Day 1 Complete

I just got back from Day 1 of the WSOP. I'm at 37,725 chips from the starting stack of 20,000. I was as low as 9,700 and as high as about 49,000. It was really a strange day as I felt aggression and pressure against me almost all day. I can't count on two hands even how many times I was three bet preflop. The caliber of play is different to say the least. While I sit with some players that are incredibly tough to play against at times, there are others that shouldn't be in a ten dollar rebuy tournament. All in all, I think I played pretty well today, and I had a strategy going in that I was going to play careful and solid. I doubled up when I was at 17,500 when I called a late position raiser from my UTG limp with 44. Flop came 4 10 K. I checked dark and he bet 2600. I just sensed a lot of strength so I went ahead and raised hoping to get it in. He put me in and showed AK and the turn card 3 sealed the deal. I was up to 35,000. Then, I just played a bunch of small pots until the last level. I raised to 1100 with 200/400 blinds 25 ante with AA in late position to be called by an old man out of the big blind. Flop was a scary Q 9s 10s. He checked and I checked behind. Turn was a 6. He bet 2,000 and I called. River was a 9. He bet 6,000 and I called. He showed A7 and I won. That was the only other real big pot I played in. I had a couple of smaller all ins when I had 20k. One I lost to AQ with 55 and the other I won with AK vs J7. I can't complain though as surviving day 1 is the first step towards winning the tournament. I'm happy with how I played and can't wait to start again on Monday Day 2A.