Out of WPT Legends, Back in Tuscaloosa

Well, my trip to Los Angeles was a quick one. My showing, or lack of, in the $10,000 WPT event was pretty disappointing. I failed to get anything going at all. It is amazing to me how many times I've busted day 1's in WPTs. I drew a table that I liked, recognizing only Prince Gaspard and Steve O'Dwyer to my right and then Arizonan Kevin O'Donnell across the table. Early on I slipped to 25500 from the 30,000 stack in a hand that I really don't like. I opened to 300 UTG with AQss got called in two spots, and then a guy raised kinda small to 1200. I called, although I think it's pretty marginal. O'Donnell called. Flop AK9 two diamonds. I checked, Kevin checked, and guy thought and bet 3000. As weak as it is, I think I need to go ahead and let it go, especially given how much I liked this table. Anyway, I called and Kevin thought and folded. Turn offsuit 8. I checked and guy quickbet 8500. My hand went into the muck. In the last hand of the level, I'd get some back though. An older gentleman opened to 500 at 50/100 from the HJ and I woke up with two red Aces in the BB and raised to 1600. He called. Flop gross JT5r. I decided to bet just 2000 and he called. Turn gross 9. I checked and guy bet 3000. I really don't like raising this turn, especially given that I have just 18000 behind. I called. River 4. I checked and guy instantly checked and turned over two queens. Maybe I can block lead like 4500 into this guy on the end to try to get more value out of the hand, but Kings and Queens are the only two hands I beat against him I think. The next interesting hand came up in level 2. This 30-something Asian guy limped, Prince exploited his limp to 800 (as he'd done often), and I called 600 more in the BB with 98ss. Flop 8c7d6c. It was checked around. Turn Qs. I led 1700, Asian guy called and Prince folded. River 3x. I checked and guy bet 4000. Folding is obviously extremely difficult here given all the draws that missed, the fact that no one should ever, ever slowplay this board, and that this guy definitely wasn't one who's gonna go for the thin value. I thought for a few seconds and noticed out of the corner of my eye there was a member of the media videoing the hand or something. I called and the guy paused looked at the camera, smiled, and waited long enough for Prince to chuckle assuming the guy got caught trying to bluff on the end. Then, out of nowhere he turns over 95hh for the second nut. I was pretty fucking pissed about the slowroll and let him know about it. It truly is amazing to me how often I get slowrolled mostly because I never, ever talk shit or try to piss anyone off at the table unless provoked and even then it's extremely rare. The very next hand, O'Donnell opened to 525, someone called, I called with T9dd in the SB. and this guy in the BB raised very small to 1700. O'Donnell called and I have a pretty trivial call, I think. Flop KJ7 one diamond. This is a pretty damn good flop for me actually because my double gutter is very disguised if I get there. I checked, guy bet just 2000, O'Donnell folded and I called. Turn 4d now giving me a flush draw. I checked and this time guy bet 6500. I'm actually already getting the right price to draw to my 15 winners and have a whole helluva lot of implied odds because the guy is huge here, so I called of course. The river was disgusting 3h, and I checkfolded and was down to 15000. Level 3 went ok, as I grinded, grinded and grinded some more to climb back to 24000. I don't really remember any hands from this level. In level 4 I hung around 20-25000 for a while before slipping to 14000 or so. I played a pot where I opened two black Jacks from MP to 900 and the guy I played T9dd pot with called behind me. Another guy called and we took a dangerous 8h7h4d flop. I led out 1900 and guy behind me called. Turn black King. I decided against leading again and checked. I hated how quickly the guy reached for chips, but he bet just 2500 and I called. River offsuit ten. I checked and the guy almost couldn't wait to bet 4500. I had no idea how to interpret this, but I cried and called and was shown a slowplayed set of fours. People like slowplaying on dangerous boards in multiway pots against me, it appears. I was down to like 10300 and eventually expired in the final hand before break. Folded to Steve O'Dwyer in the SB and he raised to 900. I called with 75cc in the BB. Flop T74. He bet 1300, and I moved in for 9300 and was snapped off by his Queens. I was pretty sure I was gonna spike on Steve here actually. I turned an 8 but missed on the end. I stuck around on Sunday and played the online tournaments in mine and Jon Little's hotel room at Commerce. I woke up in time just to play from the Sunday Million on, but it was an ok Sunday in that I cashed 4 times including a 5th place finish in FTP's $75k guaranteed that amounted to me turning about a $6k winner on the day. I'm back in Tuscaloosa now grinding away at classes. I had to do some schedule juggling but finally got a schedule of 15 credit hours that works. I'm ready for football season to start so this semester sort of flies by. I'm not sure when I'll get a chance to play another live poker tournament. I might do Aruba in late September. This upcoming weekend's gonna be awesome though. Headed up to my boy Cody Slaubaugh and his fiancee Renee Black's wedding in North Dakota. SS