Choctaw vs Winstar? Hornfans

I got back from the Winstar Memorial Day Mini River series late Monday night and wanted to give you guys a trip report.
I've had some great live results over the past few months with the highlights being excellent cash sessions, two second place finishes in a row at CPPT Choctaw, and another instance of run good which occurred at Winstar.
Friday, May 15 - Leave San Antonio around 4 PM. Check in at Comfort Suites Gainesville. I get a three bedroom suite to myself because my buddies couldn't make it. I booked it through HotWire for $100/night which is a decent deal around that area. Hotels around Winstar jack the up the prices due to their proximity to the "Biggest Casino in the World".
I make a quick trip to the nearby Wal-Mart to buy some healthy snacks (Fuji Apples and a small veggie tray) then I head to the casino, meet up with my buddy, AJ Yowler, and we both grinded some 1/2 and 1/3. I lost a little (~$50) after a card dead session and decided to call it a night.
Saturday, May 16 - I wake up at around 1045, meditate a bit, and eat some carrots, broccoli, snap peas, and celery from my veggie tray, then head to the casino at around 1120 to register for the Memorial Day Mini River Event #1 Deepstack ($500). Get registered for the tourney at 1145 and lo and behold, my boy AJ is at the same starting table (good thing he's to my right). It was a pretty sweet table draw as I was only worried about AJ and a seemingly solid young grinder named Austin. However, I was super card dead.
A couple levels into the tourney I overplayed AJo on an A high board. I open raised 3x pre, bet half pot on Axx flop, villain (Austin) in position calls, I fired a second bullet villain calls again, and I check river and of course he throws out a 1/3 pot sized bet at the time. I tank a bit, but end up calling and he tables AQo. How could I have played that hand better? Should I have checked the turn?
After more levels of run bad and with about 10 BB remaining, I 3 bet shove AKo against an OMC with a surprisingly wide opening range. He instacalls and has KK. Good game.
I grind some 1/3 cash for the rest of the night and profit around $100 or so. It would have been around $600 in profit if villains didn't hit two outers, but all is good. During that session, I won a decently sized pot when I 4 bet shipped $240 with AA pre against KK. After I won that hand, I had about $380 which was clearly wrong as 240 x 2 = 480. I didn't really notice until a hand or two afterward. At that point I think to myself, "Damn, is it too late?" About 15 minutes into the next dealers down I have him call the floor over and I discuss what happened and provided him with a time frame on when the hand occurred so they could analyze the video. After about 30 minutes, the floor calls villain and v proceeds to the ATM. Shortly after, he pulls me aside and tells me, "We looked at the video, and yes, the dealer did short you $100. Fortunately the gentleman that was in the hand with you agreed to pay you." He said the $100 he was giving me would be in play and that next time I need to speak up right away. I hooked him up with a red bird for his troubles. Props to the Winstar floor for making the right decision, even if I did take too damn long to say something.
Sunday, May 17th - I wake up at around 1045 refreshed and ready to play in Event 2 ($300). I eat some veggies in my room and scarf down an apple on my drive to the casino. AJ is at my table again! Geez. Justin Kruger came to the table but he was super card dead so I didn't have to worry too much. Krissi McFarland was also there but she busted after about 10 hands. I ran so pure at that table. I was hitting every single board that I played and got all kinds of straights, flushes, sets, boats. I felt unstoppable! After the table breaks, I move to a new table full of OMCs and a Dallas PD officer to my left who turned out to be a pretty cool dude. I took down a couple pots there and they broke us after 45 minutes or so. I was used to being a huge stack at my other tables, so when I saw other big stacks at my third table, I initially worried, but told myself, "It's all good. Just feel these guys out". I picked my spots well and next thing I know, we're at dinner break with ~24 players left. 13 will cash with $9K up top.
At the beginning of the dinner break Joe Bui gave me some intel on some other players at the table. It was definitely valuable as all of his reads were true. For example, a drunk reg to my left was the supreme chip leader at the time. Joe said he would donk it all away. Lo and behold, the villain most definitely spewed it all away. I truly appreciated his advice. I got a DQ mini blizzard for dinner because I wasn't too hungry at the time. After the break, I came back motivated and ready to continue my deep run. I steal a few pots pre and double up a few times as well and eventually we are at the 10 handed final table.
I'm in the worst position as the chip-leading OMC is to my left. After the 10th place player busted. We observed how shallow our stacks were and started discussing a chop. the chop value at the time was around $3000, which was just about the equivalent of 3rd place money. It went something like 9.8K to first, 6.9K to second and 3.XK to third (Those might not be exact, but I'm sure I'm close). Everyone was down for some choppage except the chip leading OMC. Even after two more eliminations he STILL didn't want to chop for around $4K.
A couple more eliminations occur and we became five handed. It's me, OMC McNoChoppy, Joe, OMC who opens 8x pre with Kx and Ax/and loves to 3 bet shove even in 50 BB deep, and a solid grinder named Jay. At the 5000/10000 leve with about 240K in chips I look down at AQo on the button. I open for 25K and OMC Mc8xPre 3 bet shoves for about $200K. I instacall and he has KJ. Flop bricks, Turn bricks, and he spikes a K to become the new chip leader. Variance FTW. I actually get my 40K up to around 120K by winning some pots pre flop and winning an AIPF pot against Joe when my KQ beat his KT.
A few hands later I'm sitting at 128K, I'm on the button, and look down at AJo I raise to 20K. Joe 3 bet shoves all in for 123K. I tank for about 30 seconds and call. He has AKo. I don't improve and now I'm down to 5K in chips. Sorry folks, this sadly is not a "chip and a chair story". I get knocked out next hand and finish 5th place for $2442. I believe I played very well in that tournament and AJ vs AK five handed is a huge cooler. On another note, OMC McNoChop ended up getting 3rd place, lol.
In true degen fashion, I decide to play some 1/2 right after my 12 hour tournament session. It ended up being pretty awesome as I turned $200 into $865. What a great day results-wise. I barely missed a table share of the BBJ during that session. Villain McRunBad opens for $17. Cally McStation calls. Solid Cajun Grinder dude 3 bets to $45. V McRunBad folds and Cally calls. Board is AAJ. Turn is a brick and river is a J. Cally and Cajun both get their stacks in and Cajun has quad aces. V McRunBad says, "I had JJ!" and the whole table moaned in frustration. V McRunBad would have pocketed $25K, Cajun would have got $12.5K and the table shared would have been around $1.8K. So close, but yet so far. I leave the casino at around 4 AM to get some rest before the 11 AM checkout.
Monday, May 19th. - I pack my things, check out of the hotel and decide to play one last cash session. 1/2 and 1/3 were full, but I was on an emotional high and took a shot at 2/5. Good thing the table was just starting. I hate buying in for $500 when there are massive stacks at the table. I ended up cashing out about $823. After that, I hit I35 South and headed back to San Antonio with my head held high, knowing that I played some damn good poker this past weekend.
I can't wait for WPT in July!