Reaction to my big score today

Let me begin this story yesterday. I had a rough day to say the least. Not only did I have a steady losing day at poker, but the team I wanted least to win the super bowl did. So frustrated I was with poker, I really thought about taking today off. I slept a ton, from about 11 PM last night to noon today. I didnt exactly pop out of bed.

So today began with me being very sluggish. Thought about not playing today at all. However after a short workout on the total gym I decided to give a session a shot. I late reg'd for 5.50 20k and got into the 11 40k on time. Also played some sng's in which I broke about even.

So the 40k started off pretty good and I had a decent stack from the get go. There were 6990 players entered. I just kept grinding away and got good cards in key spots. I was very lucky twice when my AK and AQ beat KK all in b4 the flop. When I had AK I was drawing to an ace on the river, when it hit I thought this time could be different.

With around 400 or 500 left I started looking at the payouts. 7th and above was at least 1k with 8.5k for 1st. But, really I just wanted to make a final table in a big tournament. I just kept on playing tight. My goal was to make plays before the flop were I felt more comforatable then playing post flop. Soon we were down to 100 players. They kept falling and I was still alive. Pay jumps happened when we dropped down in the number of tables left. With 18 players left on 2 tables, making a final table became a real possibility.

My friend Scott was counting down the number of players 14, 13, 12. Wow I cant believe I'm still in! Then finally the final table, what a great feeling. I fought as hard as I could. With 7 or 8 to play there were 2 big stacks that kept fighting each other, so my chances of winning were always slim. I hung on and finished 4th for 3200 dollars.

This makes it the 2nd biggest score of my poker playing career, my biggest was winning a tournament for 4200. However, I take much more satisfaction in today's score then the other one. The win was in 2008, and I feel that I've made so much progress between then and now.

In 2008 I was using drugs on almost a daily basis. Today I've been clean for over 2 years. When I won the tournament I must have been super lucky(not that I wasnt today), as I never worked on my game the way I do now. Today was the day I've been dreaming of when playing/reading/studying the last year and a half.

I would like to thank anyone and everyone who has helped or supported me in any capacity over the last few years. Without you my dream would have never come true today, and I can't thank you enough.

With this I leave you:

Trust in Him above all things so your dreams may come true, for if you believe in Him all things are possible.

MNPuck