Level one went very well; the first real hand I played i check raised the turn in a 4-bet pot after leading the flop against a very good aggro Russian with 8 high and took the pot. The guy had already 3-bet me the first three times I opened so I had 4-bet him in the hand with 7d8d. Shortly after this I take down a big pot against the same guy. I open AKos and four see an AK2 rainbow flop, I bet 600, the Russian is the only caller. When he calls my 1200 bet on a 7 turn I feel I may in trouble but hit the King for the boat on the river. I lead for 2.6 and he re-pops to 7500, I raise another 11k and after an age he folds 22, for Twos full face up. I finish the level on a healthy 45k and know by this stage that the two best of my opponents ( a French and the Russian ) are on my direct left; of the others the two on my direct right are weak passive Americans next to them a capable Swede and one terrible and a so so yank at the other end of the table.
Into level two I chip up a little then lose a few K when I'm calling down the Russians bluff and he spikes a river. We had been playing eight handed until a young stars qualifier is placed between the French and Russian. He raises UTG +1 and about six see a flop. I have Kd3d in the BB on a 4x5d7d flop. The new player makes it 800 and I repop to 2300 when the rest get out of the way, he makes it 6200 and I go again to 16400. He tanks for an age and I'm sure he is folding but eventually he shoves and he just covers my remaining 27k. I fear Ad 6d and fold. I'm really not that happy with my 4-bet in the hand, I think I was to aggressive here and the hand is still annoying me. I just rock it up for the next hour as I need time to recover from the hand and finish the level on 25k.
Level three was very quiet at the table and very little happened. We were on the second last hand before the break when I play my first hand of consequence of the level. The retarded yank who had been open limping 80% of pots by this stage did so again. The Swede who was isolating about half of the limps makes it 1600 ( blinds 150/300 ) I make it 4800 from the button with AdKd and the Swede calls. I completely miss the flop and C-Bet 7200, he is in pain but after two mins shoves and shows Queens when I fold.
I'm chatting with Dara at the last break and he gives me a bit of a pep talk, just as I re-enter the Rio I tell him I'm the best player at my table and there's no way I'm not making day two. So into level four with 15k which drops to 11k after a bit. I get about 7k in a pot against the mong when I make a big call with Jacks on a KK99 board. I then chip up to 25k but drop back to 18 when I give up AK on a A 7 2r board ( young stars player shows set twos ). In my last big hand of the day I amazingly pick up about 15k without showdown. I open for 1k UTG with Queens and get five callers. On a 2 4 6 rainbow I decide this is it and check. The player next to me who has replaced the French player bets 600 into the 6k+ pot and a yank at the top makes it 2500, I make it 8500 leaving 8700 behind. He calls after a bit of deliberation which definitely confuses me but I'm fairly sure I'm good, he proceeds to fold to my shove on an 8 turn. All in all I'm happy to be going back with what I have but think I made the day a lot harder then it should of been by losing that 16k in the hand in level two.
