Day 7 - $10,000 Main Event

Ok, final three tables and the two short stacks exit after less than a round of play. I'm in push mode now, with my stack equivalent to approximately five orbits. After folding a while, a hand comes up where Rhett Butler raised my BB 3x and Prahlad Friedman called, Fred Goldberg thought for a while, then decided to fold his pocket sixes on the button, and I quickly went all-in with Q,Q. Rhett folded and Prahlad called with AQs. I doubled up and the process repeated - me patiently waiting for either another big hand or a good spot to put the money in. After folding a while, I was down pretty low again and decided to move all-in with a 73s in the SB after it folded to me and Jamie was in the BB. He showed me an ace, then decided to fold, as it was by no means a small raise to him. A while later I picked up K,K in the BB and Allen Cunningham raised in mid-position and I moved all-in for not much more. His A,Q failed to suck out, and I got back up to 2mil. I had a very tight table image at this point - so far the only hands I've shown have been K,K and Q,Q. Then a hand came up where I picked up A,K UTG and raised 3x, got called by Rhett in middle position, then William Thorson went all-in in the BB for a huge overbet of the pot. At this point I'm torn, I can't see how he could do this with A,A or K,K, so at worst I'm a coin flip. However, the fact that I also didn't think he would do that with A,Q or A,J coupled with the fact that I didn't want to play a coin flip for my tournament life, made the decision a pretty clear fold. A few rounds later, Jeff Lisandro limps UTG and three other people limp. I'm in the BB with K,K and decide to shove for a huge overbet of the pot. He doesn't think long before calling with J,J and I double up to 4mil! Shortly after, I catch a fortunate break and got moved to the other table (two remaining) and both tables are playing short handed. At the new table I'm one of the big stacks, ironically, and over the course of the next hour or so double my stack without playing a single all-in pot. I raised many pots and took a lot of them down preflop, or with a continuation bet on the flop. One interesting hand came up where I raised in mid position with A9o and Michael Binger called in the BB with 8,8. The flop came Qh,Th,T and I bet after he checked. He called and the turn came an offsuit queen. Now he bet into me about half the pot and I quickly called. The river brought a rag and he bet into me pretty large on the river, and I decided to make the call and take down a monster pot right before dinner, putting me at over 8mil. After the dinner break things did not go well, as Richard Lee felt the need to become the new sheriff and kept coming over the top of me preflop and forcing me to fold. I never had a hand that could play an all-in pot with him and dwindled back down to 4mil over the course of the next hour or so. The tables combined with ten players remaining, and now we are waiting for one more to bust. Eric Friedberg was to my right and was raising just about every single time it was folded to him, and this time was no different. Folds to him in the cutoff and he raised 3x and I was going to come over the top with any two, which happened to be a 7,6 and he quickly folded. A pot like this may not seem like a big deal, but with that much money out there and the risk of someone waking up with a hand behind me, believe me, it was tought to do. After a few rounds of folding, Jamie Gold raised my BB in mid position and I looked down at an A3s and decided to come over the top. He quickly called and the flop came J, 9, 8 and we both checked. The turn was a 7 and we both checked again. The river was a ten and we both checked again and split the pot. The funny thing was, he had T,T and turned the straight, haha. When I turned my hand over, he was shocked that I came over the top of him with such a weak hand, but I wanted to send the message to people, that I wouldn't just keep folding my BB to a raise because it seemed like it was getting raised every single round for the last two days. A while later I picked up 5,5 in early position and raised 3x and got called by Jamie on the button. Flop came Ks, T, 5s and my continuation bet was called. Turn was a Q, and now I checked, he bet half my remaining stack, and I moved all-in. He was forced to call drawing dead with K8s, and now I was back up to 8mil. Over the course of the next five hours or so I stole the blinds enough to break even, but there were no other really interesting hands, and we ended the day with nine left, and I was in fifth position with around 8mil.