That tournament I won last week was a qualifier for a bigger one tomorrow. There are going to be 400 players and I just have to finish in the top 40 to advance. Fighting those big fields is tough, play lasts so long that the blinds start getting really huge. I'm going to have to accumulate a lot of chips early, so I'll have enough room to put the pressure on during the mid-stages. I'm already nervous.
I've been doing more tournaments this week to practice. I played $2/$4 for about 15 minutes to earn all my entry fees, then played a 600 person $5 event and a 10 person $10 event. I lost the first, but came in third for the second. All this experience is helping build up my confidence. I'm pretty sure I can now turn a good run of cards into a win.
In other news, I'll be going to the World Series of Poker this summer! The guy who mentored me when I first started getting serious about poker has a timeshare in Vegas. A bunch of us will be staying there during the big events. I'm going to play a bunch of satellites there and try to win my way into the $1500 No-Limit event. It's one of the smaller ones, but the prize money is huge.