Our Regular Home Game In Oklahoma

Some of you have already heard this story, but I will give more details now.
James and I entered a $150 one-table No Limit Texas Hold'em Tournament at WinStar Casino last night. The winner won his entry fee back and a seat into a $1,000 tournament in August. After an hour and forty-five minutes, I took back my entry fee and a ticket into the tournament that Amarillo Slim will be around for. I don't know if he is playing (probably not), but he will be there.
The format was fifteen minute blinds (yikes), blinds double every time (yikes), blinds start at $25-50 (that's not bad) and you start with $1500 (never mind...yikes). I decided I wasn't going to be able to be picky with my hand selection.
In the first five hands I got A-J, A-10 and A-K. My very first hand was the A-J and on the turn I hit two pair, but I was cautious because the board was A-Q-10-J. The guy first to act said he was all in but then only bet $100 into a $500 pot. That is fishy. I folded and let another guy make the $100 call. When the cards were flipped over I saw no one had a King. The guy who should have been all in had a set of 10s. I got the ruling after the hand was played out (because no pit boss was around at the time) and found out the guy should have been all in.
Then on my fifth hand I had the A-K. The flop came A-8-3. A guy went all in and it would have put me all in. I stared the guy down and decided he wasn't beating me. I called. I was right that he wasn't beating me. He had A-K as well.
After playing three hands and winning a split pot I was still down. I finally got up after winning a hand with J-8 of clubs. I was the big blind and a guy from middle-late position raised the minimum. I called hoping for a reasonable flop. The flop came A-A-3, two clubs. I checked. Caller checked. Original raiser checked (he was a tight player). The turn was an 8. I decided to feel it out. I bet. I got a call and a call. That wasn't good for me, but I had outs. The turn was a 9, no club. I checked expecting to lose to an Ace. The caller checked and the original raiser checked. Sweet. I won with my two pair.
It came down to heads up between James and myself. At this point blinds were $800-1600 and I had about a 2-1 chip lead on him. I took him out when I had pocket fives and opted to see a flop rather than race it down if he had two high cards. The flop came A-Q-5. I checked, James was only going to bet the minimum, but it would have left him with only about $500. He opted to go all in and I obliged with a call.
I'll be returning in August for the next step and I hope I can win this thing to see what would be the following tournament. If the buy-in is steep and I am allowed, I might sell the thing and make a tidy profit off of a $150 buy-in.