A long time ago, at a poker site far, far away, a friend had won a seat in a freeroll. He was unable to play and asked me to play in his stead. I agreed before realizing what I was getting myself into.

Turns out it was a limit tournament. I feel very strongly that limit Hold'em does not lend itself well to tournament play and try to avoid limit tournaments like the plague. But I'd already agreed to play, so I did.

I was doing regular email maintenance and came upon a message to my friend narrating the progress in the tournament. Think of it as tape-delayed live-blogging. You may find it amusing. You might find just a wee bit of sarcasm here and there. You've been warned.

Started out doing pretty good. Won a couple decent pots. Then I get TP aces on a ATx board. I bet, two callers. Turn is a blank. I bet, one fold, one call. River is a K. I figure I'm still ahead so I bet. Raise. TP isn't that strong so I call. The bloody calling station turns over QJ. She's stayed through all that on an inside straight draw. Idiot.

We're midway through level 4 now and I've been card dead ever since losing to the calling station. Not even anything remotely playable. If the cards don't improve this is going to be over soon. I hate limit.

First break. Blinded down to 750. Meantime, the calling station, down to 500, pushed hard with ATs from UTG+1 and was rewarded with two callers holding air. She's up to 1600. There is no justice.

The calling station just got eliminated. Without me having a chance to get back any of your chips.

Just got my best hand so far -- 33 -- and had to fold to a raise.

We just tripled up with A8 that completely missed. A-high with the 8 playing as kicker. Up to 1350 now. Maybe I should just play the junk.

Two hands later I get 66. Folds to me. There's a sit-out in the BB, so I raise hoping to scoop. Big stack calls. Flop is QQ6. More than double again.

Just rode AJ to victory over same big stack. We're back in this. 4300. Average is 2800. Amazing what getting some cards can do.

Dropped 1000 on some good starters that didn't pan out. 3300. Blinds at 100/200. Average up to 3900.

I just noticed, they're paying 20% of the field in this thing. 564th gets $0.70. We got a shot at the money! Unfortunately, serious money doesn't start until... uh, 1st? Why are we playing in this?

Just got moved to a table of big stacks. This should be fun. Still card dead. Haven't seen a winner since that AJ hand. Did dodge a stacker when I folded AJ to a raise. Raiser had AQ and two A's fell on the flop.

Oh, great. Finally caught a hand, AK, raise UTG, and it folds around.

Just picked up a small pot with KJs. Then lost it all back when I raised from the SB with K4o, not noticing someone had already called. Ack. Gotta pay more attention.

100 more eliminations and we're in the money!

Just got moved again, but we dodged the blinds. A free round. Weehee!

KK in the SB. Up to 6300.

I can't believe it. These idiots are slowing play trying to be sure they get $0.70. OMG, we've gone to hand-for-hand. For $0.70? This is torture. 64 tables still in play and we're hand-for-hand. Arggggghhhhhh!!!!

We made the money! And, more importantly, we're out of hand-for-hand for another 100 eliminations.

Second break. We've got 5700 with blinds going to 300/600. 45 more eliminations and we're up to $0.80!

I tried a couple well-situated bluffs that fell completely flat. Folds to me in the SB. BB is very short. I raise, he re-raises, I call. Turns out he's got T3. Okay, so I was bluffing, but what the hell is he doing coming back with T3o? He went all-in and the pot was laying about 40:1, so I called with air just hoping to catch something. I didn't. Down to 2600. But we made the next money level! Another 100 eliminations and we move to $0.90.

We're on the ropes -- down to 1400 -- but we're gonna make the next money tier. $0.90!!!

We've got less than 2BB. I pushed with A8s. No help on flop, or turn, but we win anyway. Up to $6k! Half the average stack, but off life support. We may make the $1.00 payout!

We're up to $1.00, but it's not looking good. Haven't had a hand since the Hoover administration. Oh, wait, AKo on the button. We're all-in against QQ. Rivered a K! Crap, at this rate I could be here all night making $0.10 an hour. Just got moved again.

We're up to $1.10. This is getting exciting.

Shit! I just doubled up. 13.5k. We could be looking at some serious money in this thing. I'm talking $2.00, maybe $2.20.

Wow, first "regular" hand I've played in ages. 77, call from MP. Blinds call. Q high flop. Check, check, bet, fold, fold. Up to 16.7k. Blinds are at 800/1600 though. We're gonna make $1.20.

AKo. Up to 20k. Moving to $1.30.

Third break over. Blinds at 1k/2k and we're down to 15k. And, more good news, the chip leader just sat down on my right. Wonderful.

Got moved. At least no ginormous stack to my right.

$1.50! We made $1.50!!!! Yay!! Only 15 more to $1.60.

Out in 98th on the cooler of coolers. Four pocket pairs. We had the smallest, but it was worth it on the off chance of catching a set. You're now $1.50 richer. Yee hah!