Almost

Don't feel much like a large post right now, but I'll give you all the latest.

Played in a NL $20+2 at Stars yesterday. 1054 entrants. I try to play tight in tournaments, but for this tournament, I thought I'd really try to patch all the leaks and just play the premium hands. No raising with AJ in early position (which I'm sure you all would slap me for). I folded for pretty much the first two rounds, then found aces on the button. Doubled up through a guy that made his top pair (8's) on the flop. And then... more folding. And some more. My stack hit average, then sank below. I got Hilton sisters in early position, and ended up knocking out someone with a slightly smaller stack. I never really managed to build up an impressive lead over anyone, just got my money in when I could and folded everything else.
After we got down to three tables (top 100 positions paid), I started loosening up a little bit, stealing blinds when I could.

One hand I remember had me on the button with T6. Mucked around to me, so I raised into two guys that had both been surrendering their blinds habitually. Both of them called. Flop came with a six and a ten. Check check. I bet out half the pot, and they both called. Turn came another Ten. SB bet out a quarter of his stack, BB folded, I had him covered and raised all in, and SB called me with pocket 6's. The river was inconsequential and all of a sudden my stack was looking decent again.

Down to two tables. I'm starting to get a little antsy. I've never done this well in a large field before. The poker gods must have sensed my anxiety and decided to punish me, because I didn't get another decent pocket all night. I ended up busting in 10th. I feel like I could have done better, but still good for $190. Too bad though, that's where the payouts really started multiplying in size. 1st got $5270. Oh well. It's a start. This is my first final table in a field of over 200 people.

"Hooray Beer!"