So day 2 ended and I was pretty down. I had 87.5k going into day 3 with 3k-6k blinds, and my position in the field was 93rd place of 103 online poker players left. I was thrilled to still be in but well short of the average stack which was close to 300k or something. On our way to dinner we walked thru the Coral lobby to see who was around. We talked and B.S.'d with some peeps and they could obv tell I was down on my situation and they wished me luck in day 3 etc etc. Well my friend Steve "Gboro780" Gross A.K.A GaryBoro gave me a lil pep talk and told me I would do well today and that he specifically saw 3 big suck outs in my future. He was dead on.

I came in w/ 87.5k and won a few small pots when I raised to 16k from the button and the small blind jammed for 73k total. I had 40k left if I lost and made the call with KJo. He had A3 suited and even though it was just a 60-40 situation, here came my 1st key suckout of the day when the flop came KK2....Yay!! So now I had like 200k or so when I doubled thru Mark Seif with a set of Jacks vs his 4 high flush draw that missed.

So sitting on about 400k, still during the 1st level of the day a player opened for 16k from the 2 hole. I looked down to two black kings and decided to flat the raise. My read on the player was that he was slightly intimidated by me and I felt if I re-raised I might lose him right there in the hand. The flop came down J103 and I check-raised his 25k bet to 65k...he called. The turn was a very nice 6 and I tanked for 2 minutes before betting 125k with like 180k left behind. I wanted to look somewhat weak but was also making sure if I bet I was committed to calling if he decided to move me all-in. Well he jammed all-in, I shrugged and called. He had the dreaded pocket aces and I was 95% out of the tourney...oh well. No wait...king on the river!! ship an 800k pot with a brutal suckout =). That would be suckout number 2 for those keeping track at home :P

So my table broke during the 5k-10k level, which I wasn't thrilled about because I had a really juicy table. I got to a sick table with some stacks. I decided I would just sit back, pick my spots and try to see what everyone was about. About 5 orbits in, a player 2 off the button opened to 25k, i called in the cut-off with A10 of clubs and then Max Pescatori made it 100k straight from the big blind. I had about 1.4 million at this point, and Max had just about 1.1 million or so, and after the original raiser folded I decided to call. I really felt like Max might have just been squeezing trying to take the pot pre-flop. So the flop came down KcQs6c, giving me a flush draw and a gut-shot straight draw. With 240k or so in the pot Max only bet 85k. This was a really small bet and I was 95% sure he flopped a set of queens or set of kings. So I just called here trying to hit my hand planning not to make a move unless I hit my straight or flush. The turn was the lovely 9c, Max took a few minutes before checking and I took my time and bet 275k. I felt it was a great amount given he had about 850k or so and would think about shoving to take the pot right there. Sure enough he shoved and I snap called and he had a set of kings and of course I held on the river. Even though I got 80% of the money in good, I was behind pre-flop and on the flop so I count this as my 3rd significant suckout of the day that GaryBoro promised me last night ;)

That pot put me around 2.5 million and I pretty much coasted the rest of the day. I ended the day with 2.675 million and will go into tomorrow with the chip lead. There are 32 left and a ton of sickos. It's gonna be a tough final 2 days (hopefully) and I need to be sure to bring my A game at all times or else I will find myself on the rails like 1,315 other poker players before me. Hopefully I'll continue to run good the rest of the way...I lived a charmed life today =)

Kevin