Thanks for all the encouragement guys, I appreciate it. I'll do a mini report now, and might do a full one when I return from a break.

Someone asked whether I thought I was the best player left, I play almost exclusively cash games, and very little live so I think that the players I was playing with had an edge on me preflop but I think that postflop I was in the top 3 remaining (who I had played with) along with David 'Chino' Rheem (I think he is the best player remaining and will win the FT) and Brandon Cantu when he is playing his A game. Also I felt like maybe I had some tells that the other players may have picked up on due to the fact they had far more live experience than I do.

There were 3 hands from the tourney that really stood out to me. 2 because of the way they were inter-linked.

1. I get 1010 in MP halfway through day 2 and flat UTG's raise, it folds to SB and he thinks for a long time before calling also. There are 3 to the flop and it comes Kh 10h 2h, checks to me and I fireclose to pot, SB calls, UTG folds. turn is a blank 8, SB checks I bet and SB moves in for around 30k more. I know he has a flush at this point but I think I have odds to boat up as the pot is huge (I started the hand on around 180k) I call and he shows AQhh and I dont boat up.

2. Very next hand I get JJ and have around 100k left, I raise, knowing that people will think I'm steaming. It folds to the BB who reraises (he is tight, especially OOP so I put his range as QQ+/AK) I call almost instantly to give the impression I am steaming, the flop comes J high and he fires for 14k I quickly reraise him to 30k, and he shoves. I snap call and he shows KK and my set holds to put me back around 200k.

3. This hand I like because it's against Phil Hellmuth. It's the 4th day and I'm playing the best poker of my tournament. we both start the hand with ~600k and the blinds at 6k/12k. Phil limps UTG, folds to me in the SB, I complete and BB checks. flop comes 5d 8x 9d and I bet out 25k, Phil quickly calls. the turn is the 3d I check, Phil bets 30k and I call. As on the river and I value bet 40k and get called by 66.

The further I got in the tourney the more my play disintegrated. I felt like I played really well up until the start of day 5. I had just played too much poker, I rarely play more than an hour at a time usually as I lose my concentration. I could feel myself slowly losing my concentration after the start of day 5, I really didn't want to play. That's not to say I played badly, I just didn't play as well as I know I can, or that I had been doing. Throughout the whole tournement when the all the money went in I had the worst hand twice (once was the 1010 hand against a flush) and the other was the final hand with Q10.

I was really lucky to even get into the main event to start with, I came over to LV intending to play the 5k 6max and the ME. However when I got there I found I couldn't use my maestro debit card at any banks, or withdraw at a casino cashier - the only thing I could do with it was withdraw up to my $600 a day limit at an ATM, and my bank refused to up my withdrawal limit.

So, I had to miss the 5k 6max event, and concentrate on attemptin to make 10k before the start of the series, I entered a $340 tournament 4 nights in a row which had ~350 entrants and a first prize of ~$22000, on the 2nd time I got fairly deep, there were around 50 ppl left and I got AI preflop with my KK vs another big stacks AK and lost. Anyway on the 4th attempt I cashed for 7k, this was really lucky as when there were 20 people left I was fairly short stacked and pushed with 9 10o, I got called by the BB who had K4o, the flop came J 10 x turn was a K and the river was a blank, as I got up go I noticed there were 4 diamonds on board, as the dealer was about to gather in the cards/chips I said "wait, did I have a diamond?" the dealer looked at my cards and noticed that I did, so I won the pot and was still in.

With that 7k win, I had enough to enter the ME. On my first day I sat down and didn't recognise anyone at my table, first hand I'm in the BB and get KK, button raises, SB calls and I reraise, they both fold. I get AK, A7s and 66 in the next 6 hands and win them all without showdown, the table thinks I'm a maniac and this image sticks with me for the remainder of the day even though I significantly tightened up. I was pretty nervous at first as I rarely play live, the highest buyin tourney I ahd played was a $40 rebuy. After about an hour though I managed to forget about the size of the buyin and the event and just play my best poker. There was one good player at my first table, a really aggressive Scanidavian player 2 to my left who I stayed away from, but apart form that the table was soft - a mix of extremely easy to read nits and people who overvalued their hands (basically couldn't get away from AK pre no matter how many BB's deep, and thought AJ on a J high board was the nuts) So, chipped up to around 25k and we're about 6 hours in when I get 77, UTG raised and cleared this throat (he had a tell where whenever he had a monster hand he cleared his throat and the announced what he was going to do) I call in position with 77 and the flop comes Q 7 6, UTG c bets and i call, the turn is a K, UTG checks, i bet, he cleared his throat and moved AI. I tanked for maybe a minute or so, I knew he thought he was ahead and he either had QQ/KK or AA. I called and luckily for me he turned over AA and i was on 50k. I got moved table and didn't have any notable hands the rest of the day and finished day 1 on 57k.

Day 2, the only person I recognised was Brad Booth, who was 2 to ym right. After about 20 minutes I noticed that there was a guy opposite me who was extremely good (I later heard him saying he plays 200/400 online) anyway, about 3 orbits in I get QQ UTG and raise to 1500 (i think the blinds were ~ 250/500 and Brad Booth calls from the SB, as does the BB. Flop comes Jh9x3h checks to me and I cbet for 3k, Brad reraises to 9k and the SB folds, I call to re-evaluate the turn. The turn is some brick and Brad (who has been playing ultra aggressive) bets out 14k, I call the river is a low heart and he bets 30k, I fold and he shows J9. A couple of hands later I get J9s on the button, The 200/400 guy raises, Brad calls, as do I. flops comes 10 4 3 rainbow and they both check, I bet and the 200/400 guy calls, Brad folds. turn is a 7 he checks and I check behind. the river is an 8! he bets pot and I move AI, he calls with 77 and I'm back up to ~60k in chips.

I'll continue with the report soon, I need a break from poker for a while now, but will finish this report before I get back to playing.