my biggest rollercoaster yet: and observations/questions

had my biggest rollercoaster ever today.... 200 person online tournament (very small $$$$, but not freeroll). i jumped to 1st place(40 minutes in) with nice plays and nice cards (and some classic fish opponents, but i did suckout myself once). so i then decide to swing my big stack around with some good cards and position.....

and i proceeeded to blow almost all of it (and nothing huge, just bled chips for 45 minutes) finding myself eventually in 2nd last place with about 40 people left and the big blinds eating away at me.

i then went harrington and got aggressive with any card combination (i know he loves the first-in vig, but i think at lower $$$$$ levels, you're o.k. to go all-in on an existing caller)... 3 or 4 nice showdowns (no huge suckouts, but no bad luck at all) and i'm back in business.

anyhow, 2 hours later i finish in the top 3 and make some nice pocket change (buy my parents dinner, LOL!).

i can't believe those ups and downs. not too many crazy suckouts either way good or bad, but i did hit some nice 3 of a kinds on the flop.

here are my observations/questions:

1) was i stupid to start throwing my big stack around when alot were deep stacked and the bubble is miles away? i'm thinking only people with terrible cards will fold. deep stacks may think you're bluffing. small stacks might realize they are miles away from bubble and have to double up a few times any way, so why waste another hour?

2) deleted point #2 (was very situational)

3) i really am seeing that even medium pocket pairs (8's for instance) are pretty good for playing for 3 of a kind. if you hit them you get huge chips. i was confused about them before (maybe just good flops today though). and smaller pocket pairs should definitely be limped unless you really need to double up with blinds eating away at your stack.

4) now i'm wondering how to play slightly higher pocket pairs, like 99's thru JJ's.... i guess it depends on many factors although JJ is an obvious raise i think. confused on 99's.... could be because i hit so many trio's on flop today. i'll have to read harrington re: medium pp's