I arrived at the final table of Event 7 of the World Series of Poker Circuit - Caesars Atlantic City with a sizable chip lead.

I had about a quarter of the chips in play, more than 50 times the big blind, and about twice as many as my nearest opponent.

I had my eye on two tough opponents who I would be doing battle with at the final table. The first was Louie Esposito, who won the WSOP-C main event in New Orleans last year, among other tournaments.

Louie is a great player, but I've played enough with him to know his tendencies and have a pretty good read on him.

The other player was the one who I expected to be a bigger problem on my way to the ring. With a stellar record at final tables including a bracelet and WSOP-C main event win, Chris Reslock was not going to let me win the ring without a fight.

Big hurdle to cross: Chris Reslock.

I got off to a pretty good start at the final table. With both players in the blinds being fairly conservative and having about 10 times the big blind, I decided to move all-in from the button with 10♦ 7♦.

It's a risky move, but I was hoping to exploit their desire to move up the payout ladder... a key aspect of final-table play. Unfortunately, the player in the small blind woke up with aces.

When I say "unfortunately" I mean it was unfortunate for him, because I made a straight on the turn and had him drawing dead. Because poker is a skill game, of course.

A few hands later I busted another short stack who moved all-in for about seven times the big blind in late position. Since he would make this move with a very wide range of hands, I called with A♥ 4♠ and made two pair against his K♥ Q♣ to eliminate him in eighth place.

Things took a huge turn for the worse from there. After Louie Esposito made an opening raise from late position, another player moved all-in from cut-off. I found 9♥ 9♠ in the big blind and thought for a few moments before making the call.

I was ecstatic about my call when my opponent turned over 8♣ 8♥. The dealer proceeded to deal out a board of K-J-10-K-J and chop up the pot.

Then the same player raised in late position on my big blind. I re-raised all-in after it folded to me with A♠ K♥. My opponent took about three seconds to call me with A♣ 10♦. The poker gods decided to reward this wonderful call with a ten on the flop.

This hand left me with the second-shortest stack at the table, but I remained calm and focused on the goal. Soon after, I got very lucky against the same player who had just put two bad beats on me. I was all-in with A♣ Q♣ against A♠ K♦, but flopped a queen and a flush draw and doubled up.

That hand was a crucial turning point, because it gave me my momentum (and some chips, of course) back. The next and most important one came during three-handed play, when I was finally able to eliminate Chris Reslock.

Stout: Looking for a matching bracelet this summer.

My final obstacle to obtaining a WSOP ring was a 27-year-old salesman from New York City named Tom Kim. Tom had played very tight, patient poker and went on a sick rush of cards at the final table.

He had a sizable chip lead of about $1.2 million to $700,000 going into the heads-up match. Fortunately, I was able to use this to my advantage and chipped away at him in small pots until I had the chip lead.

In the final hand, I raised to $70k at $12k/$24k ($3k ante) with A♣ Q♥. Tom re-raised to $300k, and I moved all-in. He called with J♦ J♠. I was left to sweat with 1.3 million chips in the pot after a ragged, useless flop of 9♠ 6♠ 3♣.

However, everything changed when the Q♣ fell on the turn. I was just one card from my first WSOP ring. The A♠ on the river sealed the deal, and I was suddenly $59,260 richer with a beautiful gold-and-diamond ring to prove it.

Hopefully this summer I'll be able to tell the story of how I got the matching bracelet to go with it, because I heard they look really great as a pair. ;-)

-- Matt Stout

"All In At 420"

More Blogs from Matt Stout:

• Atlantic City Part 2: Down... But Not Out
• Atlantic City Part 1: Where It All Started
• How to Succeed in Online Satellites