EPTThe Event
It was my first time ever going to a bring your own computer LAN. And it was huge! Though not as huge as last winter, I think there were around 7500 people there.
Sadly I did a proper newbie screw up when buying my ticket and ended up sitting next to some total strangers; a cs player and a hardcore file-sharer. Still managed to spend plenty of time with my fellow Starcraft players though.
The Official Tournament
The official Dreamhack tournament is probably the tournament that gives away the most cash compared to the skill level of the players, in the entire world.
Roughly 2130 Euro was given away to the top 3 players. Meanwhile there were, in my opinion, only two players from the European elite present; Haypro and Strelok. Then there were three players from the Swedish national team; me, Trek and Tuffer. Finally there were a few Swe-B players, one of Britains top terrans; sD.AnTstYle and two Czech players; Crow and Streetwalker.
I was knocked down into the loser's brackets fairly early (quater finals I think) by Tuffer. From there I fought my way through some run of the mill Swedes and Crow before losing a bloody even loser's bracket semi-final to Tuffer, once again. Resulting in him placing third, winning roughly 320 Euro and a bo3 vs Strelok, and me placing fourth, with no winnings at all.
In the end Haypro won the whole event, solidly defeating Strelok even when we thought there was no hope left for him. I was watching both the winner brackets final and the grand final from behind him and I was quited shocked at some of the comebacks he managed to pull off.
I can't say I'm totally unsatisfied with a fourth place, but placing third would have been so much sweeter.
The Gamingeye Tournaments
When the official tournament was finnished the Swedish site Gamingeye hosted some smaller, in-official tournaments. There was some hardware at stake, but no cash. Neither Haypro, Trek and Strelok nor any of the Czech players participed in these.
First out was the 1on1 tournament. I made my way to the winners brackets finals fairly easily, there I ran into Tuffer for the third time of the event, and for the third time I lost. In the lb finals I defeated sD.AnTstYle and returned to the real final, though I had to start with a 0-1 score which is really harsh in a bo3. I took the first game with a 2 hatch lurk/ling strategy but in the final game I payed the price for playing without sound (done so for several years but this is the first time I've lost anything important too it); I pulled a rather succefull 9 pool on him but in the meanwhile lost 3 of my 8 drones to his scouting scv and tried a desperate comeback on an all-in burrow strat, but he didn't fall to it.
Second place earned me a brand new headset, though I switched with Tuffer and got some speakers instead. But damn, I think Tuffer is my new nemesis.
Then there was a very minor 2on2 tournament - only six teams were competing. Having a freewin in the first round me and sD.AnTstYle only had to win 2 bo3's to win the entire thing, we pulled through and got ourselfs a brand new graphics card each. I'm fairly sure it can run sc2; 1gb DDR2 and powered by a Radeon 3850. This is really nice as my current graphics card sucks balls, though it remains to be seen if this new one will fit onto my mainboard.
Conclusion
I think it was really nice too meet up with with all these players I've spend alot of time gaming with; I learnt quite alot about ZvT late game after battling Tuffer and recieving some input from Haypro; and I realised how much funnier it is to play tournaments when something is at stake.
, you've got cool rewards and experience - very nice 
