Vegas Day 8

Thursday was a day that would leave a poker player bummed. I bombed out of three more satellites, two close to the win, and bubbled in the second chance tournament.

It was a busy day at the WSOP. There was the final of the limit tournament on the TV stage, the razz tournament next to that and the no-limit six-handed table tourney to the side. The last I heard, Doyle was the chip leader with about four tables remaining. ESPN has decided to televise this one too.

I saw Phil Hellmuth wallowing in the floor as I walked by the six-handed affair. I couldn't tell if he was doing yoga, pushups or was perhaps imitating a walrus flopping across rocks. Either way, my camera would not turn on in time and he got up when he saw me trying to take his picture.

A guy from Tuscaloosa I know flew into town just to play the razz event, but it sounded like he had the kind of luck I usually have at that horrible, wicked, horrible game. Or maybe it was Chau Giang sitting at the opposite end of the table that did him in.

Several of my Tuscaloosa poker compatriots have landed in Vegas. Hopefully we can take the town by storm. We sure didn't yesterday. Mark and I both entered the second chance tourney for $225. He could catch no cards, but I caught enough to build my stack from 1,000 to 8,000 at one point. I busted in 20th, however, when I was in the SB with QQ and had 6,000 chips left. A guy with 3,500 goes all in with A-10, button calls with A-Q, I re-raise all in and the button calls. The first card off the deck was the ace. If I win that hand, I have about 17,000, putting me among the chip leaders in the race for the first place prize of $14,000 and change. The top 18 paid out of about 225 entries.