Messages home, Team PokerStars standings, audio blog

It seems a touch odd, I suppose, to measure Day 1 in terms of, well, days. Day 1 is three days long and this very moment marks the halfway point. It's the dinner break in Day 1B. The room, which had risen to near-outside temperature, is cooling off as the players depart.

I thought I'd take the moment to send a couple of messages to some players' families who are watching out there.

So, families of David "AmishDriveby" Ring and Mike "ChicagoSlims" Kleinstub take note:

Kleinstub found himself sitting at the featured table today with none other than the Poker Brat himself, Phil Hellmuth. Kleinstub and a tablemate had a prop bet going on when Hellmuth would actually show up. Since then, Kleinstub has been (by his own admission) "Bluffing my ass off." It seems to have paid off for him. He has more than doubled his stack at the dinner break. Hellmuth seemed hungry before the break, shoving bananas and some sort of tupperware dish in his face between hands. At one point, Hellmuth hit us up on media row for some silverware. We couldn't accomodate.


Mike Kleinstub

David Ring is faring well himself. Fellow blogger Howard Swains found Ring on the far side of the room with about 29,000 in chips, almost triple his starting stack. Howard also managed to grab a picture of Ring for the folks back home.

Team PokerStars Standings

Playing today, more than $20K in chips.








Finished Day 1A with more than $40K








Finished Day 1A with just more than $10K









Eliminated (by John Gale, incidentally)









Eliminated








Eliminated









Eliminated








Plays Saturday








Audio Blog

PokerStars audio blogger James Hartigan is out on the floor again and has witnessed something that defies the odds. Right click here to save the report to your hard drive and then have a listen.