Sigh. Same old story. Flirt with the real money. We played 14 hours, and I brought home 6800ish. Atleast I'm heating up, I guess. I'm exhausted and don't feel like recalling too many hands. I was above average for the first 6 hours or so until a sick one came up. An unknown raised to 2500 from MP and 2002 WSOP bracelet winner Jack Duncan called on the button. I found QQ in the BB and raised to 11500. The first guy folded and the seventy-something Duncan insta-backraised all-in for 24500 total. I of course had to call and he showed me AJcc. It goes without saying how bad 4betting AI here with AJ high and no FE is, but I was very glad to have him in this spot for a 55000 chip pot at 4/800. This hand is eerily similar to the hand that crippled me in the Borgata ME where people just don't believe me. The board came x x x A x though, and I was down to 13000. The very next hand Kenna James raised to 3000, and I found AA in the SB. I moved in for 13000 and he called with 99. The board bricked, and I was still alive. I battled uphill for the rest of the tournament for the most part. With 26 left and 18 paying I was about two-third avg stack. I got a miracle draw with 3 tables left with all unknowns except for Stan Jablonski and some dude I've played with before. The other table was stacked with online greats, JC Tran, ZJ, etc. Anyway, I was raising and reraising just about every pot for an orbit or two. A guy I'd been playing with all day opened in the cutoff to 3200ish, another guy called, and I shoved in for my 30000ish with AQ in the BB. The guy in the cutoff insta-turbo-spite-fell out of his chair calling all-in for 25000 with A9cc. Oh. I held and was now well above average. A minute or so later I made a mistake when I RRd a guy too light AI and he called me with QQ. I was down to 27000ish now at dinner break with 26 left. We came back and it took like 2 hours to get down to 18. I got up to around 95000 after my A4o doubled through Kenna's KQo. With 11 left the nightmare-busto hand came up. With blinds 1500/3000 (500) I had around 60000 after I lost a pot to Michael Pesek in a blind/blind war. I opened to 8000 UTG 5 handed with KTo and Tom Scheider was tanking on the button. Dutch Boyd raised to 28000 out of turn in the SB, and we had to call the floor. Dutch's action is non-binding, and after a few moments Tom just called. It was a really sick spot, and finally Dutch just called as well. Pesek tossed in the BB and we saw a T42r flop. When Schneider just called, I told myself he had 77, 88, or 99. I thought he would still raise the pot with JJ+ and AK or AQ despite Dutch's action. I intended on c'raising AI now that all these shenanigans happened. Dutch checked, I checked and Tom checked. Now Tom never has JJ+. The turn was the 6c. Dutch checked, and after a long thought I bet 17500 of my 52000ish. Tom thought and then raised to 40000. Dutch folded, and I finally decided to go with it because Tom's tank seemed legitimate, there's a chance he picked up a flush draw on the turn, and I am getting insane numbers. He showed the yucky top set of tens though, and I was drawing dead. The stars really have to align for me to go broke in this pot if you think about it.

Mike won the 2000 event for a sick payout. We are all crushing. Hopefully it continues. Every waking moment the last 4-5 days has been playing poker, but I'm enjoying it to be honest. Hopefully I can make something happen in the 3000 dollar event tomorrow.

SS

Weeeeeeeeee. We're all owning. Basebaldy finished 9th out of 480 players in the first Bellagio event for 10000. Mike Katz is third in chips with 10 to go in the 2000 at Bellagio that resumes tomorrow, and he has a shot at 200000 if he wins. I played the 2000 today at Bellagio but busted quickly in the second hour. I actually did not win a pot in the 75 minutes I was there. I raised 33 on the button once and both blinds called. The flop came KJx. They checked and I bet 300. The BB called. The turn was an Ace. The BB checked, and I fired a 2nd barrel for 700. He hollywood shoved for 1500 more, lol, with what was obv QT. I folded. I was down to 2000 of the 4000 when the busto hand came up. Vinny Vinh open limped for 100. Btw Vinny looked like he'd put some of his weight back on, and hopefully he has fought off all of his vices. It was a shame to see what happened to him at the 07 WSOP. Anyway, the button also limped, I completed 50 more with 76cc, and the BB checked. The flop was A76. I checked and QT guy from earlier bet 350 into 400. It was folded back to me, and I raised to 1150 and held back 750. He moved me in, and I obviously called. He showed up with A6. Oh. River brick.

I headed over to Venetian to play the 2500 that started at 3 p.m. we had a pool of just about 8 players, so we waited 90 minutes until we got 22 players and played a shorthanded tournament to accomodate the TV taping for the NPL. I coasted early and then busted this kid annoying ass kid "Crazy Mike" in a fun pot where I had KQhh against his Q8 on JT9x. If anyone has been around Bellagio the last few days they probably know who I'm talking about. The egotistical twenty-something never shuts the fuck up and has been walking around Bellagio for the last 48 hours trying to challenge people to play him in a LHE freezeout. I honestly have never been at a table where someone talked as much as this kid. The whole table thanked me upon sending him to the rail. Anyway, so I coasted for a while and took a 2nd overall chipstack to the final table of 7 with 3 getting paid. The FT consisted of one unknown, JJ Lieu and Dan Alspach, Allen Kessler, Dale Pinchot, Keith Lehr, Kathy Liebert, and myself. Almost all of said players are tough tournament players. Dale came in as chipleader but lost a couple pots before I busted him. 8 handed I opened up front to 1700 with J9dd. From third position Dale made it 4000 straight. Dale had RRd me twice preflop already, so I was certain he had a huge hand here. Keith coldcalled the 4000, and I made an easy call for 2300 more since Keith covered me and I was very deep. The flop came QT8sss. I checked and Dale instashoved in for his 20000ish. Keith tank folded and I called. He showed red Queens, and I held against the board pairing. We took a dinner break before eventually sending Dan, Kathy, Allen and JJ (on the bubble) to the rail. Three handed we dwindled the unknown down until finally his KJss was no good against Keith's KQdd. We got heads-up and were really having a lot of fun. We were going to chop because it was 1:45 a.m., but we decided to drink some beers and play for the 10000 that was left in the middle. Keith led 140 to 80 when we begun. He severely outflopped and outplayed me and I was down to 20000. I doubled through a time or two, and we finally agreed to a 21000 to 19000 chop. We took care of the dealers and floor, and I made outta there with a niceeeeeee net. Keith is a sick, sick, sick player who mixed it up very well all night. We were very deep heads-up and it made for some fantastic poker. We both ran a couple huge bluffs, and I made some nice, thin value bets. I've really been working on playing the river better from both ends. I made a couple of good laydowns, and so did Keith. He's a great guy who has killed all the games playing semi-professionally for a long time. I'll try to post some memorable hands if I get the chance tomorrow. I got a lot of TV time too, so maybe it will air on the HD networks like they say in a few months. I'm tired and playing the Bellagio 2500 in 7 hours. Slowly creeping towards the black overall in '07.

SS

Meh. Out in level 4. I couldn't win a hand early and was down to 925 chips at 50/100. I got in with AK vs A2 in the blinds to double up. The next orbit I got in with JJ against TT and was up to around 4300. I took 4500 to the break. The first hand back from break a good young player named Kenny raised unopened to 600 of his 3300 from the SB, and I defended the BB with JTo. The flop came 973. He bet 800, and I had a pretty easy push. He called with A9o, and the board came T-x to send me to around 8000 with the average around 5000. . In the next orbit this kid Prince who plays live pretty regularly opened to 600 in the HJ. The button called, and I found Aces in the SB. I raised to 2250. Prince called 1650 more and the other guy folded. The flop came Q65. I actually didn't love it, because I thought there was a good chance Prince had QQ. He is rather nitty, so I knew he had a tiny range to call my reraise pre. I bet all-in for his 4300, and he quickly called and insta-tabled QQ. Sigh. Brick-Brick, and I was crippled to 1250. I got in a few minutes later with A3 vs 55 and missed on 52xxx. I'll play the online tournaments starting at 5 p.m. local, and if I bust in time to play the Bellagio 1000 nightly I'll do that. I'll be playing anywhere from 175 to 200 hours of poker over the next 3 weeks so I anticipate that there will be a roller-coaster of emotions each day.

SS