Detailed account of my 1st ever medium buy-in live event.
I entered the tournament with a certain amount of trepadition. Would these players be able to see though my continuation bets, would they make moves as soon as they sensed weakness. I felt better after chatting to a few of the other lads, being asked for a % swap (which i politely refused- it was unfair on the guy) and seeing a few of the "pro's" knocking back a few bevvies at the bar.
Gameplan was to see flops with pairs in position, some SC's in cutoff/button and play solid until i got a read for the table. With a starting stack of 5000 chips, 45 minute blinds and a blind structure of 25/50, 50/100, 100/200, 200/400 etc i felt confident i could use the curve to gain an advantage over my looser opponents. A starting table included a couple of FT omaha specialists, Jackarama and a few of the older generation. Dealer dealt, with nice shiny chips, this felt like fucking heaven.
I got 1 hand in the 1st level , AQs, which i won a small pot with after a preflop raise with 2 callers and a continuation bet representing AK on a K high board. I then passed 77 UTG on the 1st hand of level 2. I was of course horrified when the flop came 774 and a weak player who had been slowplaying KK rounf the back overbet the pot for his entire stack!!
Got up, had a glass of water, cursed my rocky play and went back to work.

Jackorama, had been vey busy and was now may main target as he called almost any raise preflop and folded ot a flop bet 80% of the time. The guy is shit in my honest opinion. Shame he's quite a nice guy. He was recounting a tale about how he was playing with the Russian mafia in the 90's and him and the mafioso boss both flopped the nuts with AKh and AQh on a board of 349h. After the shit had hit the fan about said dodgy deck, Jack retired to his hotel (speedily) 150k richer. Scary stuff. Apparently the duplicate cards were considered dead (A hearts) and after another heart had appeared at the end, jacks K high flush won. Funny guy, shit poker player.

I then found a hand, AKs in the hijack (the seat 1 before the cutoff) . 1 Caller, the cutoff, a player who appeared loose after i saw what he raised with a couple of times (an A9s and a KJs). Flop comes K25 with 2 spaces. I have A spades. I raise 1/2 the pot. He re-raises me all-in. I think he would have had a VERY marginal call preflop with 22 or 55 given his stack size. A smaller K or a flush draw seems more likely. I have a spade i he has the draw, reducing the lieklihood of him catching. I call. He has KQ, no spades. Double up to approx 11.5k.
I then get KK folded to me in the BB. Brilliant. No further hands in level 2. Level 3, 3rd hand i get AKo. 1 EP limper UTG (a very unpredicatble player, the same one who limped with his big pair earlier), Jackorama goes all-in. Shite, i need a read on the EP guy, he doenst look too happy, but hey, he looks intelligent enough to act a little. I make a huge mistake, and fold. I should have gone all-in. He calls with 88 and beats Jacks AQ. After this hand i get moved to a new table. Card dead, for eternity. And all the big stacks are to my left, and all the shorties are on the right. I dwindle to 8k, blinds 300/600. I find K10s on the button. I force myself to raise to 1800. 1 big stack caller (the BB) who i know diddly squat about. Flop comes A102. Not a bad flop to have a dig at at all. I bet 2k into a 4.5k pot. He calls. Shite. Turn comes a 3. Now what to put him on. The flop was rainbow. I raised preflop and he called. There are no obvious draws out there apart from the gutshot str8 draws. I decide i had better shutdown. He checks the turn, i check. River comes an 8. He bets 1.5k into a 9.5k pot. What to do? I figuyre against the range of hands he has here a call has to be my best decision. He flips 82 for the rivered pair. I shoot him a look and he looks embarassed, the tries justifying it to his big stack buddy with the owrds "impied odds". Sigh. I now have 2.5k- Marvellous. I find A5h and auto-push. No callers. I find 33 and auto-push, no callers. Back up to 5k. I dont get any opportunities to be the 1st raiser and go 2 round without any increase. I finally go all-in on my button with QJ and get called by 77. Winning a race is beyond me and i get up with those words i seem to spend my life saying, "good game, good luck all".

46th out of 140 odd. 1 mistake and letting my bollocks shrink (and therefore my stack) was all it took to lose my winning mentality.

I then went ans played a £50 SnG crapshoot for the £500 PL event. On site were, Tony "tikay" Kendall and a couple of well known players who were very funny guys. Most impressed with the demeanor of these chaps, who really freshened up the somewhat stale environment that sometimes overwhelms you at Luton. I had some luck and cracked QQ with JJ. I then Made a move with A9s agaisnt precieve weakness from the only other guy who could bust me. He insta called for all-his chips with 55. If i was a car i would be a rusty Morris minor, which i cant imagine ever won a race.

I leave, shoot the guy a look of "if only you and me could play cash for a day" and go home mentally exhausted from the focus i gave in that event. The best tournament i have ever played for the 1st 3 levels. I correctly guessed 4 winning hands at the showdown (obviously i didnt stand up with a mike) and felt uber-confident. I should have had the fortitude to push with my AK and after that, the bravery to push with any 2 while my stack had some meaning.

After all is said and done, i am ONLY 23. I learnt a lot. I will be back.