what does this mean?

i entered a $20 sng on partypoker and got 2nd, but all it said is i gained "entry to mini step 3"...(and there's no prize money on my acct! )

You accidentally played a steps SNG! Steps SNGs are SNG tournaments where when you win, you are given an entry into the next (2nd) step. This keeps going until step 5, where there are real (and huge) money prizes. Make sure next time you dont click on a steps SNG if you want to play in a regular SNG. Now that you have won an entry into the 2nd step, go ahead and play the 2nd step using the entry that you won.

Does anybody here play these steps tourneys all the way through? I would be worried about making it to step 5 and getting pwnd by some shark who has bought in at the top! I know that some of our higher stakes players buy in directly at step 5.