Quad Threes and River Queens

The Ground Rules:
11 players (a lot backed out)
start with $1500 chips
blinds start at 5-10 and went up every half hour (by the time we got to heads up, it was 400-800)
started out with 2 tables as a limit game, when it got to 8 we combined and played no limit

I started off folding every hand, including a jack-deuce, but it turned out no one had bet so I checked instead and end up taking the pot with a pair of deuces. That was the only pot I won for about 2 hours.

I had the worst cards imaginable and I was starting to get frustrated when on two consecutive hands I mucked 6-2 (only to see I would have made a full house) and jack-9 (to see jack-9 come on the flop).

I overplayed pocket 8s. I saw a flop with ace-9 of clubs. Two clubs came on the flop, but that fifth club never came.

I was so frustrated that I limped in from the small blind with 5-3. I flopped a set and caught quad 3s on the turn. Some guy named Mike (who played every pot and ended up finishing second) called me down and paid it off.

After that I caught fire, got some decent hands but semi-bluffed with big bets on the flop and turn. Two or three hands in a row I forced everyone out with nothing more than middle pair with a $120 bet on the turn.

I built my stack back up to over $1000. There was a girl at our table who was catching cards and doing well but complaining that she was tired, that she wanted to go home, that she needed coffee, that she couldn't wait for no-limit so she could push em all in.

I had a weak ace in the blind (don't recall which) so I bet when 2-7-Q came on the flop. Then I caught an ace on the turn, she called. Then the river card was another queen. I bet again, she called, and I knew she had a queen. I lost over a third of my stack on that hand.

Then I got overaggressive and made some bad mistakes. I was so shortstacked I had to pick a hand. Luckily I got pocket 10s, went all in and doubled up. Then I tried to make too much happen. I had ace-queen but board was all low cards. I was down to $50. My last hand was ace-6.

I went out in 10th place (second person to bust out).

The final table went pretty quickly.
Mike went all in every time once it went to heads up.
His opponent was so stupid. The couple hands he actually got cards he went all in, so Mike folded. So I yelled out, check it to him, he'll go all in and you'll call. He got pocket aces, slow played em and Mike went all in on the river.

It was a fun tournament, I played poorly and got impatient. I also could have saved myself some money in some hands that I otherwise played correctly. But all in all, I had a good time and learned a lot.