30000 in chips when I picked up A-Q in MP. I raised to 4000 and the button reraised all-in to 5000 total. The SB thought for a bit, and then reraised all-in to about 15000 total. I thought for a bit, but I didn't have much of a read since I was new to the table. I finally folded my A-Q face up and the button turned over A-Q, with the BB turning over A-K. I was very happy with my fold. The board flopped queen high, and then I was sad. However, the turn and river were both kings, so my good play had paid off.

A few hands later, there were three limpers to me on the button. Once again, I had A-Q. I raised to 10000, and the first two blinds and first limper folded. The second limper pushed all in for not much more, and the third limper who was my LAG villain from the earlier table eventually folded. I called and saw pocket 8's against me. The flop was 9-10-J which was good for me. The turn was an 8, which gave my opponent a set, but gave me the straight. The river was a brick and I got my third bounty. I clearly had the short stack covered, but the dealer kept asking me to match the stacks she was pulling from the short stack. When she asked me for the last 1000 in black, I realized she thought the pocket 8's had won. She had turned over both hands, and I said to her that I had won the pot. The dealer and the pocket 8's player both didn't realize it. They turned all of the cards face up, including the board, and saw my straight. Thank goodness there was not argument from the short stack, because I didn't see the dealer turn down my hand first after the river.

My ultimate demise came with 19 players left in the tournament. The next hand I played was A-K in MP. I raised to 4000. The BB reraised me all-in to about 18000. At this point I had about 55000 in chips. I thought for a bit, but just couldn't fold the A-K and eventually called. The BB turned over A-K of hearts. I begged for no hearts on the flop, but there were two of them. The river was the eight of hearts - ouch.

A few hands later, UG pushed all-in for about 14000. UG+1, flat called with 6000 behind. The next player folded, and I looked down at A-K and called (which left me about 20000 behind). The player behind me, who had about 50000 tanked. I immediately realized I had made a big mistake. Eventually the player to my left called. Everyone else folded, and there were 4 to the flop of Q-Q-2. The first player pushed in his last 6000. I called and the player behind called. The turn was a 9. I checked, and the player behind me pushed all-in. I was disgusted with myself for not reraising all-in preflop and threw away my A-K. The first player turned over A-9, the second player turned over pocket kings, and the player to my left turned over pocket 9's. The river was an ace. It was my own fault. The pocket 9's never would have called an all-in bet from me preflop, and I would have rivered the pocket kings and counterfeited the A-9. This was a really stupid play on my part.

Two hands later, I pushed all-in with K-J and about 13000 in chips. I got called by one of the big stacks at the table with Q-9 suited. The flop gave me a jack, but a queen hit on the river and I was out in 16th place.