I would be lying if I said I wasn?t nervous when I sat down at my table of my first ever WPT event.

I felt a little better after not recognizing any of the faces at my table. I thought, ?at least I won?t have to play against Ivey right now.? My game plan was to play my typical game and play tight out of position and attack in position. We had so many chips that I wanted to play the tournament like a cash game, at least early on. The first hand I got was 33. A player in middle position and I called in position. It was the two of us to the flop. The flop came down 872. The raiser checked to me and I naturally bet out. I felt he was weak from his body actions and the fact that he checked after raising. He thought for a few seconds and threw his cards into the muck. I was off to a good start. A few hands later, I was in a blind and had 1010. The player on the button opened for 150 (blinds were 25-50). I made it 600 to go. In hindsight, it was a bit of an overbet, but I didn?t think he had much of a hand and was really looking to just take down the pot there rather than play 1010 out of position. He quickly called and we saw a flop. Unfortunately, the flop came down KQx. I decided it was best I just check and fold if he bet. He bet after my check and I mucked the tens. Throughout the early part of the day, I maintained control of my table by raising in position and picking up small pots. One of these pots turned out to be a sizable pot. A player who was limping a lot limped in early position and I raised A7o from late position. When the player called, I could tell this player was getting tired of me raising in position and filed that information away for later in the hand. The blinds at this point were still 25-50 and my standard raise was 175 with no limpers. In this hand I made it 225 to go. The flop came down 775 and the player checked to me. I thought for a few seconds and decided to play this hand fast because I thought he would call me with a weak hand. I bet out 375. He called fairly quickly. The turn was a 6. I didn?t think this card could help him in anyway and fired out 625. The river brought a 4, which definitely wasn?t a good card since it made a 4 straight on the board, but I didn?t think he could have one of the cards that made that straight so I bet out 1025. He thought for a long time and finally called. I continued to chip away in position and had built my stack up to about 18K. I picked up KK in late position and made my standard raise. An older gentleman, who I had played with in a cash game the day before, called instantly. I put him on a reasonable hand, but not one of notable strength. The flop came down Qxx and I bet about of the pot, which was about 600. The man immediately made it 2k to go. I though for a while and decided that I had the best hand. I wasn?t too worried about a set because of how quickly he had raised me. I thought the man had a good enough hand (ie. KQ or AQ) that he wasn?t going to fold. I declared that I was all in. He again instantly called and turned up AQ. My hand held and I was up to about 28K. The next big pot I played was one of the most important pots I played the entire tournament. The blinds were 150-300 at this point and a man made it 800 to go UTG. UTG + 1 called the 800. When it got around to me, I looked down at two black queens. I thought for a while about what I was going to do and decided to reraise, but not too much. I figured if one of them had AA or KK, he would probably let me know and I didn?t want to commit myself in any way. I made it 2925 to go and only the UTG + 1 player called. At this point, my read was that the player had a big hand. I was going to play the hand cautiously on the flop, because he had a big stack (about 25K) and I wasn?t looking to lose my entire stack with a pair of queens. The flop came down Q8x. Bang! From looking at him after the flop, I still thought he was very strong. With that in mind, I decided to make a sizable bet. I bet out 3200. The next thing I heard stunned me. The player declared all in. I couldn?t believe what I had heard and I even said, ?You said you?re all in?? He said yes, and I called. The poor guy had flopped a set of eights. My hand held and I was up to about 55K. At this point, I started to get a lot of attention due to my large stack. All of the press people were asking me about my stack and a lot of them were taking my picture. It was a pretty cool experience. Taylor showed up not much later as well. It was a good feeling to have a huge stack when he checked in to see how I was doing.