It took nearly six hours, but the tournament is over. I was one of the last 17 standing of the 609 who started, so I did get an entry into Sunday's tournament which I've already converted back to cash¹.
It didn't have to take that long but there was one player at my table who was obviously trying to slow us down. I believe it was a strategic move - hoping for less exposure to lose.
Any time he had a hand he didn't want to play, he would do nothing - forcing the system to 'time him out.' As soon as his hand was folded, he reestablished his presence to Pokerstars allowing the charade to continue.
This is ridiculous. I complained to support, but I would guess it is allowed under their rules.
Toward the end, I thought I was a goner. I lost a lot of chips when I went in with Ace-King against Ace-Queen. Another Queen came on the flop. I was 20th of 20 and way behind in chips!
I won a few hands in all-in desperation play, including Ace-7 - pairing my 7s against two other players. By that time, there were six or seven 'wounded' players who could easily have gone out with one bad call.
I felt bad watching the 20th and 19th players go out. All that time for nothing.
When it was all over, it was almost 6:00 AM. Much too late. Much too long.
¹ - Actually, when I 'unregistered' from the Sunday tournament, I got back $530 tournament dollars - which can only be used in tournaments. I'll have to actually win again to see this as real money.
