$300 Tournament at the Oaks

I played in the $300 May Tournament at the Oaks and finished 40th out of 198 players. I was disappointed with how things turned out, though I thought I played fairly well. I don’t have a lot of live tournament experience under my belt, and which I had a lot more. The problem is I don’t have a very large bankroll to fund these $150-1000 tournaments. I need a big win first in order to play more. First place was around $18,000 for this particular tournament. We all started with 4,000 in chips. I didn’t do much for the first several rounds, but then I woke up with AKs under the gun. The blinds were 40-80, so I raised it to 300. The button called and the flop was 9A9. I checked and he asked how much I had left. I had about 3000. He bet 600 and I called. The turn was the 7s. I checked and he checked. The river was what ended up being the case Ace. I bet 1000, he pushed all in and I called and we split. He had AJ. I was setting up a nice 1,000 bet on the river and he probably would have called.
I had AA once but everyone folded, then I became involved in a pot against the big blind. I was the small blind. I had A7s and limped in for 120 (blinds were 60-120). He raised to 300 and I called. The flop was AQx. I checked and he checked. The turn was a 7. I checked and he checked as well. The river was a 2 and I bet 800. He called and couldn’t believe I had two pair. He had AT. He was a very conservative player.
Soon after, we were reassigned to another table. I had about 6,000 in chips when I was dealt AK again. The guy to my right had been raising all in quite a lot and complaining that he needed to go home. He raised again, around 2000 and I pushed all in with my AK. He called and the flop was JT7. Turn was a Queen, and I now had 11-12K in chips.
Then I knocked out a woman to my left in a most ridiculous way. She had played only one hand, AA, and had about 5-6k in chips. The blinds were folded to me and her and I raised to 2500. He went all in and I thought for a minute. I had 83. I eventually called (they were suited and I was getting odds) but she had A8. ugh! Dominated. The flop was 863, followed by two meaningless diamonds and she left the table in a huff. I don’t blame her at all. It was pretty disgusting. Now I had 17k in chips and the blinds were escalating. I needed around 100k to bring to the final table. I had AQ on the button and raise to 2400. The small blind went all in and I called. He had AK to my AQ. I lost and was down to 1200 chips. I went all in again with the same hand (AQ) and won. I was back to 4500 chips and waited for a hand to push. Unfortunately, it was with 89 on the button, and the small blind guy who had AK now had AJ and knocked me out. I played from 11 to 3:15. The blinds go up very fast in the last half of the tournament, but I don’t think there was anything I could have done. I didn’t get great cards, but had AK three times and AQ twice. I had AA once but no callers. Disappointing but fun. You really need a whole lotta luck to last in these tournaments.