So, as some of you may have heard today I was heads up for a bracelet and even went as far as to get it in with AKs to 66 and flop an ace for the win but it unfortunately didn't work out. Fortunately I did win about 200k so it's hard to complain about anything, really, especially given how I ran throughout the tournament. For those interested, below I'm going to recount some of the crucial hands along the way.

DAY 1

At the first table we had 10 stacks and started w 15k at 100-200, though 1 of the stacks remained dead throughout and we played 9 handed. The first interesting hand happened at 200-400 where I had ~16k and we were 8 handed. Rainkhan who had been opening his fair share, opens utg to 1k and covers me, I'm utg+1 and decide to make it 2600 w J7dd despite having 3bet him twice already in late position because I think he folds 22-77 almost always and almost always folds his suited broadways. Folds to him and he calls, QJ8cc flop, chk chk, turn 6 bringing a 2nd fd, he checks and I decide my hand looks enough like AK that I can get two streets of value from 99/TT which I think are by far his most likely hands because if he had a hand like AQ or KQs I think he'd bet the turn. I bet 3500, he calls, river K chk chk he has 99.

Later on we are 5 handed and I open 79o in the CO to 1250 at 250-500 with about 35k, this slovenian kid on the button makes it 3500 and his mannerisms are entirely different from the previous times he's re-raised, he also looks uncomfortable and awkward and ultimately, weak. I ship it in for only 10k more and he sighs and I'm like sweet he's folding, then he calls w AQs but I get there.

3 handed I started with about 90k of the 150k in play and got down to 50k when I made a debatable call down where a loose passive french(?) guy opens the sb to 3500 at 500-1k and I call in the bb w JTdd, flop Tc9h5c he bets 5k I call, turn 5h he bets 7k I call, river 4h he bets 5k I call and lose to AT. I think shoving the river or folding the turn are both viable options because I honestly think if this particular player had a draw he would c/c turn almost always. Anyway, this same guy had been very tight while we were 4 handed and has 3bet me and shown AA and KK when I've folded, but has recently amped up his aggression quite a bit with much more rampant 3betting out of his bb(as well as super wide defending vs my btn opens). So, I opens to 2500 at 500-1k w Q8dd and he makes it 8500 which is a pretty standard size for him, and due to the fact that he's been much more aggressive and the likely chance he is 3betting hands like AT/AJ/KQ that he'll fold to a shove, I shove, and he snaps w AK but I win relatively easily.

Heads up I beat my opponent without too much trouble as he was very easy to grind down, though we played 1 interesting hand towards the end where I open the btn to 3k at 600-1200 with 99, he makes it 10.2k as he had been doing somewhat frequently and more so as of late, so with about 70k I decided to flat. In retrospect I think both shoving and flatting are fine and I'm somewhat torn on what I think is better. Flop comes 742r and he open shoves for 3x pot???? Given how he'd played I really had no idea what he had at first, because he was very passive post flop and pf in general, but I just couldn't give him credit for an overpair because it seems like the way he played he'd either check or bet small, so I ultimately called and held vs a surprising 46o.

DAY 2

On day 2 we were 6 handed starting with 150k stacks and 1k-2k-300 blinds. Right off the bat a guy who I knew to be semi-competent squoze KK and got it in vs AK and lost, so we were 5 handed almost immediately. I played some un-interesting pots before UTG limps, I complete sb w 44, bb checks, J67r chk chk chk, turn 5 bringing fd, I bet 5500 bb call limper call, river Ao I check bb bets 14k UTG calls I shove for ~100k, they both fold. My thought process was that the BB who was a tightish internet player would probably fold all 2 pair hands and the UTG limper tanked before calling so he has AXcc at best and even if he has aces up he may fold because my hand looks so huge.

At 1200-2400-300 utg opens to 7k who has been playing quite tight but seems a bit clowny, I make it 20k otb w QQ and ~95k, he tank calls. Flop 567ss he tanks then shoves I snap he has JTo and I hold.

No other really interesting hands occurred until we got 3 handed where David 'the dragon' Pham won a flip vs the tight internet player and we went HU. At 2k-4k-500 he limps as he had been doing about 75-80% of the time, I 4x it as I have been about 10-15% of the time w AA he calls. Flop J62r I bet 20k he makes it 50k I call. Turn 7 bringing a fd with the 6 I check he bets 130k I shove for about 110k more he calls w JTo and I hold. Shortly after he calls my open I have A7o and I 3 barrel an A53r turn J bringing fd river Ko and he calls down and I win. Right before the break I open Tx9d he calls, flop A34ddd chk chk, turn Kd he bets I call, river blank he bets relatively big and I think he's bluffing sometimes and can MAYBE have a smaller flush so I call but he has Q8dd.

So coming into 2500-5k-500 I have about a 2:1 chip lead and we play a hand where he limps, I 4x 78ss he calls. Flop A43r I bet 22k he calls, turn is a 7 bringing a fd, I check he bets 61k I call. Previously I'd seen him make a float on an A high flop and bet biggish on the turn as he did here, and I also thought he'd raise most big hands on the flop, additionally I don't think he bets this big w Ax on the turn. River Ao I check he shoves for ~215k and I just decided to go with my read that he was floating and call, though I don't necessarily know how often he is floating and continuing on 2 streets. I thought the straight getting there on the turn and the fact that my hand looks weak on the turn makes it better for me to call down, anyway he has A4o and now he has a 2:1 chip lead.

I grind him down a bit more and then at 3k-6k-500 I open JJ to 15k he makes it 46k and he's been 3betting pretty infrequently. Even still though I think he has TT/99 definitely and maybe 88/77 so I shove for ~260k and he snaps KK. T43r....turn J river 9 and I double. Shortly after this I open to 15k again and he makes it 40k. Based on his mannerisms I was pretty sure he didn't have something big and his raise sizing seemed indicative of something marginal like AJ, KQ or JTs. Anyway I decide to call instead of 4b because the stacks are like 440k effective. Flop QJ5dd he bets 70k I make it 200 he shoves I call, beat KK and advance. I did an interview with pokernews after this match that can be found here: http://link.brightcove.com/services/...id=27204597001

After consideration of the match vs David I'd say although his fundamentals are terrible his instincts are fantastic and he owned me on reverse live tells, so I'd say he is an extremely good live tournament player with good discipline and a very good idea of how donks will react to certain things.

DAY 3 FINAL TABLE

To begin the final table we started w 1.5m each and blinds at 10k-20k-3k. I chipped up to ~2m quickly when I stole some blinds and got paid on a river value bet where Danny Wong opened the CO to 60k I call btn w 6s6x, flop 932ss he bets 100k I call, turn Ts chk chk, river 7s he c/c 175k after some thought. Shortly after though I fold to a 3b and then it goes co open to 52k btn call I call in BB w QJo. Flop K85hh chk chk chk, turn Jo chk chk btn bets 132k I call river Ko I check he bets 285k I call. Previously he had made an odd bluff and I thought he never vbets that big w AJo and bets all Kx hands on flop so wtf can I lose too? He ended up having KJ and I'm down a bit below starting stack.

After this I open and fold to 3(?!?!) 3bets from Nasr the german kid before I tighten up quite a bit. At 12k-24k-3k I open utg to 65k after having folded for a while and he makes it about 175k on the button. He had continued to 3bet a lot and be generally aggressive since he 3b me 3 times, so I got the feeling he was just 3betting AJ/AT/KQ etc everytime he got them. I also thought that he would be more likely to 3b me light after I'd been tight and open in EP given his aggression since it might seem like I'm just opening in a spot where it doesn't look like I'm going to be light to win some blinds/antes. ALSO I had read that yesterday he 3bet and tank-called TT vs Ivey for 50bb blind vs blind so I think that even further validates my read that he 3bets hands where he won't necessarily know how to react to a 4b, so I shove for a bit over 1.2m and he snaps the aces. Fortunately I get there without much of a problem which was a recurring trend in this particular tournament and then bust Danny when he opens btn to 72k I call in sb w AA and ~800k stacks, flop T22r I c/c a big bet, turn 7 bringing a fd, I c/c his AI and hold vs ATo.

At this point I have about 3.7m to Peters 3m and Max's 900k. Max gets down to ~600 when I resteal twice with pairs in standard spots and then I lose a few pots, where I get 3b by Peter, make some bad assumptions about Max's tendencies and lose a few pots open limping. Eventually he open shoves ATo for ~1.1m at 20k-40k and I snap JJ in bb and hold. Entering HU I have a slight lead on Peter and we trade pots back and forth before he opens to 100k, I make it 330k and he makes it 775k. I shove for ~3.7 and he calls quickly w 6h6x(????), flop A98hh, turn 6 and I go from being 2 cards away from the bracelet to drawing dead for >95% of the chips in play. The lady in charge of counting the chips counts incorrectly and says I'm done for before realizing I still have 281k left. I double w K7o to 56o, double w AQo to 99, 3b him 4 times and he folds all 4, then limp the btn w 33 and about 1.45m and he shoves. I go into the tank and think that given his 4b call w 66 he's likely to raise/call 66 and maybe 55 hoping I'll shove smaller pairs or Ax hands, plus given that he's not spewing to me and it will be hard to grind up I'm willing to take a flip to get back to deep stacks so I call and he has 22, I double, and actually appear to have had the lead after being down to 281k for a short period of time.

Unfortunately at 25k-50k-5k he opens to 120k I call w 35ss, flop T63hh I c/c 155k, turn 3h I c/c 365k, river Qo and I c/c 880k and lose to A7hh. Pretty much the worst turn in the deck, but oh well. A few more uninteresting spots occur and when I have about 1.6m he makes it 120k I make it 300k w AJo he shoves AKo and I finally lose it all.

Was definitely a fun run and I enjoyed playing shorthanded HU with deep stacks but it pains me to be so close to the win and not pull through. Obviously I'm very happy to have such a nice score at my first series and have a nice experience to go with it. Next up on the agenda is either the 3k on Sunday or if not that the 5k 6m on Tuesday, both very winable events.

Hope whoever decided to read all of this enjoyed it and has some insight on how to final table WSOP events. Take care everyone and look out for more deep runs from yours truly.