Brad "Otis" Willis: July 2005 Archives

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will be published here over the next several days. Enjoy.

Part 1--Before the Storm
Part 2--Goal Keeping
Part 3--Shuffle Up and Deal
Part 4--A picture is worth 105,800 chips
Part 5--In the money
Part 6--The biggest laydowns
Part 7--Making it to Binion's

Part 8--Stepping into history
by Bernard Lee

Day 8: Thursday, July 14th
Before I went to bed, I walked down to the hotel's front desk to arrange rooms for my family and friends who were flying out and put the rooms on my bill (that's the least I can do for them). I went to sleep fairly early and awoke after about 7 hours. Although I probably should have tried to get more sleep, I was incredibly anxious-- not only to play Day 8, but also to see my family and friends who were flying in.

While waiting for everyone to arrive, I called the Boston Herald to answer their interview request. "Hello Bernard. I’m not sure if you remember, but we bumped into each other on Day #1, the reporter said. "Oh, yeah that's right. Small world, huh?" I replied. He told me that he had been following me from the beginning. As I survived day after day, he regretted not asking for my cell phone number. But, honestly, who would have ever guessed I would make it this far. We spoke for about 45 minutes about the week, how I qualified for the WSOP (PokerStars, of course!) and my family.

Just after I finished the interview, Charlie Tillett from my home town poker game called to say he was in the hotel lobby. As I helped Charlie find his room, he said "I've got something wild to show you," as he handed me today's Boston Globe. "Look at page A3." There it was. An entire story of me at the WSOP wrapped around a picture of me at the poker table. Charlie relayed the process of how he actually found the article. "When I looked in the Sports and then the Local section and couldn't find your article, I gave up. So, I just started reading the paper like I normally would. I read the front page. Then, I turned the page and BOOM, there you were. I nearly fell out of my seat." How COOL! Just as I finished reading the article, Bob Howe and Sasha Papalilo (work colleagues) called to tell me they had arrived and already checked in. "Charlie, thanks for the article. I’ll call you in a little bit. See you soon." I went to Bob’s and Sasha's room to make sure they were all set. They told me how excited they were and how everyone back at work was rooting for me.

Next, my younger brother, Ken, called. He and my Dad were in a taxi near the hotel. I went down and met them in the lobby. As I arrived downstairs, I could see my brother and Dad walk into the lobby. I high fived Ken, then gave my Dad a huge hug. "Thanks for coming Dad. It means a lot to me." My Dad responded, "I'm so proud of you son. But don't worry about us. You just stay focused on your job at hand." Thanks, Dad. (I won't bore you with the sappy details, but, sons and fathers around the world understand -- you can only imagine the emotion.) After wiping away a few tears, we traveled up to their room. I showed them the newspaper article and we talked about the day's activities. I let them get cleaned up and told them I'd see them soon.

As I walked back to my room, I felt so happy seeing my family and friends who had journeyed all the way from Boston, NY, and Los Angeles. I did not want to let them down! And heck, we were going to Binion's. Wait a second. Binion's. Uh, how do I get to Binion's? I haven't been there in years. Oh boy. I called DooJin Kim (my college roommate) and asked him to get directions and ultimately drive us there. "No problem, Bernie. I'll have it all set up by the time we have to leave." I also gave him everyone's room number and asked him to organize the whole gang for a 1:00pm departure. This gave us plenty of time before the 3:00pm start. Thank you, DooJin, for all this work you did. I really would not have been able to make it without you.

I went back to my room to make my daily routine phone calls. First, I called my wife and kids. Katie asked if I had gotten enough sleep, was I drinking enough water and eating enough vegetables? (When you are married to a doctor, you get these questions fairly regularly.) Noah told me about the little construction trucks at work in his sandbox. I can't wait to get home to give my entire family a huge hug. But, I had to tell them again, "Daddy's got a little more work to do. I'll be home soon. I love you!" Katie assured me that she would follow along on the blogs and Noah told me, "I love you Daddy."

When I called my buddy Dave, he reminded me to keep my head on straight and keep doing what I had been doing. We discussed that today was the last day I needed to make it through, because if I made the final day there would be no more tomorrows. "One more day. Let's get out of today." Max reported his usual detailed analysis. My 770K in chips was 22nd out of 27 players left. This position and strategy was familiar by now. I still had more than 20 times the big blind, so I wasn't too short stacked. I needed a good break within the first few hours for me to survive. Strangely enough, it gave me confidence that I was only about 40% of the average stack again. Because I survived the last two days starting with a short stack, I truly felt I could do it again. My table draw was fairly good again since the two players I had not played with before -- Mike Matusow (chip leader) and Shahram "Sean" Sheikhan (the short stack), were both to my right.

After taking a shower and getting dressed, I met my gang in the hotel lobby. DooJin had already organized the group and we all drove to Binion's. Upon our arrival downtown, we met up with Rich Korbin, PokerStars' Marketing Director. Yesterday, I had asked Rich if we could get just a couple of extra hats for my group. I did not want to ask for too much. Instead, Rich arrived with bags of clothes -- more than I could have wished for. "I brought shirts and hats for your entire entourage." Entourage? Hmmm...I never thought I would have an entourage. Everyone thanked Rich for the goodies and I thanked Rich for taking care of everyone. PokerStars really knows how to treat people right.

We headed upstairs to the tournament room. As we walked down the hallway, people started to recognize me and the other players. In some ways, I felt like I was entering a boxing match with my "entourage" leading the way. I was one of the first people to arrive at the room. One by one, the others entered the "ring." But instead of an antagonistic atmosphere, it was extremely collegial, almost like a fraternity (a co-ed one with Tiffany Williamson). We were the final 27 players in the world still competing in the 2005 WSOP Main Event. I shook hands and wished good luck to practically everyone. Special handshakes and hugs went to John McGrane, Joe Hachem, Tommy Vu, Conor Tate, Steve Dannenmann and Johnny Howard. These were the players that I knew the best since I had played with them the longest. If the poker gods did not choose me to win, then at least have one of these gentlemen take the title.

As Thursday was a very long day for Bernard, we've broken up this section into two parts. The remainder of this day's story will appear Monday, August 1st

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will be published here over the next several days. Enjoy.

Part 1--Before the Storm
Part 2--Goal Keeping
Part 3--Shuffle Up and Deal
Part 4--A picture is worth 105,800 chips
Part 5--In the money
Part 6--The biggest laydowns

Part 7--Making it to Binion's
by Bernard Lee

Day 7: Wednesday, July 13th

Ring! Ring! Ring! My wake up call at 9:30am actually rang -- the first time this week. I slept long enough to hear it -- 8 whole hours and I feel great. I opened the curtains to see another sun filled morning. My cell phone buzzed to say I had 9 new messages-- all were from family and friends across the country congratulating me on making it to the next day. It was heartening to know that many people back at home were following my progress via the Internet. As always, I called for my daily analysis from Max. He informed me that my 377K in chips was once again about 40% of the average chip stack. On Day 7, I would begin 52nd out of the remaining 58 players. However, my table draw was once again fairly good. Even with my short stack, I was not the lowest chip stack at the table and two others had chips within 100K of me. The only slight worry was that I would have two outstanding pros at my table -- Kenna James and John Juanda -- both whom I had watched play on TV and had tremendous respect for their play. Well, at least I didn't have to figure out a new strategy -- same as yesterday, "I still had more than 20 times the big blind, so I'm not too short stacked. I need a good break within the first few hours for me to survive." As we were ending the conversation, Max informed me that PokerStarsblog.com had written a short piece about me and my family. I quickly checked on-line and couldn't believe that a picture of my kids and wife were now on the Internet. I immediately called my wife and told her about the website. She looked it up and couldn't believe it herself. "Honey, tell the kids I love them! This week has been incredible. Thank you for giving me the chance to live out my dream. I told you that this could happen one day and that day is now!" She told me how proud and happy she was for me and wished me good luck.

As I finished my morning shower, my cell phone had already received two additional messages -- one from another friend, while the other was from the Boston Globe. The reporter wanted additional reactions of making it through Day 6 and what I would expect on Day 7. I called him back and spoke for approximately 15 minutes. However, I repeated my mantra that I have proclaimed since the beginning. "My goal is to get out of each day. I can't make it to Day 8 until I get out of Day 7." In my pre-tournament thoughts, my third and final goal was to make it to Binion's (the final 27 players) since 2005 would be last year the WSOP would be held at this historic casino. If I made it out of today, I would accomplish that goal.

After eating a quick breakfast, I drove to the Rio to meet Matt for my interview with ESPN. As he escorted me into the interview room, I saw that they were setting up the cameras, a poker table and chips. When I sat down and saw my face on one of the television monitors, the surreal-o-meter went off the chart. I can't believe that the TV show that I had watched repeatedly over the last couple of years was going to interview me. This was unbelievable! Matt asked a lot of questions about my background, my week's experience so far, and how I was doing, but I had to hold back the tears when he asked me about my wife (especially about her recent surgery), my kids and the family pictures. Originally, I was worried that this interview would not allow me to concentrate on the task at hand. However, after the fact, I realized that it helped distract me from any potential nervousness.

About 10 minutes before we were to start the day, my college roommate, DooJin Kim, who had visited me earlier in the week, called my cell phone. He had to leave on Sunday, but said that he would come back if I was still in the tournament on Wednesday. "Bernie, you are doing great! Do you still want me to come out?" I couldn't have asked for anything more. I had been alone for the last few days and to have someone to talk to during the breaks and dinner would be fantastic. He booked a flight after work and would get to Vegas around 7pm. I was determined to not make his flight for naught and promised him I would survive at least until then. However, I definitely had some work to do. I needed some luck, and my good luck charm came by just as we were about to begin. ESPN's Norm Chad came by and stuck out his arm. "This is the best jacket I have," joked Norm. To me, it did not matter which jacket he had on. As I had done all yesterday, I rubbed his jacket sleeve for good luck. And once again, I was rewarded...

Less than an hour into the first level of the day (blinds were 8K and 16K, ante 2K), I caught KK (again) in mid position. A player in early position raised to 50K. "I'm all in," I proclaimed. With no hesitation, one of the big stacks to my left called me. Uh! Oh! He called so fast. Did he have Aces? Everyone folded to the original raiser, who thought about it for a couple of minutes, but eventually folded. I flipped over KK, anxiously awaiting the big stack's hand and I was very relieved to see 44. However, it's far from over -- I was about an 80 to 20 favorite. So anything could still happen. So, as I had done all week, I got up with my pictures and watched the flop intently. However, the flop was huge for me - KQ3. I knew with no flush or straight draws, he needed runner runner 4s and when the turn brought a 3, I let out a scream that could be heard throughout the room. I didn't even see the river. I had doubled up early again and had approximately 700K in chips. The original raiser had JJ and would have tripled me up had he called -- Oh well!

On this day, my thanks go out to two of my work colleagues -- Todd Mirasola and Steve Paul -- who were there during the morning to celebrate with me. Kenna James, who was a true gentleman while we played, congratulated me on a well-played hand. Kenna, thank you, too, for taking the time to discuss the poker world with me while we were playing. I truly appreciated it. I was once again back in the tournament. As I was organizing my chips, my cell phone went off 5 separate times. I finally stepped away from the table to answer Mark Hanna's (my original WSOP partner) call. "Nice double up buddy." How did he know? Was he here? "No, Bernie. I'm following on the blogs." Technology is amazing! Everyone who called had just read my double up on the blogs and almost instantaneously called to congratulate me. Unbelievable!

I called my wife at the break to tell her that things were going well. She answers the phone and exclaimed, "I know how you're doing. We are all here following you on the web. Keep it up, honey! We miss you and love you!" Wow, even my wife is getting into this by reading the blogs. She told me that she was most impressed when the PokerStars blogger reported that at 4:52pm, he saw Bernard Lee "in an all out sprint" to the bathroom -- 'It was so you" she said. This is phenomenal, I thought!

Regarding my cards, the rest of the day was fairly uneventful. I did knock out a short-stack using JJ vs 99 and maxed out my chip stack at around 1.1 million in chips around 6pm. The tournament director's decision was to continue onward and not stop for dinner. I'm glad that we didn't have to take an hour plus break just to eliminate 3-4 players. Good decision, Johnny. And, at my final table for the day (I had been moved from my original table), there were three notable personalities: First was my mentor from the beginning of the tournament, Tuan "Tommy" Vu. Once again, thanks for everything Tommy. Second was John Juanda, who moved to my table later and sat two to my left. He was severely short stacked when he arrived, but in true John Juanda fashion, he scratched and clawed until he was caught trying to steal the blinds and finished 31st. In the short time he was at the table, it was a privilege to play with one of my idols, as he was a true competitor and sportsman. Thank you, John, for being so amicable to an unknown and I hope to see you at future tournaments. The third was John McGrane, a fellow from England, who knocked John Juanda out of the tournament. John McGrane also played while severely short stacked and said that he was just holding on for dear life to get to 36th and the next money level ($274,090 to be exact). We exchanged stories about our new little babies and I continued to encourage him that he could do it. What a great guy! And when it was announced that the 37th player was eliminated, I hugged him and told him, "You did it!" The smile on his face was more than enough to explain the jubilation he was feeling. However, he was not done. Shortly thereafter he would TRIPLE UP when his AQ spiked an Q on the flop and it held up vs John Juanda's 84 vs Connor Tate's TT (Connor was a quiet honorable guy who I had the pleasure of playing with for a couple of days). Now, McGrane was right back in the tournament. Around this time, Nolan Dalla came over with a note from the Boston Herald, requesting an interview later tonight or tomorrow morning. Finally, amidst all of this chaos, I noticed out of the corner of my eye that DooJin had arrived.

When the final player was eliminated at 9:40pm, my chip stack had dwindled to 770K in chips. But who cares? I was ecstatic. I was going to Binion's. Goal #3 -- CHECK! The ESPN cameras came over and asked me for a final sound bite. Begrudgingly, I agreed. I described my three goals, how I had now accomplished them, and how ecstatic I was to be going to Binion's. Finally, I looked into the camera with my family pictures telling my kids that Daddy was not coming home just yet. I had a little more work to do. Next, I went over to John McGrane. I hugged and congratulated him for not only making the next money level ($304,680), but also going to Binion's and the final 27. Then, I jumped over the ropes and celebrated with my college roommate, DooJin. It's announced that we will start tomorrow at 3pm. I can't believe it! I'm going to Binion's tomorrow! I just can't believe it!

As I'm bagging up my chips, my cell phone started to ring non-stop. One of the calls I immediately recognized -- it was my father. We had not spoken all week about the tournament because he and my mother had disapproved of me leaving my wife at home so soon after surgery to go play in a "poker tournament." But, he told me that he had been following me on the internet and was very proud of me. (Sorry folks, this was another misty eyed moment!). To my surprise, he told me that he and my brother, Ken, would be flying out first thing in the morning and would arrive in Vegas around 11:30am. Another call came in from a work colleague, Bob Howe, telling me that he and another colleague, Sasha Papalilo, would be flying in around 10:30am. Finally, one of my local poker game buddies, Charlie Tillett, would be arriving around 10:00am. Wow! This was so cool. Not only am I going to Binion's, but also I'm going to have 6 people cheering me on. As if this wasn't enough, while DooJin and I were walking back to the car, someone ran after me down the hallway. I thought I must have forgotten something at the table. However, it was a teenager asking me for my autograph. "Are you sure? I haven’t done anything yet," I told him. "Please. You never know. I think you can win," he replied. As I signed the brim of his cap, I told him I would do my best to make that signature worth something one day.

I called home and my wife answered -- it was 1:15am in Massachusetts and she was awake breastfeeding our baby girl, "You made it. Congratulations! Do you know that several people are coming out to see you?" Yes I do. I can't wait for tomorrow.

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will be published here over the next several days. Enjoy.

Part 1--Before the Storm
Part 2--Goal Keeping
Part 3--Shuffle Up and Deal
Part 4--A picture is worth 105,800 chips
Part 5--In the money

Part 6--The biggest laydowns
by Bernard Lee

Day 6: Tuesday, July 12th

I woke, once again, well before my wake-up call. Only fours hours of sleep. ARGH! I tossed and turned for 30 minutes, trying to arrange the heavy curtains so as not let even the slightest ray of sunlight into the room. It was no use. I could not fall back to sleep. As I sat up in the bed, something felt different today -- a kind of unusually bad feeling. I was overcome by the thought that I would get knocked out today. To erase these feelings, I decided to get up and start my usual morning calls. I spoke with my wife and son, Noah. He told me, "Daddy, I love you. Please come home soon." I lost it. I started crying. My wife was worried about me, but I told her I'm okay. She knew that the lack of sleep was taking its toll. I told them I love them, I will be safe and will see them as soon as I can (but hopefully not too soon). Next, I spoke with Dave (my motivational coach) and he could hear in my voice the trepidation I felt ever since I awoke. "Are you okay? Is there anything wrong?" he asked. I told him how the lack of sleep might be affecting my psyche and that I couldn't go back to sleep despite my best efforts. "You've made it past over 5434 people and you need to realize how well you have played to this point," encouraged my eternally positive friend, Dave. "Concentrate on the strategy that has gotten you to this point--focus on getting through the day." Thanks, Dave. This truly helped me through a tough morning.

It was still relatively early so I decided to go out for a short run to wake myself up. As I began to run, negative thoughts continued to swim in my brain. After half a mile, I noticed a covered bus stop in the distance with a gentleman slouched on the bench. I did not think anything of it except as another obstacle to run around. As I approached the bus stop, I saw the gentleman lean over and grab a beer bottle. Suddenly, I realized he was about to throw it -- At me! "Hey," I screamed as I darted away. "Ehhh, get away from me," he bellowed, as he put down the bottle, snickering to himself. In my short look at the gentleman, I saw his glassy and dilated eyes and guessed he was either still drunk from last night or high on drugs. My heart almost skipped a beat. Strange thing, though -- instead of being angry or scared, I started laughing out loud. The whole morning I had worried about getting eliminated from the 2005 WSOP Main Event. Then, all of a sudden, my life flashed in front of my eyes. I realized that I easily could have been on my way to the hospital. Instead, I headed back to the hotel, happy to be safe (as I promised my wife) and unharmed. Heck, I'm actually very wide-awake now, due to the adrenaline rush. I jumped in the shower and felt ready for the day.

I called Max for today's low down. He explained that my 143,000 (143K) chip stack was ironically 143rd of the 185 players remaining -- 40% of the average stack. But, I still had more than 20 times the big blind, so I'm not too short stacked. I need a good break within the first few hours for me to survive. As I departed for the Rio, I kept thinking, "That was a morning to remember!"

As the dealer dealt the first hand of the day, I kissed my family pictures, hoping for a good start. In the first round, I won two blinds uncontested and one decent size pot with AK, bringing my chip stack to 179K as they raced off the 500 chips. Good start, but with 164 people left in the tournament, I held only half the average chip stack. I needed a big hand soon, but I couldn't panic. In previous tournaments, I had taken unnecessary chances earlier than I needed to, either getting caught or becoming pot committed and, ultimately, getting knocked out of the tournament. So, I kept saying to myself, "Be patient. It will come." Just as the break was ending, ESPN's Norm Chad came over to say hi. I gave him a status report and he wished me luck. Boy did I need it! Especially after having Jason Lester (5th place in the 2003 WSOP Main Event and a player I truly respected) move to my table. Thankfully, he sat down to my immediate right and at least I could try to avoid any major confrontations with him. However, all of a sudden, the big hand came. The blinds were 3K and 6K, ante 1K. After an AK vs AK chop and a decent pot where I knocked out a short stack with KK vs JJ, the hand I had hoped for arrived. I was dealt KK in mid-late position. Two people limp in front of me. With 30K already in the pot, I decided to pick up the pot right now, and raised to 50K. Everyone folded to the Big Blind, who declared, "All In!" The limpers folded and it was up to me. My heart raced as I realized that he had me covered and if I lost, I would be out of the tournament. "Well, if it's my time, it's my time. I call." As I flipped over my KK, he shook his head as he flipped over his AQ suited -- I'm about a 67 to 33 favorite. I quickly stood up with my family pictures and rubbed them for good luck. All I kept thinking was No Ace! No Ace! Here comes the flop...(no A)...turn...(no A)...river...(no A). YES!!! No Ace (Sorry I don't remember the exact cards)! I let out a huge yell! I apologized for my scream to Jason and the players to my left: a young man named Kevin McCarty and a very pleasant and friendly Australian named Joe Hachem. There was the double up I had been waiting for and now I had around 410K chips. I was right back in this thing. As I began to stack my pile of chips, I felt someone peering over my shoulder. It's Norm Chad. "Hey, nice pot." I told Norm that he needed to come by more often, as he was becoming my good luck charm.

Luckily, a bit more luck visited me. Shortly after Norm left, I ran into another big hand against a gentleman who was fairly short stacked, but I would still love the chips. My AcJc was up against his KJ. This time I thought, No King! No King! Here comes the flop Kc Q 8c. ARGH! King! But then I realize that I still had 15 outs (9 clubs, 3 Aces and 3 Tens) -- I'm still about a 55 to 45 favorite. As I rubbed my family pictures, the turn brought an unhelpful 4d, which brought me to about a 35 to 65 underdog. The river...2c! YES!!! Now that was a hand made for ESPN! That is a classic back and forth hand that I don't wish on anyone. Once again, I turned around and who do I see -- Norm! I rubbed his jacket sleeve for luck and this became a ritual for the rest of the tournament. This hand allowed me to go into the last round before dinner break with 486K in chips and only 102 of us players remaining in the contest. During the break, a gentleman approached me asking if I had moment. He was a reporter from the Boston Globe and wanted to get a quick interview for tomorrow's newspaper. He informed me that I was the sole remaining player from Massachusetts and that a story featuring me would run in tomorrow's paper. Now this was becoming unreal.

Entering the next round (blinds were 5K and 10K, ante 1K), I felt great. I had gotten the hands I hoped for -- now I just needed to survive. And, survival truly was the key descriptor for this round -- my most memorable of the tournament-- not for any big wins, but for two huge laydowns that kept me alive. The first hand was against Kevin. I was in early position and I picked up KK again! I raised about 35K. Now, it is important to note that Kevin had watched me play solid hands all afternoon and knew I would not raise in early position with nothing. He raised me, but, as my instinct told me, raised an unusual amount, just 60K more. Why only 60K? If he wanted me gone, a larger bet such as an all-in bet was a lot more threatening than 60K. He seemed very calm -- almost too calm. The rest of the players folded to me. I kept thinking, "What a weird bet. He seems so calm and relaxed." He really wants me to call. He must have a really good hand, maybe even a great hand! Does he have Aces? I thought about it for another minute and looked down at my KK. Could I really lay this down pre-flop? Maybe I'm over thinking this? If I double up here, I will have close to a million in chips and be in a great position. But, I kept thinking, what a weird bet amount. I looked down one more time, let out a deep sigh, and decided to follow my gut feeling and do the unthinkable -- lay down my KK! I showed Kevin my hand and told him, "I know you have Aces, so I'm going to lay this down." His protruding eyes told me I was right! As he picked up his jaw off the table, he flipped over his Aces. I jumped out of my seat thankful that I had made the best laydown of my life. As I returned to my seat, Norm showed up again. I replayed the hand for him and proceed to rub his "lucky" jacket sleeve again. Jason and Joe both told Norm, "It is the best laydown I have ever seen in a tournament." I'm not sure about that, but I thanked them for their kind acknowledgement. Also, thank you Kevin for showing me that I was right -- it gave me a ton of confidence in my play for the rest of the day and allowed me sleep that night. As for the other laydown, it seems almost anti-climactic after the last one, but in short, I raised 35K in mid position with QQ. Kevin called me and then Joe re-raised 125K more. After everyone folded, I quickly folded my QQ and Kevin folded his 33 and Joe showed his KK. 2 for 2! Not a significant money-making round, but still the most memorable round of the tournament for sure.

The rest of the night was fairly uneventful. I played very few hands and ended with 377K in chips with only 58 players left. I want to thank Jason Lester for his conversation and kind words. It was truly an honor to play next to him for most of the day. He deserved better when an unbelievable hand crippled him, leading to his eventual elimination from the tournament -- KK vs K8 and the flop came 882. Kevin never recovered from the KK laydown, as he kept staring at my chips thinking that they should have been his and was eliminated shortly thereafter. Thanks also to my work colleague, Todd Mirasola, for flying in to watch me tonight. I had been alone out here in the desert for the last few days and it definitely helped to see a friendly face in the crowd. Finally, Joe and I got to know each other pretty well as we talked about our families and background throughout the day. He was a very solid player as we played a few hands back and forth against one another, but ultimately, we both survived Day 6. We congratulated and wished each other the best for the rest of the tournament. As I was bagging up my chips, a gentleman named Matt inquired about my availability tomorrow morning before the continuation of the tournament at noon. "Bernard? Hi, I'm Matt from ESPN. Do you have some time tomorrow morning to do an interview?" Who me? I was wondering if Matt might have the wrong guy. He assured me that it was indeed me he wanted to interview. After I agreed to meet with him at 11am, I kept thinking how increasingly surreal this whole week was becoming. I headed back to the Rio to get some well-deserved sleep.

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will be published here over the next several days. Enjoy.

Part 1--Before the Storm
Part 2--Goal Keeping
Part 3--Shuffle Up and Deal
Part 4--A picture is worth 105,800 chips

Part 5--In the money
by Bernard Lee

Day 5: Monday, July 11th
After sleeping my requisite five hours, I initiated my pre-tourney routine: I called my wife and told her, "I'm sorry. I love and miss you and the kids to death. But, I truly hope that I have to reschedule my flight home tomorrow morning." To do this, I would have to make it out of the day. Once again, survival was my primary focus. Afterward, I spoke with my two buddies from home to get inspiration and analysis of my table. Max, my analyst man, told me that my 105,800 chip stack was 205th of 566. Slightly above average -- not great, but not bad. Today, I had to survive the elimination of only 6 more people in order to make it "into the money" (560th made $12,500) and bring home the largest cash prize of my poker career. My only previous cash prize was in January 2005 at the WSOP Circuit Tournament $500 NL Hold’em where I placed 22nd out of 650 for $1570. Six more people -- I knew I could do this. Making the money was my second goal of my WSOP week. Max analyzed my table in much greater detail than yesterday since, clearly, the stakes were getting higher. Both of us felt that I had drawn a pretty good table again. Not many big stacks at the table and mine would actually be the third largest. Additionally, no famous professionals. But, Max did Google everyone's name and gave me as much information on each player as possible. (By the way, thanks again, Max, for all this support -- I am incredibly lucky to have such great friends at home.) After taking copious notes, I shoved my "analysis" sheet in my back pocket and prepared to head off to the Rio. Overall, I was pretty happy with the table draw and I felt I knew each player pretty well. Finally, Max warned me that my strategy should be to play hand for hand until I got to 560 -- and did I ever!

When I entered the main room, I could feel the antsy anticipation among the players. This feeling turned to impatience. To eliminate six people, it took over an hour. After each hand, the dealer stood up to indicate that the hand was over. Only when all dealers were standing could we play the next hand. You can only imagine the chaos and the time it took for us to get through just one hand. The deal only made it around the table once. Fortunately, during this round, I got a few hands to grab the blinds and take down a pot to increase my chips to around 120,000. Finally, the "Bubble Boy" (the last guy to not make the money) was eliminated and the room broke out into applause and joy. We had all made it to the money. Goal #2 -- CHECK! I congratulated all the players on my table and especially the gentleman next to me who had said as we started the day, "All I want to do is finish in the money and I can go home happy!" Well, congratulations my friend, you just did it! However, I did feel for the 561st finisher, even though I didn't even know the person because I have personally felt the pain. I was "Bubble Boy" at the New England Poker Classic's Main Event back in April (finished 36th and they paid 35 spots). It was one of the most devastating feelings I've ever had in poker. However, he or she shouldn't feel too horrible; it was announced that the 561st place finisher would receive a free entry into the 2006 WSOP Main Event. Well done, Harrahs! I hope this will start a trend.

Well, let's get back to playing. I was off to a nice start and ready to resume play. Just as I was rereading my "analysis" sheet, the floor person asked for the big blind at our table. I looked down and realized it was ME. UGH! I had felt thoroughly prepared for my particular table, and now it was for nought. Oh well, the best laid plans...

In the time it took me to walk to my new table on the other side of the room, a few more people were already knocked out. It was truly amazing! Now that all of us had made the money, "all-in" announcements flew from every corner of the room. I knew that this happens at tournaments, but I never imagined it this fast. In the same amount of time it took to eliminate the first 6 people of the day, the next 100 players were dismissed! At the end of the first level, the WSOP was already down to 461 and that meant $14,135.

As for the cards, Monday was the day I knew had to come sooner or later. After two fairly positive days, a see-saw day arrived. Based on my past tournament experience, I knew I had to keep my head on straight. I could not lose patience or control on a day like today. Overall, as I reflect back, I'm very proud of the way I handled myself. I started out the day by knocking out one player with KK vs 33. Then, I was re-raised by the Big Blind while I was holding AK (I was in mid-late position). I thought he had either JJ or QQ, and since I had a lot of chips, I decided to take a flop. Of course, the flop came Q J 7 and after he bet, I had to muck my hand -- he told me later he had QQ and flopped a set. Then, I won a decent all-in pot with AK vs AQ. Then, lost another small all-in (he was very short stacked) with AK v AA. And then, I took out a short stack with my only true suck out of the tourney TT v AA when a ten hit on the turn. Overall, a crazy wild ride. And, I accomplished my goal for the day -- I survived!

During this roller coaster Monday, I actually had some fun, meeting some really neat people. At my new table, the gentleman to my right used a unique card protector -- a small globe. As we got to talking, I learned that his name was Steve Dannenmann -- he was a very friendly and funny guy. I kept telling him that I was focusing on getting out of the day. He kept telling me to focus, not on the day, but on each level. Thanks, Steve for the advice. It helped a lot. I also met Johnny Howard (real nice guy, we had a lot of great conversations during the tournament), who got on a roll and finished the day near 1 million in chips. Both these gentlemen were involved with my most memorable hand of the day, and I didn't even play in it. Let me explain. I was in the small blind with Qd 2d and five (yes, that's right, five) people had called the big blind. I thought about calling, with great pot odds and only half a bet to see a miracle flop, but thought better of it and mucked. Big Blind checked his option and we had a six-way pot! Then, it happened. A miracle flop - Q Q T. ARGH! All I kept hoping was that someone had the case Q with a better kicker to make me feel better about my fold. Turn 8. Only two players were left, Johnny and Steve. River was a blank and Steve pushed all-in and Johnny called (he was a huge chip leader at the table). Steve shows TT for a Tens boat and Johnny shows J9 for a straight. This was great for Steve at this stage of the tournament. Thank goodness I mucked! I would have been gone from the tournament.

Additionally, during the dead time (hands are played a lot slower during this stage of the tournament and I did not play a lot of hands after the dinner break), I got to know more of the Rio staff (Nolan, Greg, Sara, Beverly), the tournament directors (Johnny and Jack -- both of them did a phenomenal job!) and ESPN's Norm Chad and cameraman Adam. All of these people helped me through this stressful, yet enjoyable day, and, for that matter, the entire week. Thanks to all, I can't wait to see you again!

Finally, the night came to an end around 1:30am. I finished with 143,000 chips and there were only 185 players left. I scanned down the payout sheet. We had all guaranteed $39,075! WOW! That was a lot of money. As we start bagging our chips, Tommy Vu, who had become somewhat of a mentor to me and was at my table for a second day, gave me some extra encouragement, telling me that I played "real solid." He advised me to keep focused and thought I could go far in the tournament. Thanks, Tommy, for the encouraging words.

I'm off to sleep.

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will be published here over the next several days. Enjoy.

Part 1--Before the Storm
Part 2--Goal Keeping
Part 3--Shuffle Up and Deal

Part 4--A picture is worth 105,800 chips
by Bernard Lee

Day 3: Saturday, July 9th
I had fallen asleep around 5am. At noon on Saturday, I woke to the buzz of my phone (I had it on vibrate for most of the week). I had 5 messages -- all from friends who were following me on the internet. Most were telling me how happy they were that I was off to such a good start and to keep it going. I would try my best! $67,150! What a start! I had a fairly relaxing day -- went for a quick run, had lunch with DooJin and his friends, went back to my room to review my notes, had dinner with some friends from Boston (Jeff and Dana Cohen) and then went to bed early for another long day.

Day 4: Sunday, July 10th
On Sunday, I awoke around 8:30am, again to the buzz of my phone -- it was two guys from my weekly poker game. Dave Brisson who would become my sounding board and personal motivational coach for the week and Max Marks who would become my analyst man. Max would analyze my table assignment with the names of the players and their chip stacks. Max told me that I would start out the day 107 out of 1884. Not bad for a nobody huh? Boy, is it a lot easier to play with a big stack than short stack. I figured that my goal for the day was around 120,000. I would be happy with 100,000 and ecstatic with 180,000.

Mark and I met for breakfast again. After my regular eggs, toast and orange juice, we drove off toward the Rio. The games started around 12:30pm. I drew another great table -- no famous pros at my table. One of the guys was bummed that we were not the TV table. I had the complete opposite viewpoint. I didn't want to be on the TV table. I didn't want the added pressure of dealing with the TV cameras and the "eyes" on the table that show your hands. It is not about getting on TV; it's all about playing good poker and surviving one day at a time because if you do not get out of today, you can't play tomorrow. Remember, you can't win the tournament until the last day, so make sure that you get out of each day. Focus on the day! Not the Final Day! This became my mantra. And besides, if I make the final day, I will have to be on the TV table and then I'm okay with that.

As they called out "Shuffle up and deal!", I kissed my family pictures and hoped that my day would be as good as yesterday. And my start definitely was! In the first 3 rounds, I wouldn't lose a major hand. AA, AK, KT (BB) and flop KT3. 99, 55. AQ in mid-late position (I raised and button and both blinds called). Flop Q52. I bet 12K to go and everyone folded. And ended with 102,900 after 3 rounds which led to dinner break. I met Mark and he broke the bad news that he had been eliminated on a set vs flush after the flop. He was very disappointed, but I told him that he should be proud of himself. In his first major tournament, he outlasted 4000 out of the 5619. I'm sure he will be back next year.

After dinner, I called my family to tell them I was doing great. My wife asked me to take care of myself and my son told me he loved me again. This was the inspiration I needed to finish the day with a flourish. However, the poker gods decided that I had had enough of an easy time and that's when the roller coaster ride began. I started well with AQ in the SB, raised and BB folded. But that's where it ended for almost 3 hrs. I limped with KQ and ATs and both times was re-raised and had to muck. The last two hands I played until Round 12 (the last round of the night). I was down to 89,300. I started Round 12 losing 4 of my first 5 hands. And was down to around 70,000 in chips. I was fairly depressed but at least I was ahead of yesterday. I drew on previous tournament experience that this dip has happened in every tournament and you have to put it into perspective. If I told you that you would be still around Day 4 with 70,000 in chips (average was about 80,000), I would have been ecstatic. And besides, my 2 kids were staring at me in the photo -- smiling and saying that they loved me, so life couldn't be all that bad!

And just as quickly as I was down, that's how fast I turned it around. I won a fairly good pot when I caught 2 pair on the river and went on a little run. I got AK, KQs and TT and ended the day with 105,800 in chips to end the day around 200th out of 566. More importantly, I was 6 out of the money. I thought, no way I was not going to make the money. Almost completed Goal #2.

A closing note -- I played all day with an incredibly solid player and found out he was a professional named "Tuan Tommy" Vu. After the grueling day was complete, I went up to Tommy and introduced myself and asked for any advice. His biggest advice was "to not risk your tournament early with average hands. If you need to lay down a hand, remember that you are still in the tourney." Tommy was a huge help that night as we chatted for about 15 minutes about some hands and he encouraged me to continue playing well the next day and the rest of the week. Tommy was to me as Marcel Luske was to David Williams last year. Tommy, I can't thank you enough for all your help and advice. I went back to the hotel, but couldn't fall asleep until 4:00am. I kissed my family pictures good night and looked forward to the next morning.

If you're looking for the continuing WSOP story of PokerStars Bernard Lee, you'll have to wait until tomorrow. The Sunday $500,000 Guaranteed tournament is getting a little to big to ignore. Bernie will be back on Tuesday.

I had logged on to PokerStars Sunday afternoon to watch the heads-up match between Exclusive and Wil Wheaton. I know them both and wanted to see how it turned out (Wil ended up winning after a back and forth battle that lasted for quite a while). Before I logged off, I checked in to see how the Sunday $500,000 Guaranteed was looking.

It was looking, in a word, big. Before registration was finished, more than 3300 people had signed up and built a prize pool of more than $670,000. Several hours later, I watched as some big names dropped off the list and we were left with nine players. Among them was a familiar name. Brainwash won nearly $160,000 back in April in what was then the monthly $500,000 Guaranteed Tournament (now the monthly event is $700,000).

This is what the final table looked like as the final nine began to play.



Click on image for full-size version

Seat 1: MrSmits (Randers, DK) $394,221
Seat 2: quietman (Carson City, NV) $541,374
Seat 3: wader (Alberta, Canada) $368,522
Seat 4: maui pag (Aiea, HI) $1,408,618
Seat 5: brainwash (San Clemente, CA) $916,352
Seat 6: Andy134 (Garstang, GB) $1,180,623
Seat 7: mrp123 (Conover, NC) $581,718
Seat 8: Morteler (Bryne, NO) $1,466,285
Seat 9: Fanoffour (Charlotte, NC) $1,446,787

MrSmits, surely up very late in his Danish home, was on the ropes and needed to find a hand and a willing caller to stay alive. He found both within minutes. A pair of kings versus brainwash's pair of sevens was good enought to give MrSmits some breathing room.

That left Canadian player wader pulling up the rear. Although he'd found a way to double through once, he still needed to find a way to build some chips. Perhaps sensing he could pick up the blinds, wader came in for a standard raise from the cutoff. Andy123, the Manchester United fan and the man with the chips to command respect, called from the big blind. The flop came down 4d2d6d. Andy123 check-raised wader all-in and wader called. Andy123 showed 7dQd for the flopped flush. Wader, with 8s6s, was drawing dead to two runners which never came. He left in ninth place for $8,047.20.

Brainwash seemed to be on a mission to win the whole shooting match again and never shied away from a coin flip. When facing a button raise from maui pag, brainwash pushed all-in with his pair of nines. After some thought, maui pag called with A3 suited in clubs. Brainwash, who likely figured he was in for a coin flip, got an even better result and doubled though.

Where the pocket pairs were good for brainwash, they were ugly for mrp123. Within just a few hands, mrp123 picked up pocket tens twice and lost both times, first to pocket queens, then to KJ. The two losses sent th man from the Tarheel state to the rail in eighth place and $12,741.40.
If there was any question about how well Andy123 would do in this tournament, it was clearly answered when he won one of the biggest pots of the tournament His pocket kings versus maui pag's pocket sevens sent the Hawaiian to the rail and fixed Andy123 up with a $3.5 million pot. Maui pag made $18,206.20 for the seventh place finish. And Lee Jones, who had been offering innocuous congratulations, showed up with the first of a few Jones-esque quips.

Lee Jones: Okay Maui -- you can take your $18K back to the island. Good match!

Fanoffour had been fighting to build his chipstack but had lost a few battles and ended up getting all his money in with JT on a ten-high flop. His opponent Morteler had two overs and a gutshot draw with QJ. The gutshot filled in on the turn and busted fanoffour in sixth place. For his efforts he earned $24,141,60 and this quip for his screen image of the Green Bay Packers QB.

Lee Jones: And Favre is sacked! But not before collecting $24K. Good game, fan.

I'm ashamed to admit that my notes don't reflect how quietman busted out. MrSmits took his chips and quietman left in fifth place for $30,847.60.

Lee Jones: You didn't go quietly, man. You won $30K. Nicely done.

MrSmits, despite taking the remainder of quietman's chips, eventually found himself unable to catch a break. With about $750K in chips left, he raised from the button and Andy123 moved all in. MrSmits called with A2 and found himself up against A3. He had to hope for a chopped pot, but a three came off on the flop and and MrSmits left in fourth place for $39,565.40

Lee Jones: Okay Mr. Smits - back to Washington for you and your $40K. Great match!

With just three players remaining the players started talking about a deal and ended up with the following arrangement.

brainwash -- $73,392
Andy123 -- $86,663
Morteler -- $95,503

With the required $10,000 left on the table, the players went to battle. It didn't last long. In the end, Andy123 won the whole thing, besting Morteler's AQ with AJ and brainwash's 44 with 66. With the Manchester United symbol burning as the last remaining image, Lee Jones let out one last quip:

Lee Jones: GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLL!!!!!!!

Here are the final results from the contest.

Sunday $500,000 Guarantee Results
(payouts reflect 3-way deal)

1st-- Andy134 (Garstang, GB) $96,663
2nd-- brainwash (San Clemente, CA) $73,392
3rd-- Morteler (Bryne, NO) $95,503
4th-- MrSmits (Randers, DK) $39,565.40
5th-- quietman (Carson City, NV) $30,847.60
6th-- fanoffour (Charlotte, NC) $24,141,60
7th-- maui pag (Aiea, HI) $18,206.20
8th-- mrp123 (Conover, NC) $12,741.40
9th-- wader (Alberta, Canada) $8,047.20

Congratulations to all the players. Be sure to sign up for the monthly $700,000 Guaranteed tournament on PokerStars.com.

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will be published here over the next several days. Enjoy.

Part 1--Before the Storm
Part 2--Goal Keeping


Part 3--Shuffle up and deal
by Bernard Lee

Day 1: Thursday, July 7th
I was fortunate to have a day off. I firmly believe that Mark (my work colleague) and I had drawn the best day as we could soak in the sights and sounds of the WSOP Main Event on Thursday and then rest on Saturday. I slept in, went for a quick run, had lunch with my college roommate DooJin Kim and his girlfriend and then went over to the Rio to check out the action. Before you even entered, you could hear the omni-present shuffling of chips resonating throughout the room. As I waded through the crowd, I bumped into several people that I knew from Foxwoods. As I continued to nudge by people, I noticed out of the corner of my eye the word "Boston" -- a nametag read "Boston Herald". I introduced myself and we exchanged pleasantries about Beantown. I told him my name and that I was starting tomorrow. He said that he would keep an eye out for me. I told him, "Well, we'll see what happens. It was nice to meet you. I hope you enjoy the WSOP." He was a nice guy and it was cool to see someone from back home amongst this sea of unknown people. I asked one of the floormen named Guppy (a really nice guy from San Jose) how far they were playing that day. I learned that they would play down to 650 players no matter how long it took. He believed it would take at least 7 levels and possibly longer to reach the 650 goal by the end of the night. That meant ending the night around 1-2am and after an 11am start. Whew! Quite a long day. So, I decided to go back to the hotel and make it an early night.

Day 2: Friday, July 8th
I woke up at 9:00am, excited as a kid on Christmas morning. I had played in other large tournaments before including their Main Events -- Mid-America Classic, World Poker Finals, Trump Classic, WSOP Circuit Tournament in Atlantic City (where I had my only cash of my career -- 22nd out of 650 which cashed $1570), New England Poker Classic. But, these were nothing like what I saw now, with the sheer numbers of participants and the unbelievable numbers of spectators. Mark and I grabbed a quick breakfast, but I really couldn't eat much because of my nervousness. After forcing down some scrambled eggs, toast and a glass of orange juice, we decided to head over to the Rio. Arriving around 10:00am, I decided to stroll around to review my notes in my notebook. I had read numerous books over the past several months including books by McEvoy, Harrington and Brunson and I had taken copious notes. At about 10:45am, I went to my table and sat down. It seemed to be a very nice table draw, as I recognized no famous professionals at my table. I initiated my opening routine that I started at the New England Poker Classic (NEPC) in March 2005. I cleaned my sunglasses, put out my lucky medallion from Foxwoods (last year, I won my first two satellites using it as my card cover and I've used it ever since) and most importantly, took out of my wallet the pictures of my family. Back then at the NEPC, it was only my son and wife, but now I added another picture to the family -- my baby girl. My rationale of using the pictures was no matter how bad the beat is or how stressful the wait is for someone to fold or call -- how bad can my life be if I have my family smiling at me! My photos have worked so well that before every round, I kiss the pictures in a special routine: kiss my son, then my daughter on the front picture, then open up my pictures and kiss a different picture of my son, then kiss another picture of my daughter, then finally kiss a picture of my wife. (My wife says it almost resembles Nomar Garciaparra and his glove routine at the plate.) I did this before every round, every day! It makes me feel that I am close to my family even though I'm far away.

The day started with announcements and the singing of the national anthem -- made me feel like it truly was a great sporting event. This all happened right next to my table. It really made me feel that the WSOP Main Event had started. Around 11:30am, those famous words were spoken, "Shuffle up and deal!" We are told that we will play 7 full rounds and 20 minutes into level 8. UGH! We won’t finish until around 2 am. With these daunting pieces of news, I had to focus on my chip goal for today, which was 30,000, as that would be the average chip stack for any player who would get out of the day. My dream chip stack would be about 60,000. I've noticed on PokerStars that if you have double the average stack, you are often in an excellent position.

I couldn't have asked for a better start. In the first round, I began with JJ, 55 (folded to a large re-raise), AKs, KQs, and AQs, winning 4 of the 5 hands and jumping up to 12,500 in chips. This start really calmed me down. I was pleased to have gotten off to such a fortunate start. The next two rounds were fairly uneventful, as we had a very tight table, and very few flops were seen. I picked up several pots along the way and built my chip stack nicely. I did notice, however, that the gentleman to my right was a very solid player. I knew I had to avoid confrontations with him. I found out later that he was a pro named Hilbert Shirey, who owns 3 WSOP bracelets. He was a nice guy and it was a pleasure to play with him.

One memorable hand happened in the 4th round. Blinds were $100-200, ante was $25. I had TT in mid-late position and raised to $700. The person to my left raised me back for $1800 total and with a healthy chip stack ($25K), I called. We were to see a rare flop. AT2 rainbow. I bet $5K because if he had an Ace, he might think I'm overbetting the pot to steal it and push all in or at least call. I was almost 100% positive he did not have AA. He called the bet. Turn 2. I pushed all in for my remaining 19K. He thought about it for a long time and mucked AK (just what I thought). He only had 10K left and he said that he almost called. Too bad! Later in Round 6, I had 2 hands within 15 minutes that really helped continue my upward trend. TT again and flopped another set and beat KQ (good amount of chips as he called my pre-flop raise). Also, JTs in BB and flopped KJJ and bet accordingly to take about 10K. Then, my last significant hand occurred late in Round 7. I limped in with 66 in mid position. Flop 542. I bet 1500. Early position re-raise to 5000. This player had over valued hands previously so I put him on 2 high cards or he had paired one of the flop cards, probably the 5. Nevertheless, I think my 6's are good. With a healthy chip stack, I decided to call. Turn 8. He checks, I check. River 8. Check. Check. He flipped over 95 (top pair) and my 66's take the hand. As the clock beeps down, I begin to count my large chip stack. After 15 hours of play at 2:45am, I finished the round with WOW! -- 67,150! What a start. I couldn't have asked for anything more. Well, First or Short-Term Goal -- CHECK!

Even more good news, my buddy, Mark Hanna, had made it through Day 2 with exactly 20,000 in his first major tournament. Congratulations Mark! You deserve it. We were both on Cloud Nine. Since we had the next day off, we both indulged in a celebratory drink, laughing and telling each other stories about our hands. After an hour of reliving the excitement, we went back to our rooms. Before I went to sleep, I decided to call my family and share the good news. My wife was happy for me and glad that I was enjoying myself, but not really understanding the impressive size of my chip stack. My daughter cooed to me over the phone and my son once again asked me to come home soon. No better way to go to sleep. A great start to the WSOP Main Event and a loving chat with my family! Life couldn't be better! Good Night!

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will be published here over the next several days. Enjoy.

Part 1--Before the Storm

Goal keeping
by Bernard Lee

Wednesday, July 6, 2005
My 8:15am flight from Boston was delayed and I arrived in Las Vegas 2 1/2 hours later than expected. My trip wasn't off to the best start. But, I was so excited, I didn't care. I met up with Mark (my work colleague who had also qualified through PokerStars) at the Rio and we went up to the PokerStars suite to pick up our "Goodie Bag". The staff greeted us warmly, giving us several shirts, hats, a commemorative card cover, and best of all -- a red PokerStars rolling duffel with our name embroidered on it (REAL COOL!). Wow, PokerStars really knows how to do it right! We both left the suite feeling like celebrities! As we were walking to the car to drop off our bags, another internet qualifier from another internet site (so small I didn't know it) asked us where we got our cool rolling bags. After telling him, he told us that his souvenir bag was the size of a small backpack.

Afterward, we headed for the registration desk to pick up our seat assignment for day 2 (both of us had drawn Friday Day 2). When the staffer handed me my name card and seat assignment, it felt truly "REAL". Goose bumps prickled on my neck, as I saw my name in bold capital letters: "BERNARD LEE. Event #42. Table #129. Seat #3." Woah, I really had a seat.

Mark and I decided to visit the main hall to see the tables and seats we'd be sitting at on Friday. As we entered the room, it suddenly hit us -- we saw 200 tables. There will be thousands of people playing, and thousands more watching. WOW! I had played in tournaments before, but nothing that looked like this. My hands got clammy and my heart beat faster. I hoped I would not feel this nervous on Friday. As I found my table and seat, I felt glad that my table wasn't right on the rail so that no spectators will be looking right over my shoulder. After walking around for about 30 minutes, we went back to the hotel, checked in, showered, and went out to the PokerStars Welcome Party at the Mirage.

At the Mirage, the PokerStars set-up great food, music, and drinks. It was neat to meet people from all around the US and world. We learned that a record 1116 players were sent my PokerStars -- WOW! That's almost 20% of the entire field. The PokerStars staff introduced themselves, the 2003 (Chris Moneymaker) and the 2004 (Greg Raymer) WSOP world champions. I asked my friend to take a picture of me with Chris and Greg, and told him afterward, "Who knows, maybe I'll make it 3 for 3 for Pokerstars." However, that was the last time I thought about the final table, as we said let's not get ahead of ourselves. I kept repeating my mantra: "my goal is to get out of each day." In fact, I had three distinct goals for this WSOP Main Event. First or Short-term Goal: Make it out of Day 1. Second or Mid-Term Goal: Make it into the Money. Third or Long-Term Goal: Make it to Binion's (the final 27) because this would be last year that the tournament would be held at the historic Horseshoe and it would be an honor to say that I was there. Well, I guess we'll see how far I can go.

At the party, I introduced myself to Lee Jones, thanking him for the sincere e-mail he had sent me a few days earlier. "How's your wife?" he asked. I told him she was recovering well and that I was thrilled to be able to come. I told Lee that I hoped I could make my family and PokerStars proud. After spending about an hour and a half at the Mirage, we decided to go back to the hotel and play a little poker. I sat down confidently at a 1-2 no-limit cash ring game. After all, I was going to play in the WSOP Main Event and not everyone could say that. Nevertheless, the poker gods obviously did not like my attitude and after playing for 3 hours, it was one of the worst sessions I had had in the last 12 months. I only got 3 hands all night (jacks, ace-king, and ace-queen) so I was happy to walk away from the table only down $300. My phone rang, and my college roommate, DooJin Kim, had arrived. Thank goodness; an excuse to get up from this horrendous session. We went for a drink and I told him, "I hope this takes away all my bad luck because if these cards happen the first day of the WSOP Main Event, I won't make it to the dinner break." After talking for an hour with him, I called my family and told them I loved them and that I would try to make them proud. My wife said that she was feeling better and my son said "I Love You Daddy. Come home soon." My eyes welled up as I wanted to hold my son, but I honestly did not want to come home soon. I wiped away my tears and I decided to call it a night.

Part 3--Coming Sunday

Note: One of the greatest PokerStars stories to come from the World Series of Poker was that of Bernard "Dogger9" Lee, a Frequent Player Point qualifier who caught everybody's eye as the real deal. Lee has agreed to chronicle his journey for the Official PokerStars Blog. His trip report will be published here over the next several days. Enjoy.


Before the storm
by Bernard Lee
It turned out to be the week of my life: the 2005 WSOP Main Event. My name is Bernard Lee, aka "Dogger9". PokerStars asked me to write up a few memories. I am happy to share these with you.

Here is a quick background of my life: I'm a 35 year Korean-American male, married for 9 years to my beautiful wife, Katie. We currently have 2 wonderful children; Noah, 2 years old, and Maya, 2 months old. We live just outside of Boston, MA.

For several years, I have been playing on PokerStars. In late March 2005, I finally qualified for the 2005 World Series of Poker Main Event via a 1000 Frequent Player Point Tournament. Although I have played in several live tournaments before, this was my FIRST WSOP. Please follow along through this story of my "week" of a lifetime. It was a wild and surreal ride. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

On March 28, 2005, I decided it would probably be a good idea to play in a PokerStars Frequent Player Point Tournament in order to practice for the next Sunday Night $650 Super Satellite. I had played the Sunday Super Satellite the 2 weeks prior and had had 2 bad beats to knock me out of each. The worst was the night before when I was one of the top ten in chips and had KK vs QQ (who was one of the other large stacks) and of course a Q hit on the flop ended my "dream" for the night in 90th out of 301, giving away 16 seats. My fateful Frequent Player Point Tournament started at 11pm and before I knew it, it was 4:30am and I had made the final table. A miraculous hand 99 vs AJ with flop AKT, turn A and river 9 (Unbelievable!) carried me to my seat at the 2005 WSOP Main Event. I couldn't be happier as I told my wife when she woke that morning that I was going to the WSOP Main Event--a life long dream! My excitement was magnified a few weeks later when a work colleague, Mark Hanna, also qualified through PokerStars (where else?!). Las Vegas, here we come!

The anticipation was immeasurable. Mark and I felt like schoolboys counting down the days to summer vacation. Nearly every day we would call each other and say "60 days to go," "50...40...", "30, 20, 10 to..." To further prepare for the WSOP Main Event, I drove south to Foxwoods to practice in their satellites for the World Poker Finals. I won a one-table satellite to advance into the Super Satellite. Overall, I was happy with my play, but my night was over when my opponent flopped a monster (quad 3's), when I hit 2 pair on the turn. Oh well. I was pleased with my play and hoped nothing like that would happen in Vegas.

A month or so before the Main Event, I booked my flight to Vegas-- departing Boston Wednesday, July 6th, returning on Tuesday July 12th. My thought was that if I made it through Monday -- Day 5 (remember day 1,2,3 technically were all the first day of the tournament), I would be in the money and I wouldn't mind paying the change fee for my ticket. Also, I decided my last practice session was to be Sunday June 26th in the PokerStars Sunday Night $650 Super Satellite, but another life issue, more important than poker, came to the forefront.

My wife Katie had given birth to our second child, a daughter named Maya, on April 28th. She lost a lot of blood after delivery, but, in the weeks following, she seemed to get gradually stronger and stronger. However, in the month of June, Katie began suffering some severe belly pain. Initially, she thought it might be food poisoning, but when it occurred for the 3rd time in 2 weeks, we thought she should probably see her doctor. She underwent a belly CT scan at 10am Friday, June 24th. Quite unexpectedly the radiologist found a 7 cm tumor on her right ovary! We scheduled surgery right away on Wednesday, June 28th, only 1 week before the WSOP Main Event. I was very worried, but my wife, who is a physician herself, reassured me that this was not a life threatening procedure and that she would be ok. Still, this was an invasive procedure that would result in a rather large incision in her abdomen. My primary thoughts centered on Katie’s well-being and recovery; however, in the far back of mind, I have to admit I also thought about the possibility of not going to the WSOP Main Event. I even e-mailed PokerStars explaining our unexpected situation and asked if anything could be done. Alas, since they had already registered me with Harrah's, it was too late to make any changes. Lee Jones from PokerStars sent me an extremely sincere and personalized e-mail telling me to make sure that I take care of my wife first and foremost, and then worry about poker.

She came home the next day and we didn't really discuss the WSOP Main Event, but she knew that I was thinking about it. And what happened next is why I have been married to the best woman in the world for 9 years. She said, "I know you are worried about the World Series. I will be ok. I know that you need to go." After arranging for her sister to fly in from California to take care of her, and as long as her recovery went well, I was preparing to go. However, on the morning of July 4th (2 days before I was scheduled to leave), my wife had increased abdominal pain and said that we needed to see the surgeon to get her wound checked out. It was at this moment that I had serious thoughts of not going to Vegas -- if Katie needed to have another surgery or her complications were serious, I WOULD NOT GO! My family comes first!

When we entered the ER, poker was the furthest thing from my mind. In some respects, I had already resigned the fact that I wouldn’t be going. Oh well, there will be many more opportunities and many more WSOP Main Events. I'll just try to qualify through PokerStars next year. The surgeon entered the room and after a thorough check of the site, reassured us that she was fine and that the pain/discoloration was normal. I still was unsure if I should go. My parents and in-laws were not pleased that I even considered leaving Katie so soon after her surgery. However, once again, my wife said, "I'll be ok. You should go." I made sure my sister-in-law arrived to take care of my wife and two kids while I was away, which made me feel a little better. But, I did have some guilt as I left the house Wednesday morning. After kissing my wife and the kids good-bye, she reassured me she was going to be okay and said her usual "I Love You! Good Luck! Have Fun!"

This just in: PokerStars is offering a limited time deposit bonus. Make your next deposit before Thursday, July 28 at 11:59PM ET and receive a 20% bonus worth up to $120.

Click here for complete bonus details.

With the World Series of Poker come and gone, we're left with dozens of great stories and a lifetime of memories. I've attempted to index most of the WSOP posts here. Thanks again to all the players and the members of our WSOP Team Blog for making it a great time. --Brad "Otis" Willis

Preliminary Events

The Official PokerStar Blog Arrives

A Tale of Two Suck-Outs

Brett Favre advances in No-Limit Shootout

Saturday at the WSOP

Noah "Exclusive" Boeken Final Table report

Eric "erbloore" Bloore makes WSOP final table (and the report from his final table appearance).

Terrence Chan and John Gale $5000 PL Hold'em Report

John Gale makes final table

John Gale final table report

John Gale final table wrap-up

Greg Raymer final table report

Frustrated and short-handed at the WSOP

A bracelet for one, a chance for two others (featuring Dan Schmeich, Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf, and Jarl Lindholt)

Neverwin and Virus1975 final table report

John Duthie and Morten Jensen make $3000 NL final table

A bit on Terrence Chan


Main Event

Shuffle up and deal

WSOP Day 1A Photo Gallery


Stars among the PokerStars (featuring Shirley "Siren" Rosario, Wil Wheaton, Neverwin, and more)

A survivor's story

Cannibalism, poker style

Day 1B Begins

Poker Faces

The story of Graeme "sacrifice" Harrison

Day 1C begins

Featured and familiar

Day 2 breaks

A World Series Reborn (Day 2 Begins)

The Story of JAMAPLAYS

Big stacks, big names

WSOP Day 2 Wrap-up

The Story of Klaus Ageson

Day 3 Wrap-Up

Raymer's Roll

A few words on Brad Kondracki

Larry Prugh's Poker face and Radu Butan's birthday

Day 4 Wrap-up

Day 5 Wrap-up

Day 6 Wrap-Up

Day 7 Wrap-Up

Off the felt

Wil Wheaton joins Team PokerStars

Roasting the Roaster, John Bonetti

Rocco Mediate to Play in WSOP

World Series of Poker Primer

Perspective

Media 101

The PokerStars party before the storm

Who is Team Blog?

2005 PokerStars WSOP Winners

2005 European WSOP Coverage

The Bernard Lee Story

There was a time many, many days ago when these players could not have thrown a football and hit each other across the tournament floor. The vast expanse of tables was too wide, too crowded with the thousands of players, and too full of early-day jitters. But this was a day that began with the desert sun burning at 113 degrees. The sun set and the night became midnight, and the pre-dawn hours beecame morning. During these long hours, there was no distance between the players. They could feel their nervous opponents' breath across just a couple feet of felt.

PokerStars qualifiers numbered 1116 when the event started. By the time we reached the final nine, only two of our qualifiers remained. Brad "bogey54" Kondracki and Daniel "berka" Bergsdorf had fought through more than 5000 other players to become guaranteed millionaires. Though their pockets would surely be full regardless of the outcome, the young men had a bracelet in their sights.

Twenty-four year old Brad Kondracki, a second year law student at Penn, came into the day with the shortest stack, just more than a million in chips. On the very first hand, Kondracki found himself under the gun and moved all in. He only won the blinds and antes, but it set the stage for his performance. He was going to fight for his moment.

Only at the World Series of Poker can someone show disappointment after being given a check for $1,150,000 but at the press conference held just after he busted out in 8th place, Brad Kondracki admitted he was slightly let down. "Well, I am feeling disappointed now, but I'll be feeling pretty good in an hour's time. I don't think I could have played my chips any differently. I did what I could."

A whole load of Brad's college friends, who flew in to Vegas today to catch his final table performance, were at the media conference whooping and cheering - especially when Brad was asked how he felt about being the best-looking guy at the final table.

There were more laughs when Brad sheepishly confessed he hasn't actually played any live tournaments bigger than a $10 buy-in before qualifying on PokerStars.com for the WSOP. He said: "It's been kind of surreal being here. I was thinking this morning about how many breaks I've had to have just to get this far. But I also know now that I can get up there and hold my own."

"How do your parents feel about how you've done?", asked a journalist. Brad's dad Tony, standing beside his son, said he was thrilled. But Brad cut in quickly "They weren't so happy when I told them last year that I was taking a year off from law school to play poker."

Audio Blogger James Haritgan got a chance to talk to Kondracki after it was all over. Right click here and save to your hard drive to listen to Kondracki's last words.

Kondracki's departure left PokerStars hopes on the shoulders of the 27-year-old truck driver from Umea Sweden, Daniel Bergsdorf.
After living the life of a card rack Thursday (he caught aces twice and kings once in the period of just a few minutes), Bergsdorf seemed to go card dead on Friday. He played very few hands past the flop and eventually found himself needing to make a move. He chose the right spot.
Joe Hachem made it $360,000 to go from the button on Daniel's big blind. Tex Barch, in the small blind, raised to $2,000,000 and Daniel moved all in. Daniel had jacks and Tex had tens. The flop brought a queen and ten. The turn was a eight. Daniel needed a nine or jack to win the pot. It didn't come. Daniel left in seventh place for $1,300,000. Right click here and save to your hard drive to listen to Bergsdorf's final interview.
And with that, PokerStars hopes of bringing home a third straight bracelet left the room. It would take almost another ten hours to finally find a winner. In the end, Aussie Joe Hachem won the biggest event in poker history.

Looking back, it has been a long, but satisfying World Series of Poker. The sleepless nights, high anxiety, and bad beats were hard to take. But the victories were heartening and made it all worthwhile. In the main event alone, PokerStars qualifiers cashed for $7,368,940. That, my friends, is not so bad.

It is now time to get home for a while. We here at Team Blog thank everyone for the kind e-mails, suggestions, and support we've received over the past several weeks. We were quite surprised to see not just tens, but hundreds of thousands of visits to this little poker portal. Please feel free to e-mail at the address on the right to let us know if you liked what we've done.

Well, the poker world has a new champion. Joe Hachem took down the whole shooting match just after 7am this morning. There is a lot to report, but being human (or some human-shaped shell), Team Blog needs to sleep. Badly. While I consider blogging an immediate medium, sleep is going to win out this time. I'll have a full wrap-up on the final day coming up a little later.

Thanks to the tens of thousands of you who have logged on every day to check out PokerStars WSOP news. It has been a real pleasure.

Our two PokerStars qualifiers have finished their run at the WSOP. While we here at Team Blog would like to go drown our sorrows, we figure this is the biggest event in poker history. So, we remain and will let you know about the big developments as they happen. Click refresh all day night morning long to follow the progress. Look below chip counts for the most recent updates.

Steve Dannenmann 2nd place $4,250,000
Tex Barch 3rd place $2.5 million
Aaron Kanter 4th place $2,000,000
Andy Black 5th place $1,750,000
Scott Lazar 6th place $1,500,000
Daniel "berka" Bergsdorf 7th place $1,300,000
Brad "bogey54" Kondracki 8th place $1,150,000
Mike Matusow 9th place $1,000,000

6:44am--Joe Hachem just became the 2005 WSOP champion. He flopped the nut straight, let Dannenmann catch an ace on the turn, then got him all in. Congrats, Joe.

6:33am--We're heads up.

6:09am--Tex Barch is eliminated in 3rd place--Tex got the rest of his money in and both opponents called. His opponents checked down the board: 2T3Q9. Hachem showed jacks, Dannenmann showed 77. Tex mucked and exited $2.5 million richer.

6:09am--The sun is up. The media are sleeping. And three men are still fighting for a bracelet. The blinds are astronomical. The antes are the equivlent of five players' buy-ins. Tex Barch is on the short stack. Someone just put the over/under line for the finish time...at Labor Day.

5:31am--The players are moving some chips around the table a bit. Feels like something may be coming. What that is, I have no idea. But something.

5:07am--With Kanter's departure comes the money presentation. My favorite quote of the presentation: "Unless you have a shotgun in your hand, back away from the money."

4:48am--Aaron Kanter has been eliminated in fourth place. He pushed all in with A9o. Tex Barch insta-called with pocket jacks. The jacks held up. Kanter makes $2 million for his efforts.

4:45am--The chip counts have barely moved. The rivers have run dry. We are getting very close to the longest-lasting final table in WSOP history.

4:14am--Good morning, East Coast. When you went to bed, we were playing the final table of the WSOP. And we're still playing. We have four players left and if we finish before 6:30am, I'll be really, really surprised.

3:28am--Aaron Kanter just caught Aussie Joe Hachem in a steal, but found himself on the wrong side of luck this time. Hachem pushed in with Q7 and Kanter called with a pair of nines. This time, no miracles would come for Kanter. A queen on the flop and no improvement put a serious a dent in Kanter's stack.


2:45am--In the past half an hour, little has happened except a mini-miracle double up for Aaron Kanter. He got all his chips in pre-flop with A7 vs. Tex Barch AQ. Two sevens on the flop pretty much sealed the deal.

2:05am--Andy Black has been eliminated. He got all in pre-flop with TT vs AK. The flop was innocuous, but a king fell on the turn.

1:57am--Steve Dannenmann just doubled up Joe Hachem. Hachem moved in with 77 to Dannenmann's AJ. The pocker pair held up.

1:10am--Heard me loud and clear. On a K&T flop, tex Barch bet out, Aaron Kanter moved all in, and Barch called with K7 for two pair. Kanter had K5 and didn't improve. The pot was 21 million and

1:10am--Yeah, they heard me. Aaron Kanter just raised pre-flop with 44, Andy Black pushed all in with A8s, and Kanter called. The flop brought an ace and eight. The turn and river didn't help Kanter.

1:05am--Well, I guess they heard me. On a flop of 596 with two clubs, Andy Black bet out and Steve Dannanmann pushed all in. After some thought, Black made the right call, showing T9. Dannenmann had A6 spades. The the turn was a three, but the six was a rabid, frothing ace that ripped the chip lead right out of Black's hands. Dannenmann just doubled up.

1:01am--Indeed, we are back from break, and not much has changed. I have forgotten what a river looks like. ESPN is going to have to hire som good editors.

12:23pm--Sorta tight in the past hour or so. We're still at five players and headed into a 15 minute break.

11:32pm--We just saw the biggest pot of the tournament and one of the biggest pots in WSOP history. Aaron Kanter flopped top set with a apir of kings, made the boat on the turn, and bet two million on the river and got a call from Andy Black. Aaron Kanter just took down a $15 million pot.

10:25--Scott Lazar has been eliminated It's unclear what Scott Lazar had for dinner, but something has adversely affected his reasoning, and after another suicidal move he's free to go back for dessert. Lazar raises again and is prepared to call all-in when Andrew Black moves in behind him. This time Lazar has the mighty queen-ten off-suit, another huge dog to Black's pocket jacks. Lazar is drawing pretty thin from the outset and receives no help. He's our sixth place finisher.

10:20--The very next hand after Daniel Bergsdorf's exit, we have another all in called. Scott Lazar raises and Joe Hachem, the shortest stack, moves in. Lazar makes a quick call, but his king-nine of spades is in big trouble against Hachem's ace-queen of the same suit. Nothing extraordinary happens on the flop and Joe doubles through.

10:03--Daniel Bergsdorf has been eliminated. Joe made it 360,000 to go from the button on Daniel's big blind. Tex Barch, in the small blind, raised to 2,000,000 and Daniel now goes all in. Daniel has jacks and Tex has tens. The flop brought a queen and ten. The turn was a eight. Daniel needed a nine or jack to win the pot. It didn't come. Daniel left in seventh place for $1,300,000. Congratulations, Daniel.

8:17--Dinner break

7:53Mad Harper just got back from a news conference with Brad Kondracki. She brought back this report.

Only at the World Series of Poker can someone show disappointment after being given a cheque for $1,150,000 but at the press conference held just after he busted out in 8th place, Brad Kondracki admitted he was slightly let down. "Well, I am feeling disappointed now, but I'll be feeling pretty good in an hour's time. I don't think I could have played my chips any differently. I did what I could."

A whole load of Brad's college friends, who flew in to Vegas today to catch his final table performance, were at the media conference whooping and cheering - especially when Brad was asked how he felt about being the best-looking guy at the final table.

There were more laughs when Brad sheepishly confessed he hasn't actually played any live tournaments bigger than a $10 buy-in before qualifying on PokerStars.com for the WSOP. He said: "It's been kind of surreal being here. I was thinking this morning about how many breaks I've had to have just to get this far. But I also know now that I can get up there and hold my own."

"How do your parents feel about how you've done?", asked a journalist. Brad's dad Tony, standing beside his son, said he was thrilled. But Brad cut in quickly "They weren't so happy when I told them last year that I was taking a year off from law school to play poker."

7:26--Brad Kondracki has been eliminated. Kondracki moved all-in with AQ and Andy Black called in the big blind with 88. The flop came down K85 with two spades. The turn was the 5 of hearts. The river was the six of clubs. Brad took 8th place and cahsed for $1,150,000.

7:15-- Bergsdorf just lost a few chips to Andy Black. On a 397 rainbow, Bergsdorf bet out 400K, Andy Black raised him, and Bergsdorf folded.

6:44--Tick-tock. With Matusow's departure, we're back to posting and folding.

6:44--Brad just picked up a pot after re-raising Andy Black all in.

6:29 Mike Matusow is eliminated--Steve Dannenmann makes it $300,000 from mid-position and Mike Matusow, in the big blind, calls. The flop is 5-2-3, two spades, and after Matusow has a stab, Dannenmann moves in. Mike calls and shows pocket tens, while Dannenmann has A-J off-suit and will need to hit running spades or any ace, jack or four to knock out the Mouth. The turn is the four and when neither the ace nor six falls on the river (both of which would have earned a split for Matusow), it's all over for the only "name" pro in the field. He takes $1,000,000, but no bracelet. He feigns to cry, but there's no Matusow blow up today. He's actually quite gracious in defeat. You heard it here first.

6:09pm--After some hot action at the beginning, the players have calmed down a bit. Not a lot to speak of here. Well, except for the fact that they are still playing for $7.5 million.

5:43pm--My software just ate my post about a monster hand between Mike Matsuow and Andy Black. I'll do my best to reconstruct it without notes. Matusow raised pre-flop and Black called from the big blind. The flop came down J65 with two clubs. Black checked, Matusow bet out and Black called. The turn was a ten of hearts. Black bet out a million, Matusow raised to two million, and Black pushed all in. Matusow thought for a bit, pretended like he was going to call, and mucked. The hand left Matusow with $2.8 million.

5:25pm-- From two off the button, Mike Matusow makes it $270,000 to go. Steve Dannenmann, in the small blind, reraises to $1m. In a flash, Mike moves in and Dannenmann is forced to lay down his pocket fours.

5:17pm--Brad just doubled up. He raised to $450,000 . Steve Dannenman pushed all-in. Kondracki thought for a moment before saying, "I have to call." He turned over pocket tens to Dannenmann's AQo. The flop gave Dannenmann his queen, but the QJ4 flop was all spades. A deuce of hearts on the turn was no help, but a seven of spades on the river was enough to push Kondracki up to $2.6 million.

5:00pm--On just the second hand of the final table, a monster, impossible hand. Dannenmann raised pre-flop, Lazar made it a million to go. Matusow pushed all in. Dannenmann folded and Lazar insta-called, showing aces. Matusow turned over kings. The flop turned the tables, Q6K with two hearts. Matusow jumped around the room screaming. But then, the two of hearts fell on the turns, opening up the nut flush draw for the aces. Matusow couldn't look. And best he didn't. The jack of hearts on the river gave the pot to Lazar and cut Matusow's stack in half.

4:43pm--Brad Kondracki opened the very first%

Today, we find ourselves back at the 'Shoe. Team Blog will be on top of things and will post updates as they come in (and as the limited technology here at Binion's allows). The most recent updates will be just below the chip counts. Also, be sure to check out the WSOP photo gallery.

Blinds are $50,000/$100,000 with a $10,000 ante/ Avg. stack: $5.6 million; Chip leader: $9 million

Chip stacks correct as of 2:47am

Brad "bogey 54" Kondracki--$1.2 million
Daniel "berka" Bergsdorf--$6 million
Bernard "Dogger9" Lee
Greg "Fossilman" Raymer

Ayhan Alsancak's queens just got rivered by an ace-high flush. We have two PokerStars qualifiers at the final table of the WSOP. Details to come.

2:43am--We were almost there. Ayhan Alsancak was all in with QQ vs AJ of hearts. The flop brought an ace. By the river, Alsancak only had two outs, the remaining two queens in the deck. This time, the out came out. Alsancak doubled up and we're back to playing on the TV bubble.

2:30am--It was a hand that didn't involve any PokerStars qualifiers, but got the room rocking. Mike Matusow came in for a raise and got two callers, including Andy Black. Then Tex Barch made it one million to go from the small blind. Matusow and one caller folded. Andy Black thought about it, then announced he was all in. Barch pondered for a while before calling and showing pocket jacks. Black only had KJo. The board laid out an ace and queen, giving Black seven outs on the river, none of which materialized. Tex Barch is now the chip leader. He has more than nine million in chips.

2:00am--Joe Hachem raised pre-flop to $350K. Daniel Bergsdorf re-raised and made it $850 to go. Joe Hachem asked for a count (Bergsdorf had a little less than two million). Hachem called. Flop came down T44 rainbow. Bergsdorf checked. Hachem bet $500K. Bergsdorf announced all-in. Hachem insta-called. Bergdof showed aces. Hachem showed nines. The board didn't mess with the aces. Bergsdorf doubled up.

1:43am--We're back from a break. Kondracki has picked up some chips, Bergsdorf has lost some. There is one shorter stack that Kondracki. Ayhan Alsancak has $1.16 million in chips. Play is about to resume.

1:26amKondracki just picked off a raise from Andy Black. Andy raised in early position, Brad pushed in for a full million on the button. Andy mucked, appearing to show a pair of sixes.

1:21am--A little charity for Brad Kondracki. The Aussie in the one seat just limped in and gave Brad a free flop in the big blind. Both players checked the board all the way down. Brad made a pair of fives and won back his blind, plus the small blind and limper's bet.

12:50am--In the first half hour of single-table play, the PokerStars qualifiers have played a total of one hand each. Daniel called a raise in the big blind, then check-folded on a A77 flop. Brad Kondracki looked like he wanted to play a few times. The only time he came in, he was all-in, attacking the other short-stack's big blind. Kondracki picked up the blinds and antes with that bet.

12:27am--So, here we are. We sit and watch the final ten. PokerStars qualifier Brad Kondracki is the short stack at the table. Each time around the table costs him $220K. With just about $1.1 million, he's going to have to find a hand and get his chips in soon. The question is...what is that hand? Big stacks are everywhere. If he can survive to the final nine, he will make at least $1 million instead of $600,000. That's no small jump. However, I'm sure he knows, too that these players will show him no mercy in the blinds. For now, we'll just have to wait and see how he plays it. The man who qualified for a mere $160 stands to make a great deal of money here today. And as we already know, his dad is a VP with a large American banking firm. He'll know what to do with it all.

12:07am--And that's ten. Shahram Shublem is out. Mike Matusow raised from early position and Shahram called from the small blind for all his short stack. The big blind also called, giving them twice the opportunity to knock Shublem out or to triple him up. The flop had two clubs and, unsurprisingly, it was checked. The turn was a third club and Matusow now bet, suggesting strength. Indeed it was; he had turned the nut flush to his ace-queen of clubs and that was that for Shublem. We're going down to one ten-handed table now and there's a redraw for seats. The "final table" will still be nine, but this single table - call it a dress rehearsal - features two PokerStars qualifiers: Brad Kondracki and Daniel Bergsdorf.

12:02pm--Brad Kondracki is down to about a million after losing a pot to chip leader Andy Black. In late position, Brad raised pre-flop to 300K. Andy called. The flop came down Kc8c8h. Both checked, and checked again when Qs came down on the turn. With a 7h river card, Andy bet 400K. Brad called and Andy showed Ks10s for the two pair. Brad mucked his cards.

11:23pm--Conor Tate is eliminated in 12th place. He ran his ace-king into pocket kings and received no help from the board. At the same time, Daniel Bergsdorf is involved in a pot on the other table. He calls a late position raise from the big blind, then sees a flop of 33K. Original raiser bets and turn is the ace of spades. Raiser bets again and Daniel passes. Probably about a million dollar pot conceded there.

10:36pm--Bernard Lee eliminated. Three players limped around to Bernard Lee in the big blind. Lee checked his option. The flop came down K63. Everyone checked round to Aaron Kanter on the button who bet out 200,000. Bernard raised all-in and Aaron called. The turn came a jack, but the river was a six to give Kanter trips. Bernard Lee, the last man in this contest to qualify for free with Frequent Player Points, left in 13th place and cashed for $400,000. Congratulations, Bernie. You played a hell of a game.

10.25pm--Daniel Bergsdorf was just involved in his first pot since dinner. He was one of three callers after Andy Black raised, but when Black bet at a flop of 9-K-3, two hearts, Daniel became one of three folders.

10.23pm--Oskar Silow became our 14th placed finisher when he put in a raise and was re-raised for all his chips by Aaron Kanter, the chip-leader. Silow's short stack was pot-committed and he called with ace-ten. Kanter showed pocket queens and when another flopped it was as good as over.

10:07pm--Daniel Bergsdorf, after establishing himself as a human csrd rack, has not played a real pot in the past hour and 40 minutes. Tick-tock, tick-tock.

9:45pm--The lone woman in the field, Tiffany Williamson, just exited the event. She placed 15th and won $400,000. We're down to 14 players with three PokerStars qualifiers remaining.

9:41pm--Now in the top 15, Brad Kondracki won't have any problems wondering how to deal with his guarantted $400,000. Dad, Tony, is a VP of Finance and Investments at Wachovia Securities.

9:34pm--Johnny Howard just made his 16th place exit after a heart breaking runner/runner straight beat his set of queens. Now, every player out males $400K

9:29pmKondracki doubled up at just the right time. His girlfriend and other brother just showed up to round out his entourage. In this environment where nearly every turn of the card makes you want to cry in despair or triumph, a support system is required. Come to think of it, I could use a little backing here myself.

9:11pm--Brad Kondracki vs. Tiffany Williamson. Kondracki has AK to Williamson's A3. A king on the flop of K94 does the job. The turn (9) and river (4) didn't help Williamson and Kondracki doubled up. Ted Barch, stalking the floor during the flop and turn looked mighty disguntled and admitted to having at least one 9, which would have given him a set plus.

9:11pm--Bernard Lee just stole a pot from Tex Barch. Tex Barch raised pre-flop and Lee pushed all-in. Barch thought for a bit and folded. Lee showed pocket tens...the same hand Barch folded.

9:11pm--We just lot another player in a classic AK vs. QQ race. Michael Kessler's AK lost and he's gone in 17th place. We're down to 16 players. Seven more people leave and we have a final table. PokerStars still has three qualifiers remaining.

8:49pm--All-in mania after the dinner break has resulted in the contest losing its 18th finisher. We're down to 17 players.

8:44pm--Qualifier cannibalism. On the first hand back from dinner break, Brad Kondracki pushed all in with T80 and got called by Bernard Lee who had AQ suited in diamonds. Kondracki flopped a ten and doubled through.

7:15pm--The players are on dinner break. Back in a while.

7:06pm--Daniel Bergsdorf is a card rack. Within the last ten minutes he's picked up aces twice and kings once. The latter just busted Minh Ly, who held AJ. We're now down to eighteen players and two tables.

7:05pm--The room has again been shocked beyond belief. Odds-on favorite since Raymer's departure, Phil Ivey, has been eliminated, getting every one of his chips in with JJ vs. KK. All the money went in preflop. The flop was Kxx two diamonds. Another diamond on the turn gave Ivey more outs, but they didn't come. Ivey is gone.

7:01pm--It's not an echo. Daniel Bergsdorf just found pocket aces again and got all his money against 99. Daniel had raised pre-flop and Minh Ly called. The flop came 345 rainbow. Minh bet out, Daniel raised, and Minh moved all in. Daniel thought for a bit, then called. And guess what? The aces held up. Again. Bergsdorf just doubled up.

6:57pm--Well, where kings wouldn't hold up, aces will. Just after Bernard Lee doubled up with aces, PokerStars qualifier Daniel Bergsdorf knocked out a player with aces vs. AK. Twenty players remain in the contest.

6:51pm--Finally...finally a piece of good news from Benny's Bullpen. Frequent Player Point qualifier Bernard "Dogger9" Lee got all his chips in the middle with AA vs. QQ. After starting every day for the last three with 40% of the average chip stack, Lee had just $800K left. The board came down JJ832 and Lee doubled up, much to the delight of his entourage on the rail. Lee now has in the neighborhood of $1.6 million.

6:22pm--Brad Kondracki just lost a $2 million pot and is down to 750K. After a 8s6c5s flop, his opponent Conor Tate went all in. Brad called. Tate had 10s7s, giving him a flush draw and straight draw. With Kc7c, Brad had king-high and an open-ended straight draw. The 6s on the turn gave Tate a flush, and the 9s on the river gave him a straight flush. Kondracki is crippled.

6:00pm--Joe Connor just left in 23rd place after his pocket jacks lost to pokcet aces. Twenty-two players remain.

5:45pm--Brad Kondracki just lost a $1.5 million pot against Mike Matusow. In a battle of the blinds, Matusow flopped the nuts with 57 on a 486 flop. Matusow bet out big on the river. Kondracki called, then mucked when Matusow showed him the nuts. I'm bordering on depressed.

5:40pm--In news from across the room, it appears pocket kings aren't treating our PokerStars qualifiers very well today. Daniel Bergsdorf, with KK, got a short-stacked opponent all in. The other guy had 88...and rivered an eight.

5:38--As we sit in our lamentation, the action is simultaneiously riveting and heartbreaking. Tim Phan was just eliminated after getting all in with TT vs. AQ. The flop came down ATx. The turn was a queen...and so was the river. All around me, the question is the same. Why do we even play this game? Worse, why do we watch this game?" We're down to 23 players.

5:25pm--When the bad beats hit this hard, it's sometimes easy to forget what else is happening. We should not forget that even though Raymer has departed, PokerStars has three other qualifiers who are still in the fight. Law student Brad Kondracki, marketing man Bernard Lee, and the man from Sweden, Daniel Bergsdorf, sit on the other side of the room, building their stacks and fighting to make it to the final table. Team Blog is on top of the action there and we'll be reporting all night long on the qualifiers' progress.

5:16pm--Although play continues here, the room is in a state of sick silence. While I will readily admit being a Raymer fan and supporter, I'm not being biased when I write that a majority of this room was behind Greg and hoping, like the rest of us, that the world champion would make a repeat appearance at the final table. The heart that fell on the river to crack Raymer's kings sucked the energy right out of the room. Barely a half hour removed from the hand that essentially ended Raymer's chance at a second WSOP bracelet, the world champion said he wouldn't have played the hand any differently. There was no reason to. He said, "Even after the raise, I was almost 100% certain I had the best hand." And he did. He was more than an 80% favorite. It was not to be. And frankly, it seems Raymer is handling this better than the rest of us. In his exit interview with ESPN, Raymer said, "I try not to think of poker in terms of results. I think in terms of decisions and I made good decisions today." Congrats, Greg, on your performance and making us all very, very proud.

5:09pm--Greg Raymer has been eliminated. Raymer, using his patented stop-and-go move, limped in pre-flop. On the flop of KK7 with two clubs, Greg moved all-in. His opponent called with 55. Greg has A9o. Greg needed sevens, nines, aces, or running clubs. The turn was a king, giving Greg three more outs. The river was a deuce and Greg Raymer was eliminated in 25th place.

4:44pm Greg Raymer just took a very bad hit. UPDATED: Greg raised pre-flop and got called. The flop came down came down 356 rainbow. Greg bet half the pot and his opponent called. The turn was a seven of hearts, putting two hearts on board. Greg bet out half the pot again (330K), Greg's opponent made it 900K to go. Greg put his opponent all-in for his remaining 700K. The opponent called. Greg had KK. Opponent had a flush draw with QJ hearts. The river came down a deuce of hearts. Raymer's stack is crippled. He has about $400,000. Greg said of the odds during the break, "Eighty percent of the time, I'm the chip leader or close to it. Twenty percent of the time, I'm in bad shape." With only $400K left, Greg knows the situation. "It's a one-move stack. It's all in or fold."

4:30pm--The players here seem to want to play against the world champion. On a flop of K53 with two spades, Black bet out a million. Raymer mucked. The camera didn't allow us to see what Black showed. One report has one of the cards being a red ten.

4:23pm--Tom Santori has been eliminated in 26th place. We're down to 25 players.

4:19pm--Facing what appeared to be an early position raise, Daniel Bergsdorf called. The flop came down J72. The raiser checked and Daniel bet out. The raiser called. The turn came down as a king. The raiser decided to be tout 300K this time. Daniel thought for a bit, then called. The river was a queen. Check, check. Daniel showed QJ for two pair. The raiser mucked. The pot was well more than $500K.

4:06pm--The pre-flop action was a little unclear, as the tournament director is ont calling the action today. When we picked up the hand, Raymer was in a pot with KJ3 with two diamonds on the flop. Turn is a six. Joe Connor moved all in for... Raymer, glasses off, decided to chat Connor up a bit. While Greg thought, his championship bracelet reflected the TV lights. Raymer though for several minutes before giving up the pot.

4:06pm--Raymer came in for a raise on the button. The big blind called. Two jacks came down on the flop. The big blind checked, Raymer bet out, the big blind folded.

4:05pm--Phil Ivey took a bit of a hit. After check-raising the Australian member of the field Joseph Hachem, to $500K, Hachem moved all in and Ivey folded.

3:52pm--Per Hilderbrand has been eliminated from the featured table. We're down to 26 players.

3:52pm--Controversy on Brad and Bernard's table in the second hand of the day. Mike Matusow raises from two off the button and the player to his left calls. Shahram Shublem, in the dealer chair, passes after thinking for a couple of minutes. The small blind and the big blind, Bernard, pass. When the flop comes Ac-8c-7h, Shublem bangs the table, stands up and begins talking to friends on the rail. Matusow says "You need to shut the **** up when you're not in a hand," and Shublem reports The Mouth for swearing. They both get ten minute penalties and the discussions, in which Bernard is particularly vocal, continue long after. While the two players were absent, Brad Kondracki took down a small pot pre-flop. Bernard Lee took down a couple of pots, as well.

3:40pm--Fossilman raised in late position. Small blind pushed all in. Raymer called. Raymer has A8 vs to opponent's K7 suited in clubs. Flop is Q74. Greg needs running cards, an ace or eight. Turn is a nine. Fossilman is down to six outs, which don't come. River is a king to give opponent two pair and double him up. Ayhan Alsancak, the opponent, was the shortest stack in the room with only $225K, so that didn't hurt Raymer too badly.

3:40pm--Play has begun.

3:30pm--When you pack this many people into Benny's Bullpen, it's going to take a little time to get everything worked out. The players are seated and we're getting ready to start.

2:39pm--Play will begin some time after 3pm. Stay tuned.

I saw it in my mind's eye before I saw it through a lens. I saw it as a vision after the 2004 WSOP. I thought--no, hoped with every ounce of my being--that a reunion of Greg Raymer and Mike Matusow would happen someday. Some fine day, I thought, there would again be a meeting, where talk of cojones and their size would not rule the day. It should happen on a big stage, I thought. Today, I caught the first glimpse through a lens.

There they stood in the middle of the room in what appeared to be a civil conversation. The room looked on as the men chatted genially. A person without knowledge of recent poker history might have overlooked the tete-a-tete as a couple of old chums talking about the weather. For me, and hundred of other people in the room, it was a preview of a potential match-up that no screenwriter could honestly pitch to a movie producer.

Anyone who remembers 2004 remembers the much ballyhooed confrontation between Matusow that ultimately resulted Matusow weeping on the rail and Raymer going on to win the world championship. This year, at least as midnight draw near at the end of Day 5, the tables are turned a bit. Matusow enters Day 6 with the chip lead. Raymer, after a monster day of chip collection, is fifth in chips. The difference in chip position right now is less relevant than that for which what we're all really hoping. We want to see these two men staring across the felt at each other when the WSOP seats its final nine players.

If you hadn't already guessed, Day 5 is over with 27 players remaining. A full recap is coming. In the meantime, you should know that Greg Raymer, Brad Kondracki, Bernard Lee, and Daniel Bergsdorf have all survived. Raymer, Kondracki, and Bergsdorf are all in the top ten in chips.

More to come...

Okay folks, another day of substance over style. Here's your play-by-play for the day. Today, the most recent updates will be posted directly below the chip counts. Good luck to our 11 remaining players. HEY LOOK: The WCOOP schedule is out.

Chip counts (updated when available)
Blinds $20,000/$40,000 with $5,000 ante

Daniel "berka" Bergsdorf $2.3 million
Greg "FossilMan" Raymer Nearly $2.3 million
Brad "bogey54" Kondracki $1.6 million
Bernard "Dogger9" Lee $820,000

Radu "rbutan" Butan $750,000
Steve "smarx" Marx $500,000
Raymi "DingDingDing" Thorn
Kevin "ShuMoney" Kaikko
Derek "Bob&TomShow" Dix
Larry "TheKid1948" Prugh $166,000
Jarl "virus1975" Lindholt

9:37pm--Brad Kondracki just won a monster $3.16 million dollar pot. The action pre-flop is unclear. The flop is A36. After his opponent bet, Brad pushed all in and got a call. Brad shows AQ to his opponent's AJ. The AQ held up and Brad became one of the chip leaders.

9:30pm--Brad Kondracki's fan club is having an effect. After checking pre-flop, Brad called Ted Barch's $100,000 bet. Brad checked again after the K-A-9 flop, then called Ted Barch's $120,000 bet. With more than $400,000 in the pot, Brad went all-in after the turn brought Qc. Barch folded.

8:47pm--Brad Kondracki's fan club has just flown in from Pennsylvania to join his family cheering from the rails. Mike Leggieri and Yale Klat are both fellow law students at Penn and both taking credit for getting Brad where he is right now. "It was my computer he learned to play poker on," said Mike. "Yeah, but it was my room that had the internet access," said Yale.

8:36pm--Bernard Lee is playing super tight. In the past level, he's played one hand past the flop and that was the last hand of the level. In the big blind, Lee faced a lone caller from the button. Lee uses his option to raise an additional 60K. The button called and they saw a flop of 8s4c7s. Lee checked, the button bet out 70k, and Lee called. The turn came a 3c. Lee bet out 100K and the button folded. Lee was nice enough to show pocket tens.

8:27pm--Raymer is showing no fear. Two hands ago, Raymer brought in a raise from the cutoff. The button re-raised, and Greg came over the top for $500K. On the next hand, though, Greg gave most of those winnings back after getting into a little battle with the small blind. We're on a 15-minute break.

7:44pm--We have just lost doctor Radu Butan who went all-in against Greg Raymer. Radu, who won $274,090, said: "I limped in with Qs6s. The flop came down 8d-Js-2s giving me a flush draw. I checked, so did everyone else. The turn brought 7d. Greg Raymer immediately bet $100,000. I went all in for $500,000 which Raymer called. Raymer had 5d6d so we were both on the flush draw but the river brought Jd."

7:44pm--For fans of Neverwin, Dustin just busted. All in with AKs, Dustin got called by TT. The flop came down AKx. The turn was a horrible ten. The river didn't fill up our man and he departed in 32nd place. Nice job, Dustin.

7:20pm--Brad Kondracki just eliminated the 34th-placed finisher Bing Wang and picked up another $400,000. Wang went all-in before the flop with A9. Brad called with pocket Queens and got the set with a flop of Q-A-2. An Ace on the turn gave Wing trip Aces, but Brad the full house. The Pennsylvania boy now has $1.6 million.

7:02pm--We just lost Steve Marx. Our man had ace-ten and there was a ten on the flop, but when a queen turned - matching the one in Phil Ivey's hand - it was all over for smarx. He took 35th position for $274,090. Nice job Steve.

6:42pm--It is without a doubt the most exciting thing that's happened in this room all day long. While we're unsure of the exact action pre-flop, it appears the three-seat raise and the lone female left in the field, Tiffany Williamson (sitting on two million in chips), either called or re-raised. Right beside her, Greg "Fossilman" Raymer pushed in every bit of his stack, somewhere in the neighborhood of $1.3 million. Williamson, who has developed a reputation for agonizing over calls before folding, thought for between 5-10 minutes. The tension in the room built. Twice, Williamson grabbed her chips and acted as if she might move them in. On the third time, she grabbed a stack of $50,000 chips and put them in the middle. Raymer flipped up KK. She flipped up AJ. The entire room exploded. Screams of "Raymer is all in" filled the room. As the board came out, the tension and electricity in the room was more than palpable. It felt as if it were dripping from the ceiling. The dealer laid out card after card. By the river, Williamson was drawing dead to an ace which never came. The room, which had fallen silent, exploded into cheers. The Fossilman was back. Greg now sits on nearly three million in chips.

6:42pm--Greg Raymer just doubled up. Story to come.

6:31pm--We're back from break. Blinds are up to $15K/$30K with a $5K ante.

6:11pm--Squeezed between Tex Barch and Mike Matusow, Brad "bogey54" Kondracki is playing it cool after his miracle win 90 minutes ago. Now on $1.2 million, he's only really played one hand which gained him a $300,000 pot. With a club flush showing on the turn, Brad bet $100,000 against pre-flop raiser Tex Barch. Tex folded - whether wisely or unwisely, we'll never know.

5:56pm--Going on a 30-miunte break with 37 players left.

5:50pm--Vultures and cameras just descended on Bernard Lee's table, but they left hungry. Lee laid it down pre-flop when the bullying chip leader set him all-in. He has around $820,000 now.

5:44pmChip counts updated.

5:03pm--Daniel Bergsdorf just won a pot that looked to be in the neighborhood of $1.7 million or more. He flopped a set of fives and got all in against AQ. UPDATE: Bergsdorf now has more than two million in chips. Make that 2.4 million.

4:56pm--I just saw Bernard "Dogger9" Lee in a dead sprint for the men's room. The only words I heard as he flew by were "Nine hundred." I took that to mean he has $900K in chips. Nice job, buddy.

4:42pm--Greg Raymer just gave Radu Butan a birthday present in the form of a double-up. Radu got all in with JJ. Greg had KT. Butan's jacks held up. Happy birthday, Radu!

4:29pm--Raymi Thorn just went from hero to zero in a few minutes. He had more chips than any other PokerStars player. The final nail was getting all in against Ireland's Andy Black. Thorn had kings, Black had aces. The board was no help. Thorn left in 42nd place for $235,390.

4:25pm--Brad Kondracki just borrowed Steve Marx's horseshoe. Trying to pick up the pot from the button, Kondracki pushed in the rest of his chips, 600K with 9To. He ended up against pocket kings. And then Kondracki went and flopped the straight. Okay, boys. Let's save some horseshoes for the final table. Half the horses in Vegas are walking around barefoot right now.

4:19pm--Raymi Thorn just lost some of his chips after calling an all-in with A3. He was no match for AK

4:17pm--We're calling Steve Marx the Miracle Kid. After flopping the straight just a few minutes ago after being all-in with 7T of diamonds. Just a few minutes ago, in the small blind and facing an under the gun raise, Marx pushed all in with pocket threes. He ended up against pocket jacks. The board put out a miracle straight for him. We're still looking for the horseshoe.

4:10pm--Daniel Bergsdorf just busted Adam Friedman to take about a $200K pot. Friedman had AQ. Bergsdorf had AK.

4:01pm--Steve Marx just hit a miracle to double up. All in pre-floop with 7T of diamonds against pocket kings (some dispute...might have been KQ...regardless), Marx hit the jack-high straight with a re-draw for the straight flush. He ended up making the jack-high flush on the river.

3:57pm--Chip leader currently has 4.2 million in chips. Blinds are now $12K/$24K with a $4k ante. Play resumes now. Forty-four players remain.

3:39pm--Just before the break/end of level, Raymer took a nice-sized pot off the table. After a rough start to the day, Raymer is moving back up. I;ve updated almost all the chip counts above.

3:26pm--Just in case you're ready to start thinking about other bracelets, the WCOOP schedule came out today. Click here for more info.

2:42pm--Steve Marx just doubled through. He got all in with AQ vs. A2. The flop came down JJ4. A three on the turn gave his opponent some more outs. A queen on the river sealed the deal.

2:42pm--Kevin Kaikko has just been eliminated. He got all his chips in with AJ on an AQ2 flop. His opponent had a set of deuces and Kevin could draw his runner runner. He leaves in 47th place with $173,880. Chip counts above are accurate as of this time.

2:31pm--Greg Fossilman Raymer just busted a player. He had AK vs J7. A seven on the flop and queen on turn left Greg with any ace, any king or any jack on the river to win the pot. He spiked the ace. 48 playeres remain.

2:01pm--Derek Dix was just eliminated in 51st place for $173,880. We're sitting at 5K/10K blinds with a 2K ante. We're down to 49 players.

1:36pm--We're just back from a 20-minute break. Bernard Lee told me during the break that his double-up could've been a triple-up. You'll remember, yesterday he laid down kings and queens pre-flop, correctly feeling that his opponents had bigger pairs. One of his opponents from yesterday remembered this and laid down jacks. Lee is becoming a crowd favorite here and has been interviewed by ESPN.

1:18pm--Publishing is slow, but the action is not. Here's a quick update. Bernard Lee doubled up with KK vs 44. He flopped a set and screamed "Yes!" loud enough to be heard across the room. Greg Raymer picked up about $400K with QQ. Steve Marx, who lost a lot of chips to Kevin Kaikko has has been chipping away too re-build his stack. Larry Prugh got all in pre-flop with QTs. He flopped a queen, but his opponent, who had AQ, turned an ace. Prugh was eliminated and takes home $145,875.

1:08pm--Sorry about the delay folks. Lotta traffic on this site has made publishing difficult. Full details comiing in a sec. In short, Bernard Lee has doubled up, Larry Prugh has been eliminated. Raymer has moved up to more than a million in chips.

12:36pm-- Kevin Kaikko has just crossed the $1m mark in chips. Play folded around to Steve Marx in the small blind. Kevin Kaikko was in the big blind. Marx raised to 50K. Kaikko movesd all in. Marx called. Marx showed A9. Kaikko showed AJ. Board: 523.J.A. to give Kaikko two pair.

12:35pm--FPP qualfier, Jarl Lindholt, of Denmark, has been eliminated. He was on the short stack to begin the day and couldn't double up in time. He placed 58th and takes home $145,875. That's in addition to the money he won for taking second in a preliminary event. Very nice series, Jarl. You've made PokerStars proud.

12:22pm--Play is underway here on Day 5. Fossilman is at the featured table along with Radu Butan. Here we go, folks.

The final half-level of the night was just about to begin. A man was barking across the room for another bloody mary. Phil Ivey was staring. Mike Matusow was talking. Chips were clacking. In short, the same things were happening that ha been happening for the past several days.

Across the room, I spotted FPP qualifier Bernard "Dogger9" Lee. He was easing up to his table and preparing to sit down for his umpteenth hour of poker. As he sat down, he picked up a small folio of pictures, turned each page, and kissed them.

Though I was not allowed to be behind the rail, I couldn't help but sneak over the velvet ropes as the dealer was shuffling his cards. I had to see the inspiration behind the chips. It was as I suspected and as Lee would later tell me. They were pictures of Lee's two children and wife. The marketing man had survived an entire day on a relatively short stack, twice folding huge pocket pairs pre-flop because he knew--or in his words, "he felt"-- his opponents were holding bigger pairs. Both times, his opponents showed their cards. Both times, Lee was right. Somehow, his familial inspiration helped him survive into another day.
Though the room was full of ire, anger, despair, and occasionally violence, PokerStars' players were resting heavily on their families' support. For more than 13 hours, families sat on the rail, sweating every hand, living the triumph and tragedy that surrounded every flip of the cards.

I happened upon an older couple that had been standing for hours. They were wearing PokerStars shirts and Rio Carnival beads. Their eyes were full of pride. Their son, Larry Prugh, a retired military man, was battling with every ounce of his soul. It was enough to make his mother smile, even when things were at their worst. As the evening drew to a close, the worst moment happened. Prugh got all of his million chips in with a pair of kings against AK. An ace on the turn reduced Prugh's stack to $250,000. He ended the night even shorter. Nonetheless, his parents looked on, excited by Prugh's tenacity.
I found the same pride in the eyes of Brad Kondracki's mother. The second-year Penn law student got moved all over the floor today, form one side to the other, to the featured table and off. He battled the pros today and came out with more than a million chips. His mom, Louise, told me he was the type of kid to give here heart attacks, an adventurous, mountain-climbing roustabout with a penchant for seeking out extra adrenaline. His eyes, when he was away from the table, gave that part of him away. He seemed to hate the break times. He seemed to want to be back in the middle of it. His mom simply said, "I'm proud."
And no family report would be complete without the constant support of Greg Raymer's wife, who sat on the rail almost all day long, offering quick kisses to the World Champion when he needed them. Raymer, who began the day as the chip leader, fought an up an down battle all day. Just when it seemed like he might run away with the contest, he lost nearly half his stack at the end of the night when his KQ was outkicked by AQ.
As Day 4 ends, 58 players remain in the big event. Eleven of those fighters qualified on PokerStars.

1. Raymi "DingDingDing" Thoorn $1,288,000 ($160 Double Shootout)
2. Daniel "berka" Bergsdorf $1,144,000 ($33 Rebuy)
3. Brad "bogey54" Kondracki $1,136,000 ($160 Double Shootout)
4. Steve "smarx" Marx $1,042,000 $160 (Double Shootout)
5. Greg "FossilMan" Raymer $766,000 (Team PokerStars)
6. Radu "rbutan" Butan $762,000 $160 (Double Shootout)
7. Kevin "ShuMoney" Kaikko $571,000 ($650 Satellite)
8. Bernard "Dogger9" Lee $379,000 (1000 FPPs)
9. Derek "Bob&TomShow" Dix $202,000 ($33 Rebuy)
10. Larry "TheKid1948" Prugh $166,000 ($160 Double Shootout)
11. Jarl "virus1975" Lindholt $101,000 (4000 FPPS)

More than 90 other PokerStars qualifiers have cashed in the main event. Click here to see how much money they've brought in.

Good luck to all our players in Day 5. Be sure to come back here for updates all day long.

Okay folks...for the rest of the night, it is substance over style. No pictures, no fancy wordplay. Just hard core numbers and hands. These are the players we know for sure are playing right now in the 92 remaining. Continue to click refesh and scroll down for the next few hours for updates.

Chip counts will be updated as they are available
Bob Larsen
Steve Marx-$1.7 million
Radu Butan-$850K
Larry Prugh-$250K
Jim Olson--
Jarl Lindholt--$90K
Bernard Lee--$415K
Shane Bartholomew
Greg Raymer--$1.3 million
Kevin Kaikko--$750K
Jon Lane
Daniel Bergdorf--$700K
Derek Dix--$410K
Brad Kondracki--$1.2 million
Raymi Sanchez Thorn--$2 million (very approx)
Jake Minter


8:36pm--Just moments ago, Greg "Fossilman" took a $400K hit. He and his opponent checked a 753 flop. Fossilman check-raised the turn, a king. The opponent called. The river was a six. Greg called a big bet and his opponent showed 89. The six filled in the gutshot. Raymer now sits just above the average stack.

8:56pm--Fossilman just rebounded in a very big way. Greg made a full house (sixes full of jacks) on a Q6J/4/J board. One can only guess Greg's opponent had a jack, because he called a $250,000 bet on the river. Raymer now has pushed his way back to more than $1.3 million.

9pm--Steven Marx just took a half million pot after busting out a fellow PokerStars qualifier. Stephen bet $35,000 pre-flop on his pocket Queens. Jim Olson, with eights, called. The flop didn't help anyone. Steven bets $50,000 and Jim, from Fair Oaks, California, went all in. Nothing on the turn and the river brings Steven an extra Queen - just for good measure. Jim went home in 91st position. It made him $77,100 richer but meant he just missed the $91,950 given to the man who went out next.

9:08pm--Jon Lane, with top pair (queens) just went bust to Mike Matusow who made a se of fours. The online star is on his way to pick up his real winnings, $91,950.

9:22pm--Brad Kondracki, sitting at the featured table, just doubled up. He got all his money the flop. He had middle pair with a flush draw. His opponent had a higher flush draw. The flush never came and Kondracki's middle pair was good. He now has about $1.2 million

9:34pm--Players are on a 30 minute break.

9:39pm--Radu "rbutan" Butan is in juliant mood. It's only a few hours until his birthday, he's already assured of taking home $100,000 plus and he's just taken out Can Kim Hua. He said: "I had Kings, he had A9. I went all in for $300,000. I ended up with a set of Kings on the river."

9:41pm--Software engineer Stephen Marx is also exhuberant. He has more than $1.5 million. He said: "It's been a grind but just picked up a nice hand from Mike Matusow. He put in $475,000, I raised $300,000 and he folded."

9:57pm--Steve Marx is part of the table that has been moved under the TV lights. He's in the one seat. Mike Matusow, who recently dedicated $400K of his stack to the Marx cause, sits in the nine seat.

10:08pm--We've just crossed the six-digit payout mark. Everybody out from here on out will get more than $100K. Eighty players remain.

10:12pm--Shane Batholomew has been eliminated. All-in pre-flop with JJ vs. K9, the flop came down 669. Shane had to avoid a king or nine. The turn was an eight, but the river was a king. His opponent and his railbirds exploded. Bartholomew walked away in disgust.

10:37pmPlay has slowed down a bit. Raymer is accumulating chips by picking up small pots here and there. Sventy-eight players remain in this contest.

10:42pm--Jarl Lindholt just layed down jacks, pre flop, after a big re-raise from the player two seats to his left. "That's the first hand I've seen in two hours," Jarl says. His opponent shows queens.

11:03pm--Steve Marx just doubled up an opponent. Marx held KQ on a KJ3 flop. He and his opponent got their money in. Marx found himself up against aces and couldn't find a king or queen on the turn or river. Seventy-seven players remain. In other news, Radu Butan, sitting on $800K in chips, says Phil Ivey is bullying his table. FPP qualifier Jarl Lindholt is now down to $220,000. He got involved in the big blind, calling a button raise, and then bet $100K looking at a 5c-7c-8d board. Original raiser moves in, Jarl passes.

11;13pm--Raymi Sanchez Thorn just had to lay down a hand pre-flop when an opponent moved in for about $300,000. Raymi probably lost the minimum, round about $100,000, and still has a stack too big to count accurately.

11:21pm--The impassive Larry Prugh just took a neat pot off Phil Ivey after re-raising Ivey's $30,000 raise. Ivey folded.

11:26pm--Another great pot for Larry Prugh . Larry, with KJo, limped in for $12,000. The guy in seat nine made it $60,000. Larry smooth called. The flop came down K-J-6 giving Larry pair of Kings. The raiser bet out $50,000 and our man called. The turn card was an Ace. Larry's opponent checked and Larry made it $80,000 to go. The opponent. flashed AQ. Larry, out of courtesy, showed his KJ. Seventy-four players remain.

11:59pm--Jake Minter just handed the remainder of his stack to Neverwin. Neverwin had a set of fives, Minter only had a gutshot draw. Neverwin ended up making a full house on the river and sending Minter to the rail, more than $100,000 richer. In other news, Jarl Lindholt is on the ropes. With the blinds at $6K/$12K with a $2K ante, Lindholt sits at $90K

12:06am--As the 20-minute break began, the word spread quickly. Greg Raymer was all-in. The action was elusive, but as we converged, the board showed AJ8 with two spades. Tex Barch had $120K bet in front of him and Raymer had announced he was all in. Tex labored over his move for five full minutes before mucking his hand.

12:16am--Bob Larsen's been having an up-and-down day. The 24-year-old from the Milwaukee area started with $800,000, went up to $1.2 million, down to $900,000 - and then just went down to $400,000 after a horrible hand where his Aces lost out to QK.

12:26am--I stood and listened as Greg Raymer and Tex Barch discussed the hand that took place just before the break. Poker players lie, so I don't know whether to believe any of this. Raymer claims he was holding the same hand he won last year's WSOP with: 88. That would've given him a set of eights. Barch claims to have had AJ for two pair. We report, you decide who is lying.

12:29am--Bob Larsen, as mentioned above, was short-stacked. On a flop containing two diamonds, Larsen got all his chip in the middle with a J8 of diamonds. He gets called by AT of diamonds, and has to draw to a non-diamond J or 8, neither of which came. Larsen placed 72nd and takes home more than $100,000.

12:32am--Radu just took a $170,000 pot off Phil Ivey. With $92,000 already in the pot, the flop came down A-3-4. Phil raised $80,000, Radu went all-in, Phil folded.

12:55am Not a lot of action from our players right now. We're keeping tabs on them. Looks like there are 63 total players remaining in the tournament.

1:01am-- A crushing beat for Larry Prugh. All-in pre-flop with KK, Prugh sees his opponent has AK. The flop was fine, but the turn was an ace, and the river was not a king. Prugh is left with just $250K.

1:01am-- Daniel Bergdorf just doubled through after not playing a hand since Reagan was president. Sixty-two players remain.

1:11am--Raymi Hernandez thorn has now transferred to the feature table and knocks a player out on the first hand since the move. His sixes make a set on the flop against the all-in player's A-K. Thorn has a bunch of chips.

1:15am--Fossilman has been cut in half after his KQ was outkicked by AQ. Raymer has somewhere near $700K now.

1:24am--Play has ended for the evening. Full chip counts and such will be out when the official count is in.

Larry Prugh, Radu Butan, Shane Bartholomew, player departures, and how some of our winners qualified to get here

Larry Prugh is a frustrating subject for photographers. When we're looking for a wide range of emotions to shoot, Prugh just sits there stone-faced, no matter whether he is winning or losing. Of course, what is frustrating for us must be frustrating for his opponents as well. Prugh has one of the best poker faces in the room.

Born in Dayton, OH, raised in Phoenix, AZ and now a resident of Michigan, Prugh picked up poker when his shoulder got too bad to play golf. It seems to have been a good move. The retired military man who now works in a civilian capacity for the Army has more than a half million in chips. His mom and dad are sweating him from the rail. The wife is somewhere in a corner, too scared to watch. Or at least that's what Larry's mom says.

Roving correspondent Mad Harper has been wishing birthday greetings (if a bit prematurely) to another PokerStars qualifier.

It's Radu "rbutan" Butan's 28th birthday tomorrow - and he couldn't hope for a better present than making it through to WSOP Day Five. The organisers are hoping to play down to around 100 players by the end of today, which would put at least $65,360 in the Butan coffers - even if he went out in the first hand. When we spoke to him however, he was sitting on some $420,000 - and that was before he raked in another big pot (a fold to his pocket Kings). Originally from Romania, Radu came to London, Ontario as a 12-year-old and now works as a resident doctor specialising in internal medecine. His girlfriend Sinead, smiling sweetly at him from the rails, said: "He's been to Vegas before but the best he's ever done was making the money in a $500 Bellagio tournament."

The media here have been graciously allowed what I've termed "The Trough." It's a walkway between the rail and the railbirds and allows us to get a little closer to the players.

As I walked though The Trough, WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla was just finishing up an interview with a young man who spelled out his last name "K-o-n-d-r-a-c-k-i." There was little doubt, he was the brother of our own Brad Kondracki, the man who finished Day 3 with nearly a million in chips. Sitting next to Steve, the brother, was mother Louise. They've been here to sweat Brad all week. Brad's dad is frantically trying to find a flight out of Philly to get here. So is Brad's other brother, the one taking summer classes.

Brad Kondracki is no dummy. The 24-year-old graduated from Cornell and is now a second-year law student at Penn. In this, the first big buy-in tournament in Kondracki's life, the young man who just picked up poker during his time back at Cornell has risen to the top of the pack and is refusing to give up ground.

We all know about the swings of tournament poker. We all know how a big stack can become a small stack--or a no-stack--in the blink of an eye. But here's to hoping the rest of the family can make it here in time to see Kondracki play.

Regardless of what happens, mother Kondracki is happy. "I'm always proud," she said.

"That is scary."

Phil Hellmuth had appeared around the featured table and was chatting people up. He does that from time to time. He was talking with Neverwin and walking in between in the ESPN cameras. Someone said, "What about that Raymer?"

Hellmuth looked over the rail where Raymer was sitting in a new custom blue shirt and a stack of chips nearly $1.5 million high. Hellmuth said it as clearly as everyone was thinking it...

"That is scary."

And it is. Raymer's style of play is no big secret. He puts reads on people and goes with them, the consequences be damned. If he's pot-committed on a draw, he'll draw, the consequences be damned. And if he has a chance to race (and a stack with which to race), he'll race, the consequences be damned.

Indeed, that is scary.

And perhaps in an homage to his Super Big Gulp glass from last year, Raymer has ceased ordering double diet cokes from the Rio staff and has resumed drinking from a giant cup.

Although the number will be dated by the time I publish this, at this moment, there are 164 people sitting inside the velvet ropes. Fossilman has more than anybody and, in the words of Forest Gump, that's all I have to say about that.

For those following the progress of Brad Kondracki's chips, he continues to do well and seems to be making a run for the big money. For those following the progress of Kondracki's shirt-size, today we're on a medium.

Around the room, PokerStars players continue to fight to give their online home a third straight bracelet.

Greg Raymer's day started with one massive hand and no one is sure how it will end. But, to be sure, everyone is talking about the 2004 World Series of Poker Champion. He began this day with the chip lead and maintains it to this moment.

With the action just getting started, it seems a good time to check back in with audio blogger James Hartigan who spent 60 seconds with Fossilman and asked Greg if he owes his chip lead to those scary specs.

Right click here and save this to your hard drive to listen.

No, we do not. Not yet. This should speak for itself.

Let's just say this for now:

Heading into Day 4, PokerStars still has 30 people with chips out of the remaining 185. The man you see above has more chips than anybody.

These PokerStars qualifiers have already cashed in the main event of the World Series of Poker.

Beyond that, I dare say no more. Not now. Not until Tuesday afternoon.

With only a few minutes on the floor at a time, Mad and I have divided the duties. She's chatting up the players while Howard and I snap some photos. Here's what we, as a group, came up with as the night drew to a close:

The new media rules here in the Amazon Ballroom have turned our slow waltzes around the dancefloor into some kind of frenetic against-the-clock breakdance. To made the dance even trickier to perform, players are being shuffled around the tables so - of the five minutes each reporter is given out in the field - roughly four minutes, 50 seconds of this is spent racing up and down the aisles in a bid to find our people and get a quick chat.

That said, we have both news and chip counts on some of the 50 or so PokerStars players who look set to make it through to Day Four. Shane Bartholomew is in fighting form. He joined Table 129 about two hours ago, saw three players of $300,000 sitting there and was so nervous that he immediately called over the cocktail waitress and downed three beers. He's now up to $250,000 after doubling up when his Queens held up against all-in Jacks and is in confident mood. "The beers calmed me down a lot and I'm now feeling really good. It's been up and down but I've made some good moves and I'm now getting respect from the table."

When the story gets big, the vultures fly in. With more than 500 media badges in the Rio, there are now more "reporters" than players left in the event. The situation has resulted in a near black-out of media coverage from inside the rail. The remaining media have been relegated to standing in line for five-minute passes to run through the tables. It's hard to cast blame on anyone for the issue, but it's making for tougher than normal tournament coverage.

That notwithstanding, Team Blog remains at the Rio and remains dedicated to covering our PokerStars qualifiers to the best of our ability. Before the restrictions were put in place, our own Mad Harper chatted up one of our big stacks, Klaus Agesen.

Denmark loves fairy stories and happy endings. This year is the bicentennial of the birth of Hans Christian Andersen and the Danes are currently gearing up for a massive global celebration of their national hero.

So it seems likely they'll take to the tale of Klaus "kagesen" Agesen, a fresh-faced young economics student, who has travelled from a small remote town in Northern Jutland to within striking distance of the biggest prize payout in the history of anything ever. Klaus only took up poker a couple of years ago but he must have a natural affinity for the game because - almost as soon as he'd learned the rules - he won a PokerStars' $200 no-limit tournament. Now he's sitting on one of the biggest chip stacks here with $471,000.

Klaus may look sweet, but he's clearly a formidable and daring opponent. Yesterday, he busted out Aces two hands in a row - once with pocket 4s after flopping a set and, just a few minutes later, when he hit a flush on the turn. Those were exciting moments but Klaus has also spent hour after hour barely playing a hand.

His biggest risk - and one which paid off handsomely - came yesterday early evening. Klaus only had A7H and was up against a big raise - four times the pot - which he called. The flop came down J66 with two hearts. The raiser bet, Klaus re-raised and his opponent went all-in. His opponent had KJ - but the Ace of Hearts came down on the river giving Klaus his flush, and a pot in excess of $60,000.

Klaus said, "I took a punt really. It was pretty risky but they were about to break our table and my reasoning was that if I arrived at another table with a big stack, it would give me a lot of power." Klaus was right; he ended the day in 12th position. If he's still in 12th position at the end of Day 7, he'll have $600,000 in his pocket, but we're hoping for an even happier ending than that.

Well, sorry about the lack of posts today folks. So many of you had been coming to check out the action, we had a few problems. It appears we're back. The good news is that the down time allowed me to keep up with the PokerStars winners of the day. We hit the money this afternoon.

Here are some PokerStars qualifiers who cashed today.

365 ReggiMan $18,335
383 ATrainBoston $18,335
390 Oakplayer $18,335
395 Acey-Deucey $18,335
403 MobMentality $16,055
412 skins81 $16,055
415 antyfreez $16,055
416 Two Ones $16,055
423 Reraiseallin $16,055
427 Homer03 $16,055
432 JAMAPLAYS $16,055
435 DBLMEUPPLS $16,055
437 ugabevo $16,055
438 sculby $16,055
442 monk-dogg $16,055
453 Pmackid $14,135
462 Mr.Lucky $14,135
464 seaanchor $14,135
475 jamesy $14,135
477 mitchman1114 $14,135
481 Hoss_TBF $14,135
482 Believer82 $14,135
486 WINNER'circl $14,135
491 Pokerstud $14,135
498 Veganboy $14,135
500 waveball $14,135
501 piledriver91 $12,500
520 Quackers $12,500
526 Twichie $12,500
533 SPORTCARDS $12,500
535 orian_sharp $12,500
539 El_Loco_Solo $12,500
542 Sarne $12,500
546 whoodat77 $12,500
547 Senor_Sock $12,500

Let us speak of torture. Not the truly ugly kind that we don't speak about over intimate dinners, but the kind of torture than can only be experienced in the realm of poker.

It begins with either playing in the first flight of Day 1 and having to wait two days to play again, or playing in the last flight of Day 1 and only getting a few hours sleep before another grueling 13 hour session. In the middle of this torture is that 13 hours, where your chips teeter on the brink of belonging to someone else all day long, where your cards go dead when you're awake and go live when you're napping. It's the 13 hours where the players stroke their egos by offering caveman yells to the ESPN cameras or wave in the air a Beckham jersey that hasn't been washed...well, ever. It's the 13 hours where the media is pestering you, the energy drinks just aren't working, and some drunk railbird is heckling you from behind the velvet ropes through gargles of beer.

Now, one should feel fortunate, I suppose, to have lived so long in this tournament where more than 5000 other players have been eliminated. One should feel quite lucky (or is it skillful?) to have maneuvered through the minefields of no-limit poker and come out at the end of Day 2 with chips to call one's own.

Why, then, should I speak of torture? In short, because 569 active players are going to bed tonight. If the fates are kind, 569 active players will wake up in the morning. All of those 569 active players will sit down in their seats at noon on Monday. And within just a couple hours, 560 of them will get paid a minium of $12,500.

That leaves nine people who will leave with nothing in their pockets but their wrinkled player's registration card. The torture, friends, is going to bed wondering whether you'll be one of those nine people.

Sure, the big stacks should feel somewhat secure in making the money. But in this game, nothing is secure. Just ask Chip Reese, who had a substantial amount of chips and lost them all to PokerStars player Jon Lane just twenty minutes before the end of play. Twenty-six hours of work can be gone in less than an instant. With the mere utterance of the words "All-in" or, perhaps, even worse, "I call," everything you'd dreamt about for an entire year could be sitting in front of that guy in the six seat.

Here on Day 2, the big stacks seperated themselves from the people who were going home. It seemd a sure thing that Graeme "sacrifice"" Harrison would live to see Day 3. I had already penciled him in as the chip leader among our remianing qualifiers. And to be sure, the Scotsman and retired blackjack card counter still has a mountain of chips.

But, as mentioned above, the story of the night quickly became young Jon Lane. In a hand that reverberated across the room, Lane and his pocket nines made a full houe to crush Chip Reese's hopes and vault Lane to more than $330,000 in chips. The 22 year-old full-time poker player from Oshkosh (by gosh), WI stood in what looked like awe as Card Player, Poker Pages, and Poker Wire surrounded him and counted down his stacks. Only a big smile he shot to the rail belied his concentration. Lane qualified on PokerStars in a Sunday multi-table satellite and looks to go into Day 3 as one of the chip leaders of the World Series of Poker Main Event.


At just past nine o'clock this evening, we had our eye on a different player who was rising through the ranks. Jean Pierre Piquette stacked his chips neatly in front of him and seemed the unassuming sort. It was just the assignment for roving correspondent Mad Harper. She went in for the in-game interview and came back with this brilliant report.

Not shaken or stirred

You might think James Bond fan Jean-Phillippe Piquette is not really the ambitious type. Back home in Laval, Quebec, he earns his daily crust as a sandwich delivery boy for a Mike's Submarine franchise. Take home pay? A humble six bucks an hour. Fair enough - there's nothing wrong with that. But Jean-Philippe's been working at Mike's for the last four years and up until yesterday morning, probably had no intention of quitting any time soon.

His extraordinary performance at the WSOP is likely to change all that. Whatever happens when play resumes on Day 3 tomorrow, it now seems pretty likely that the 25-year-old French Canadian can put his delivery days behind him. With a 180,000 stack, and less than 569 players left in the field, "Piquette" seems assured - at the very least - of making the initial $12,500 prize band. Put that in sandwich terms and you're talking a straight 2,083 hours of Sub distribution.

Up until now, Piquette's biggest win - aside from winning the PokerStars qualifier that brought him to Vegas - was $2,500 in an online tourney. And he probably blew all that playing Blackjack. "Basically, my poker bank rolls my Blackjack. It's a catastrophe when I play Blackjack." Piquette took up poker after watching Rounders. It’s saved him from Blackjack bankrupty – and brought him within firing range of $7,500,000.

With one hour remaining before the end of play, we are getting close enough to the money for the players to start smelling it. Defending champion Greg Raymer has accumulated nearly $300,000 in chips. The media pool has agreed that he and Russ Hamilton are the only remaining WSOP champions left in the field.

Rough calculations put the average stack between $80K and $90K. Graeme Harrison and Jean Phillippe "Piquette" Piquette continue to dominate. The tournament directors are currently expressing no small amount of amazement at how many players have fallen by the wayside today.

For those interested in chip counts, the chips are moving around a lot and it is impossible to keep track of them all. It will get easier as the field thins. For n update of stacks taken at 9pm this evening, please scroll down to the next post.

Five people descended into a field of 800 to find the remaining PokerStars players. We believe this to be the most comprehensive list of the remaining PokerStars players in the main event of the WSOP. Chip counts were recorded as of 9pm Vegas time, Sunday July 10.

Graeme "sacrifice" Harrison - 330,000
Jean Phillippe "Piquette" Piquette - 240,000
Steve "smarx" Marx - 218,000
Jon Lane - 190,000
Brad "bogey54" Kondracki - 187,000
Klaus Agesen - 178,000
Shane "monty3" Bartholomew - 175,000
Steve "play4pay" Zoine - 160,000
Willy "Willyrugs" Will - 150,000
Lee "fezzig" Budin - 144,000
Greg "fossilman" Raymer - 140,000
Joe "hickoryhill" Vannata - 140,000
Will "waveball" Walter - 120,000
Andrew Prock - 120,000
Jarl "Virus1975" Lindholt - 120,000
Tony "TPIKAHNA" Pirone - 120,000
Rehne "Carlos_DK" Piedersen - 105,000
Bernard Lee - 103,000
Scott "xmrstyle" Bolhman - 100,000
Rob "varment" O'Brien - 100,000
Joseph "jec79" Chee - 98,000
Michael "Reggiman " Reed - 86,000
Kevin "Sport Cards" Betsill - 84,000
Ed "cajunsqueeze" Pelegrine - 80,000
Thomas "BluesBr0ther" Madsen - 80,000
John "Blessed" Duthie - 80,000
James Goldstein - 80,000
Mark "GreasyTony" Hylden - 80,000
Rob "Dud711" Chasen - 80,000
Nick "Senor_Sock " Matala - 79,000
Matt "suitedaces" Szynazek - 78,000
Michael "skullchips" Leahy - 75,000
Marcello "march11x" Colosimo - 75,000
Yaron "antyfreez" Wasserman- 75,000
Edgar "Radge" Skjervold - 74,000
Derek "bob&tomshow" Dix - 71,000
Rob "pilldriver91" Jones - 71,000
Jason "kidwonder" Lane - 70,000
Corey "paigedunn" Mandell - 70,000
Mark "Mighty Canes" Graves - 70,000
Charles "Twichie" Wey - 70,000
Dennis "den&vic" Orr - 67,000
Radu "rbutan" Butan - 65,000
Jonas Lindlot - 65,000
Orrill "OrieM" Martin - 64,000
Jerimiah "Believer82" Vinsant - 60,500
Quan "QT576" Tran - 60,000
Tom "Quantum" Shaneberger - 60,000
Michael "MrWrong" Hogbom - 58,000
Al Riccobono - 57,000
Nik "reraiseallin" Persaud - 56,000
Todd "Lost City" Manzi - 55,800
Matthew "mct119" Turner - 55,000
Tom "MadMonster" Clark - 55,000
Jay "zohar72" Goldberg - 53,000
Derek "karlspackler" Van Damme - 53,000
Steve "Kid31" Amer - 53,000
Larry "TheKid1948" - 51,000
Allen "raiders42" Patatanyan - 50,000
Dennis "aceydeucey" Longoria - 50,000
Dan "dannyboy14" Burns - 49,500
John "Jamaplays" Harrington - 49,500
Jordan "FellKnight" Davenport - 47,000
Raymi "dingdingding" Sanchez - 45,000
Joe "gaamblor" Pelton - 45,000
Michael "Mikos" Lawrence - 45,000
Dan "Pub1755" - 45,000
Michael "derek7" Collins - 43,000
Ray Henson - 43,000
Don "homer03" Fagan - 42,000
George "GKD33" Dixon - 42,000
Jesus "moon" Abreu - 41,400
Mitch "Mitchman1114" Schock - 40,900
Jeff "moneyman29" DeHaven - 40,000
Jamie "deek2122" Ennis - 40,000
Kan "melonhead" Maust - 40,000
Sal "Sculby" Calandra - 39,000
Paul "pjFFF" Fisher - 37,000
Chris "bushman" Bush - 35,000
Martin "Master_Maria" Laliberte - 35,000
Paul "BUNGALOWBILL" Vicary - 35,000
James "Fixetset " Jordan - 33,000
Sarne Lightman - 32,500
Kevin "shumoney" Kaikao - 30,000
Erik Lindberg - 30,000
Richard "cunningplan" Piper - 29,000
Robert "Thorpedo" Keating - 29,000
David Taylor - 28,000
Chad "carallen" Runkle - 26,000
Brian "ufearme44" Fanning - 23,000
Risto "Rike14" Ponnio - 22,000
Sherman Lee - 22,000
James "El_Loco_Solo" Courtney - 20,000
Reuben Peters - 20,000
Oscar "OscarF" Fred - 19,000
Rocco Mediate - 17,500
Steve "winnercircl" Tague - 16,000
Larry "ob1knob" Silk - 16,000
Howard "ariesone" Riley - 14,000
Shawn "miiine" Morrison - 9,000

Within the next 30-40 minutes you'll have a comprehensive chip count from every PokerStars player on the floor. Standby.

We're heading into the dinner break in just a few minutes. The PokerStars story of the day continues to be Graeme "Sacrifice" Harrison. While saying nary a word, he has taken his Day 2 starting stack of around $150K, fallen down to around $80K, and now sits at an estimated $370,000 in chips.

Team Blog is going to hit the floor for a more comprehensive look at our players just after they return from their break. In the meantime, scroll down for any posts you might have missed from the day.

Raymer, Sacrifice, Ragde

We've sent blog correspondent Mad Harper to the pool to get a bit of sun. PokerStars own Conrad Brunner is on the floor in her place and has just reported back to Blog HQ.

Brunner has seen Greg Raymer's stack and it is large. The chip count now numbers near 100,000.

Raymer, after forcing during an opponent to lay down his hand and give up a 10,000 pot, flipped over pocket jacks and said, "Don't worry, you didn't lay down the best hand. I've learned over the last year that bluffing just doesn't work for me."

Team Blog has returned from the floor with two reports. Mad Harper and I have been stalking John "JAMAPLAYS" Harrington. He's one of those players who came over to PokerStars and played for real money for the first time just before the WSOP. Mad Harper chatted him up.

Amongst the cynical, the experienced, the seen-it-all befores, there are a clutch of players here in the Amazon Ballroom for whom reaching Day 2 of the WSOP is not so much a dream come drue, but a dream they never even dreamed of having. John Harrington, 50, from Harlingen, Texas, is one such man. John isn't new to poker - he's been playing since the age of ten and comes from a large, close-knit family for whom Friday nights has always meant - and still means - sitting around the kitchen table in nickel, dime and quarter games.

He's never been to Vegas before, he's never played in a live tournament before and he's only been to a casino twice in his life. The most he's ever won anywhere is a couple of hundred bucks. But a few months ago, John thought he'd try out online poker. Good decision. Within a few weeks of signing up with PokerStars, he'd won a qualifier for the big one. "I was born and raised in the South", he said, "and we all play poker there. In fact, I reckon I'm a pretty good player. But this is like nothing I've ever seen or done in my life. My friends, my family, none of us knows anyone who has ever done anything like this before." John, out in Vegas with his wife Amy, currently has 28,000 in chips and even if he goes out in the next ten minutes, says he will have no regrets whatsoever. "It's been a ball," he said.

The breaking of Day 2 has done something to this room. After three days of Day 1, it was beginning to feel like a long baseball season in which the World Series was still months away. Now, each all-in means something. Now, the money is in sight.

Things are moving a little too quickly at this hour. We may have to start doing quick updates here until things slow down a bit.

Briefly:

* 2003 WSOP champ Chris Moneymaker has been eliminated. He started the day with a short stack and the stack never grew.

* WPT PokerStars Caribbean Adventure champion John Gale has been eliminated. Shortstacked, Gale moved in with A8 and ran into a pocket pair that made a straight.

* Full chip counts from the end of Day 1 will be out soon.

* Greg Raymer, despite rumors to the contrary, is still alive and doing just fine in chips.

It started a bit late, but it's happening. The words "all in" are like an echo that never stops as the shortstacks work to double up and stay ahead of the advancing blinds. Today is where things start to move a little bit.

With that in mind, Team Blog's audio blogger James Hartigan has prepared a rush dispatch from the floor with the thoughts of Team PokerStars Greg Raymer and John Gale as Day 2 begins.

Right click here and save to your hard drive to listen.

It would seem a bit tacky to call this "The Longest Day." To liken this grueling three days to a 1962 film about the D-Day invasion is beyond the pale of good taste. Nonetheless, this 72-hour "first day" of poker has seen more than 5600 people, each with $10,000 in chips, storm into a Sam's Club-esque warehouse of poker. Fewer than 2000 of those players remain now. Three days have worn down the thickest of skins and destroyed the firmest of chip stacks. It might not be the longest day, but it's been long enough to thin this contest to a point at which getting paid seems a very real possibility.

Avoiding eye contact

As is my personal custom, I set out for a walk when the final level of the night began. Some players are near comatose. Others are drunk. Others are mugging for the TV cameras. And then there are those players that refuse to make eye contact. When approached, they speak in one word answers and claim to have not counted their chips. They are reluctant to give their name. They are reluctant to do anything to spoil the good fortune they've seen over the past fifteen hours.

Mark "MightyCanes" Graves seemed to be one of those people. His chip-stack caught my attention. It was big and immobile. Graves sat as still as his stack, only turning to briefly give his name to me. When I asked how many chips he had (I could tell it was well more than 60,000) he looked at his chips and said, "Haven't counted them."

I wasn't sure whether to believe him. Kenny Rogers advice notwithstanding, I'd be willing to be bet Graves, like most other players, knew how much he had down to the last green chip. I think, rather, Graves didn't want anyone else noticing he had them out-chipped. No need for anyone to start feeling like a David to Graves' Goliath.

There were others out there. Tom "RockyWaters" Egan stared at me suspiciously and required my name before divulging he had $45,000. Jason Levine eyed me warily and whispered "$72,000." Keith "KD1970" Donais was slightly forthcoming with his count of $43,000. Some people shot me looks that said, "I will put a chip in your nose before I'll talk."

Scary what a double-shift of poker can do some friendly folks.

Knowing, telling, smiling

And then there are those folks like Rick Tribble.

Moments after I met him, his wife called me over from the rail. "Are you taking pictures for PokerStars?" I indicated I was. "Could you..." she said and pointed in the direction of a Goliath in the middle of the room.

"Already done, ma'am."

I mean, Tribble was hard to miss. With his red PokerStars shirt, "fugitive" visor, and late-night double-up, he was hard to miss. Plus, he is a pretty noticeable guy.
Ask him how much he has and he knows. He knows how much he had before he doubled up and he knows how much he has now. $38,000.

Todd Manzi doesn't know off hand, but he counted it down for me while the table watched. With a PokerStars cap perched atop his cowboy hat, Manzi counted out more than $57,000 in chips and accpeted my good luck wishes.

It feels good to be ahead of where you started. It feels better to have almost sextupled up.

Athelete?

Rocco Mediate is a golfer more than he is a poker player. When I found him in the front of the room, he was stretched out over his chair with a pained look on his face.

"I thought you were supposed to be an athlete," I said to the man who just finished in the top ten of the U.S. Open. "You know, walk 18 holes a day and all?"

"It's the sitting," he said and stretched one more time.

Seated with world class player Huck Seed, Mediate had nearly finished his first full day of big-stakes poker. He had nearly 30,000 in chips and was still a bit giddy about being in the room.

Giving it one more stretch, he said, "I might be having the best time of my entire life. I've had aces three times and they've held up every time."

Within moments, he was sitting down again, knowing he's outlasted some of the world's best poker players.

Day 2 to begin

Day will begin here in a few hours with the potential to make the money before bedtime. Thirty percent of the field that starts on Sunday will make at least $12,500. One lucky member of the field will advance, advance, and advance and finally grab the bracelet and a first prize of $7.5 million.

After this three-day long day, the end seems, still, far away. But now it all speeds up.

And it's going to be quite a ride.

Just before the dinner break, we talked about a common phenomenon. Dinner seems to inspire chip-movement. Sure, it has something to do with the blinds increasing and such, but I think there is some psychological shift that occurs over a philly cheese steak and potato wedges. Maybe it's the starch.

So, about a half hour after the break, I like to walk the floor and see where the chips are landing. I found several PokerStars players with more than 20,000 in chips. That's like shooting turtles in a barrel (turtles move even slower than fish, you know, so they are easier to shoot--my apoogies to PETA).

In my search for the purple chips, I found a couple of PokerStars fighters with more than 40K. In what I consider to be an exhaustive search (but was likely more cursory than I care to admit), I found two strong stacks.

We're headed off to dinner for a while. In case you're just logging in for the day, here's a recap of the day so far.

Europeans invade--Hartigan's Audio Blog

Flying the flag at the WSOP

Meet Team Blog

Final WSOP numbers and payouts released

Featured and familiar faces in the crowd

The World Series of Poker at this stage is a giant game of "Where's Waldo?" Only in this game, we don't even have the benefit of a candy-striped shirt to act as a beacon. Twenty percent of the field is decked out in PokerStars gear and finding one person among a sea of other folks is as much of a challenge as kneeing the looky-loos in the kidneys to make a pathway to the players.

The blog's home base is near the featured table. For the better part of the last hour or so, Jesus Abreu, a PokerStars player from Miami has been duking it out with Marcel Luske and getting some good time under the TV lights.

Still, the poker jones required a battle into the field. I played "Where's Waldo" for quite a while and finally found some faces I'd been looking for.

Where's Rocco?

Pro-golfer Rocco Mediate is having, in his words, "an absolute ball." After making the top ten in the U.S. Open this year, he had his sights set on the WSOP.
Other familiarities

The final numbers are in.

Right click here and save to your hard drive to hear the announcement and the crowd's reaction.

Total players: 5619

Total prize pool: $52,818,000

In the money: 560 players are getting paid

Everyone at the final table is a millionaire

Ninth place will pay $1 million
First place is $7.5 million

You might have noticed some different voices here on the Official PokerStars Blog. We realized early on that the Main Event of the WSOP would be too big for one man to cover. Hence, we formed Team Blog to take care of business.

Howard is focusing exclusively on the players who come from the other side of the Atlantic. Mad is the roving reporter, picking out the best stories from the field. I'm running back and forth, camera in hand, finding our folks and typing like I'm a crazy person. James is the man with the microphone, picking up good interviews whenever he can and reporting back to you with the audio blog.

I should also thank the folks who relieved me last night when I fell into a fit of fatigue that almost ended in me sleeping on the featured table. Dave, Kevin, and our own Lee Jones (dubbed Team GoFer Star) were life savers. Thanks, guys.

Now, back to the floor.

Poker players, by definition, are individualists. They are paid to look out for only themselves. Yet, I've found, some players who hail from countries other than the United States carry a certain patriotism in their chip racks. Take, for instance, Scotsman Graeme Harrison, the PokerStars player with the most chips at the moment. He proudly wore a Scotland baseball cap all day yesterday. Today, I spotted an old friend by the pseudo-flag draped across his chair.

There was little doubt I'd found PokerStars Luca Pagano. It's not been too many months since I traveled Europe on his heels as he fought across the European Poker Tour. One night, I sat back as Luca fell into a deep, deep tank after making what seemed to be the right laydown in a huge pot. As it turned out, it was not. He is one of the most serious players I've run across, but a kind soul as well.

Today, Luca's playing at a corner table and is wearing his serious mask again.
As audio blogger James Hartigan pointed out, and European blogger Howard Swains has noticed all along, it's a big day for big Europeans here on Day 1C.

In the back of the room, I found Anders "Donald" Berg and Mikael Westerlund, two men who have made quite a name for themselves on the other side of the Atlantic. Berg is a big-money player who competed for Team Norway in the PokerStars.com World Cup of Poker. Westerlund made final tables at the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and the Scandinavian Open EPT event.


Over the past several months (and days) I've found myself running into PokerStars' players at random. Today, I met another in the cab to the Rio. And I re-met an old foe at the tables.

After two days of running hard, Team Blog is catching up with some unfinished business this morning. We've been out on the floor and running hard for a few hours. A full report is due in shortly.

Saturday's flight will see many European PokerStars qualifiers taking to the tables. Among them is 31-year-old Nik Persaud from London, UK. Our audio blogger James Hartigan spent 60 seconds with Nik to get his thoughts on playing in his very first World Series.

Please right click here, save Hartigan's Audio Blog to your hard drive, and give a listen to this afternoon's report.

Big action again here on Day 1C. We'll be back here in a bit with fresh photos and stories.

Until then, please see the updated chip counts from Days 1A and 1B.

As the evening again winds toward morning, Team Blog (tonight assisted by the venerable Dave and Kevin) has been working the floor to get some notable chip counts before the final level of the evening begins. A birdseye view of the room shows us with somewhere in the neighborhood of 130 players remaining in the field. Here are a few of the notable stacks and names.

Graeme "sacrifice" Harrison $90K
John "Jamaplays" Harrington $52K
Ray "RChan5" Chan $53,000
jarl "Virus1975: Lindholt $50,000
Ryan "blkjck" Skluzab $49K
Anthony "Tpirahna" Peroni $42K
Harold "Loosehal" MacDonald $40K
Pat "Popper" Johnson $40K
Vaughn "Rosebudd" Sandman $39K
Brad "Bogey54" Kondraiki $39K
Jessie "jesmo5" Moore $39K
Philippe "PhilAlbo" Albert $38K
Evan "TavistD" Dahl $37,500
Richard "deadmeatRB" Belle $35,800
Steve "play4pay" Zoine $35K
Dennis "eat@theY" Bray $35K
Paul "PJFFF: Fisher $35K
Mike "JoeyTrip" Joyce $34K
Oscar "oscarf" Fred $33K
Greg Wohletz $28,400
Chris Moneymaker $18K

Roving (and very understanding of her tired and cranky co-blogger) correspondent Mad Harper pulled me aside a few moments ago and said, "Table 122."

I'd been by Table 122 several times in the past hour and seen nothing. My eyes are set to look for the familiar PokerStars logo on a hat or shirt. When I'd scanned the table, my eyes had scanned a Scotland cap and completely missed the PokerStars logo on the shirt. Perhaps it was because the stack of chips was so big.

He's been banned from most casinos in Britain for card counting - and there will be quite a lot of players here at the WSOP who'll be wishing Graeme "sacrifice" Harrison had been banned from the Rio as well.

The softly-spoken Scot, from Penicuik, near Edinburgh, reckons he's knocked out at least six players today - and in the last hour has been swatting players off his table like they were ants. Now sitting on 75,000, Graeme is already doing considerably better than last year when he was knocked out at Level 4 by Dave "Devilfish" Ulliott.

Graeme's gaming career began some ten years ago when he took up blackjack and managed to turn a 500 pounds bankroll into 50,000 in less than six months. Of course, casinos don't like this kind of thing and the puritanical Scots banned him for card counting. Graeme was forced across the border to England but found the casinos in the north-east had the same kind of attitude to card-counting as the ones back home. Migrating slowly south, Graeme finally reached London where he got banned by the Victoria Casino, home to one of Britain's most popular cardrooms. All in all, Graeme reckons he's been banned from some 30 casinos across Great Britain.

Forced out of blackjack, Harrison, now 36, moved on to spreadbetting and finally embarked on poker two years ago - mainly online for obvious reasons. He said: "This is certainly the biggest stack I've had in a big tournament, but it's very early days. It doesn't really mean anything at this stage. The ban from the Vic is annoying because I really wanted to play in the British Open but they wouldn't let me in."

Graeme says he's only really had one nerve-wracking moment today - when his AQh was raised by a pair of 10s. He called and caught an Ace on the river to win a giant pot. "Yes, that was a bit hairy," he admitted, "but I also played one of my best moves ever today. Some guy raised on the button and I had Q2 offsuit on the small blind. I re-raised him 2,000, he re-raised me 4,500 and I re-raised him 5,000. I knew he didn't have anything - he folded."

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.

You know how you know there's a break at the Poker Warehouse? The non-smoking room smells like an ashtray. When hundreds of people smoke in the hallway, a light air conditioned breeze can blow in the smoke like a gale force wind over a forest fire.

I hid in the poker area until the break was over and then headed out for the floor. I happened upon Chris Moneymaker. T.J. Cloutier stood over the champion and asked how he always ended up with the chips.

Moneymaker looked up from the felt and said, "This time I hit a set against a straight flush draw."

Simple as that, apparently.

I'm going to take a quick look at some pictures I took, then prepare them for an upcoming post. In the meantime, check out these links:

Updated PokerStars chipcounts from Day 1A

Photo gallery of some well-known Stars faces

Mad Harper's look at Evelyn Ng's neckline

James Hartigan's PokerStars audio blog

Howard Swains European Report

PokerStars audio blogger James Hartigan has been out on the floor, microphone in hand. Moments ago, he ran back to Blog HQ on press row with a fresh audio blog from the floor. Pleae save this file to your hard drive then have a listen.

Editor's note: Just in case my wife is reading, while I was out talking to smelly poker playing males, female correspondent Mad Harper took care of this report. Just in case my wife isn't reading, I have this picture saved to my hard drive if anyone wants it.

From blog correspondent Mad Harper:

"Are you getting the necklace?" grinned Evelyn Ng, as she sat down straight after the first break. "Getting the necklace" involved full throttle on the close-up button and if I was a guy, I probably would have been too excited to even push the shutter button. But yes, there it is - in solid gold and perfect focus: Evelyn Ng's bespoke, limited edition PokerStars necklace. Sitting on $15,000 in chips, Evelyn looks more than happy with her progress so far. "I've had some good hands and won some good pots," she said. "No, I haven't busted anyone out but I have put the hurt on a few of them." Table 170 if anyone wants to get a better look at PokerStars' premium logowear.

It was like a battle scene fromm a war movie. Hundreds of warriors, running through the smoke and to the battlefield. Here, the smoke come from the cigarettes in the corridor instead of bombs. Here the battlefield is green felt instead of jungle. Here the warriors are WSOP competitors, soldiers with chips.

For the poker media, it's like a rerun. We saw all this yesterday. For the players, it's fresh and new, like a childhood birthday morning. Their eager faces are what make it new for the rest of us.

Sorry for the delay in posting. Chip counts are hard (see the post below for yesterday's PokerStars results).

I've been out on the floor a bit this morning and spotted some familiar faces. I thought we could begin the day with a little photo gallery.

Go here for the latest chip count updates from Day 1A

As this day ends with around 650 players remaining in the first flight, Team Blog has run around looking for PokerStars players with big stacks. I guarantee we didn't get them all, but we have some. Please see the post below this one for a list of all the posts from today.

Notable PokerStars Chip Counts
(Chip counts are approximations)

Carmy "am888" Banin--$90K
Joe "hickoryhill" Vannata--$80K
Dustin "Neverwin" Woolf--$65K
Rob "stroker352" Bowers--$55K
Charles "Twichie" Wey--$40K
Greg "Fossilman" Raymer--Just a bit under $40K
Jonathan "billygoatgrf" Sanger--$34K
Ron "ron dogg" Winnegar--$31K
Dennis "Acey-Deucy" Longoria--$30K
Kevin "sportcards" Betsill--$30K
Travis "DuggaYowski" Brennan--$29K
Clemente "mydenise" Castracucco--$27K
Patrick "TheHawk" Hocking--$27K
Ron "rbutan" Butan--$25K
Matthew "mct119" Turner--$25K
Ray "KidBlaast" Campbell--$21K
Steve "Pokeyman" Murphy--$19K
Steve "kruzer" Fetterman--$14K

Again, this is not all the remaining PokerStars qualifiers, simply the ones we could catch before they ran out to get some sleep. Which is what we need to do. Scroll down to the next post for a list of posts from today. We'll be back with Day 1B Friday.

Managing a field as large as this year's main event of the World Series of Poker is beyond daunting. The cards hit the felt just after 11 am on Thursday morning. At 1:41am, the chips are still clacking. We've almost played through seven levels. Seventy-one tables remain. Tournament Director Johnny Grooms says we're not stopping until several more tables are gone. The man has a job to do. He has to fit all of the survivors from the three flights into this room on Sunday. That means they play until Grooms says they stop playing.

I caught a tired Grooms in the back of the tournament room a while ago and he told me the official high-water mark of entrants was 5661. However, he said, the official number of entrants (not available until Sunday) will be smaller, likely somewhere in the 5540's, because a number of players will not be attending due to documented medical emergencies. That will mean a prize pool of just more than $54,000,000.

With 690 players remaining in this flight, Grooms says nobody leaves until we hit 650.

While we're waiting, here are all of today's reports from this side of the blog.

Shuffle Up and Deal: Day 1 begins

Wil Wheaton, Eric Bloore, John Gale, and a photo gallery of a whole bunch of players

Team Blog

Surviving the dinner break

Cannibalism, poker style

Team PokerStars vs Team PokerStars, "twins" at the table, and Neverwin blind

In the jungle, when the food runs out, when a band of lost travelers is looking for for any nutrition it can find, the members sometimes turn to each other in a none-too-appetizing way. I'm not saying it's a pretty concept, but I'm saying it can happen.

In the poker jungle, road gamblers of the same band may sometimes turn on each other, as well. I'm not saying it's a pretty concept, but I'm saying it can happen. And I'm saying it happened today.

As it happened, Team PokerStars members John Gale and Isabelle Mercier found themselves at the same table. They further found themselves heads-up in a pot. Gale came in for a raise, Mercier pushed all in, and Gale, finding himself with the odds to call, did so. He held A8s. Mercier held 77. The board gave Gale a straight and sent Mercier to the rail. When it as over, Gale said he felt bad, but admitted, "she would've knocked me out if she could."

Indeed, in a dog-eat-dog world where the entire field is wearing milkbone underwear (my thanks to Cheers' Norm for that one), it is kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. The evidence is everywhere. It's in the smoky corridors where husbands phone in their bad beat stories to their wives. It's in the bathrooms, where people feel slightly more comfortable crying. It's at the bar, where people go when the smoking, phonecalls, and crying won't help.

It's perhaps most evident in the empty tables left in the far quadrant of the room. Once full of chip-hungry card players, it's now nothing more than a wide expanse of green felt and tired railbirds.

In other less gruesome news, blog correspondent Madeleine "The Mad Salmon" Harper happened upon a couple of PokerStars qualifiers who were drawing a lot of attention. She brings us this report:

Only Their Mother Can Tell Them Apart

They look completely identical - same PokerStars shirts, same PokerStars caps, same silver frame sunglasses and exactly the same deadpan expression. They're even chewing gum at exactly the same speed. All day people have been walking past Table 151 and doing a double take. Is that twins there? Really? That's wierd - and how come they got to sit next to each other?

As it happens, Carmen "dolfan" Marino and Allen "thebookie" McLean were just about the only people in the room who hadn't noticed that they're dead ringers for each other. "I saw people were taking a lot of pictures of us", said Carmen, a 38-year-old researcher for General Motors, "but I thought it was just because Allen has got such a big stack. I didn't even realise I was in the pictures until just now." The pair had never met before this morning, but after more than ten hours sitting next to each other, the two PokerStars qualifiers are even finishing each others' sentences.... "Well, we did go to the restroom earlier," said Allen, 47, a bookie from Dublin , "and it seems it's true, we're identical in every way", finished Carmen. Right now, the only real difference between them is the size of their stacks... "I've got about 3,000 in chips," said Carmen, "and Allen's got 25,000".

More from Europe (the jinx is passed on), Hartigan's Audio Blog, and a survivor's story from dinner

It's just after 8:30pm in Vegas and the room has taken on a comfortable air. Just nine hours ago, the room fell nearly silent when the cards went in the air. When the first runner busted out, a rowdy exuberance took over. Now, the players are comfortable. Now, it again sounds like a poker room. The chips riffle. The room buzzes. It's standard tournament poker on a non-too standard scale.

While my good luck aura seems to have waned for some (Shirley "Siren" Rosario busted just before the break), I'm pleased to report that my fellow blogger Howard Swains has inherited my curse. If you're reading from Europe, you'll want to be sure to read the European version of this humble news port.

Audio blogger James Hartigan is back at work. With Greg Raymer mounting an impressive comeback, you might want to hear what Greg thinks about any player's chances in this event. Save this file to your computer and have a listen.

Finally, a story from dinner.

I ran into Patrick Morrison, a PokerStars player from the Gulf Coast. He had a wild look in his eye. I figured him for a player who had just spent the past eight hours in the trenches of this poker warehouse.

"What table are you at?" I asked, sure that he was big-stacked and wild on $10,000 adrenaline.

"I don't play until tomorrow," he said.

I thought that would be the end of it, that I would wait until Friday to prod him for stories and tales. Instead, I heard the best story of the day.

Just a few days ago, Morrison was hundred of miles offshore on an oil platform. He knew that in just a few days he would be sitting at a ten-seat table in Las Vegas, vying for a world championship. He'd won a $33 qualifier on PokerStars and was bound and determined to win the whole thing.

Only one thing stood in his way. Her name was Cindy. And Morrison's wife, a beautiful lady, is not named Cindy.

Cindy was a bit of a tropical storm that built and built and rolled into the Gulf of Mexico. Her ferocity wasn't as frightening as many of the big storms that have rolled in to that part of the country. Regardless, she caused a problem.

The original plan was for a helicopter to fly in, land on the deck of the oil platform, and fly Morrison inland. Instead, Cindy grounded the chopper and Morrison was stuck. He waited and waited and finally stowed away on a supply boat that made it to the platform.

That should've done the trick. Instead, Cindy trapped the boat offshore, then blew a bunch of shrimp boats into a brige Morrison needed to cross.

Undeterred, Morrison pressed on, finally made it shore, where his father drove him home, to his beautiful wife, and eventually to an airport where Morrison finally flew to Las Vegas.

Tonight, he had that wild look in his eye and he had yet to play a hand in the main event.

"After what I've been through," he said, "if somebody tries to check-raise me..." He trailed off and looked toward the casino.

"I'm here to play some poker," he said.

If there's a survivor's story in this room, it belongs to Patrick Morrison.

Good luck tomorrow, Patrick.

Good luck Siren, Wil Wheaton Departs, Raymer rocks, Neverwin still winning, and hitting one downtheline

I've been known to call myself a jinx. On the European Poker Tour, I had dinner with three people on three consecutive nights who busted out just after our meal. Today, I'm re-thinking the concept.

In the past hour or so, I've gone on a tour of the parts of the room I'd not yet seen.

I happened first up Shirley "Siren" Rosario. Down to just 2000 in chips, she said, "Get a picture of the biggest comeback in poker history. So, I snapped the picture, just as she raised and got no callers. "Come on," she said to her tablemates. "It's not that big a hand."

Raymer's rivers, The Big Table, The Audio Blog, The European Report

Here at the end of level two, I find myself thinking of thermometers.

You ever break a thermometer and watch the mercury bounce and scoot its way across the floor? You ever break a thousand thermometers and watch everything you see move so fast that you're sure you must be dreaming? Well, here, the chips are made of mercury and keeping track of their movement would be easier accomplished in a dream.

I suspect for the working folk at home, the blog might see it's moving a bit fast, too. Every once in a while, I'll just offer some links to past posts, so they'll be easier to find. Scroll to the bottom of this post for some links.

Raymer's Rivers

At the beginning of level three, ESPN is making Greg Raymer's table the featured table. He and I had a chance to chat while the table was getting set up. He's had a rough go of it so far. Perhaps the worst was getting a free flop in the big blind with an eight in his hand, flopping trip eights, and his opponent, holding a pair of threes, betting into the pot before the river card was even flipped up. The river...a three. Let's hope the featured table brings Raymer some luck.

Introducing: Team Blog

I work alone fairly well in most situations. The main event is not one of those situations. There's too much to see, too much to cover. So, I have a team here to work at my side. They're currently serving as my right arm, right leg, and brain.

First, some notes from the floor from PokerStars blog correspondent Madeline "The Mad Salmon" Harper:

You've got to feel sorry for Michael Cooper, Kurt Skimmeland and Brian Rast. Not because they've got short stacks, or are getting poor cards, but because they've found themselves on a table where absolutely everyone else is a PokerStars qualifier. Jay "donttap" Canowitz, an Ohio headhunter, said there was a ripple of laughter as the players at Table 26 took their seats this morning. "All of us PokerStars players started chatting and saying we should just try and knock the other three out, make it an all-PokerStars table. We've been swapping screen-names, and talking about how we qualified and so forth."

For 39-year-old Jay, this is the second time he's qualified for the WSOP on PokerStars - he made it last year as well, going out in 370th place. The Table 26 seven are: construction company owner Clemente "mydenise" Castacucco from New York; cowboy James "thewinner" Copeland from Oklahoma; Grant "zqxjk" Sbrocco from New York; equities trader James "deek2122" from New Jersey; businessman Roy "aawwnutz" Carter from Dallas; Rodrigo Fludigo, from Rio, Brazil.

Insta-photo gallery, Wil Wheaton begins play, and a big hand for John Gale

Oh. My.

To walk through the room, one requires a steady mind, a quick foot, and an electric cattle prod. Registration is still open for another few minutes. Thousands of people (this must be a fire hazard of some sort...) play, peer, prod, and pray.

To be quite honest, at this moment, chip counts and player stands are irrelevant. It's all about survival right now as the first level ends.

The Official PokerStars Blog has several people in the field, scoping the players for hands and notes of interest. Our own audio blogger James Hartigan (stay tuned for his reports) just came back with this dispatch from across the room:

Team PokerStars' John Gale (winner of the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure WPT tournament in the Bahamas) raised pre-flop to 150 (blinds 25/50) and got four callers. The flop came down A6T with two diamonds. Gale bet out 325. Three opponents folded, but the last check-raised to 825. The turn briught the three of hearts, putting two hearts on board. The opponent bet out 1000. Gale smooth called. The river brought the six of hearts. The opponent bet out another thousand. Gale called. Opponent showed AT for aces up. Gale showed A8 of hearts for the rivered nut flush.

Here's the first insta-photo gallery of the main event:

The lobby is thick with smoke. The room is as packed as it's been in weeks. And Tournament Director Johnny Grooms just announced, "The f-bomb rule is in effect. Do not use that naughty word."

Just seconds ago, the words echoed through this cavernous warehouse of poker.

Shuffle up and deal.

Within seconds, the room's cacophony collapsed into near slience, save the riffling of chips and steady hum of nervous energy.

All around the room, PokerStars players are tasting their first blind levels. It's $25/$50, with $10,000 chips to start.

Within eight minutes, a noise erupted from the back of the room. Clapping began. It was evident. Player down.

Grooms said, "One down, 5800 to go."

At our featured table today, two PokerStars players sit under the television lights.

Something was different today. The click-clack of chips was distant. The tables were empty and the expanse of green felt stood out under the overhead lights. Like the Penn and Teller show on Tuesday nights, the action was dark today as players recovered in advance of the main event.

That left little to do but welcome the more than 500 members of the media who have descended on the Rio. Many of us have been here for weeks. The rest have come to cover the Big One.

Late this afternoon, the media will fight in a WSOP contest of their own. Many of those folks have never played the game. So, PokerStars set up a Media 101 poker workshop so the writer, photographers, and broadcasters could learn the tricks from PokerStars pros. Here's a quick photo gallery of this afternoon's workshop.

As a tournament reporter, especially one who reports on the same people frequently, it's quite possible to become emotionally invested in a player. It's even easier to fall into that emotional investment when you're writing about hometeam PokerStars' players. So far, during this WSOP, I've found myself inordinately interested in two players. John Gale, 2005 PokerStars Caribbean Adventure winner, has been climbing through numerous fields and once got heads-up for a bracelet. As I've spent many hours with him in several different countries, it's been easy to root for him.

And then there is Terrence Chan. I met Terrence at the PCA, as well. There he staged a fantastic short-stacked comeback to finish 20th place. We met again when he represented Team Costa Rica at the PokerStars World Cup of Poker in London. There, where the pride of the game was bigger than the money, I discovered how serious Terrence is about his game.

PokerStars player to miss WSOP

The World Series of Poker is an environment like none other I've ever witnessed. Pure energy, mainline adrenaline, wanton rain squalls of hundred dollar bills that sometimes--quite literally--rain down from the hands of chair-perched gamblers. At any given time, two thousand people are wagering for millions in chips. Cocktail servers run with tired legs. Dealers hallucinate. And in the middle of it--almost every day--a life's dream is realized for one person in the form of a World Series of Poker bracelet.

It is, without a doubt, a warehouse of mixed energy that one must live for several weeks to truly believe it exists. When the only sun you see rises through tinted, tempered glass, it is quite easy to forget that a real world exists outside the Rio.

But it does.

I learned today that a valued PokerStars player (name witheld for the sake of privacy) who won a seat to the World Series of Poker will not be sitting in his chair come Day 1. He and his wife recently welcomed twin babies into the world. One of the children is quite healthy. The other twin is not faring as well. Our player is understandably staying home.

I spoke to my wife today. She is tending to our ten-month-old baby boy while I'm on the road at the WSOP. When I was a kid, my parents (having enjoyed Mother's Day in May and Father's Day in June) always celebrated a made-up Children's Day in conjunction with Independence Day. Today, my wife and parents took my son to his first fireworks show and gave him his first taste of summer watermelon. When my wife and I said goodbye, I couldn't help but be a little sad at having missed the day.

But then I heard about our player who is sitting at home tonight, willing and praying his baby to good health. The WSOP, I'm sure, was once at the top of his list of things to do. Now, I'm sure, it's all but forgotten.

Perspective comes in many forms, folks. A walk in the sun after having been inside for a week. A phone call home after a few weeks on the road. The realization that life is about much more than the click-clack of chips and winning a gold bracelet.

To be sure, what we're witnessing here at the World Series is poker history in its purest form. To be sure, the hundreds of PokerStars qualifiers are set to experience one of the best events of their lives. And to be sure, everyone should come here with the intention of winning and having a good time.

But, try to keep it all in perspective. This is all supposed to be fun. Remember, if you're one of the 1116 qualifiers, or the family member sitting at home waiting for good news, that one of your fellow PokerStars players won't be making it this year.

If you're the praying type, say a prayer. If you're not, perhaps just think a few good thoughts, hug someone you love, and keep it all in perspective.

Your final guide to the Official PokerStars Blog before the World Series of Poker Main Event begins

Here in America, it's Independence Day. I've made it a point not to discuss it much with from friends from England. Nonetheless, it's an American holiday, fully complemented with giant, colorful explosions and much revelry. Of course, here at the WSOP, most of the explosions come after two-outers on the river. Just last night, I watched as Rio security escorted two people out of the room over the course of one hour. In advance of the main event, tensions are escalating.

All of that notwithstanding, we're about to enter the biggest poker event of all time and 1116 PokerStars qualifiers are going to be a part of it. Here are some things you need to know about the WSOP and the coverage you can expect here on the blog.

Priming the pump: If you want to know how to pack, how to eat, where to go to the bathroom, or what to expect from the WSOP, be sure to read the World Series of Poker Primer I posted a couple of days ago.

Attention Europe: Covering any poker tournament is a challenge for one man. Covering the main event of the World Series of Poker by myself would be suicide. With that in mind, a talented writer from the UK will be joining me on this blog to keep an eye on PokerStars European players. Howard Swains will be posting here for the next two weeks. Be sure to see his picture on the right side of the page so you can track him down and tell him your bad beat story. Speaking of pictures...

Track me down...: I've met quite a few readers of this blog out here at the WSOP. I suspect many more will be coming in over the next couple of days. Many of my meetings so far have been by accident. I'll be in a coversation with someone and fifteen minutes later, after he blog comes up, they will say, "That's you?" Yeah, that's me. As I'm the one usually taking the pictures instead of starring in them, you might not know what I look like. Hit the FAQ on the right and scroll to the bottom. The picture from the WSOP is the most recent. Track me down and tell me how you're doing.

Team PokerStars:: Keep an eye out, as well, for Team PokerStars. Every one of these players will be playing in the main event. We're proud of these folks and wish them well in the main event.

Starring..YOU:: Chances are you'll run into me, Howard, or another member of the PokerStars crew over the next two weeks. We want to know how you're doing. We'll do our best not to bother you excessively, but we'll want to hear your story and hopefully broadcat it to your friends and family back home. If you don't have time for us, just let us know nicely and we'll move along.

Chip count warning:: Let's deal with this now, rather than later. I promise I will make every effort to get as many chip counts out as often as possible. But, keep in mind, PokerStars has 1116 people playing in this event. Unless or until we get an official count from the WSOP, chances are 100% we won't get to everybody. So, please, please, please be understanding.

Good luck to all our players. Get out there and have fun.

Please scroll down for all the latest PokerStars World Series of Poker news

Sunday was a really big day at PokerStars.com. While the last WSOP satellites granted the last few players seats in the main event, the $500,000 Guaranteed tournament drew more than 2400 players. In a heads-up battle for the ages, xtreme04 of Orlando, FL captured first place and more than $100,000.

Sunday $500,000 Guaranteed Results

1. xtreme04 (Orlando, FL) $105,000
2. Panella86 (Eddystone, PA) $62,000
3. spikenqt (Mt. Pleasant, MI) $39,500
4. siVTEC (Fleming Island, FL) $30,000
5. funngun (Orlando, FL) $24,000
6. Diamonds-99 (McHenry, IL) $19,500
7. geeah (Gaithersburg, MD) $14,500
8. MannoR (Gothenburg, Sweden) $10,000
9. acdm3 (Raleigh, NC) $6,500

Congratulations to all the players.

It's funny. John Duthie, European Poker Tour creator and PokerStars friend, got to this final table after pushing in on a steal last night with 83o and getting called by PokerStars player Morten Jensen. Last night, Duthie's hand got there. Today, Jensen tried a steal from the small blind with 83o and there was Duthie in the big blind with KJo. He called immediately.

"That's good timing there, John," Jensen said with a laugh as he flipped up his 83o.

Revenge, apparently, is sweet. A three on the flop knocked Duthie out in ninth place.

Duthie and Jensen both had exactly 100,000 in chips.

You might have noticed we had some technical difficulties today. It appears they have been resolved. Keep an eye on this space Sunday for the final table of the $3000 NL Hold'em event. It should be quite interesting...

The following Q&A is made up of real questions from readers of this blog. The answers are a mix of my experience, advice from tournament directors, and the wisdom of our in-house expert Lee Jones

Sure, you're experienced. Aren't we all? Still, this may be your first time at the WSOP. If not, maybe it's your first time at the Rio. For some, it's their first multi-day tournament. Regardless, there should be something in here for everybody.

Survival skills

Q. Any advice on how to survive physically during a multi-day event?

A. I'll be the first to admit that Vegas is a party town. Save it. Save yourself. There will be time for revelry after you take the bracelet. When you get to town, don't stay up all night. Your body clock will get its revenge eventually. Try to eat as well as you can (see the next question for tips on where to eat). Drink as much water as you can, but be aware of the restroom situation (discussed in detail below). Wear comfortable clothes, especially shoes. Get up and walk around as often as you can. On your day off, get out the building at hit the pool for a while. A little sunlight goes a long way.

Q. Do they serve you food when you are playing in the WSOP?

A. Food and drink are a big issue with players this year. As you might expect, there is no free buffet for the players. The closest food is in the hallway outside the tournament area. There you can get hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, cold sandwiches, pizza, sodas, and salads. I will warn you that the food isn't cheap, nor is it gourmet. A chicken sandwich and can of Diet Coke is $9. What's more, the lines get long when everyone breaks at once (imagine 2200 people running for the same chicken sandwich).

After that, the nearest place for food is a five-minute walk to a Starbucks (light fare) or the Sao Paulo. I've eaten at the Sao Paulo twice. The food and prices are average, but the service can be slow and when your break is only an hour and fifteen minutes, slow service is not what you need.

Walk another five minutes and you'll find a couple of the Rio's sit-down restaurants. There are a seafood and Indian restaurants of the price you'd expect from a Vegas casino. I've not eaten at either place, so I can't comment on the service or food.

Add two more minutes to the walk and you'll find a bar/restaurant (The American Bar and Grill) with fairly snappy service and average food/prices. Your only challenge will be getting a table quickly.

So far, the players' best bet is a full ten-minute walk from the poker area. There is a deli near the sports book that has the cheapest food and quickest service. Again, it's not gourmet, but it is quick when expediancy is an issue.

Beyond that, the Rio also has several other restaurants and buffets that take a longer walk. I've eaten at the seafood buffet and Mexican restaurant. The seafood buffet has good food ($35), but the lines can be very long. The Mexican restaurant has good appetizers at the bar, but the night I was there, the food was slow in coming.

Your registration in the WSOP should provide you a $10 voucher for the food. That won't get you halfway through most meals, though.

My advice: eat a huge breakfast and lunch and hope it holds you through the day. Also, pack a few granola bars or candy bars to stave off the hunger.

Q. What happens when I need to use the restroom?

A. Wear your running shoes. I'm quite serious about this. You should get a break every two hours, but the lines get long during the breaks. If you must go before a break, know that the bathrooms are not close. If you are in the back of the room and have to go to the closest bathrooms, you should expect to miss two or three hands. Seriously. So, when the cocktail server comes around, I'd pass if I were you. And here's a little-utilized secret: If you're on a break and the lines are long at the main bathroom (the closest one to the room), walk an extra thirty seconds down the hall. On your left is a short hallway with under-utilized facilities. There is rarely a line there.

Q. Could you please advise if there is any dress code for WSOP players?

A. PokerStars players who have agreed to wear PokerStars gear will be provide shirts to wear. Otherwise, almost anything goes in the poker room. Dress comfortably. I've found, depending on the number of people in the room, it can be very hot and sometimes quite chilly. I've been comfortable in pants and a short-sleeved shirt on most days. However, there have been times I've worn a jacket.

Q. What kind of options do we have in terms of wearing PokerStars attire?

A. When you pick up your PokerStars gear it will include a red, a white and a black short-sleeved polo shirt, a baseball starter jacket (my favorite piece of gear that I don't have...), t-shirts, and a baseball hat.

Q. Are we permitted to have a notebook with us at the table?

A. Absolutely. Some players like to take notes on their opponents. Some players like to record their chip count at the end of each level. Unless you use it as a weapon or to hide your chips, notebooks are perfectly legal. If you bring one, I'd recommend a small notebook that fits in your back pocket.

Q. What about headphones?

A. Lots of players are wearing headphones. I don't like them in no-limit games because I can't hear the action and it can frustrate other players if you don't hear the size of raises, etc. Regardless, headphones are legal until you make it into the money. After that, WSOP rules state that the headphones must come off.

Q. What else should I bring to the table?

A. As little as possible, quite frankly. Ten or eleven handed, the tables are tight. Bring something to cap your cards. Other than that, you won't have room for much of anything else.

Q. I'm French and I don't speak English very well. Can that cause me a problem?

A. Generally, non-English speakers can survive at the tables just fine. As long as you know your numbers and how to say raise, you should be fine. Please be aware, however, that all coversations at the table must be in English. You will not be allowed to converse in French with your fellow Frenchmen.

Q. Is there cocktail service during the tournament?

A. First, see the first question about laying off the beer. Second, review the question about restrooms. But, yes, there is. Cocktail servers circulate throughout the day. They primarily carry water and Red Bull. If you are served a drink, be sure to toke the server A dollar is the standard tip.

Tournament details

Q. What is the amount of starting chips in the Main Event?

A. The amount of starting chips in all WSOP events has equalled the buy-in. The main event buy-in and chips is $10,000.

Q. What is the projected number of players paid?

A. The number of players paid depends on the number of entrants. Usually, around the top ten percent of the field gets paid.

Q. If a player is not scheduled to begin playing until July 8th or 9th, need they be there any earlier (i.e. on the 7th?)

A. I wouldn't see any reason to be here earlier. However, if you intend to arrive late, I would suggest you have everything in writing regarding your start date, hotel room confirmations, etc. There are a lot of registration issues you will need to take care of (including getting your players card) that take some time. Arriving at the last minute is not a good idea.

Q. What about satellites?

A. If you're getting here in advance of the main event, there are satellites of just about every amount. They pay out in $500 increments, depending on the buy-in. Be aware, satellites pay in $500 tournament entry chips (lammers) that have no cash value. If you're playing for the cash, you'll have to find someone to buy your lammer off you. Some people will pay the full $500 per chip, while others will only buy if you give them a discount.

Q. Are the chip values easy to determine?

A. Yes. Here at the WSOP, they use standard color/denominations. Moreover, the chip amount is printed on every chip.

Green=25
Black=100 (in satellites, the blacks are gray)
Pink=500
Yellow=1000
Purple=5000

Tournament Etiqutte/Rules

Q. If someone asks me for a chip count, am I required to do that or can I just sit there and have the dealer do it?

A. You are required to keep your chips in plain view. If someone asks you for a count and you don't feel like speaking, simply reveal your chips (in easily countable and dividable stacks). If the player persists and asks for a count, ask the dealer to count it down for him or do it yourself.

Q. What is the proceedure for calling the clock?

A. Calling the clock (a fair but rarely-used method of hurrying up an opponent's decision) is done simply by asking the dealer to put the clock on the opponent. The dealer will call for the floor person who will give your opponent a pre-designated amount of time to make the decision.

Q. How should I handle my cards?

A. Don't pick your cards up off the table. Use one hand to cover them, and peek at the corners. Cover your cards with a chip or other tchotchke (you'll probably get one in the goody bag that all our qualifiers get). If you don't cap your cards, they may be "fouled" by other players' folded cards or picked up by the dealer. If there's an all-in, do not turn your cards up until the dealer tells you to do so (to be sure that you don't turn them up prematurely). For instance, if you are all-in and more than one other player is still in the hand, you must keep your cards hidden until the side pot is resolved. In short, just wait for the dealer to tell you to turn up your hand.

You may not expose any cards during the play of the hand. In some home games, players will show their opponents their cards to try to get a read on them. If you do that here, you will likely get a penalty. If there is a showdown, be sure to place your cards flat on the table face-up. Until you do so, they are not "shown". That is, simply showing your cards to your opponent while they are in your hand is not a binding showdown. Lastly, when you reveal your cards, just turn them over. Flipping them, tossing them, slamming them, etc. can result in your cards accidentally sliding into the muck. If that happens, your hand is dead, regardless if you won.

Q. How should I handle my chips?

A. Get this straight. You are not Teddy KGB. Don't splash the pot. When you bet, put out your chips out in neat stacks in front of you. If you intend to raise, say the word "raise" and make it the first word out of your mouth. Specifically, do not say "I'll see that and raise it..."

Remember, if you put a single large denomination chip into the pot and don't say raise, it's a call. This rule will be universally enforced. For instance, if it's 100 to call, and you simply toss out a 500 chip, you have called (not raised). If you say "raise" as you toss out that chip, you've raised to 500. If you say "300" as you toss out that chip, you've raised to 300.

When you go to make a raise, after saying the word "raise", figure out how much you want to put out and either (1) announce that number ("Make it 1000 total"), or (2) move all the chips out in a single motion. If you intend to go all-in, simply say "I'm all-in". Once you bring one stack of chips out, they will not let you go back for more. It's called a string bet and it is not allowed. Don't get caught by it.

Q. How should I arrange my chips when I'm not playing?

A. This is largely a matter of preference. I like to keep my chips in even stacks of twenty chips a piece. This makes it easy to count. For instance, a stack of twenty black chips is $2000. Other players like to build large, artistic towers. While some players believe this can be intimidating to an opponent and make it harder for an opponent to count your chips, I wouldn't recommend it for one simple reason. A quick story: Two days ago, an event was about to go on a 15-minute break. Most players, including a couple players who had built chip towers, got up to leave the table. Two players were left in a hand. One of those players (a WSOP bracelet-holder, incidentally) lost the hand and slammed his fist down on the table. The result was the toppling of a couple towers of chips. This can happen at any time and there is little way for you to prove how many chips you had if some of your chips get mixed in with an opponents.

A couple of other points. You should keep your larger denomination chips in front of the smaller denominations. You should also avoid what is called "barber-poling." That means, don't mix chips of different denominations in the same stack to make them look like a barber's pole. Most people will inform you if you have done this by accident. If someone says, "You have a dirty stack," that means you have a chip of the wrong denomination in your stack (example: a black chip in a stack of $25 green chips).

Q. How should I handle my cards when I don't intend to play them?

A. Rule number one: Don't act out of turn. For instance, suppose a player bets, another guy has to act, and then it's to you. Now the second guy goes into the tank. Even if you have no intention of calling, don't move a muscle. Your presence in the hand changes the calculus dramatically, and it's not fair to act prematurely. That means, don't stand to go to the bathroom and ask your tablemate to fold your cards when it ges around to you. That means don't put your fingers on the cards like you're intending to fold. Don't do anything until it is your turn.

Most of the time when it's your turn to act, your choice will be easy (normally "Fold"). Don't wait forever. This isn't the final table (yet), and the clock is ticking. If you need time to make a decision, fine. Certainly, take good time to make your important decisions, but don't unnecessarily delay the game just for grins.

Q. What can you tell me about the f-bomb penalty?

A. It exists and it is enforced. Just last night in the Razz tournament, a dainty woman let loose the f-word and was hit with a ten-minute penalty. Don't say it. As much as you want to, don't say it. If you do, expect to be sitting out and blinded off. Talk about wanting to say it...

Q. What kind of table talk is allowed?

A. You can talk all you want, but be aware of certain rules of etiquette. Don't comment about any hand that's in play. Things like "Well, the flush just got there" or "He's bluffing" are way out of line, and will get you glared at, if not a time-out penalty. If a hand is in play, it's best to just keep your mouth shut.

Finally...

...a few rules and rules of etiquette for your friends and family who come to sweat you.

No flash photography in the tournament area

Stay behind the rail (usually a velvet rope or row of chairs)

Be courteous of the "name players." Most are very nice, but don't ask for autographs or pictures while they are playing.

He stood at Pinehurst, more than half of the final round of the U.S. Open behind him. He had just moved within four shots of the lead. He was a mere eight holes away from the possibility that he might just win the whole thing. Winning would've put a million dollar check in his pocket. The ensuing endorsements would be worth millions more.

Rocco Mediate would tell his friends later--after taking some time to absorb a couple of unfortunate holes and his 2005 U.S. Open sixth place finish--that he would soon be playing for much more money than either first place or the endorsements could ever pay.

Had I been one of his buddies, perhaps I would've raised en eyebrow or two. After all, with the exception of, say, The Masters, you don't get much bigger than the U.S. Open. Had Rocco found some high-dollar underground golf tournament that the PGA didn't know about?

Of course not.

He'd just found a different game.

Rocco, meet Raymer. Raymer, meet Rocco.

Sports Illustrated called Rocco's house this morning. It seemed perfectly logical. After all, Mediate had just moved up to #117 on the PGA money list and had come tantalizing close to winning the U.S. Open. What's more, he earned himself a spot at next year's U.S. Open and Masters.

But as Rocco talked with the magazine writer, the conversation drifted in a different but familiar direction. They talked poker.

In the past few months, Mediate has been playing on PokerStars.com and, like the rest of the world, he's hooked.

"I watch golf sometimes, but I don't watch sports," Mediate said. "But whenever poker is on TV, I watch it."

And whenever he has some free time, he plays it.

Now, some folks may not know this, but PokerStars own Greg Raymer likes to hit the links sometimes. It seemed inevitable that a relationship could grow.

So, next week, Rocco Mediate will be coming here to Vegas to play in the Main Event of the World Series of Poker, courtesy of PokerStars.com. Raymer will give him some tips on poker, and Mediate will offer Raymer a few tips on golf.

Now, before you skeptics start thinking I'm building Mediate into the next poker champion, you should hear from Mediate himself.

"I'm not one of those pretender types of guys," he said this morning. "I almost won at Pinehurst and I don't think I'm going to win at the World Series of Poker."

Nonetheless, as his arrival date grows closer and closer, Mediate is already ready to be here.

When I was growing up, my dad was a golfing, guitar playing, poker player. My brother got the golf skills. I got the guitar skills. We shared the poker skills. As we've talked over the years, we've come to agree that there are a lot of the same mental trials and tribulations in poker as there are in golf.

Since I had a chance to talk to a pro golfer who is getting into poker, I couldn't help but ask Mediate what he thought.

"In golf it's about controlling your emotions," he said. "It's the same in cards. I play golf 100% by feel. No mechanics. No checklists. I don't know if this is good, but I play cards the same way. I know what I feel. The future will tell whether that's worth anything at all."

Look for Rocco Mediate in Vegas beginning next week, as the professional golfer takes his first swing at professional poker.