I can't really describe how it feels to win such a massive amount of money. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it right now but I don't want to worry about right now.
I played as well as I possibly could for 3 days which was very hard for me. I took down alot of pots preflop by stealing and restealing late in the tournament. I can only remember 2 times which I got lucky. After losing a 25,000 chip race in day 1 I tried to increase my stack a little bit by coming over the top of a cutoff steal with the 69c. Mark Wilds was in the big blind and woke up with 2 queens, but the board came K629T and I doubled through.
One hand I was in the small blind and the big blind tried raising it not knowing that he was the big blind. It folded to the button who went for the button steal??
He raised it to 5500 with the blinds at 400/800. I look down at two black kings and am pretty sure that the big blind is going raise, most likely his stack. I smooth called and the big blind insta shoved for about his whole stack, roughly 120k. The button took a while and finally folded. I called and I held up against his QQ.
Later on in the next level, I raised out of the hijack to 5700 with KQ, and it folded to Scott Fischman in the big blind. He stacked out his amount to call and just before he stacked his call into the pot, he said all in, making me think he was just restealing and trying to let me know that his blinds arent for sale. He had roughly 50k total which was a massive amount to call but I really didnt think he was that strong. I think he reraises with AA-QQ or AK/AQ more assuredely and maybe not even all in. I figured it was a smaller pair like 44 or maybe even something like JT suited. I figured taking him out was worth the call since he was obviously the toughest opponent at the table and called. He had A9 which wasnt horrible to see, I flopped top pair and the board bricked out.
With about 3 or 4 tables left I raised the cutoff with 77 and the small blind re raised my 6400 chip bet and make it 32000 more. I cant put her on anything big, the raise is so big its telling me she has AK or AQ and just wants to take it there. AA - JJ raises it less and her mannerisms led me to believe it wasnt 88-TT. I had laid down a mid pair a few times when I thought I was racing but I was pretty confident I had the best side of a race and shoved her in for her last 40k. She had AK and the board bricked out.
I hadnt flopped any monsters all tournament until I was on the final table. After winning a decent pot I was well above average and had some chips to try to spike a flop. Matusow raised UTG to 33000 with the blinds at 6000/12000. He had been moved off his hand a few times since the table started and I think he was trying to regain control. It folded to me in the small blind and I called with the Th9h trying to nail the flop hard. The BB folded and the flop came down T97. Since Mike had sat down at my table, I had told Tom, JC, and Johnny that I was going to lead right into him with a monster. A) He's going to hate being led into. B) He's probably going to read it as weakness and come over the top no matter how strong his hand is. I led for 32000 and Mike shoved in. I called instantly and he was unfortunate enough to have JT.
I lost a 2 million chip pot with with KJ on a 34KK6 board. He had KQ, with only 3.2 million in play I would have had 3/4 on the chips in play 3 handed if he had something like KT or K9. I finally busted after getting it all in preflop against Max Pescatori with 66. He had 88. I raised preflop and knew that I needed to win my first pot off of Max or else I was probably going to bust out 3rd. With a 150k jump in 3rd and 2nd I thought there was a good chance we were raising and I was too short to fold. The door card was the 6c but the flop also had an 8 in it. I didnt get the case 6 and was out in 3rd for $207,000 which I can't really complain about.
I'm going to try to get some sleep and play in the $1000 NL tomorrow. This cash has sparked me to try to play as many events as I can because not only can I afford it but I have alot of confidence that I can go deep in a few more events.