Jon Bryan

Well, being stuck at Las Vegas airport waiting for your flight (seven hours delay) gives you time to connect to their free wireless hotspot and reflect on "Leaving Las Vegas".

We have had a great time and have no regrets about anything.

The poker was great, and although I am still disappointed going out just before the money, I would have done the same thing again with pocket tens.

The Aladdin was great as a hotel, and I even won some money playing poker here. The views from our hotel room can be seen above, and we were minutes away from "M and M World" so I could sneak a cuddle from Miss Green (above).

We have not (yet!) fallen out at the airport being stuck here with little to do. Wed have watched the odd plane come and go, but there is nothing to do at this airport if ever you get stuck here. There is catering for about 40-50 to sit and eat, and seating for around 150 to play the slot machines. I kid you not! Only in Las Vegas ;-)

Looking forward to being picked up by my sister at Gatwick and then one night later arriving back in Newcastle.

Thanks for listening :-)

Jon and Kay

After paying for all those taxis to and from "The Rio" to watch and play in the WSOP, we had discovered a free bus shuttle from the hotel next to us. So...keeping the $10 taxi fare for something else, we got the shuttle in time to see the players who had made it to the final table come out to applause. The last nine of the 8773 who had begun playing in the WSOP Main Event started stacking their chips and got ready to play poker in the final. All of them would leave with over $1.5million and the winner would take home $12million.

The build-up was something else, with everyone being introduced to the crowd who had anything to do with the WSOP, and then each player getting a biography read out as if this was a heavyweight boxing fight.

What I do remember about this was that two of the players had never had cash finishes in any poker tournamenet before, and were internet players in their first year of the World Series.

We sat and watched for a while.

After 20 minutes, the short stack was knocked out by Jamie Gold who called an all-in bet on the flop. The flop was 2/3/5 and the short stack showed Ace-King. Gold showed pocket deuces. Gold eliminated this player at about 2.30p.m.

13 hours later Gold was the winner, but we had long gone.

It was great to watch some of the final, but there was also a lot of activity going on around. Some poker cash games, but lots of poker stars making themselves available to "fans". We took advantage.

It is striking that this is a "sport" where the stars are just like many of the other players. They walk freely amongst everyone, and are always willing to pose for a photograph or sign some memorabilia for people. I saw one shirt with lots of signatures, obviously done with a permanent pen. Some people had come prepared.

Got my photo (above) with three previous World Champions.

Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (2000)
Joe Hachem (2005)
Scotty "The Prince of Poker" Nguyen (1998)

I told Joe I was knocked out on day three and he asked me if I enjoyed it and he was dead canny and friendly. "And quite attractive" Kay said.

Scotty shook hands, posed for photos whilst on the phone. Think that's his style!

"Can I get a photo Chris?", I asked very sheepishly. "Sure", he said in a very American accent.

I waited until Jennifer Tilly (2005 WSOP Ladies' Event Bracelet winner and actress) and Phil "The Unabomber" Laak had finished an interview, and got photos with both of them.

Phil Laak won the World Poker Tour Invitational Event in February 2004 and is well established as a poker player. I will always remember Jennifer Tilly from the episode of "Frasier" she was in, but I decided not to talk to her about that.

They were really accomodating and a long-line had formed for both of their attentions.

The action in the poker was slow, and we left well before the end, leaving at about 9p.m. when there were still six players left in.

We took the many "freebies" that we had got at the poker and left. The next task would be to fit all this free stuff into our cases :-)

Well, after 50 minutes of playing on day three of the WSOP Main Event, I stood up and shook hands with the guy who knocked me out and wished everyone at the table good luck. My World Series of Poker experience was over.

Out of 8773 competitors, I am unsure of my exact finishing position and it won't be officially recorded. It is about 1100th. I finished in about the top 12%, but it's the top 10% who make the money.

Everyone on my table was canny enough, but it was clear early on that I was on a table with players better than I had encountered to date.

Having said that. There was still some strange (and unlucky) plays early on.

The third hand brought drama to the table.

Seat 9 (who was from Dorset) and the largest stack at the table raised to make it 4200 to go. Seat 1 raised to 16000. Everyone folds back to the original raiser. Seat 9 asks the dealer to count down the stack of seat 1, which caused some annoyance to seat 1. He had about another 85K. Seat 9 moved all in for about 150K and the bet was called. Both players turned over pocket Kings. I couldn't believe that these players wanted to get involved with each other, and when the last 4 cards where all diamonds, it was seat 1 with the King of Diamonds who doubled his stack of chips.

A short time later, seat 2 raised before the flop and then called quite a large re-raise from seat 5. The flop came 10/9/7 and all the money went in. Seat 2 showed pocket tens, and Seat 5 turned over pocket aces. He was clearly gutted and no other cards came to help him out. He was eliminated after less than 20 minutes.

I was getting nothing to play with, although I did think about moving all in with Ace-Five unsuited with just three other players to get through, but I folded it. We saw the flop on that hand, and it wouldn't of helped me.

With 45 minutes gone, I had lost about 6000 chips just through the blinds and antes, and now we had lost a player, we would be playing 9-handed until the end of the tournament.

The player first to speak called the big blind. This was seat 2, who had already knocked someone out. It was folded to me, and I looked down and found pocket tens. I moved all in for a total of around 18000 chips. Everyone folded, but seat 2, kind of reluctantly, called.

We both turned over our cards and I was ahead and slight favourite to win the pot. He had the Ace of Spades with the Jack of Clubs against my pair of tens.

The flop (first three cards) were all clubs, and then the fourth card was another club. This gave him a flush and knocked me out of the tournament.

I wished everyone good luck and then me and Kay walked out of the tournament area and made our way back to the hotel.

I knew at the start of the day that I would have to go all in maybe 2 or 3 times to get into the money. I couldn't just hang on with what I had.

Looking at cardplayer.com now 4 and a half hours after the start of today, there are still 25 players to be knocked out before the money starts, and I have no regrets about how I played that hand.

It was the first time that I had put all my chips at risk in the entire tournament, and I know that overall I have played very well.

I was pleased to be greeted at the start of my day by a player from my table from the end of day two. Both he and his wife wished me good luck for the day and congratulated me once again for laying down pocket Queens at the end of day two. I remember him saying that his wife was knocked out halfway through day two.

As I write, cardplayer.com inform me that other notable players to go out before the money today have been Phil Ivey (who Kay managed to snap - above), Layne Flack, Carlos Mortensen (WSOP Champion in 2001), Freddy Deeb, Chris "Jesus" Ferguson (winner in 2000) and Josh Arieh (3rd in 2004).

Thanks for following this blog and my play in the World Series.

We may post more photos and stories of our exploits in Las Vegas until we leave here on Friday August 11th - eventually arriving back in Newcastle late on Sunday night - but for now, my WSOP adventure is over.

Thank you all for your support.

Thanks to www.pokerapparel.co.uk for providing the shirts.

And thanks to Paradise Poker for getting me here via their Player Points tournaments.

Best wishes from both Jon and Kay

PS - Velma Kay got her wish of seeing Ross Boatman in Las Vegas. He was at the airport with her as she was going home today. At least I can say that I outlasted most of The Hendon Mob, but I think Barny Boatman is still in. http://www.thehendonmob.com/about-the-mob.html

Getting ready for what could be my last day in the 2006 WSOP Main Event ($10,000 buy-in).

Thanks to Bill for pointing out the website, and I have managed to do some research to prepare for day three of the WSOP Main Event.

For those trying to follow via the web, the coverage is not that good and some of it looks to be contradictory.

By my reckonings, there are 1159 players left in the tournament and I am in 1014th place. To get into the money, I have to finish in 873rd or higher. Full list of prizes is here:
http://www.cardplayer.com/tournaments/payout/3229

This is going to be my biggest test ever. To be honest, I am not looking forward to it in many ways. I set myself the target of getting to day two and I have done that. I know I have done well so far, but this could be where I slip up.

By the time we get down to 873 players, the average number of chips per player will be 100,000. Right now at 1159 players, the average is 75,700. If I don’t do anything to improve the size of my stack, I will not be able to survive.

We start with an hour of 600-1200 blinds with 200 for the ante. This means every pot will have 3,800 in it before any cards are dealt and my stack of chips will last me just over 60 hands. After an hour of play, we will have two hours of antes at 200 with the blinds rising to 800-1600. For those not in the know, everyone has to put an ante in every hand, and two people (in turn) put in one each of the small and big blind.

Using Bill, Graeme and Vicki’s help, I have found out who I’m sitting down with. In seat order number (from 1-10) here’s how we will line up:

Dennis January ($98,500)
Mark Eldreth ($72,700)
John Villanueva ($62,200)
Patrick Fortin ($27,900)
Chris Kane ($46,300)
Peter Kunc ($26,200)
Jon Bryan ($24,800)
Whitney Blanton ($153,400)
Ian Cox ($159,600)
Aram Zerounian ($33,200)

For those in the know, I think that this is not a bad table, but I think I have the worst possible seat. When I might want to steal the blinds and antes from the button, the two chip leaders will be in the blinds.

The Players on my table:

Aram Zerounian has only slightly more chips than me, but he finished in the money in two WSOP events last year (including 305th - $21,070 - in the Main Event) and has had two cash finishes so far in WSOP events this year.
http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=27831

Dennis January has had two cash finishes in World Poker Tour events in the last 18 months. http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=34450

Whitney Blanton is relatively unknown, but she started day two with the same number of chips as me. Over that day, my stack has gone down and she has increased hers by five times.

Last year, Mark Eldreth came 13th out of 377 in the 2005 Legends of Poker game in Los Angeles. http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/player.php?a=r&n=48387

Chris Kane came 4th out of 74 in $1,000 game at The Bellagio last year.
http://www.bluffmagazine.com/players/playerBIOs.asp?playerID=9581

It looks like Mark Eldreth is an online qualifier like me and relatively unknown.

And it looks like Ian Cox, who will be the chip leader on our table, is from the UK. He recently came 7th of 37 in a tournament at Grosvenor Casino Southampton. The write up makes it look like he was lucky to get to 7th as he was the short stack at the start of the final table but his pocket tens made four of a kind on the flop when he was all in against pocket Jacks.
http://uk.pokernews.com/news/2006/5/south-of-england-poker-champs.htm

Thanks to all for your comments and support. I will be playing my best tomorrow, but I have a feeling that my next post may not be a positive one given the relative size of my chips.

If there is nothing on here by 8.00a.m. UK time on Saturday 4th August, expect good news.

My name, but not my photo, has made it to the Paradise Poker blog this time.
http://pokerblog.paradisepoker.com/index.php
If you scroll down and see J.Vegas drinking red bull and wearing a blue visor – he’s the one who re-raised me all in with Aces when I folded pocket Queens.

With best wishes to all,

Jonny Check Raise

After the excitement of getting through to day three of the WSOP, reality hit us all a bit today. I was still very tense and anxious - even more so now I have a chance to make (or not) the money in the poker and Velma realised that it was her last day. To relieve the tension, we went to see a Tiger, Kay had a bath, and Velma Kay went to have her "Vegas Day".

Velma's "Vegas Day" consisted of cheesecake, various Elvis things - including meeting the guy who did the Elvis/Kingsmill bread adverts for the UK a year or two ago - getting a tattoo of hearts and going to the Mandalay Bay where they hold Ultimate Fighting Championships.

The two Kays have now gone to some Beatles "Love" thing, which I am sure will be excellent, but it was unclear whether all four of them would be there this evening.

Me? I had poker homework to do.

Well, yesterday was just an incredible day of poker.

The day started well – halving the taxi fare by sharing it with “Pistol Pete”, who was also in the WSOP for the first time. He had almost twice as many chips as me, and we wished each other good luck as we arrived at “The Rio” for 12 hours of poker.

I cannot begin to describe how I felt in the morning at 11.30a.m. just half an hour before “shuffle up and deal” was called. I was so nervous, anxious, and going through thousands of emotions. Having made it through day one, and with all the casualties from Day 2A, could I really get any further? I messaged a few people, and Steve in particular calmed us down restating a few basics of poker – take it easy and just sit back and fold a few hands. Good advice, but wait ‘til you hear how the first hand panned out.

Well, with that advice, I sat down in seat 10 at Table 96 and found out that I would have the dealer button in front of me. I opened the envelope full of the chips that I had sealed the other night and set them up in front of me. It’s strange having so many chips in front of you, and I looked around and saw that (apart from someone called Mikael Thuritz in seat 2 who had 86,050) most others had between 10,000 and 20,000. Maybe I could do ok here on this table, but it does put you off when cameras are constantly taking photos of one guy in particular at the table and various people are saying hello and chatting to him. No idea who he was. Turns out he'd never heard of me either.

So, the first hand of the day, and I am dealt a King and a Queen – both of clubs and it is folded around to me on the dealer button. With the blinds at 250 and 500 and the ante at 50, I make it 1700 total to play. There is 1250 in the pot before any cards are dealt. The big blind is Mikael (above) and he looked to mean business with a huge pile of chips, and he must have been in the top 30 or so of the 1700 in the room. I since find out that he was second in the 2005 London Open http://www.cardplayer.com/players/results/Mikael_Thuritz/19929 The guy in the small blind folds and Mikael calls, without a care for the chips he throws in the pot.

The flop comes Jack-Nine-Four and two of them are diamonds. He checks and I bet 2500. He smooth calls again, just chucking them in the pot. The turn (fourth card) is the ten of clubs. I now have a straight but I don’t want to show I’m beating him. He checks and I do to. The final card is the Ace of Spades and he checks again. I bet 5000 after a few seconds. By checking on the fourth card (the turn) and betting on the fifth and final (the river), I wanted it to look like I was bluffing at the pot on the end. The truth is, with a straight, I had the best possible hand available, given those on the table. He moves all in, trying to bully me, knowing I wouldn’t want to go out on the first hand of the second day. I look again at my cards to make sure I still have a King and a Queen and I announce call. He throws his hand into the muck and I show mine. I’m up to over 60,000 in chips after less than 5 minutes.

“Well I thought you were bluffing as well”, says the guy on my right from the Isle of Wight.

A few hands later and I’m in the big blind with pocket threes and there’s a raise. The button calls and so do I. The raise was 1000 more, so I’m getting the odds to call. The flop is King-9-7 all clubs and all three of us check. The turn is 3h and we all check again. When the river is 9s I bet 4000 but get no callers. I show the full house to keep up my table image, but they broke the table up soon afterwards. As they broke our table up, there was one spot available on the featured table (which will appear on ESPN), but I didn’t get it. I would have been up there sitting with Daniel Negreanu. Maybe it’s good that I wasn’t….

Anyway, I find myself sitting to the left of another guy from the UK. He says he’s from Manchester, UK. When I tell him I’m from England as well, he says Rochdale, Littleborough (to be precise). We have a bit crack on about Rochdale (my mate Brendan lives there who I shared a flat with at Poly) and we talk about having to tell Americans the largest City near to where we live, otherwise they just say “What part of London is that?”

I look good moving onto this table with around 65,000 in chips and I am clearly the big stack. I do very little for the first few hands, but then after a flat call early on, I look down and find pocket tens. I make it 2500 to go. I’m also on the button. The big blind moves in and there’s a fold and then it’s back to me. It’s for 20,000 more and I am very tempted. I eventually throw my hand away. I end the first level of the day with 56,800 in chips after two hours of play – an hour and a half at this new table.

After the break the guy from Rochdale is out and we wish each other all the best. His King-Queen losing to Jacks.

The next level is not so good for me. After an aggressive player bets 2000 early in the hand, I look down and see Ace-Queen (both diamonds). I haven’t seen the hands he plays yet, but I make it 7000 total. He re-raises me all-in for 20,000 more. I fold, a little annoyed at having lost that many chips.

I steal blinds and antes without ever seeing a flop, always betting 2200. “Twenty-two works for you”, the guy to my left says. “Don’t make it twenty-one or twenty-three, it’ll not work”.

Just before the next break, the same aggressive player makes it 2000 to play and two of us call. The big blind moves all-in. It’s only another 2475. The aggressive player makes it 9000 total. One fold and I think I have to throw my pocket eights away. The big blind shows ace-five hearts and the aggressive player King-Queen offsuit. The board helps no-one and I would have won the hand if I’d played. I’m just annoyed with the re-raise when we could have knocked a player out.

Not a good level and I finish on 45,100 chips. But I did win the chip race!

Level 3 of the day (Level 9 overall) started well for me. I raise with Ace-Queen and re-raise with Ace-King, getting some blinds, antes and bets into my stack. Again, I make the decision to show both as advertising, but as they break the table up soon afterwards, it doesn’t matter.

There was time for the poor sod next to me to go all in before the flop with pocket Aces and get called by Queens. I guess some of you know what’s going to happen. A Queen comes on the flop.

I’m quite pleased to be moved to a new table, and I would be here for the next four and a half hours. When I sit down, the dealer welcomes me to the table and says something like “We don’t have flops at this table I’m afraid, sir”. OK, it’s that sort of table.

In all the time that I’m there, there is only once no raise before the flop. And when that happened, some guy says “I didn’t know we could limp. Hey, I want to limp.” It’s quite a jovial table at times, and we only lose two players all the time I’m there (and that was in the first hour).

Being the unknown new guy again, I raise some of the blinds and get up to just under 50,000.

Then, a raise from the button makes it 2400 and I look down at Ace-Seven of clubs so I make it 6000 total. He thinks……..and calls. The flop is King-Queen-Seven and they’re all hearts. It couldn’t be a worse flop for me and I check. He bets 3000 and I fold – showing my Ace.

He shows me the deuce of hearts and then one player asks the dealer to show the other. There is some discussion about this and a floor-manager is called over. He states that the rule is that if you show one you are entitled to see them both. The other card is the Ace of hearts.

Soon after, the hand of the tournament for me (but I was only watching). A Spanish guy with “Poker Stars” all over him had just doubled his stack when he had gone all in with Kings and a guy had made a bad call all in with Ace-Queen. A new guy comes in with about 60,000 in chips and when the Spanish guy raises, he calls from the button, puts his shades on, and then does some amazing chip tricks while he waits for the dealer.

The flop is Jack-7-5 and the Spanish guy bets 4500. Chip-trick guy calls and the turn is a 6. Spanish guy checks and chip-trick bets 10,000. A re-raise all in and then a call. The Spanish guy turns over pocket sixes. Chip-trick has pocket sevens. No-one can believe it. Chip-trick says “no one-outer dealer”. The river is a six.

This was an incredible hand and there was howls and screams from the table attracting the attention of players and the media. Chip-trick didn’t say a word and was very cool about losing it, with no complaints at all. Fair play to him.

It’s just before dinner and it is announced that the 2004 WSOP Champion has been knocked out. It’s Greg Raymer, and he gets applause and acknowledgement from the other players. Or maybe we’re just glad that he’s out!

I meet the Kays during the 90 minute dinner break. There are 3 hours to go, but I only have 37,500 chips. Each round (every ten hands) at the next level will cost me 3,500. I am very anxious and I know that I haven’t made any really bad plays, but that I’ll have to do something soon to survive.

I think the Kays are worried for me, and I leave them early to wash my face and to try and mentally prepare.

I get my chips up to 50,000 when I make two re-raises on separate hands before the flop – taking it down there and then.

In a critical pot, a guy two before the dealer button makes it 3700. I am in the big blind and I look down and see pocket tens. I make it 10,000 total. After a long pause – he eventually calls. The flop comes with two clubs King-9-4 and he moves all in for 16,000. I think for ages, but eventually fold. I’m down to just over 30K.

This is a strange level. Survival and no risk seems the top priority and there were not as many all ins as I thought there would be. I finish the level with 42,800 in chips and there’s just one hour to go.

A quick “good luck” kiss and hug from Kay before the final hour, and both Kays come in to watch. Everyone wants to make it to Friday and get through this hour. Nobody makes any quick decisions and players are slow to put their antes in and look at their cards. I outplay a guy in position after the flop and get up to 50,000 in chips. The blinds are 600-1200 and antes are 200. There is 3800 in the pot before the cards are dealt.

With 25 minutes to go, the 4th player to act – John, a fellow Paradise Poker player and qualifier – raises it to 3200. The next guy folds and I look down at pocket Queens. I make it 10,000 total. Everyone folds and John moves all in. I ask the dealer to count it down. It’s 19,500 more. If I call and lose, I only have 8500 left. If I call and win, I'm set up nicely for Friday.

John had stood up after going all in, and then everyone else at the table (one-by-one) stands up as I think about it for ages. I'm looking at him, working out the hand and how it’s been played so far. I look at the pot and mentally count it down. We haven’t seen the flop yet and I count my stack down and look at how much is in the middle again. I also check out the time left tonight.

Three tables away by the ropes on the sidelines, the two Kays are worried - watching me and trying to see what's going on.

Only me and the dealer are still sitting down at the table and there is a lot of tension around our table. No noise. Just tension.

After at least 5 minutes, I throw it away. Lots of exhaling by everyone. “Good lay-down” John says to me. I told him I had Queens and he shows the table his Aces.

Pretty much everyone at the table congratulates me on my fold. I’m still in it, and there’s around 17 minutes at this level left to play.

You are entitled to call for a clock and give that player only one minute to make their decision. There is a lot of discussion and laughter about the fact that no-one would have called for a clock, as everyone wants the time to run down to get through day two.

A short time later, and I’m through to day three. Only 24,800 in chips, but I’m still alive!

There is applause around the room and I shake hands with the guys around me. We'll all be on different tables on Friday and we wish each other good luck.

Thanks to all for your support :-D

Follow this for more progress reports.

Best wishes to all.

Jonny Check Raise

Well, we finished at midnight this time, and I'm still in it!

I have now survived two days of the WSOP Main Event, but my chips are low at $24,800.

Getting a place in the money is going to be difficult on Friday, but I'm there, and have a chance.

I have played some good poker today, but it has been very difficult. Incredibly stressful at times and concentration and discipline has been key.

I will post more detail on what happened in day two, but for now, enjoy this photo of me showing that I have made it through to the next stage.

Thanks for all your support and comments - it's been great :-D

Jon

OK

Well, when we planned this week, we did it on the basis that if I was still in the WSOP I'd be busy, if I wasn't, I might go and find a poker game to play in somewhere.

So the Kays were free to go to the Elemis Spa at the Aladdin Casino - www.elemisspa.com if you want to have a look. If I haven't been knocked out of the poker, they'll come and meet me later on at The Rio. It's the full works $400 treatment for Velma Kay, and a more modest treatment for Kay (Myrtle/Murv). Apparently it's fifty bucks to take a shower!

Thanks to all of you for your posts/emails/texts - I have got them all and they're really appreciated.

And thanks as well if you managed to find me on www.cardplayer.com

After Day 1D I was 283rd out of 875 still left in it, with 2160 staring on that particular day. http://www.cardplayer.com/tournaments/results/3229?viewall=true

Overall, there have been 8,773 entrants to the WSOP Main Eevnt, and Day 2A finished on August 1st, with 570 players left out of 1,576 who started the day.

Today, day 2B will begin for me, and there are 1,736 of us in total. My chips will be above the average, but not by much. I am looking forward to it, but I will need to survive two-thirds of the field today to stay in it and be back on Friday.

It is incredibly difficult to find anything on the websites to follow my progess, so I think I will just have to post it on here as soon as I can. It is possible that cardplayer might say something, but again I am more likely to be described as a seat number than by name.

I start on Table 96 in seat 10, but I was moved to a total of 5 different tables on Monday. Again, I will try and put something on my MSN byline, but last time the system was constantly down - a little frustrating in your 20 minute "bathroom break".

For those of you who are wondering when to start spending, the prize money doesn't begin until we are down to the final 873 and that will probably be at sometime on day three, when all the players left in will eventually be in just the one room on just one day.

With 570 left from Day 2A and then today's marathon to go through, it's still a very long way to go to the money but, as Jim Bowen says, "take a look at what you could have had":
http://www.cardplayer.com/tournaments/payout/3229

Am looking forward to it today, but am still anxious. I set myself the target of trying to get to day two, and halfway through day one, I really thought I wouldn't make it. So I'm really pleased to get this far.

Lots of good players went out of day 2A yesterday, including The Devilfish, Barry Greenstein, Mike Sexton (World Poker Tour host and 2006 winner of the Tournament of Champions), David Williams (2nd in the Main Event 2004) and 1998 winner Scotty Nguyen. I am just hoping to do my best.

I will be up against players like Barny Boatman, 2002 winner Robert Varkonyi, Daniel Negreanu, 2004 winner Greg Raymer, Josh Arieh (3rd in 2004), and 1978 winner Bobby Baldwin.

Having just scrolled through all the previous chip counts, overall I will be in 544th place out of the 1736 starting today at 12 noon - 8p.m. UK time. Last night's day two (day 2A) finished at 12 midnight - if I last that long!

Thanks for reading and all your messages. Now, I just need to find another pair of those Las Vegas socks to wear that my sister sent me....

This is what happens when you take two young ladies called Kay to "Downtown las Vegas" to have a go at proper gambling.
Velma Kay won at Video Poker and on the slots, and both Kays won at roulette.

Me? I tried not to think of it as being luck.


Well, with two no-shows on Sunday for our pick-up to take a helicopter ride (and land) to the Grand Canyon, and a final no-show today, I suggested a trip downtown to gamble.

If you ever go to Las Vegas, "Best Tours" cannot even organise to pick 3 people up from the same hotel, so I dread to think what the state of their air equipment is.

We had wanted to do the Grand Canyon thing, but a trip to where Las Vegas began was a good alternative. The previous winners of the WSOP Main Event have their photo displayed at Binion's Horshoe Hotel and Casino, so we went along and took this photograph (above).

Then - the slots. Ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding ding and Velma had $30 worth of quarters coming out and we went to cash them up before moving on to a quiet roulette table at the "Golden Gate". My $20 went quick enough but Kay almost doubled hers while Velma cashed out $90.

Think I'll stick to poker.

Well, I am still buzzing from playing in the WSOP. This was the final day one (Day 1D) of the Main Event. So many people have entered, the first day is staggered. For more details on how this is done, go to http://www.worldseriesofpoker.com/events/eventinfo.sps?eventid=36507 and click on Event 39.

We took a Black Sedan from our hotel to the game. Bit flash, but we were running slightly late :)

Got there in my seat just before the start and settled right in. Freddy Deeb was on the table next to me and attracting a bit of attention. No-one on my table I recognised, but a Russian guy called Edik was getting attention about chip levels and had a lot of photos taken. Think Paradise Poker came to take mine, but haven't seen it yet.

The blinds were small and I only played 3 hands in the first two hours, but I won all 3 of them without having to show my hand down.

First, I decided to raise (3 times the big blind) with pocket 5's. Two callers. The flop was 289 with two spades. I bet and get a caller from the short stack who had been playing loosely. Turn was another 8 and I put a bet in which was about half his stack. He thought for ages and folded.

I get pocket aces when two people call the blind and another raises. No-one calls my large re-raise.

I get KdJd in the small blind and 4 of us see the flop. The big blind bets at an Ace high flop with two diamonds - the Ace is one for them. One caller and I do too. King on the turn and I check, she bets, a fold and then I call a bet hoping for a diamond. I hit the nut flush - the best possible hand available with these cards, I bet, hoping for a call. I don't get one, but I now have played and won 3 hands without showing them down. Couldn't really wish for a better table image.

After 2 hours, I'm up to 12,900 and I meet the Kays to chat about it.

In the meantime, a player was all in after five minutes and knocked out, and Lennox Lewis got a rousing reception as he sat down at his table saying "Let's get ready to rumble!"

Kay had been out snapping poker stars like Chris Moneymaker, while I had been nervous, but excited, about playing in the big game.

Another post to follow....

Well, with 29,525 chips in front of me when the time expired, it meant I had made it to day two of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker. The time was after 3.00a.m. - 15 hours after we began, and 12 hours of poker.

Very pleased and so chuffed to still be in and to have done so well so far, but I am still not in the money and the average chip stack is about 25,000.

Will post more detail, but thanks to everyone for all your messages.

Best wishes,

Jon :-D

My final post before the WSOP – to find out how to keep the most up-to-date, read on.…

Well, it’s also Velma’s 38th Birthday today and she’s going to spend some of it in a room full of over 2000 blokes who are hoping to see a big pair when they look down.

FOLLOWING ME
So, to be the most up-to-date, you should check out:

www.cardplayer.com
They tend to follow high profile players, so I might be described quaintly as “Seat 2”.

http://pokerblog.paradisepoker.com/index
As a Team Paradise Player, my progress should be on here. It may well be under my internet playing name “NATFHE”. There is a lot of competition on who wears what shirts here, and to qualify as a Team Paradise Player, you have to wear one of their shirts or baseball caps.

Add me to your MSN Messenger list – jonbryan_uk@yahoo.co.uk
I will have my mobile phone with me and I can go online during the breaks – every 2 hours. Breaks are only 20 minutes and 2000 blokes having a pee at the same time will be worse than St. James’ Park. Look for me when I am offline as well as I will post one sentence of information on my messenger by-line.

Remember that the time here is eight hours behind. By midnight UK time I should have played almost 4 hours and will hopefully still be in and have a reasonable update. By 8.00a.m. UK time Tuesday 1st August, I will either have been knocked out, or have a reasonable idea whether making it to day two is a possibility. If still in, I will have approximately three and a quarter hours of play left to go.

Now…..it’s just an hour or so before I am due to hear those famous words “Shuffle up and deal”.

Best wishes to all readers, but a special :-D to all my Hold ‘Em Cup buddies.

Jonny Check Raise

and it's 11p.m. at night here. Have been asleep for a couple of hours - will need to get some more before I start tomorrow. The Kays have gone out for a nice meal tonight, but I passed as I wanted to prepare myself.

A few have asked about how I got here, so here's a reminder:

With Kay away with Sara for the weekend, me and Ivan settle down to a night of poker on Saturday 6th May 2006. There's this free tournamnet to enter on Paradise Poker, costing 1000 player points to enter. Well, I had thousands of those, so we went for it.

487 players were in for this tournament, with the prize package being $2000 to get you over to Las Vegas, and payment of the $10,000 entry fee into the Main Event http://www.paradisepoker.com/promotions/2006/wsop/package.html

6 and a half hours later, and with cheering on the sidelines from Steve, Niki, Paul, Jenna, Dave, Judy, but particularly Ivan (who had also entered and finished around the top 30), and I had won it! I was on my way to Vegas with a free entry into the Main Event of the World Series of Poker.

There are so many entrants here that they have just under 2200 starting on 4 separate days. Even on day two, the vast number of entrants will mean that this is still split over 2 days.

The first day, and mine is Monday 31st July 2006 at 12 noon (8p.m. UK time), is where over 2000 will play down to about 800. I have looked at the cardplayer.com website and each first day so far finishes after 3a.m. 15 hours of poker where the blinds go up slowly but start to hit after the first 4 hours or so is going to be very difficult.

When I left UK to come here, I set myself the aim of trying to play two days of poker here. With so many top class players already being knocked out on their first day, I just hope to survive as long as possible and to not make a mistake.

It is so difficult to describe what it is like here at the WSOP, but if you want a flavour of it from a professional player, go to the bottom of this web-page http://www.expertinsight.com/_Podcast.html and listen to the podcasts on the Main Event. I have been following it on www.cardplayer.com as well, and there are some incredible hands.

Someone flopped four of a kind and went all in. The guy who called hit 2 perfect cards on the turn and river to make a straight flush and knock this poor sod out of the tournament. On day 1B the first hand had two people all in - and the guy who turned over pocket Kings lost to pocket Aces. Someone who didn't turn up yesterday was finally blinded out of the tournament at about 2a.m.

It is such an immense tournament, I will just have to play my best poker. Gus Hansen, Phil Helmuth, Doyle Brunson and so many others have already been knocked out.

One amusing thing about the first day was that in order to make an "all in" bet as efficient as possible, they give you one special chip with "All In" on it, which you verbally declare and then chuck that chip into the pot. They must have been so worried about it's use that the tournament director kept announcing "This chip should not be thrown into the pot as a joke. Only do it if you mean it." Will have to use mine sparingly ;-)

OK, well when Velma recognised the guy above, she had to get his picture!

If you know who he is, you can leave a comment.

Other people we saw yesterday were mainly poker players. Saw Willie Tann, Padraig Parkinson, chatted to Barry "The Bully" from Gutshot, saw Paul Wolf, Mark Seif, Chris Bigler, Joe Beevers, Sam Grizzle, and Dave Colclough. If you need your memory jogged or want to find out who they are, The Hendon Mob database is very good http://pokerdb.thehendonmob.com/search-all.php

A few drinks at the Paradise Poker stall last night before a free show and some food were very welcome.

Now, let's go on that Helicopter Trip of the Grand Canyon....

OK, the second day of the World Series of Poker Main Event ($10,000 buy-in) and I am starting to get worried. The first day we went down there was just huge – and I have heard that Dan Harrington, the 1995 winner whose consecutive final table appearances in 2003 and 2004 were a huge achievement, got knocked out on day one on Friday. Will need to play my best poker just to get through to the second day.

We went down about 5.30p.m. on Saturday hoping to see some people and some poker and hopefully avoiding some of the crowds (this is 1.30a.m. Sunday UK time).

We still had to queue, but when we got in, Kay immediately said she had found Jesus. She has not turned religious, but had spotted the 2000 WSOP Champion Chris “Jesus” Ferguson. All that poker I make her watch was paying off. He was a bit far away, but a guy with a press-pass offered to go right up to his table and get some pics. We were definitely getting star-struck now.

We had already seen 2004 Champion Greg “Fossilman” Raymer doing an interview and snapped him, and now we were inside the main hall we looked for where cameras or people were and someone we would recognise would surely not be far away.

Andy Black – who everyone thought would win last year, but who eventually came 5th – walked past us as we were looking at Jesus. Thought about saying something, but what do you say? “Can’t believe you made that huge raise on the final table last year” was all I could think of, so I just let him wander on past as I thought that it might be rude.

Then we watched Annie Duke for a bit. “She’s the one who wears those double-layered tops like me” said Kay. She was right once again, and she’s also a WSOP bracelet winner, considered to be probably the finest female poker player in the world, and she won $2 million when she won the WSOP Champions event in 2004 – beating Phil Helmuth heads up having previously knocked out her brother – Howard Lederer.

Annie watched the whole table, didn’t play a hand while I was there, but just looked the part and looked to mean business.

A bit of a commotion at a table nearby, and it was a tall bloke who we all recognised. Then we placed him. He’s from “Everybody Loves Raymond” – the brother – Robert – the tall one who’s the cop. He was getting a 10 minute penalty for swearing so he was off looking for food. Velma Kay was very excited! He returned with some sweets which he offered around the table. Next minute, two guys all in. Pocket Kings held up against Queens with nothing on the board helping either player.

Saw Doyle Brunson playing, but he was surrounded by people and cameras and we were too far away. No flash photography doesn't help either!

Saw Phil Helmuth as we went into get some "Ultimate Bet" t-shirts, but only for a second or two. Don't think he was playing.

Others I saw include the first woman ever to make it to a final table back in 1995 - Barbara Enright, and as you might see from the above, I plucked up the courage to get a photo of me with Cyndy Violette. She was dead nice and I have to admit to being a bit nervous. She has been having a great WSOP this year with 4 cash finishes and one final table appearance making 3rd place and over $100,000. Like me, she starts on Monday and when we found out we weren't sharing a table, we wished each other good luck :-D

Having been star struck, there was a fake thunderstorm with rain, thunder and lightning while we had our supper.

All of this can only happen in Vegas! :-)