1/10/07 45 person

first hand 4 people go all in pre-flop. I was not one of them. 3 people had paint...A/K, K/Q, K/J and A/10. One person had 2/4 suited...and of course he won when he paired them both. Dude to my right made a comment, I agreed, and we both were instantly on the hit list of the chip leader. Since he was immediately to my left it made it pointless to bet unless A) he had folded before it got to me or B) I had a REALLY good hand. Presently both those options presented themselves and I ended up more than doubling my stack to a shade over 3K, just slightly less than what he had dribbled down to. That pretty much settled him down so I could play.
was not catching cards and this time I only played when I had paint on both or any Ace. Won about 5 straight hands and it got to where if I bet into it people folded. Added quite a bit to my chip stack but was hovering between 6th place and 9th...needed top 7 to be in the money...goal 1, be in the money, goal 2, have enough to have a chance to win so I took a couple chances. Got up to 11K and chip leader, got switched tables, called a couple of hands on the draw with chances to add 4 - 6K and got down to about 7, played cautiously, rebuilt...then we all combined into 1 table and someone had 30K. He shortly added 10K when the #2 guy foolishly went all in on a bluff and he called it. I put out the guy who had gone all in first hand. Got down to 3 of us, then I was heads up but only had about 8K while he had over 59K. I battled my way to about 15,500 when he suggested all-in. Well, I needed to be leaving so sure, why not. Naturally he pulled Q/J, I pulled J/6...and when he paired the Q on 4th street it was all over. With more time I think I was a better 1 on 1 player but I just did not feel like taking the time to work my way through it.Still, 2nd place in a 45 man when I was short stack from the first hand for quite a while against someone with a feud with me...I feel pretty good about my performance.