WSOP Event #52 over---WINNER WINNER Chicken Dinner!

I pushed all my chips in with QQ and got called by A6c. He flopped the nut flush and I was suddenly out of the tournament and financially $36,000 richer! (Less of course the IRS's cut)

2,693 players, I finished 10th!

Suh--weet.

Where do I begin?

How about the biggest hand of note before that one that busted me out.....I found pocket 3's and called a preflop raise of 2.5x the BB. Flop came down 23K all diamonds. I flopped a set & bet out 150,000. He pushed allin and I called. He rolled over Q9 diamonds and I need to pair the board to win. Didn't happen and I lost 379,000 chips. I lost only 2 hands the entire day, both flushes, both to the same guy who would ultimately take down the bracelet and $635,000. Good on him.

A big hand of note prior to that: The Russian Czar on my left, asked me "...is this it?" I sensed he wanted me to shove. I did. Before my fingers tips had fully grabbed my stack, he called and slammed down his KQ. I completed my shove, counted out 293,000 and then wished him good luck as I turned over my AK. He hit his Q and I was suddenly behind. I advised him that the Ace was a God, only to be disappointed by the turn's 7d, and I repeated to him and the entire room with much encouragement, that "THE ACE IS A GOD!" and sure enough the Ace of hearts made an appearance. I then excitedly released a boisterous, "This IS it!"

Other notes:
I busted Mimi Tran.
I out played Kenna James (who started the day at my table, Red 8 seat 1, he was in seat 4)
I sat beside Vanessa Russo for 1/2 a hand before she busted (no pun intended).
Ended day 2 with only 11,500 chips in 206th place well behind the chip leader's 230,000 count.
I busted out when antes matched the tournaments starting amounts (3,000A/12,000SB/24,000BB).
I started the day at Table 6, seat 1, I ended the day at table 6, seat 1. In between, I got moved to table 4 seat 1, back to table 6 (seat 6), then final redraw with 12 players left moved back to T6/S1.

At the end of Day 1 (1:00am) I walked the 30 minutes back to Harrah's from the RIO to unwind, get some excercise and hopefully help me sleep deeply. It worked very well indeed.

Day 2: I walked back to the RIO at 1pm to wake up and get my head focussed and body alert and blood flowing (even though with sucha small stack I had pretty much resigned to the fact I was not long for the game at that point). Wow did things change in a hurry.

2nd hand of day 2: upon seeing my hole cards I stalled. that brief moment of hestitaion was followed up with my hearing fired at me from seat 4 (by Event #10 Bracelet winner, Farzad Rouhani from Iran) as if he was mind reading, "THIS IS IT!" And when I looked up, we somehow connected with a smile and in fact I had decided that with my suited A8 (dead man's hand) THIS just might be it, and I shoved it allin.

Farzad in the BB said to me, "That is best 7 high move you are going to get away with from me all day" and folded. Suddenly I had 16,500 and 3 hands later I found AQh. Again I stalled, and with action folded around to me, I latched onto the new catch phrase and said again, "This is it!" Everyone folded to the BB who stalled himself. He counted his 70,000 chips and I asked himself if he wanted to see them (my cards). He went into a self induced rage of confusion (or something) and he kept repeating "Do I want to see them?" over and over again. He called and slammed his A-10 down and cursed himself when I showed the AQ. And BAM, I was 35,000+ and things got better as the day inched on.

Andy Bloch stopped by for a glance at the action.
Andy Black later showed himself and chatted with a few people.
Kenna James was the last celeb to stop at the rail. Seeing me still alive, I was surprised when he recognized me, winked with shot me a thumbs up!

I never revealed to anyone that I am an actor, feeling it would bring unwanted action.

My card protector was a domino.

At the Regional Championship I used the 8-8 domino and pocket 8's were the winning hand that got me to the WSOP. Fate? Who knows. Anyhow, this time through I brought the 5-5 for no specific reason. I spun my 5-5(hopefully lucky) domino as my card protector and many times when asked about its significance, had to fabricate a story.....I went the sympathy route. The actor in me took over and rather than just say somehting boring like `no reason`, it went something along the lines of, `I have 5 children, they bought me a domino gift set for Fathers Day saying the 5-5 was for luck and to remind me of them.` It was total BS I gotta admit.

Who knows if it brought a sympathy FOLD, or call for that matter at the right time.

I was surprisingly not overwhelmed by the entire experience, but rather calm and collected. I tried to recall Banjo`s recollection of his WPT event, and re-read James Reinhart`s shared one pager of hints and tips sheet. It was very reassuring having the voices of RHPT supporters in my head with me. While there were no physical RHPT supprters in the audience or at the rail, it somehow relieved the pressure. As much as I thought that might be nice, I convinced myself, it was better there were none. Perhaps I just cannot admit to myself, `Gary you have no friends!`

OK, there. I said. Sad, I know. 26 hours of play time with no friends at my side, who else am I going to chat with........certainly not my opponents...not about the hands I was or was not playing.

At one point, I think I may even have told myself, `I can do this!` I then sent that voice away, and tried to focus only the immediate hand in front me. `The future is NOW. Stay here and now` I kept telling myself.

Some mighty huge stacks fell to the wayside with repeatedly identical points of view. Something along the lines of `Only the top 3 spots are worth palying for.` I felt that was arrogant and likely to be their downfall. One guy floored me when I heard him say, `I think I am the most notable guy left.` No one knew him that I could tell. That was well worth ear marking. He played like a donkey after that. I will give him some credit though, as upon hearing that, I was then moved to his table and on his right. I immedaitely doubled through him with AQ when he called with 99 and I hit the Q. 79,000 x 2. YES!

He doubled another guy for 110,000, then tilted and raised a reraiser from 45,000 to 145,000 and they folded as he fired out `MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE HAND` he said, shooting his 8-6 offsuit across the table. No one was impressed. In RHPT circles, this is known as `The Kooze`

He later lost a 200,000+ pot without showing to an allin bet on the river. His 400,000+ were gone in under an hour, when I first sat beside with my 79. and said good bye when I was at 110,00. Nice.

There are LOTS of other chip dumps that happened. I kept telling myself...`what are they doing wrong and keep doing what you are doing me because its working.` It is oddly sad to see the depression wash over a huge stack getting busted, and the regret that is evident in them.

I learned a helluva lot this week.
I had an incredible 2 day run.
I thank the Party Poker sponsor and the Red Hot Poker Tour for the opportunity.
I hope I can do it again soon, and I hope the level of the bar I have set will be surpassed by a RHPT player (me or someone else) so we all rejoice in that one day again..... soon!

Player announces.... THIS IS IT!