John Harkness, RGP and BARGE regular, found dead yesterday

I met John at BARGE in 2005 and interacted with him on RGP, so I was very saddened to see this on RGP this morning. For those who didn't know him, John was a top film critic in Toronto and a helluva smart and nice guy. We'll miss you John.

Here is the article:

Toronto film critic found dead

SANDRA MARTIN

Globe and Mail Update

December 18, 2007 at 6:56 PM EST

John Harkness, the film critic for NOW Magazine since its beginning on Sept. 10, 1981, was found dead in his home in Toronto on Tuesday, according to Michael Hollet, the tabloid's editor and publisher. Mr. Harkness, who was 53 had been suffering from high cholesterol. "He had never missed a deadline in 26 years," Mr. Hollet said Tuesday fternoon, "so we sent somebody to his house when his copy didn't arrive." That is when they found his body and called the police.

Born in Montreal in 1954, Mr. Harkness grew up in Halifax and Sarnia. He earned a degree in English literature from Carleton University in Ottawa before doing graduate work in Cinema Studies at Columbia University in New York City, where he studied under critic Andrew Sarris.

"John Harkness was simply the best film critic in Canada over the last 26 years," said Mr. Hollet in a press release. "He has been an essential element of NOW magazine's success and his unique vision and bravery and art in expressing it inspired all of us at NOW to strive."

Mr. Harkness also wrote for Sight And Sound, Take One, and the Cinematheque Ontario program and spent several years as a trade reporter for Screen International and Cinema Canada. His book on the Oscars, The Academy Awards Handbook, is currently in its eighth edition.

WSOP schedule announced

Interesting changes to the WSOP this year....many more big buy-in events ($10,000), two-day starts to some $1,500 events, and a mixed tournament featuring a rotation of eight, that's right EIGHT, poker games.

Here is the press release and schedule:


Harrah’s Entertainment Announces 2008 Schedule
For 39th World Series Of Poker® Presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light

Second Annual “Ante Up for Africa” Tournament Also Set


LAS VEGAS – December 11, 2007 – Harrah’s Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE:HET) said today the 2008 World Series of Poker Presented by Milwaukee’s Best Light and televised exclusively on ESPN will – for the first time ever – begin and end with $10,000 buy-in World Championship events and feature a total of eight $10,000 championships.

In addition, the 55-event schedule for 2008 includes a total of eight $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournaments, which traditionally draw the largest fields except for the Main Event. The WSOP has also added a second start day for the first of the $1,500 no-limit competitions to accommodate the expected number of entrants.

“This is our most exciting schedule yet,” said Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the WSOP. “Both amateur and professional poker players will have new opportunities to compete for a WSOP bracelet and can choose from the widest variety of games and buy-ins ever offered in one poker tournament and certainly at the WSOP.

“We’re holding steady at 55 events this year,” said Pollack. “But, we’ve mixed it up a bit to keep it interesting for our players and fans.”

The 2008 WSOP starts May 30 with the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of Pot-Limit Hold’Em and ends July 16 with the Final Table of the $10,000 buy-in World Championship of No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em – best known as the WSOP Main Event.

The six other $10,000 buy-in events – all World Championship competitions – include: Heads-Up No-Limit Hold’Em; Seven-Card Stud; Limit Hold’Em; Omaha Hi-Low Split Eight or Better; Pot-Limit Omaha; and a new Mixed Event. The Mixed Event will feature eight variations of poker: Limit and No-Limit Hold’Em; Omaha Hi-Low and Pot-Limit Omaha; Seven Card Stud; Razz; Seven Card Hi-Low Split; and 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball.

The second event of the 2008 WSOP is a $1,500 buy-in No-Limit Hold’em tournament with two starting days – May 31 and June 1.

Pre-registration for the 2008 WSOP can be made beginning in February on-site at the Main Cage of the Rio® All-Suite Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas or at www.worldseriesofpoker.com.

In addition to the largest cash prizes in poker, winners of each of the 55 events will receive an exclusive World Series of Poker gold bracelet crafted by the luxury Swiss watchmaker CORUM. Last year, 54,288 entrants who ranged in age from 21 (bracelet winner Steve Billirakis) to 94 (Main Event contestant Jack Ury) competed for the poker world’s largest total prize pool of nearly $160 million.

The 2008 WSOP will be staged inside the Rio Convention Center from May 30 through July 16. WSOP officials plan a “soft opening” of the tournament room on May 28 and 29 for players to register early and play in satellite tournaments and cash games.

“The poker tent is gone,” said Pollack. “We heard folks loud and clear last year, and there will be no tents used for tournament play at the 2008 WSOP.”

On July 2, and in conjunction with the WSOP, Oscar nominee Don Cheadle and poker professional Annie Duke will host the second annual Ante Up For Africa charity tournament at the Rio.

Last year’s AUFA event featured dozens of Hollywood celebrities and poker professionals and raised more than $700,000 for charity. Ante Up For Africa is a non-profit organization founded in 2006 by Cheadle, Duke and Norman Epstein and is dedicated to raising money and awareness for Africans in need.

July 3 is the first of four start days for the 2008 Main Event. Last year, a total of 6,358 entrants competed for a Main Event prize pool of $59.8 million. Players may choose their Main Event start dates as long as seats are available on the selected dates.

More information about the World Series of Poker is available at the Web site www.worldseriesofpoker.com.




5/28/2008
Wednesday
9:00 AM

Registration Opens, Live Action & Satellites Begin

5/29/2008
Thursday

Registration, Live Action & Satellites

5/30/2008
Friday
12 noon
1
World Championship Pot-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$10,000

5/31/2008
Saturday
12 noon
2A
No-Limit Hold'em (4 day event) Day 1A
$1,500

6/1/2008
Sunday
12 noon
2B
No-Limit Hold'em Day 1B

6/2/2008
Monday
12 noon
3
Pot-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/2/2008
Monday
5:00 PM
4
Mixed Hold'em (Limit/No-Limit) (3 Day event)
$5,000

6/3/2008
Tuesday
12 noon
5
No-Limit Hold'em w/Re-Buys (3 day event)
$1,000

6/3/2008
Tuesday
5:00 PM
6
Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day event)
$1,500

6/4/2008
Wednesday
12 noon
7
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$2,000

6/4/2008
Wednesday
5:00 PM
8
World Championship Mixed Event (3 day event)Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, Seven Card Razz , Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, No-Limit Holdem, Pot-Limit Omaha, 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball
$10,000

6/5/2008
Thursday
12 noon
9
No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (3 day event)
$1,500

6/5/2008
Thursday
5:00 PM
10
Omaha/Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better (3 day event)
$2,500

6/6/2008
Friday
12 noon
11
No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (3 day event)
$5,000

6/6/2008
Friday
5:00 PM
12
Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/7/2008
Saturday
12 noon
13
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$2,500

6/7/2008
Saturday
5:00 PM
14
World Championship Seven Card Stud (3 day event)
$10,000

6/8/2008
Sunday
12 noon
15
Ladies No-Limit Hold'em World Championship (3 day event)
$1,000

6/8/2008
Sunday
5:00 PM
16
Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day event)
$2,000

6/9/2008
Monday
12 noon
17
No-Limit Hold'em Shootout (3 day event)
$1,500

6/9/2008
Monday
5:00 PM
18
No-Limit 2-7 Draw Lowball w/Re-Buys (3 day event)
$5,000

6/10/2008
Tuesday
12 noon
19
Pot-Limit Omaha (3 day event)
$1,500

6/10/2008
Tuesday
5:00 PM
20
Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$2,000

6/11/2008
Wednesday
12 noon
21
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$5,000

6/11/2008
Wednesday
5:00 PM
22
H.O.R.S.E. (3 day event)Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, Seven Card Razz,Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
$3,000

6/12/2008
Thursday
12 noon
23
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$2,000

6/12/2008
Thursday
5:00 PM
24
Pot-Limit Holdem/Omaha (3 day event)
$2,500

6/13/2008
Friday
12 noon
25
World Championship Heads Up No-Limit Hold'em (256 player max) (3 day event)
$10,000

6/13/2008
Friday
5:00 PM
26
Seven Card Razz (3 day event)
$1,500

6/14/2008
Saturday
12 noon
27
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/14/2008
Saturday
5PM
28
Pot-Limit Omaha W/Rebuys (3 day event)
$5,000

6/15/2008
Sunday
12 noon
29
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$3,000

6/15/2008
Sunday
5:00 PM
30
World Championship Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$10,000

6/16/2008
Monday
12 noon
31
No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (3 day event)
$2,500

6/17/2008
Tuesday
12 noon
32
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/17/2008
Tuesday
5:00 PM
33
World Championship Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day event)
$5,000

6/18/2008
Wednesday
12 noon
34
Pot-Limit Omaha W/Re-Buys (3 day event)
$1,500

6/18/2008
Wednesday
5:00 PM
35
Seven Card Stud (3 day event)
$1,500

6/19/2008
Thursday
12 noon
36
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/19/2008
Thursday
5:00 PM
37
World Championship Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better (3 day event)
$10,000

6/20/2008
Friday
12 noon
38
Pot-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$2,000

6/21/2008
Saturday
12 noon
39
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/22/2008
Sunday
12 noon
40
World Championship H.O.R.S.E. (5 day event)Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, Seven Card Razz,Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
$50,000

6/22/2008
Sunday
5:00 PM
41
Mixed Hold'em (limit/no-limit) (3 Day event)
$1,500

6/23/2008
Monday
12 noon
42
Seniors No-Limit Hold'em World Championship (3 day event)
$1,000

6/24/2008
Tuesday
12 noon
43
Pot-Limit Omaha Hi-low Split-8 or Better (3 day event)
$1,500

6/25/2008
Wednesday
12 noon
44
No-Limit Hold'em w/Re-Buys (3 day event)
$1,000

6/25/2008
Wednesday
5:00 PM
45
2-7 Triple Draw Lowball (Limit) (3 day event)
$2,500

6/26/2008
Thursday
12 noon
46
No-Limit Hold'em / Six Handed (3 day event)
$5,000

6/26/2008
Thursday
5:00 PM
47
Seven Card Stud Hi-Low-8 or Better (3 day event)
$1,500

6/27/2008
Friday
12 noon
48
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$2,000

6/28/2008
Saturday
12 noon
49
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

6/29/2008
Sunday
12 noon
50
World Championship Pot Limit Omaha (3 day event)
$10,000

6/29/2008
Sunday
5:00 PM
51
H.O.R.S.E. (3 day event)Limit Holdem, Omaha Hi-Low Split-8 or Better, Seven Card Razz,Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi-Low Split-8 or Better
$1,500

6/30/2008
Monday
12 noon
52
No-Limit Hold'em (3 day event)
$1,500

7/1/2008
Tuesday
12 noon
53
Limit Hold'em Shootout (2 day event)
$1,500

7/2/2008
Wednesday
10:00 AM

Media Event

7/2/2008
Wednesday

Satellite Day

7/2/2008
Wednesday
2:00 PM

Ante Up For Africa Charity Event (1 day event)
$5,000

7/3/2008
Thursday
12 noon
54A
World Championship No-Limit Texas Hold'em Day 1A 2,500 Players
$10,000

7/4/2008
Friday
12 noon
54B
Day 1B 2,500 Players

7/5/2008
Saturday
12 noon
54C
Day 1C 2,500 Players

7/6/2008
Sunday
12 noon
54D
Day 1D 2,500 Players

7/7/2008
Monday

OFF

7/7/2008
Monday
12 noon
55
Casino Employees No-Limit Hold'em (2 day event)
$500

7/8/2008
Tuesday
12 noon

Day 2A

7/9/2008
Wednesday
12 noon

Day 2B

7/10/2008
Thursday
12 noon

Day 3

7/11/2008
Friday
12 noon

Day 4

7/12/2008
Saturday
12 noon

Day 5

7/13/2008
Sunday
12 noon

Day 6

7/14/2008
Monday
12 noon

Day 7

7/15/2008
Tuesday

OFF

7/16/2008
Wednesday
12 noon

Final Table

General Information: For events 2 & 54, you may request your first day of play based on seating availability.

Single Table Satellites, Mega Satellites and Live Action begin on May 28, 2008

Mega Satellite Schedule: $330 Mega Satellites Monday - Thursday at 3 PM. $550 Mega Satellites Friday - Sunday at 3 PM. $1060 Mega Satellites Daily at 9 PM.

Mega Satellite Days July 2 - 5: $330 Mega Satellites at 6 PM. $550 Buy-In Mega Satellites at 10 AM and 4 PM. $1060 Buy-In Mega Satellites at 1 PM and 9 PM.

Turbo Mega Satellite July 6: $1060 Turbo Mega Satellite at 8AM.

$50k H.O.R.S.E. Mega Satellite Days May 31, June 1, 16, 20, and 21 : $2250 Mega Satellites at 5 PM.

Nightly Tournaments From May 29 - July 15: $340 Buy-In No-Limit Hold'em tournaments nightly at 7 PM.

For Tournament Info:Visit our web site at www.worldseriesofpoker.com or call us at 1-877-FOR-WSOP (1-877-367-9767)

For Room Reservation Info:1-877-746-8342

The Following Take-Out Percentages Will Be Withheld From the Buy-In for House Fees and Dealer/Staff Tokes -- $500.00 - 10%, $1,000.00 - 9%, $1,500.00 - 9%, $2,000.00 - 9%$2,500.00 - 8%, $3,000.00 - 8%, $5,000.00 - 6%, $10,000.00 - 6%, $50,000.00 - 4%

All winners will be required to provide a valid picture ID. Tax forms will be completed for those with winnings in excess of $5,000 net of event buy-in. Players without a Tax Identification Number and Foreign Players from Non-Tax Treaty Countries are subject to up to 30% tax withholding. Harrah's reserves the right to cancel, change or modify the Tournament or any Tournament Event, in part or in whole, without notice.

I'm back...this time for real

Yes, I keep saying I'm going to start posting regularly and I keep disappearing for months at a time, but this time I truly mean it...really. To be honest, I was in that funk for a long time and only recently snapped out of it. I had lost work, income opportunities and was breaking even at poker, and was focusing on those things rather than the more important positives in my life -- new and very loving bride, good home and family, good life overall. Instead I wallowed in my misery and sat around playing Xbox 360 all day.

I write to you now from Kinder, a sleepy Louisiana town not far from the Texas border. I'm at the Coushatta resort, an Indian casino that is holding its annual 7 Clans Poker Cup Series and I'm here writing about it for Rounder magazine.

Things have improved for Rounder since last I wrote. The magazine has been sold to new owners and I think they really know what they're doing and I see the magazine succeeding. Under past ownership, I had to meet the editor at a Birmingham gas station to get my check, which was written out of the owner's insurance business account. That didn't exactly inspire confidence in the long-term stability of that employment situation, which proved to be accurate when the mag temporarily folded.

Now we're back and better than ever. Rounder has steadily improved and I'm trying to implement ideas to make it more interesting. For example, this month we did a cute thing with some poker pros about what they wanted for Christmas, with responses from Robert Williamson III about wanting "crazy socks" and constant TV time bubbler Joe Sebok wanting to make a WPT final table. We will also tackle headier stuff that other magazines won't touch, such as the recent Absolute Poker scandal (a major advertiser in all of the other major poker mags). I'm also working on future articles on topics like RFID technology in tournament chips, the life of an online poker pro, and others. I've also dug up my old story on the Andy Bloch Project and Tom Sims that Bluff rejected two years ago and we will probably run it as part of a WSOP preview.

Several years ago I had an email conversation with Jay Greenspan, then the owner of PokerSavvy.com, about turning his website into a magazine, but nothing came of it. This was in the days when Card Player and Poker Player were the only two poker publications in existence. So you can see how exciting it is for me to be part of building a new poker magazine.

Before coming to Kinder, I spent several days in New Orleans. Amy also got to come for the weekend and enjoyed the Crescent City in her first trip there. The WSOP Circuit event at Harrah's was an interesting one, with Josh Arieh, one of the few notable pros in attendance, running over the field until the end, when up and comer Andy Philachack took home the title.

The Mist

World Blogger Championship

I have registered to play in the PokerStars World Blogger Championship of Online Poker!

This Online Poker Tournament is a No Limit Texas Holdem event exclusive to Bloggers.

Registration code: 1341318

Help Wanted?

I've made one of my lengthy disappearances from blogging again, I know. Things have been busy -- and stressful -- in the last couple of months. First, the good stuff. I got married! Who would have thunk it? Mr. Lonelyhearts found his soul mate. Some things are just meant to be. I'll post photos from the wedding and honeymoon on here eventually. For now, here's the link to view our wedding photos if anyone is interested:



http://tonyamelton.dotphoto.com/



Scroll down the bottom to where it says Amy and Johnny's wedding.



We honeymooned in Jamaica, the first trip for either of us out of North America. (She's been to Mexico; me to Canada.) The two of us have decided to do a lot more international travelling in the coming years if possible.



But to do that, you've got to have money and that's what has been causing the stress lately. After I came back from the WSOP, the freelance writing work was looking pretty sweet. I had work with the upstart Rounder magazine out of Birmingham, a couple of websites and my weekly newspaper poker column. But then around the time of the honeymoon, things turned sour. I lost work with the bigger website and Rounder stopped publishing (at least temporarily).

So now I'm on the job market again.

I haven't had to look for a job since 1999, when I first got out of college. Even then, I locked up my first newspaper job at The Cullman Times pretty easily since I had interned there a couple of summers in college. So you might say this is my first comprehensive job search. I'm doing my best not to uproot us so I'm trying to find a job in Tuscaloosa or Birmingham. If that fails, I could look bigger...Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans. But I like it here and I hope to stay. At least I got some good news this week. Rounder was sold to some new guys and they are going to restart the magazine. Hopefully, I can play an even bigger role in its publication.

I've been quite frustrated at the poker tables lately, too. For the months of August and September combined I won about $40. Part of that was spending a lot of time trying to qualify for the FTOPS and WCOOP events instead of grinding. But even when I was grinding, I was losing. I had several near misses in small buy in tournaments for 2K or 3K, but the worst of all was the FTOPS Stud event, in which I was the chip leader when we made the money. Then they put the guy in second (the two of us were head and shoulders above the rest of the field in chip count) at my table, directly to my left. He proceeded to make hand after hand against me...full house vs. flush, TT running down my QQ, and crippled me. Instead of a final table and chance at $30,000, I finished 21st and won about $800, with another $200 for busting Karina Jett.

I figured out, though, in my recent months' play, that I am better at Stud than I thought and so have begun playing more HORSE ring games and tournaments. If I get out to Vegas again next summer for the WSOP (and that's a BIG if considering the recent state of things, though Amy is hooked and really wants to go back for her birthday again) I want to play a $1,500 HORSE event. Not many people are proficient at all five games, and I think with the tight strategy I've developed I can do OK if I take a shot.

Rich Dad, Poor Dad

Back in the spring, the teacher of my entrepreneurial class recommended a series of books by Robert Kiyosaki, a self-made millionaire who grew up in Hawaii (poor kid) who was the son of a hard-working public official. Although his father made plenty of money, he always had to work hard for it. His father's friend, on the other hand, developed businesses and systems that allowed him to make millions by barely lifting a finger.

The original book by Kiyosaki is called Rich Dad, Poor Dad, which is an euphenism for these two men. Although Kiyosaki's father was not truly poor, Kiyosaki felt that the way of his friend's father was the path to financial freedom, while his own father's way was only the path to harder work. I highly recommend these books to you.

Here's a gem from one of the books (I do not remember which):

The purchase of Manhattan Island is said to be one of the great bargains of all time. New York was purchased for $24 in trinkets and beads. Yet, if that $24 had been invested, at 8 percent annually, that $24 would have been worth more than $28 trillion by 1995. Manhattan could be repurchased, with money left over to buy much of Los Angeles.

Signing off from Vegas

It wasn't a very post filled trip, I know. But with the writing work good, that's nice for the pocketbook.

They're in the Amazon Room now playing for $8 million, four handed for awhile now. I float in there now and then to check the progress, but mostly keep up with it on PokerNews.

It wasn't quite the summer of '06, but I enjoyed the trip. Only broke even playing poker in town (but have won nearly $2K online just sitting around in the media room the last couple of days). Just couldn't win the coinflips or otherwise might be up $5K or more.

Hopefully, the work I've done here will pay off when I return with my continued writing for PokerWorks and Rounder. I'm also feeling strongly about turning more seriously toward tournament poker. Even though I haven't been very lucky on this trip, I feel I'm making good reads and having the courage to act on them, whether it's calling a big bluff on the river or calling an all in with 4-4 when I am convinced my opponent has two high cards. I'll be working on building a bankroll for the FTOPS and WCOOP events. Maybe I can make some noise.

But first and foremost, it's wedding planning. Amy and I get married in just over a month and we have to pick out the cake and flowers. I am very excited about the future and spending my life with her. She also puts up with my poker playing, which most normal people would think is pretty crazy. Amy's a keeper.

But now I must pack up and drive back to Binion's to catch six hours sleep. My flight's at 8:30 in the morning.

Good night from Vegas.

Steven Paul-Ambrose dealt at my table. I busted with A-K vs. 7-7 on a K-9-7 flop. Vanessa Rousso also busted on the hand when she called all in on a flush draw. (High blind structure = crapshoot = much gambling). I got a very nice backpack full of PS swag for my troubles.

Moneymaker and Raymer sit in the front row of a PokerStars media event I attended Tuesday.

On top of the stratosphere prior to riding Big Shot.

Antonio Esfandiari in training

Amy and me safely in front of the not so real lion at MGM.

Barbara Enright and Phil Hellmuth were inducted into the Poker Hall of Fame at the press conference. Enright was at my table briefly in the $150 Limit Hold'em event at the Binion's Poker Classic in which I finished 10th.

Don Cheadle, Annie Duke and WSOP Commish Jeffrey Pollack discuss the Ante Up for Africa tournament at the annual pre-main event press conference.

This display near the WSOP entrance is an epileptic's worst nightmare. You would just have to see it in action to understand.

Sorry for the dearth of posts

Usually, I post almost daily during my Vegas adventures, but this year I just haven't had the time. This is a good thing, though, because it means my work has kept me busy, which in turn means I actually get paid for the stuff I do on here for free. You can read most of my WSOP reporting at www.pokerworks.com.

I've also spent the better part of the past week with my friend Brian and Heather and then Amy, when she came for the weekend. So I didn't write about or play poker for several days.

I did participate in the media/celebrity event on the 5th, which this year was the all media/no celebrity tournament since any celebrities playing that day participated in the Ante Up for Africa charity tournament. That was a real clusterfuck too. I wanted to cover it, but with rail birds ten deep and media prohibited from inside the ropes that proved pretty well impossible.

It was fun showing Amy around town. We rode the gondolas, we rode the Manhattan Express, we stayed at the Stratosphere over the weekend and rode the Big Shot. It reminded me a bit of my first trip here in 2001. Now, when I see people standing in my way looking at the light show on Fremont Street, I mutter "tourists" under my breath as I dodge them on the way to a poker game or buffet. It was nice to actually be a tourist again for a few days.

Now I need to try to get into some of these $500 or $1,000 second-chance tournaments they are running at the WSOP during the last week. It's my last chance at a big score since I didn't cash big or try to win a main event seat. I must admit I am very envious of the players still in it. There's no ride in poker like it.

OK, here's some photos for your enjoyment.

Hi again

I've been so busy the past week that I have found little time for blog posting and such. I've played quite a few tournaments, and though I feel I've played well, I've had little success in them. I finished 10th in the $150 limit hold'em event at Binion's last night, making only about a $250 profit in the process and just bubbling the final table. I didn't get one of those cool Final Table card covers they are handing out, which pissed me off. That's my only cash in a tournament so far, after having played 5 or 6 of them. I'm still up for the trip, however, since I've yet to have a losing session in a NLHE cash game and I chopped 2 of 4 satellites I've played at the WSOP. (I'll probably play a lot more after the main event begins to try to get into some of the second chance $500 events.)

Amy is flying in Friday night and I can't wait to see her. I've got to find some Cirque de Soleil tickets to one of the shows. It's her birthday Sunday and I want to treat her to the best one ever.

My friends Brian and Heather are flying in this evening and they will be here for several days. (They are the ones who I went to The Price is Right with.)

So other than a few things like the media/celebrity tournament and Ante Up for Africa tournaments on Thursday I won't be playing or writing about poker much in the next week.

Check http://www.pokerworks.com/ when it's working to read some of my posts. I think you will find the Bickering at Binion's article pretty entertaining. Dan Michalski, who still fondly remembers 2006 whenever he and I drink together, is writing some good stuff, as is the man himself, Craig Cunningham.

I've run into just about all of the writers I worked with last year, but this year just isn't the same. It seems everyone's got bigger gigs which keeps them all busier than before. There have been fewer dinners and drinks last year. (Or maybe I'm just not invited.) I long for 2006 too Dan.

But 2007 isn't bad either.

Hey, at least I found a can of sweet tea.

Who has time to play poker?

Or to post blogs?

I've been super busy the last few days, hence the lack of posts since Monday morning. Evert at Rounder had me interview Vanessa Rousso, Dutch Boyd and John Phan at the Rio pool while they came down for some photo shoots Monday. Apparently, they all have the same manager, a fellow named Eric who acts like he stepped right out of "Entourage." In other words, he's the kind of guy this Southern boy would just as soon punch in the nose as talk to. But I bit my tongue (and sheathed my fists).

The players were all very nice. Rousso probably has an 180 I.Q. She is something else intellectually. Phan bought me a pina colada (even after I insisted he shouldn't). And I found out I was wrong about Boyd. He's not an egotistical dickhead at all. He asked me about my poker, about Tuscaloosa, he called my last name cool...I'm not sure what happened exactly with the whole sordid PokerSpot mess, but he's OK in my book.

I played a little 1-2 NL at Binion's Monday night and won exactly $200.

Tuesday morning I had a lunch meeting scheduled with two Golden Nugget executives. We talked about all of the new addition to the casino, including a planned club/restaurant/gaming area that will open up into Fremont Street and feature balconies a la the French Quarter. This will open in December.

The work I'm doing is quite the extreme from the newspaper world. With this article, for example, my job is to essentially blow smoke up their butt so they might buy an ad in the magazine and to just have good overall relations in case we might need something in the future. Definitely not the kind of thing we do in the newspaper business. I've now officially turned to the dark side of journalism.

I played the Omaha Hi/Lo tourney at Binion's Tuesday afternoon, but busted out to a fish who played every hand and hit every hand. Later, when I went back, I noticed he was not among the final two tables. Big surprise.

After my bustout, I came over here to the Rio media room to finish up some of the profiles and worked until nearly midnight. I then went back to Binion's and crashed. Today has been filled with buying a new digital voice recorder for a Q & A session with WSOP media director Nolan Dalla, followed by more work.

So far in three days, I've written three player profiles, one casino feature, two articles for PokerWorks, transcribed the lengthy Q & A with Dalla, talked to Hoyt Corkins for our Ask Hoyt feature and started compiling the Southern Roundup for the next issue. Kiddies, it's time for me to go play some poker.

It's great to be in Vegas

Touched down around 9 p.m. last night, took the bus to the new car rental center and grabbed my car and headed downtown to Binion's. Grabbed the room key from the front desk and took my crap up to my room and then headed over to the Golden Nugget to meet with the guys from Rounder Magazine. They were there shooting the next Rounder girl in front of the shark tank of the new pool.

Last summer, they were in the process of building that new pool and it seems a wise choice. The pool surrounds a large fish tank (with plenty of sharks in it). There's two decks above the tank and a water slide that goes right through it. They also deal blackjack and what not out by the pool. It's most impressive stuff and I wouldn't be surprised if the Nugget gets business from people who just want to stay there to lounge around the pool. They're shooting poker pro Vanessa Rousso out there tonight for the cover of the next issue, which they will be passing out when the main event starts. Perhaps Rounder Magazine will take off and me getting involved on the ground floor will pay dividends.

I grabbed a late night breakfast at Binion's Coffeeshop (probably my favorite place to eat in Vegas, even if they have eliminated the Chinese menu there) and then headed up to the room. By then Ted was back and we chatted for a while before I drifted off to sleep.

He's done well since last summer, with a $100K+ cash in a Fiesta Al Lago tournament at Bellagio last October. Me, I've just disappeared from poker completely until now. Maybe I can come back with a big bang.

It sure didn't start this morning, however, as I dropped $100 in a 4/8 Omaha Hi-Lo game in rapid time as I waited for Ted to shower so we could head to the McDonald's at the Plaza for some coffee. You'd think if you raised a kill pot to $12 under the gun with A-A-2-K (one ace suited in clubs) you could narrow the field, but I ended up seeing a nasty flop of Q-Q-9 with three other players for a cap of $30. I got creamed by A-3-5-Q. A third queen on the turn trapped me as I had to call the guy down to make sure he didn't have 9-9 in the hole since I had the nuts if he didn't have a queen. I've been playing a lot of O/8 online lately and been doing well so I think I'm going to give the $200 O/8 tournament at the Binion's Poker Classic a shot tomorrow.

We got our coffee and headed over here to the Rio. It's set up a lot differently this year, with the final table, cash games and satellites all switched around to different parts of the convention center. Not sure I like the new look (also a lot darker with most of the overhead lights turned off), but I understand the need to keep things fresh.

Now I'm sitting in the media room waiting for many of my old writing pals to file their way in as the morning progresses. I had to sneak in while the security guard's back was turned as I can't get my media credential until 11 a.m. so I'm stuck in here for the next couple of hours.

In what should be of surprise to no one...

...I'm going to Vegas.

I'm leaving Sunday afternoon and getting in around 10 p.m. (I really love flying into Vegas at night.) I'll be staying at Binion's with Ted (again) and driving back and forth to the Rio.

I was able to get some work writing for Linda at PokerWorks, so depending on how that pans out I may stay for the duration of the WSOP. If not, I'll come back after the Fourth of July (and before Amy's birthday.)

Unfortunately, my bankroll is fairly weak so my play may be limited. I am in the process of "whoring" myself out (Amy's term) by selling shares of myself in some of the Binion's and Venetian tournaments, which will allow me to play more of them.

It's not quite like the heady days of last year when I touched down at McCarran with a main event seat in the future. If I'm going to make some cheese, I'll really have to work it.

Richard Brodie banned from Harrah's

One word sums this up --ridiculous.

Poker pro Richard Brodie has been banned from all Harrah's properties for making four royal flushes in the past year in various Harrah's casinos in Vegas. He's too lucky for Harrah's apparently. Read Richard's thoughts on the matter here:

http://www.brodietech.com/liontales/blog.htm

I think the Quiet Lion is taking his WSOP bannishment pretty well. Of course, Richard is a very well-mannered fellow. I don't think I could show the same restraint.

Vegas or bust?

I've thought about things a lot lately. Graduating from college for a second time will make a fellow ponder his future. Some things aren't in doubt. Like I'm going to marry Amy Harper. I'm going to have children. You know, those big things.

But when it comes to employment, my future is very much in doubt. The safe thing to do would be to mass email my resume to every available employer within 200 miles, find a decent job and take it. Isn't that what I was running away from when I left my newspaper job two years ago?

One thing I've come to realize, even though I tried to suppress it during this past year, is that I love poker. I don't obsess over the game like the fanatics who spend all day on the message boards, 5-table online games and effectively eat, sleep and drink poker. But I do love it. Winning money playing a game you love is intoxicating. Making money writing about it is gravy on top of that.

I've gotten involved with this new Rounder magazine, which is published just up the road in Birmingham. It's a guppy in the shark tank of poker magazines, but it is improving and I think it has good momentum going for it since it was first published in January. Plus, it has a centerfold every month, and we know how horny poker players love good-looking women. That makes it stand out.

I don't see any living I make in the next few years not including much of the income coming from poker in both of the above methods. The game is just ingrained in me and it keeps me out of a tie every day. I'm looking into real estate really hard, speficially buying and reselling foreclosures, but until then it's pretty much poker.

I hadn't planned to go to Vegas this summer, unless I could win a seat into the main event. My feeble efforts proved fruitless in that regard, so now it's left to me to seek a writing job out there. Perhaps I can convince Rounder that they need some eyes and ears in Vegas. I hope so. Reading about the WSOP and listenting to some podcasts has given me the itch again, and that's an itch that's hard not to scratch.

WSJ article about Harvard poker session

Some academics got together with Howard Lederer and Annie Duke recently to discuss the skill factor of poker in an attempt to legitimize the game in recent efforts to pass new legislation to overturn the September ban on online gaming.

Lederer had this interesting comment:

The "vast majority" of high-betting poker hands, he says, are decided after all players except the winner have folded. So if no one shows his cards, Mr. Lederer says, "can you legally argue that the outcome was determined by luck?"

Here's the link:

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB117812153189389684-lMyQjAxMDE3NzA4MzEwMjMxWj.html

Roshambo on Ultimate Bet

Probably you've figured out by now that rock, paper, scissors has finally gone prime time with a game dedicated to it on Ultimate Bet. I used to think I was good at Roshambo (before I even knew it was called such a thing) when I would play friends and family in a game of first to 10. I actually have never lost a match of that length, though I probably haven't played others of high Roshambo ability...I tried to get Iggy to play me in a first to 10 game last summer after the blogger tournament at Caesars, but he got distracted after I pulled ahead and I got bored waiting for him to come back and left. I tried to continue the match later at the Excalibur, but he insisted on best of 3 and beat me. That guy is such a scam artist!

So anyway, UB is now offering up the game on its site. Unfortunately, for you high-stakes Roshambo players, the max bet per game currently is just $2. With a 10 percent rake out of every pot, the game is probably unbeatable in the long run. I sat down with $20 Sunday night and got spanked 18 games to 10. So ends my attempt at a professional Roshambo career.

Probably not such a gentleman

I was warned by a well-respected poker writer last week that Bill Gustafik was not such a gentleman. I imagine the truth will eventually come out in the wash. Here was an interesting article in Inside Bay Area about the whole sordid affair with Gustafik and his wife:

http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_5711755

I can only speak from personal experience, of course. The guy was nice to me for the brief interaction I had with him. It's always interesting to see the truth that lies underneath.

Fellow WSOP player murdered by wife

I was doing some research for an article I'm writing and came across this story on the Card Player website. Bill Gustafik was one of the chip leaders at my first table during the third day at the main event last summer. I remember him fondly because during a break he gave me encouragement after I had lost a big pot early in the day. Bill asked how many chips I had and told me to "hang in there," patting me on the back in the process. Poker has lost one of its true gentlemen.

Tournament Pro Bill Gustafik Found Murdered

His Wife Is Charged with His Death

Tournament poker player Bill Gustafik was found stabbed to death in his high-rise condominium Friday, and his wife, Jill Rockcastle, is the main suspect.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police say they found Gustafik’s body Friday in the couple’s condo in Panorama Towers located just off the Strip in Las Vegas. Rockcastle was found unconscious in a room at a bed and breakfast in San Luis Obispo Monday.She was hospitalized in San Luis Obispo, but is now is in jail awaiting to be transfered to Nevada to face the charges of murdering her husband.

The knife that police think was used in the crime was found just outside Panorama Tower near an area where garbage is stored.

Gustafik, of San Ramon, Calif., was a chiropractor before going pro after the 2005 World Series of Poker. In an online poker player profile, Gustafik wrote: “Being a chiropractor by profession, I plan to go from cracking backs to cracking the stakes of the best pro. I plan to play all WPT and WSOP events. With my beautiful wife by my side and my 9-year-old daughter giving me tips, nothing can stop me.”

He said if there was one thing he could change about his life, it would be that “my wife would play live and not just online even though she wins.”

Gustafik has won more than $162,000 in live poker events since 2005, including a tenth-place finish at the World Poker Tour’s $10,000 Bay 101 Shooting Star event in 2006 and a 280th finish at the 2006 World Series of Poker’s main event that attracted 8,773 players.

$10K instead of a seat?

Apparently, a Full Tilt Poker player who had won a seat in the main event received this email in the past few days:

Dear Tilter,
Congratulations on winning a seat to the WSOP main event. We have explored all of our options and given the fact that we will not be providing players third party registration, in accordance to Harrah's policy, we have decided to release the remaining $10,000 of your prize package to your account immediately so you can begin the registration process. Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Regards,
Team Full Tilt


So it makes me wonder if all online sites running WSOP qualifiers will be just depositing that money into player accounts and pretty much give them free reign with that money. Honestly, as much as I want a second chance at that sucker (yes, I still have the occasional nightmare about the KK vs. AA) at this point in my life I'd rather have the $10,000 in my bank account.

Amy and I want to go here on our honeymoon: www.tikaye.com

But that may not be possible without a nice poker score.

My last few months

I don't remember where I found this, but I thought it was pretty funny:

The 4 stages of a poker blogger

Stage 1: Here is my blog. I've just learned how to play poker and I'm going to impart my knowledge to you as I learn. "It's so much fun telling everyone how much I know about poker".

Stage 2: This is easy. I'm winning xxbb/100 hands. I'll be quitting my job next week to go "pro". Here's some blogging about how much money I'm pissing away, just because I can. I'm like a trust fund baby only I'm earning my money playing poker.

Stage 3: Man, I've been running bad. I just lost more money this week than I used to make in a year. Oh well, things will turn around. These people I'm losing to are horrible. They just outdraw me on the river everytime. I don't mind losing to idiots cause i know in the long run, i will win.

Stage 4: Most recent post was 6 months ago.

Hey, that sounds like me!

When last I posted about my own poker exploits, I was in Tunica living it up on the circuit again. I essentially broke even for the week up there (yes, I speak the truth -- I think I lost $50 for the trip, which is miniscule in this crazy poker world).

A brief bad beat story -- I played in the first $500 NLHE at the WSOP circuit event at the Grand and was in the money. We were down to about 55 players and I had just won a pot and was up to about $30K in chips I believe, which was above average. The blinds were $600 and $1,200. An early position raiser made it $3,000. I looked down at QQ in the small blind and made it $8,000. The raiser just called so I put him on A-K. I was going to push on a non-ace flop for my last $20K. The door card was an ace. My heart momentarily sank until I saw the second card -- a queen! I decided to push anyway, hoping he would call with A-K. He called immediately and I happily tabled my pocket queens. My smile quickly turned upside down when he flipped over pocket rockets.

OK, so it was more of a cold deck story than a bad beat, but hey, that's how bad I roll. Still got $850 or so, but I just can't seem to catch the big break.

I played very little poker for the next two months following that, but with a wedding and honeymoon on the way, I decided I needed to start earning money again so I got back at it. March was a good month (nearly +$3K in still relatively limited action), but I'm not making much hay in April.

I'm looking for jobs again, of course. I didn't go to grad school for nothing. I am still hoping to make it back to Vegas for part of the WSOP this summer, but I'll probably only go if I win a seat to the main event online and if I don't get a job before then. Amy's not too happy about the idea of me missing her birthday on July 8, but she said I can go if I get her a really, really, really good present.

Speaking of burning questions...

Thanks to my man Gary Wise at Wise Hand Poker, I now have a gig writing an article for the back page of the official WSOP program. I'm supposed to propose and answer five burning questions about the WSOP.

Here are some quick ones Gary Wise and I came up with the other day:

Will a woman ever win the main event?
Will a main event champion ever repeat again?
Will someone break Phil Hellmuth's record as the youngest winner of the main event?
Who will get their 11th bracelet first?

Can you guys and gals think of some other good ones?

RGP discussion of Rounders

Love it or hate it, Rounders seems to be THE movie that recent poker junkies love to cite on a regular basis. (The Cincinnati Kid is a much better movie, but a much smaller segment of the poker loving population has seen it.)

I logged onto RGP today and saw a rather funny discussion of the movie. Here are some of the burning questions proposed by poster SoBoDo:


While we are on the topic, I have some questions too:

- What was the oreo cookie actually saying to Teddy? I have played those scenes over and over, with the volume as loud as I could get it, and I still don't hear what the cookie is saying.

- If Mike McD had gotten Christy Turlington to give Knish a blowjob, would Knish have then given Mike McD the money?

- When Mike McD lost the big hand to Teddy, he had the second nuts ... the only hand that beats him is AA. Teddy also had the second nuts ... the only hand that beats him is 99. They both play the second nuts the same ... went all in hoping they weren't up against the nuts. Why is Teddy given credit for being smarter than Mike McD?

- How did grandma get the nick name grandma?

- Wouldn't Edward Norton make a great Daniel Negreanu in a poker movie movie? The fat guy in the movie Roadhouse could play Todd Brunson. Dennis Quaid could play Ted Forrest.


And ContactGSW had this to say:

Who the fuck cares? Everybody vilifies cheaters but they cum all over themselves about this movie, both characters are cheating smegmatics pos's. The movie gets stupider every time I watch it, which is about 50 times now, I'm really starting to hate it.


...which kind of begs the question why he has watched it 50 times.

More WSOP news

Once again I have a World Series of Poker news release that I'm posting. This, of course, takes the place of any real thinking or writing by myself.


Reigning World Series Of Poker Champion Jamie Gold
Won’t Face Retroactive Penalty For Rules Infractions

LAS VEGAS – March 28, 2007 – The World Series of Poker will not penalize reigning WSOP World Champion Jamie Gold for two rules infractions that occurred during the 2006 WSOP Main Event.

In a recent interview with The New York Times, Gold said that in one incident he exposed a hole card to an opponent. He said that in the other incident he told an opponent he held top pair and top kicker after the opponent had bet. While common in cash games, such actions are violations of WSOP tournament rules.

Under the 2006 WSOP rules, Gold would have been subject to a penalty requiring him to sit out 10 minutes of play – if WSOP floor persons had seen either of those incidents when they occurred. The rules for the 2007 WSOP call for a 10-hand rather than 10-minute penalty.

After The New York Times interview was published, senior WSOP officials reviewed video footage and had two conversations with Gold about the incidents. Gold freely acknowledged and expressed contrition for the rules infractions, attributing them to his exuberance and excitement at participating in his first-ever WSOP Main Event.

The WSOP officials determined from the video review and the discussions with Gold that he did not deliberately attempt to violate the rules and that no penalties would be invoked retroactively for the incidents.

“Not only were we impressed with Jamie’s candor and contrition, but we also recognized that tournament officials didn’t witness the incidents or take appropriate action at the time of the rules infractions,” said Jeffrey Pollack, commissioner of the World Series of Poker. “We share culpability in this case and are satisfied that the actions in question were inadvertent mistakes. We look forward to Jamie’s participation in the 2007 WSOP.

“I do want to stress, however, that we do not condone any violations of the rules and will make every effort to enforce them in every WSOP event,” Pollack said.

10,000? Nah.

This article recently appeared in the Las Vegas Sun...

Yes, first post in two months and it's just a cut and paste. I'll write something later.


World Series of Poker prepares for 10,000 entrants in Las Vegas
By RYAN NAKASHIMA
Associated Press Writer

LAS VEGAS (AP) - World Series of Poker organizers are preparing for 10,000 entrants to this year's main event, a 14 percent increase from last year, despite a U.S. crackdown on online gambling sites that have boosted the tournament's popularity.

Organizers said Wednesday that the number was for planning purposes only, and did not reflect confidence that last year's 8,773 entrants would be topped. Half of last year's record number of entrants were estimated to have won their seats in online qualifier events.

"It is not either a target, a goal or a prediction," tournament commissioner Jeffrey Pollack said during a conference call with reporters. "But again, you've got to plan for something. We're planning for a top level of 10,000 but if there are more, we will figure it out."

The tournament plans to build a structure beside the host Rio casino-hotel in Las Vegas and increase the number of tables to 258, Pollack said. That would be enough to allow more than 3,000 players to play the first three days of the main event.

A higher number of entrants would mean the grand prize for the world's richest poker game would exceed last year's $12 million.

The tournament also said it was distancing itself from online poker sites that accept bets from U.S. players, in line with the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. The measure was signed by President Bush as part of a port security bill in October.

Groups associated with dot-com poker sites that take U.S. wagers will no longer be allowed to set up VIP booths and displays, Pollack said.

The tournament, owned by Harrah's Entertainment Inc., also is warning sites that improperly use trademarked material, such as the tournament name, to stop.

That could include poker Web sites such as FullTiltPoker.com and Bodog.com, which are holding satellite tournaments that award World Series of Poker seats worth $10,000 apiece.

Pollack said players would not be able to sport logos from sites that continue to violate its trademark rights by the time the first events of the 47-day tournament series begin June 1.

The trademark warnings could crimp registrations, said Internet gambling expert and lawyer Anthony Cabot.

"I think they're in a difficult position," Cabot said. "They're a licensed entity and therefore have to be cognizant of the new laws and the potential impact those new laws could have on them as a company. At the same time, implementation of those policies will have a negative economic impact on the tournament."

Amy and me at a Bama football game this fall. I can't wait to marry her! 

The fever returns

I didn't realize how much I missed the poker circuit in the five months I've been away. If you truly love this game as I do, you can't beat the excitement of lining up to enter a tournament with a shot at $100K or entering a satellite for a chance of entering a big tournament or sitting down in one of the plethora of available cash games or seeing old friends you've met along the tournament trail.

It's great to be back.

I have no success to report...sat down in a 2-5 NL game as soon as I got to the Gold Strike and picked up kings vs. aces and got it all in preflop. Damn, I had serious WSOP flashbacks with that hand. I've been running uphill since. (Don't worry Amy. I haven't lost my ass...yet.)

Sadly, this stay will be brief as I have to go back to school on the 11th. I also miss Amy like crazy. :) Perhaps I can make it back for a weekend before it's all over.

---

Wonder why I never gave that one-year wrap up report? I felt as if I needed this grandiose concluding post and I never took the time to do it. There was school and there was Amy, and yes, some poker too (though much less poker than in the preceeding months.) If you have read this blog from the beginning, or taken the time to go back and read my first post in October 2004, you will see that the whole creation of this blog was based on my preparation for my one-year journey into the poker world. Now that's over, so this blog must evolve to continue. As I get back to writing it, I'll probably delve into plenty of non-poker topics, but there will be a review of the best of the year as well. I'm trying to think what my Top 10 moments were, for instance...

Of love and poker

Didn't you always hate those season-ending cliffhangers on television? Just when things get interesting and the suspense builds the series goes on hiatus for the summer and you are left wondering for months how the writers are going to continue the plotlines. The worst thing is when a series is abruptly canceled after the season ender is filmed and fans are left forever puzzled. I still wonder what would have happened to FBI Agent Dale Cooper on Twin Peaks after he was inhabitated by the spirit BOB. I guess we'll never know.

Consider the last four months my season-ending cliffhanger. For the two of you still reading, thank you for your patronage (however foolish it may be, I love you for still stopping by from time to time to see if I have come out of the cave.) I think Iggy summed it up best when he posted in the comment section, "Damn it Johnny, where
are you?"

I just recently concluded the best year of my life. I completed a year (actually a year and a half now) of professional poker playing without going broke and enjoyed the freedoms that such an endeavor tends to bring. No alarm clock. No boss. It's great. I won a seat into and cashed in the main event of the World Series of Poker, and will have the accompanying stories to tell my grandkids one day. I turned 30 and it brought me a renewed vigor and focus on doing something with the rest of my life. But you are probably more interested in what's been going on in the months since my last post. That is the best part...

You may recall the girl I went home to, the main reason I wanted to leave Vegas a week early. Her name is Amy and we're getting married Sept. 22. Wow, how quickly I fell in love. We hit it off as soon as I got home and it has been a joyous whirlwhind of the last four months. I proposed just before Christmas and at that point there was no doubt here answer would be "yes." I'm ready to be a family man.

I've also been in grad school since August, with students my brother's age who really make me feel old. When you're dealing with people who barely know who Ross Perot is, as one class discussion revealed, you are going to feel a tad geriatric. I'm halfway done with that program and will get my master's in marketing in May. After that, it's back to the real world I'm afraid, but what a two years of freedom it will have been.

If you're reading, feel free to pass the word that I'm back. Tuscaloosa Johnny blogs again! Now, I must get on my horse and ride to Tunica...I got a week before school starts back. Yee haw!

Signing off from Vegas

Well my battery is dying and the plug doesn’t work so I’ve got to be quick…

Unfortunately, I caught a nasty cold that had me down for the count the last two days of the WSOP. I tried to soldier on for a bit on Thursday, but just couldn't cut it and headed for the comfort of my MGM bed.

Congratulations to Jamie Gold for achieving the dream 8,772 fellow main event participants had. May Gold be a great ambassador for the game as it gears up for what will be a major discussion with Congress in the coming years on the future of online poker. There's no doubt the effect that the online game has had on the growth of poker offline (8,773 participants in the WSOP being proof number one) and to pull the plug on the online game would certainly reverberate within the real world poker community.

It's always sad to see the WSOP come to an end. There is no other tournament like it in the world; truly nothing comes close. Other tournaments offer trophies, rings or watches to the winners, but there is nothing that compares to a WSOP bracelet. Thousands of professional, intermediate and rank amateur players traveled to their Mecca this summer. Most of them went home empty handed (or with empty wallets), but almost all of them returned with great stories and the experience of a lifetime.

Of course, this also ends my one-year poker journey and I’ll have much more to say about that when I have the time.

I was to stay for BARGE, but after five weeks in this town I’m a bit sick of it and ready to go home so I changed my flight until tomorrow. There’s also the matter of this girl…

I met Amy shortly before leaving for Vegas and we’ve talked a lot since I’ve been here and we’re both eagerly anticipating our second date. (Kind of glad nothing happened with that “Karen” girl now that I think about it). If that’s not a good enough reason to head home, I don’t know what is. There’s also a grad school orientation taking place on the 19th that might prove useful. So home I head.

I drove by the Panorama Towers every day for a week as I commuted from the MGM to the Rio and dreamed of the riches that would allow me to live there. But the more I think about it, the things I need in life I’ve already got and they’re all back home in Alabama.

Shannon Elizabeth is stalking me

So she hasn't actually spoken to me or made eye contact, but I know she's up to something. First, she played in the celebrity/charity event with me. No, we weren't at the same table, but she was positioned near a friend of mine who was also in it. She must have known I would come over and talk to him. Then, we were at the Harrah's official WSOP party at Voodoo Lounge on top of the Rio. She was sitting in a booth chatting with Joe Sebok, but I was once again within sight. The other day I was playing a satellite and she started talking to the guy sitting beside me before leaving. And lastly, the Poker Blog team was having dinner at Antonio's in the Rio two nights ago and as I got up to depart there was Elizabeth again, dinning with Joe Hachem's brother.

I've got my eye on you Shannon.

We've officialy entered the silly season of the WSOP. A star-studded field filled 50 tables of the Rio on the pentultimate day to play the last bracelet event, a $1,500 NLHE, that will be completed today. Many of the pros wouldn't normally touch such a small event, but with no other action everyone's taking their shot at the elusive WSOP hardware.

But no one's treating it too seriously. The pros are joking and meeting and greeting. Even the amatuers are loose, cutting up at the tables as the WSOP comes to a close and the ESPN production crew prepares the featured table for the close of another summer of poker.

The silliness extended to me. I foolishly thought I could beat an A-J with an A-K in my own last ditch attempt at serious coin. No bracelets for yours truly in 2006, just a heck of a lot of stories and new friends. Speaking of which, I've got to head to a mixed game with some of those friends that begins at MGM in mere minutes.

Down to 27

I found happiness last night at the MGM in the form of mechanical horses. For the first time in five years, I played Sigma Derby. It’s a large rectangular device in which people sit around all sides and place bets on two horse win-place combinations as the little mechanical dudes race around a track inside the glass case. During each race, the 10 possible combinations of the five horses are given specific odds so if you bet one quarter on a 2 to 1 you double your money or if your longshot 43 to 1 comes in you get $10 and change. It’s an incredibly silly and fun diversion, and apparently old machine as it has no dollar bill slots. You have to get a roll of quarters from a change girl to play it.

This was the first Sigma Derby I’ve seen since we played one at Caesars Palace in 2001. Heck, might even be the same machine.

As for that little thing they call the World Series of Poker, they played down from 45 to 27 players today, stopping at 5:15 this evening, after just five plus hours of play. Unfortunately, Rob Berryman, a 21-year-old University of Alabama student, busted out 33rd when his inside straight flush draw did not make it after the flop. I didn’t realize we had a Tuscaloosan still in the hunt until T-News sports editor David Wasson informed me of it yesterday. It turns out Rob was one of the college kids playing in that fraternity game I wrote about last fall when I was working on a proposal for that college poker scene book.

He seems like a good kid and he doesn’t plan to splurge with the money. He told me he won’t play again next year unless he wins a seat. His family was here to cheer him on and I’m happy to see him fare so well.

We writers shall soon depart for food and drinks following our short day so I must conclude.

I won't lie...

...I'm very envious as I watch the last remaining players in the main event battling it out to see who'll come out on top. If you played your heart out for two and a half days, only to get cold decked and eliminated much earlier than you would have expected, you can't help but be disappointed.

Things are winding down around here.

I get a little sad when the last week of the WSOP comes upon us as the Rio tournament room becomes a shell of its former self.

Sure, there's no shortage of excitement in the back of the room as the main event grinds down to the final few tables, but the rest of the room becomes almost a ghost town.

The cash games start to dry up, as most players have left to return home. In fact, practically no high limit games are being played now, merely the $2-$5 blinds no limit and $10-$20 limit games are there for the few who want to partake.

Satellites are few and far between, as the only events left are the supplemental bracelet events that Harrah's has implemented in the last two years. No longer are the second-chance tournaments in play either.

Many of the tables have been removed because they're just not needed anymore. Tournament structure sheets are scattered around the tables, no longer placed in an orderly fashion for interested onlookers. Many of the vendors have packed up and left town.

The WSOP is the greatest tournament on earth and if you've been around to enjoy it, you can't help but feel a bit melancholy when its end is near.

A gaggle of bloggers met up last night at MGM to have drinks at the sportsbook bar before taking a limo to the Rio to goof around. G-Rob and BadBlood were in town and joined folks like Byron and Michael and April and Ryan (420th in the main event!) and his wife Kim and me and some other people I may be forgetting.

Byron managed to spit beer all over us and the dealer as we played blackjack at MGM and G-Rob introduced BadBlood to the not-so-wonderful world of Let it Ride at the Rio. Later, we had a game of Let Her Ride on the way back to our hotels. Michael's wife hopped in my lap in the back seat due to the lack of room and I was forced to think pure, happy thoughts on the way back as she is not an unattractive woman...mom, baseball, apple pie...mom, baseball, apple pie...mom, baseball....

April (Kyle, of thisisnotapokerblog.com fame) and I were put up at the MGM by Party Poker because they were so slow in paying us for our first few weeks work. So I left my dungeon at Binion's and into my deluxe apartment in the sky last week. I'm there until the 11th and then move back to the Plaza downtown for BARGE. Interestingly enough, BARGE was for some reason moved to Caesars Palace so I will have to commute to the Strip every day. I may have to renew my car rental for the last part of my trip. Beats the hell out of riding the Duece.

This is James Spader. 

This is not James Spader. 

The run ends

You could sense the high nerves as players made their way to the Rio for Day 3 of the main event. More than 250 players would be eliminated Friday without making the money, despite two full days of tiring, meticulous play on the green felt. Short stacks would be looking to double up early while medium stacks would be looking not to screw up. I figured I was in good shape with my 142K as it put me in the top 140 of the 1,159 players remaining.

I made my way to Table 39, and had to wait several minutes to unbag my chips as the big stack to my left, Bill Gustafin, sorted his black and pinks and yellows. That’s one thing I had not experienced before – in truth, I never thought about it. It takes several minutes to empty those bags of chips and stack the chips by proper denomination if you have hundreds of them, like Bill and myself. To my right sat Mark Lawler, dressed in a coat and tie and a bowler with a feather peeking out of the brim.

“I bought it in the gift shop this morning,” he said of the cap.

I asked him if he was trying to play up to the cameras, but Lawler said he just wanted to look good today. I choose to wear my white Poker Share polo and straw hat I picked up at the party at the Palms. All I needed was a piece of straw to chew to complete the country boy look.

“You’re name is Mark, right?” I asked Lawler. He was surprised before I told him I had researched him and the other players on the Card Player Web site the night before. I didn’t mind telling them because I thought it would give me the appearance of someone they should fear at the table.

“I imagine you found nothing on me,” he said. He was right.

But it was the guy without the acclaim that would take more than 40 percent of my stack early and it was a foreboding start to the day. Here’s how the hand came down: Lawler raised to 3,600 and I called with Qd-Jd. The flop was a Q-J-9 rainbow and Lawler bet 5K. Wanting to play the hand for value, I raised to 12K rather than shut my opponent out of the pot. That turned out to be my undoing. Lawler pushed all in and I called. He showed T-J and hit an 8 on the turn for the straight. I missed the re-draw on the river and pushed about 60K Lawler’s way.

Despite that hit, I remained composed with my remaining 80K and built it back up to 89,500 at the first break (only one hour in since we stopped mid level on Tuesday.)

Before going back in, I felt a pat on the shoulder. I turned around to find Gustafin with a grin on his face. “Hang in there buddy,” he told me. I was delighted that this big stack to my left, who could create headaches galore for my now slightly below average stack, was such a nice guy.

The field narrowed to 910 players during the second level. Only 37 more players to go before the money. Play tightens further and I become more aggressive. Here’s two examples:

1) I’m in the small blind with Jc-8d and Lawler limps. He checks the Qs-2h-3c flop and I bet 3,500 and he calls. A Kh appears on the turn and he checks again. I fire another 9K and Lawler folds.
2) Two hands later I’m on the button and try to steal the blinds (now 800/1,600) with a 4,500 bet with K-7 off and a big stack calls in the big blind. After a flop of J-2-3 rainbow he checks and I fire another 6K. He mucks 6-6 faceup and we go to break.

I’m at 107,600 at the break and feeling good. Even the big stacks are letting me push them around. It’s a friendly table and I seem to be ruling it. So of course my table is broken minutes after we return. I take my new seat at Table 51 and find several young, aggressive players with monster stacks. It’s my worst WSOP nightmare come to life.

I’m forced to completely change my game strategy, going from the aggressor to the passive player. There’s no playing these guys without a hand and I don’t want to bubble. We narrow to eight hundred eighty something and we begin playing round for round. After each dealer deals around to where the big blind started, he or she stands up and waits for all the tables to complete the action. After one round, we are down to 876 players and have to continue the round for round. Finally, after round two we are all in the money.

Tournament director Jack Eiffel announces the fact and the room is filled with cheers and claps. A man at the table to my right, British apparently as he’s wearing pants with the Union Jack, stands on a chair and shouts to the rafters.

“That’s step one,” I tell the man to my right.

“Did anyone tell you you look like that actor?” he asks.

“James Spader,” I reply.

“Yes, that’s him,” he says.

Unfortunately, step one would be the only step for me. We play a few more hands and players drop like flies. The floorpeople bring racks over to our table as they’re about to break us. In fact, I have nearly all my 80K in chips in racks when this table’s final hand is dealt. Matt Maroon raises the 2K blind to 6K and an aggressive Asian guy on the button makes it 16,700. I look down and find K-K. Finally, after waiting this table out, I pick up a hand with a chance to double up or more before moving to new digs. I think for a minute before pushing all in.

Maroon calls quickly, making me think I might be screwed. When the Asian guy calls too I know I’m screwed. Maroon turns over Q-Q. The button turns over A-A. No one improves and two of us go home.

You hear stories of how people react when they’re knocked out of the main event, but I took it in stride. It was that tranquility that allowed me to keep an even keel through the first two and a half days and I kept that same attitude upon being eliminated.

I didn’t care much for the guy on the button. He was a bit of a dick and he had a haircut that could have sprung from an Archie’s comic, with hair shaved close around the sides and parted in the middle on top. But I bit my tongue.

I just shoved my racks of chips over.

“Nice hand, sir,” I said before being escorted to the payout desks.

My final showing was 768th, though I really should have been 767th since I had more chips than Maroon. It’s irrelevant really since all of us in that group got $16,493 for our efforts. It’s not $12 million, but it beats a kick in the shins.

Day 2A report and Day 3 preview

Wednesday was one of those days that was just a pain in the ass. I had discovered the night before that I had two tires going flat. I apparently picked up some nails going down Industrial. It took forever for the tow truck to come get my car and just as long to get another rental and the Binion’s elevators stopped working and I had to hoof it…

…Oh, you wanted to know about Tuesday? That, my friends, was a good day.

I felt confident going into Day 2 of the main event because I felt I had played good poker on Day 1. It’s true that the deck ran over me, but besides that I played solid, aggressive poker and picked up many small pots. I played even better on Tuesday.

I was again a card rack early and busted two short stacks in the first level. On the first hand, I picked up K-K and raised the 500 blind to 1,500. The player in the BB re-raised to 4K and I hesitated for show and finally threw my Milwaukee’s Best All-In chip into the pot. He called off the rest of his 10K immediately and showed A-K. The case king on the flop practically sealed it and I was off to the raises with this 16K pot.

I picked up K-K again shortly afterwards and re-raised a short stack who had gone all in for 6K to get heads up. He had A-Q and my hand held.

I then pulled off one of my best plays of the day when it was folded to Vinnie Vinh on the button and he raised the 500 blind to 2K. (Little did I know at the time that he won the most recent WSOP Circuit Event at Caesar’s. So much for my supposed homework.) The small blind called and I decided to try the squeeze play. I figured Vinh could have anything and was probably weak and would have to fear me raising after the SB called so I popped it up to 7K. Vinh folded and the SB called, a move I didn’t like. You wonder what my hand was? It doesn’t much matter since it would be reasonable to make this move with any two cards, but since the SB called I did need back up. I had it, sort of, with the A-7. The flop was a nice A-4-4 and I checked it to the river and bet 6K then. He folded. I played it reasonably slow because I assumed I was way ahead. Probably I should have bet the turn.

Just before the first level ended came the hand of dreams. An early position raiser made it 1,500 and I called in the BB with T-T. The flop was Th-7d-3h. I check and he bet 2K. I raised to 5K and he made it 12K. I just called. Turn is the other ten and I figured my action was killed. Nope. He bet 8K after I checked and I decided to smooth call again. When the Kh showed on the river I decided to bet out 9K and he immediately went all in for another 20K or so. The bettor, a guy in his early 20s in a Ladbrokes shirt, nearly fell out of his chair when I called in a flash and tossed over my quads. I showed quickly because I was pretty excited, but also didn’t want to slowroll. He mucked without showing. The only reasonable hand I can figure is he had 7-7 in the hole. You guys have any other guesses?

A little later in the day I lost 14K in a hand when I re-raised a shortstack’s 3,500 bet to 10K and called his additional all in when I had jacks and he had kings. That dropped me down to 95K or so.

There weren’t any significant hands the rest of the day. I built my stack up to 142,400 at the end of the day by blind stealing, re-raising and continuation bets. I’ve been fortunate that the first two days have been very easy so far as I haven’t had many tough decisions. It’s doubtful that Friday will be so easy.

We only played 4.5 levels on Tuesday because players were dropping like flies so we’ll come back at the 600/1,200 level with 200 antes for an hour Friday at noon. There are about 1,150 players left as we move to Day 3 and 873 will make the money. The average stack is about 80,000 so I am a solid 60,000 above it. In fact, I rank in the top 150 in chips I believe.

I got a terrible draw for Friday though. Here’s how Table 39 stacks up:

1 Sean Le $215,500
2 Sakura Sugawara $71,900
3 Sam Sweet $23,500
4 David Cai $35,500
5 Kent Gourding $15,700
6 Jian Jun Li $137,300
7 Brian Hetzel $32,400
8 Mark Lawler $70,900
9 Johnny Kampis $142,400
10 Bill Gustafin $228,900

Despite my high chip count, I manage to be seated at a table where not only am I third in chips, but where the two bigger stacks are directly to my left. That’s terrible luck. One advantage I see is it allows me to come into the pot first, so we’ll see how much these guys try to re-steal. I may have to come over the top of them early to show them I mean business. We’re not in this for $15,000; we’re in to get to the top!

I also want to acknowledge the support I’ve received during this run from my fellow poker writers here in Vegas. It’s helpful to know I’ve got my fellow pokerblog.com folks supporting me, as well as others like Pauly, Otis, Wil and any others I may have left out. And thanks also to my poker buddies back home in Tuscaloosa for the kind well wishings, even those without a financial stake in this ;)

Day 1 afterthoughts

...I was always at a comfortable level during the day since I was never short stacked. I was able to build my stack up quickly and I was never all in once during the day. I pushed all in a handful of times, but I always had my opponent covered by a wide margin. The only all in where I could have been crippled was the early one when I had A-A against the A-T on the ten high board.

...Chip counts during the day:

First level: 16K
Second level: 12K
Third level: 32K
Fourth level: 33,650
Fifth level: 26,925
Sixth level: 40,825

...I eliminated three players during the day, which nicely corresponds with my chip stack at the end of the day. It's about what I would have had if I had simply taken 10,000 chips each from three players.

...The advantage of getting our seat assignments is that I was able to see how I stack up against my Day 2 table tomorrow. Here's the names and chip counts:

Table 143

Seat 1 Ralph Caparotti $15,475
Seat 2 Johnny Kampis $40,825
Seat 3 Patrik Selin $48,075
Seat 4 Peter Blow $8,100
Seat 5 Peter Lidekraus $14,425
Seat 6 Empty
Seat 7 Mark Wellen $54,050
Seat 8 Jay Zimmer $6,600
Seat 9 Vinny Curry $65,650
Seat 10 Andrew Berner $11,950

I'm fourth of nine players in chips and was a little unlucky to get a table where I don't rank higher in the chip count since I'm in the top 20 percent in chips overall. Blow and Zimmer will probably be looking to double up early with their short stacks and the blinds at 250/500 with the 50 ante. I looked up all the players on Card Player's Web site and only found Selin and Curry listed as having cashed in tournaments, though their results are scattered over the last couple of years, indicating they're good but not fantastically superb tournament players. I'm ready to take them on!

Stinky Fish Poker...ever heard of it? I didn't think so. 

Antonio Esfandiari signs his John Hancock at the Ultimate Bet booth. 

Patrons play online/live poker at the expo. Poker Pro is trying to introduce these tables that eliminate the need for dealers...and tipping! 

Luske gets emotional. 

Marcel Luske sings "Endless Love" at the Bluff Magazine party at the Joint in the Hard Rock Casino Sunday night. The females were swooning. 

Mikey goes wild at the expo, banging the table with his arms and putting cards in his mouth. And they wanted a chimp to play in the WSOP? 

People check out the chip counts and seat assignments posted for Day 1B players. 

Here's what the mob at the Rio looked like over the last four days. Thankfully, the crowd will disperse somewhat as the field diminishes.