a great tournament

I just won $353 on Poker Stars tonight, coming in fifth in a $10 tournament with about 700 players in it.

In the first ten minutes, I was down from 1500 to 140 chips after my pocket aces were cracked by pocket queens. I got him all in after the turn (one card to come) and he hit is two-outer, a 5% shot. Sadly, it was a harbinger as I had aces cracked three times in the tourney.

But I battled through and played well. Got lucky to stay alive when I had about 600. I had A6 against AQ, and moved in when an ace hit the board. Fortunately the board then paired and a K came on the river for a split pot as neither kicker played. I won a race with ten players left to get down to the final table and played well there. I was chip leader for a brief moment - just one hand, I think - but was always in the top three or so. And then I called a dude's all in with AJ when he had 10-4. And he caught a full house with it to stay alive. Two hands later, I picked up pocket aces, and the dude moved in behind me with KQ, but made two pair on the turn to crack those aces. And so instead of being a prohibitive chip leader, I was the short stack and ended up in fifth place.

But it was a blast and the second biggest payday of my online poker career, so I will certainly take it. I really thought it would come down to me and a player from Dallas; he was solid. But it wasn't to be.