Finally some rewards for patience

I decide to try the evening tourney at the Orleans. Now,for most of you who may not know,the Orleans is off the strip and is a locals casino. What that means is there are players there who will kill you and bleed you dry in a game if you have any degree of "suck" in your game. These guys just wait for the fish to come and they play day after day against each other. Many are on a first name basis and many of them are very above adequate players. No free poker "calling with anything" players here my friends. A tough game yet a very good game most of the time.
There are evening tourneys and morning tourneys and there are well over 100 or so players in each. Usually a $60 buy in and they pay the top ten. I played here the other night and finished on the bubble so I knew that I could hold my own here as long as I did not play like an idiot.

The details of this game are not too important except that I ACTUALLY WON A HUGE HAND WITH AK!!!!!! I did! Honest! Called in early position with AK diamonds and the flop was K-8-9 with two of them being diamonds. WHOOPPEE. What did I do? Well,I checked and the dealer made a big bet and I thought that he was worried about the diamonds so I put him on a pair. I seriously felt that I had him beat and I went into my little acting thing,hesitated and reluctantly called,saying that I would see one more card. Next card is a Q. I check again and he makes another big bet. I decide to pull the trigger and go all in. Now,this guy has a huge stack but I am not that far behind in chips and if he loses this he is crippled. He thinks and thinks and thinks and says I think you are on a diamond draw,but he does nothing. I am watching TV so I don't care what he says or does. Another few seconds go by and he calls with an AQ. SWEET!!! The river is a K. I win and he is reduced to rubble. What a great feeling. The guy took it well and was gone the next hand.
With his chips and playing some sound positional poker,I was able to finish fourth when my A-10 lost to an A-J. Good for $400. No bad beats and when I was ahead I won. Is poker really like that? Shockingly...the answer is yes....sometimes!!
Life is good once again.