WAHOO... GOAL ATTAINED :D:D

As you all should know by now... I am an avid Texas Hold'em Poker player in the APL... and I have been playing since July last year (2006)... Over that time I have slowly but progressively been getting better with a few top 16 finishes and even a few final tables with 2nds and a 3rd at various stages... but on Wednesday night... at The Grinning Dog Steak House at approximately 10:40pm... I WON MY FIRST EVER GAME OF TEXAS HOLD'EM... :D:D:D:D:D:D:D:D I took out a tournament... beating 84 other very talented players and I was soooooooooooooooooo happy that I nearly cried!!!

I don't really remember most of the cards I had that night... But I can tell you that I wasn't going overly strongly until we chipped up to 'sunshine' (thousand dollar chips) I think I had about 5 of them and managed to make those 5 look like 35 when I took my place as the chip leader at the final table!! The second tallest stack was 34 thousand and he and I battled it out as if the other 6 players weren't even there... We were swapping the chip lead back and forth... at one stage when there was only 3 of us left, I made a desperate plea for chips (as I had somehow managed to become short stack) I was big blind and I knew 'Mr Across The Table' was gonna call me no matter what, because he had been the whole time... So I looked down at my little 10 5 off suit and decided to go all in before the flop... and YES he called me... nothing much happened on the flop and I stood up ready to walk away as the turn card didn't look to do me any justice anyway... but that river card... that beautiful wonderful marvelous river card (note - I don't always talk about it so affectionately - it can make or break you) set me up for a straight... which I didn't see and thank goodness little Lukey was paying attention cause I was outta there :P So anyway, good ole 10 5 off suit gives me a straight and a nice little stack of chips... leaving me and my rival fairly even once more... So then I let my rival and 3rd place fight it out over the next few hands... and then it was heads up...

Heads up went for awhile... I don't remember much of it... I was clinging to Drew for dear life and shaking like there was no tomorrow... the adrenaline was going wild, it was a pretty awesome feeling actually!! The one hand I do remember however was when I looked down at 10 5 off suit again... I don't remember which blind I was but I thought MEH... worked last time... So again I was all in pre flop and he called me... I managed to pick up a pair of 5's but they were better then his nothing... This hand was EXTREMELY significant as it left him with ONE chip!!! One chip against my however many hundreds of chips :D hehe But still I was shaking and not convinced I had won... The next few hands just got dealt face up and he actually won a few... but eventually I got dealt pocket 6's and that was enough... That had me holding in my hot little hand my very first beautiful little solid silver ace card protector!! I seriously had to stop myself from crying... I was sooooo sooooo happy... it was such a special moment for me and I'm so glad that I have finally done it :D:D:D

I kinda felt bad for the other guy cause that 2nd is his FOURTH second... and he has never won... But he doesn't really know how to work a final table... not that I do I guess... but I think he would benefit from reading a few tips on how the game changes when its final table and then again when its heads up... but he will get there... he is a quality player :)

w0000000000000000000000000000000000 :D:D So STOKED