Yesterday I didn't wake up until around 5 p.m. and then basebaldy and I headed to the Clippers game to see them in action against the laughable Charlotte Bobcats. Former Alabama player, Gerald Wallace was in action for Charlotte and had a pretty good game. Basebaldy beat me on both sides of the bet and killed me in props all night, but we weren't playing for much and I lost around 400. In more exciting news, I have atleast 5 friends still playing for the LAPC title. The winner gets 2.4 million. Jason Strasser, Steve Sung, JC "PrtyPSux" Alvarado, Jon "Jcardshark" Little, and Peter "Apathy" Jetten are all still in. There are tons of other big names left including JC Tran, Nam Le, Bill Edler, Chau Giang, Kristy Gazes, Lee Markholt, "Bodog Ari" Engel, and Paul Wasicka. This is a true murderer's row of players in the final 54. They reached the money last night and are guaranteed 22000 dollars. Obviously no one is satisfied with 22000. Should be fun to watch. Play resumes at 3:30 PST today. Jcard, my travel partner, is looking to make his second WPT final table of the season. SS

Man. I was at the average stack of 68000 when the bust hand came up. A player limped UTG, Ted Forrest limped, and I limped with T7hh. One more player limped in for 1000, and then both the blinds joined. We took a flop of Jh77 rainbow. It was checked to me and I bet 4000 into the 6900 pot. It was folded back to the kid in the BB, who raised to 12000. I had 63000 left and just called. The turn was an offsuit 3. He bet 15000. I was around 95% certain the guy had a 7. It was just a matter of how big. He was in the BB, so he could have any of the 12 possible 7 combinations. I can beat 72, 74, 75, 76, 87, and 97 while I'm behind 73, J7, Q7, K7 and A7. I obviously split with T7. That's 6 winners and 5 losers, so I decided to move in for 40000 more on the turn. There is also a small chance he has a hand like T9 or 98, but it's foolish to just call the turn and then call the shove on the river. I miss value against the worse sevens if he bets less than my final 40000 on the river, which was unlikely. He said, "I can't fold," and I knew I was behind. He showed A7dd, and this time I missed my 3 outter to scoop when the river came down a deuce. It's extremely frustrating because I was playing so, so great, and I felt like this could be a monster score. Such is poker. Jon is still in, so I'll stay in Los Angeles as long as he's in the tournament. We'll probably fly to Las Vegas whenever he wins or busts. SS

It was a marathon day that ended at 3:30 a.m. I finished day 1 of the WPT LAPC with 72675 in chips. The average is around 35000. There were 2 very significant pots worth mentioning. The first came when I was down to my final 9500 in chips. A player opened UTG for 1000 and a LAG player called in MP. I called on the button with T9hh. The flop came TT6 rainbow. The UTG raiser bet out 2000 and the next player called. I moved in for 8500. The UTG raiser tank-folded, and the MP player called instantly with QTss. The turn was a Jack, and the river was the miracle 9 to fill me up, double me up, and keep me alive in the tournaments. I had around 27000 in chips when the second hand came up. The LAG raised to 1200, and I called on the button with 22. The flop came KJ2, and he led out for the pot, 3000. I quickly raised to 10000. He didn't take long and moved me in for my 26500. I called, and I'd flopped him really cold, he showed KJ. I held against the 4 outter. I then got moved to a table with WSOP bracelet winners Scotty Clements and Eric Seidel. I didn't get involved too much here, but I did win a 35000 chip race with 5 minutes left in the night with QQ vs AK all in pre, on a board of AxxxQ! We tried to get food from a cafe in the casino, but that didn't work out. We went to a gangsta' Denny's down the street, ate, and now it's 6 a.m. and we're finally going to bed. We'll get around 8 hours of sleep before we have to get up and play again at the 3:30 p.m. start. LA trip roommates stacks: Cody Slaubaugh...Out Jon Little...35000 Eric Baldwin...15000 I have 10% of Eric. SS