Events #1 – #5 all went the same way.  I chipped up early, got into the top 100, then ran into a monster that stole away all my chips.  KK vs QQ and the villian goes 4 cards to a flush, etc.  Finally making the cash was nice.

I went into the final table of eight players in probably 5th or 6th position chip-wise and continued playing tight, knowing that the blinds would force action on the other short stacks.  Sure enough, we were soon down to seven players, then a three-way allin hand took out two more and we were five-handed.  I had chipped up somewhat during this and was now a mid-size stack and the short stack was the current points leader, but he was very short stacked after loosing a big hand and had to put half his remaining stack in as the big blind.  He pushed the rest in with a couple low cards against one caller, but didn’t hit and we were down to four-handed.

Very soon after, we had another all-in including the chip leader, resulting in an elimination and we were down to three.  At this point I went on a rush, winning the next 4 or 5 hands by either raising preflop or limping in and betting the flop.  The blinds were high and I more than doubled my stack, making me the chip leader.

Then I hit a brick wall, twice.

I min-raised from the small blind with K7 offsuit after the button folded.  The big blind called and the flop came 2-7-9 rainbow.  I had less than the pot left in my stack so I went all in.  The big blind tanked for a coupe minutes and then called and turned over A6 offsuit.  The turn was a 6, giving him two live cards again, and the river was a sickening Ace, making him two pair.  I was 85% to win that hand and lost about 80% of my chips on it.

The very next hand I’ve got the button and deal myself pocket Aces!  I limp in, the small blind folded, and the big blind went all-in.  He had just gotten a phone call and it was sounding like he needed to leave.  I immediately called his all-in and he showed K5 offsuit.  He had me covered so I refunded his extra chips and ran out the board:  X-X-X-5-K.  Sure enough, my aces got cracked with another runner-runner hand on the turn and river.  Another 90% favored hand beaten into the ground.

Variance is a bitch.

Still, I made third place so I can’t argue too much.