Main Event Day 1D (yesterday)

Main Event turned players away yesterday. An estimated 600 willing participants got turned away as Day 1D reached capacity. Unbelievable that people , 600 people, waited to register on the last day. Many big names got denied I imagine, not that that means anything more than the average tourist getting turned away, but for grinders to miss this event is mind-boggling. Anyways, the structure for this event is unbelievably slow. 2 hour levels, start at 50-100 and $30k in chips, 300 big blinds deep. My table was a nice mix of fish and over aggressive younger players. I messed up a lot at the beginning, trying to be aggressive. I dropped in the first two hours from 30k to around 21k. Then on the break I switched it up a bit, decided I was going to play a lot more abc, a lot more passively post flop and allow the fish and aggressive players to take the lead. Anyways, I don't know if this was completely optimal or if I just ran super hot (which I really did, I held a lot of hands and hit hard) but I ended day 1 with 120,000 which is well above average, maybe a top 50 stack, maybe top 25 in the whole field.
Don't get me wrong, ABC and standard but I hit and the table played poorly vs. me.
Here are a few true stories :).

I have 21k, I open JJ from the cutoff and this aggressive good Brazilian kid that played 25-50 nlhe cash with Andrew in europe 3bets me from the SB. Folding is worse than calling, 4betting is worse than both. I call. Flop is QcJs4c. He check, I bet 1/2 pot, he calls. Now my range here is all broadway, QQ,JJ,TT,99,88, I guess all pairs to 22 and the odd AK. The range is so wide because I'm in position and we're deep and he knows I know that he's 3betting wide. Anyways, he check calls. He's most likely hands are AQs/o, AK, AA,KK,QQ,TT flush draws with suited connectors although I think he takes the lead with those and his air balls so I sort of disclude the air. Turn is a Q (I know, I hit hard today). He checks, I bet 1/2 to 3/4 pot and he calls. Now I think he has squarely TT,KK,AA or AQ. No other hands to be honest in my opinion. So anyways, river misses the clubs and he checks. The pot is somewhere in the area of 10-12k. I bet 10k after a long deliberation. He calls pretty quick and shows a Q. Yes, huge cooler for him. He's going to lose a lot on this hand no matter what. That's how I got to around 35k. I chip up to around 45k without a whole lot of messing around. The vs. the same kid I tricked him into giving me 2 huge streets of value with my AJ on a 24JKA board. He had JT. So up to 55k.
Now the donkey gifts. I open AK utg, get called by both the fish at the table. Flop is K44 two diamonds. BB checks, I check, fish checks. I decide that I fold too much out here and I'm really not worries about any cards. Turn is J of diamonds. BB bets, I call, fish folds. River is a K. BB bets, I raise to 5400, he calls with AJ!. I guess I can be bluffing here but the river's the worst bluff card in the world. Anyways. up to 65k or so.
Next gift. I open AK utg+2. The fish calls and one of the aggressive kids calls on the button. Flop is Ad Qd 4c. I checked, fish checks, button bets. I call, fish calls. Now here's a wierd spot. I have the best hand. The button could have a huge draw and he can have a good hand and he can have total air. Either way, I'm out of position and he's over aggressive and I fold too much out if I take the lead. Turn is a 6c. I check, fish checks, button bets 1/2 the pot again. We both call. River is a 2h. I check, fish checks, button bets 1/2 the pot (pot's like 12-15k now). I call, fish folds. Button shows 7high. Cool. Terrible bet sizes, terrible stabs. Whatever, GIFTS! :). Thank you cardrunners.
So I have 77k by dinner, well above average, table chip leader. Now there was one really strong player in my opinion at the table. We totally stayed out of each other's way. I think I played 2 hands with him in 8 hours. He picked on the over aggressive kids, I picked on the fish. Life is good. First two hours after dinner I grind up to 82k then I get lucky. I open QQ utg, get flatted by a new kid who's medium stacked but knows what the flip is going on. He has 77-JJ here almost always, maybe AQ. Then the Brazilian kid who has 18k to start the hand 3bets me to 4k. I think for a while and decide that I've got 4bet here, he's got a lot of hands here in my opinion. I make it 10k, kid folds, he shoves. I suck. He's got AA,KK and AK here. Maybe the other two QQ. Anyways, I call it off he shows AA, I flop quads and win. I don't think it's too bad because of my stack size at the time but it's marginal vs. his 5betting range. Anyways, up to 100k. I scoop a few more pots but miss some value on a few more big hands during my deck hitting run. I end the day with 120k, should have gotten up to 132k I figure if I bet-size a bit better. We played 5x2hour levels. We play 4 more tomorrow on the combined day 2. I figure the money bubble will break sometime late on day 3 if we all get there.
Andrew played amazing, ended the day with 45k on a super tough table. He avoided getting broke with a set vs. a flush and KK vs. AA. Simply amazing poker. Wes is up to 82k, Derek has 26k. All my pieces are alive. I have 3% of wes, 2% of Gibb and 5% of Andrew. Both Wes and I have 45% of ourselves.
Anyways, hope the hot run continues, long way to go yet. Glad the beat down elevator let up for a day.
:)