Proud to Be at the Final Table

There was a defining moment with about 15 players left where I made a gigantic and correct laydown:

As reported on the Pokerstars blog:

Thomas Fuller, from the United States, raised to 20,000 from early position. From my railbird's perch I'd seen his pocket jacks. Julian asked how much he had behind, and Thomas counted out around 80,000. Julian bumped it up to 100,000, effectively putting Fuller all in, and after a couple of minutes' speech-play, the young American folded.

Ted Lawson led the other players in their guessing as to what Thomas had and he eventually showed them the hooks. Julian tapped the table in appreciation of the laydown and flashed pocket queens.

I was rewarded by making the final table a couple hours later. I was card dead all day but played tight, avoided coolers, and won the key coinflip to get to the final table with half an average stack.

There is one bad player at the final and the other seven are studs. Without naming names:

Vladimir Poleshchuk - Russia - 624,000
Julian Thew - England - 610,000
Denes Kalo - Hungary - 468,000
Manfred Hammer - Germany - 369,000
Anton Allemann - Switzerland - 254,000
Thierry van den Berg - Holland - PokerStars qualifier - 227,000
Thomas Fuller - USA - 190,000
Ted Lawson - USA - 81,000

The payout structure looks like this:

8th - €60,000
*My biggest score ever already!
7th - €83,600
*Filet and Flag
6th - €105,000
5th - €132,900
4th - €160,820
*Place my friend Nate dreamed two weeks ago I would finish
3rd - €225,000
2nd - €375,000
1st - €670,800
*The Lifechanger

eptlive.com is the place to follow the final table. I believe they even have free streaming video. It starts at 3 PM local time which is 7 AM MST. I guess my degen friends will probably be asleep but I imagine my mom will watch.

I was a nervous wreck all day but now with a good score locked up I feel relaxed and will go for first.