I think I was more nervous the entire weekend than I was sitting down at the table in the WSOP.

I won my first hand about 8 minutes into the tourney. At $25/$50 blinds, I limped in with 66 along with 4 others and the flop comes 833. I bet $100 and everyone folded. I'm at $10,100, $100 more than the 10K starting amount. It was the only time I was in the black all day.

About a half hour goes by and I pick up 88. Again, I am in early position. I limped along with 4 others. The flop comes 8 K J (2 diamonds). I flop three of a kind but the first limper bets $300. Not sure if he has AK, KQ, KJ or 2 diamonds so I call to see if he slows down on the turn. The turn is another K making the board (8, K, J, K). Now if he has AK, I am in good shape with my full house, KQ, same thing. The only hand I am afraid of is JJ and KJ, two possible hands since he limped in as well. The river is a 9 of spades. Really hoping for the 8 for 4 of a kind but the first limper bets $2100. No flush, to 3 kings are good unless he has JJ or KJ, deep down inside I feel like I am in trouble but I make the call, and so doesn't the other guy who had the straight and he shows KJ for the NUTS. Down to about $5500 in 40 Minutes. I wasn't even supposed to play a hand in 40 minutes but now I lost half my stack.

Very next hand I pick up AK and raise to $300. I get one caller and the flop is AJ8. I bet $300 and he calls. The turn is a Q making it a very scary board. He checks, so I check. The river is a 2 and he checks again. I bet $500 he calls, I show AK and he mucks. Back up to $7500.

A few hands later I get AA with one early limper. I limp as well because I know my table will raise it up with too many limpers. It was the trend. Person after me limps and then someone raised to $400, still at $25/50 blinds. He must have a big pair or AK. Then another loose player calls and the others fold. So instead of playing 2 people with AA, I move all-in just to pick up the pot. They both think for a while and both fold. One had QQ and the other said he had a little pair. Back up to $8800 and feeling better.

Blinds are now $50/$100 and I have AK and $7500 in chips after missing a few flops. Early position guy raise's to $300. I re-reraise to $1000 thinking he knows he's beat and will fold but he thinks for 5 minutes and makes the bet $3000. I would have $3500 if I call and have to fold. Or I push all-in he calls and he might have QQ, KK or AA. I ended up folding the hand because I wasn't going to put my tournament life on the line that early on AK. Now at $6500.

I few hands later I pick up QQ in the Big Blind. It was folded around to the dealer button who made it $300, I called. Flop is A 3 4, don't like ace but he checked so I checked. Next card is a 7, he checks I check. River is a Ace, making the board, A, 3, 4, 7, A so now maybe he doesn't have an ace since two showed up. He checks again, I bet $500 and he thinks for a while and finally called with A9. I was like what the hell were you waiting for. He's like I thought you might have AJ and were making a value bet. Now at $5700.

Blinds are now at $50/$100 and I have TT, I raise to $300 and very very tight player to my left re-reaises to $1000. I thought he might have KK or AA since he hasn't played a hand. One guy on the cut-off called the $1000 so I called to see if I could win a big pot. Q 87 flop. I check it since I didn't hit and the player to my left bets $1500. I had to fold. Down to $4700 and really in a hole.

Blinds are at $100/$200 and never hit a big pot and had to play extra tight and fold AJ and AQ because any hand I played I could have been allin. I was actually going to raise once with AQ but had bad vibes and folded. The guy to my left ended up having AA. At one point I was down to $3,450 for 2 hours I battled to maintain this count. Finally picked up some hands like AK, QQ and was able to take down some pots so at the dinner break my chip count was at $3,850.

At this point, I had a few hours to double up a few times.

Right after the dinner break, about 4 hands in I Pick up QQ in late position. two early limpers, then one aggressive guy raises to 800. He's been raising with any Ace and I think I have him beat to crappy ace or small pocket pair. I push allin with my last $3500. First two limpers fold and raiser thinks for what seems like 5 min. He has about 8K left and he makes the $2700 call with A9 off-suit and of cource the Ace has to hit on the river. I decided to pick that spot because it was vs a loose player. If I win the hand I'm back up over 8,000 and back in this thing but instead I am out.

Very disappointed, I really thought I could make a run at this but you have to win these kinds of hands to survive in this tournament. At least I made the right read and had the lead (72% vs 28%) when the chips went in and that's all I can ask for.

Thank you very much to Ivi's boss Bob who put me into this event, it was a dream come true. It still stings and it's been an hour. The pros say it's the worst day of your poker life when you get kicked out of the WSOP and you know what, they are right.

Joe, Talk soon

p.s. funny story of the night, the table next to us, had a flop of two King of Clubs. That's a big mistake, esp. when people pay 10K to play in a game.

On the bright side, I lasted longer than many top pros