Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Summer 2008



In three days, this is where I'll be. But, it never fails that when vacation time rolls around, I always get busy with work. So I'll probably be working up until the minute I leave. The good news is that whenever I go away, one of my listings usually goes under agreement. Please let that happen this time as my sellers are all getting very anxious that their homes are not going to sell. I've even planted St. Joseph statues in the front yards and said the appropriate prayers. So hopefully, it will happen.

Michael arrives home on Thursday, just in time for yet another vacation for him. He's been in Vegas for eight weeks and now he'll come home just in time to head to the shore. Since the house is so large (six bedrooms), he's able to invite as many friends as he wants so, during the three week period that we're there, his friends will be coming and going. I love it when they come because it's fun to have young people around. I also love it that they're all poker players and they usually teach me a lot of stuff. I have the best poker teachers in the world.

On Sunday, FSIL Bryan will be meeting me at The Borgata in Atlantic City to make good on his Mother's Day present. If you read that blog entry, you know that he's taking me there and playing in a poker tournament with me. I can't wait. This will be Bryan's first live tournament and we're hoping that we both make some money. In any event, I know it's going to be so much fun.

This is the other great part of the house.....it sits right on the bay. So at night, you can sit out there and watch the sunset. Some of our best times at the shore have been sitting on this deck with some friends and some cocktails. I promise to take some better pictures while we're there as the inside is even more spectacular.


The only person not looking forward to the
vacation is Belle. She's a creature of habit and, since she's an abused dog, the only real place that she feels safe is in our house. Here's a picture of her from last year in the brush.....I think she thinks that no one sees her there and it's a good hiding place for her just in case the bad people find the shore house and want to come back and get her. Poor Belle. But I'd certainly rather bring her on vacation with us than leave her in a kennel.

This is my most favorite place to go and I can't wait to get there. Needless to say, I haven't even started packing but I always like to leave those things until the last minute.

So stay tuned for some great pictures and some great stories of the Summer of 2008.

Thursday, July 17, 2008

July 17th

July 17th......it will just always be my saddest day and that's all I can say about it.



















Was there ever a happier guy. This is the smile he had on his face whenever I saw him....no matter what time of day.....no matter where he was.

With his three boys....he was a proud Dad.

Always the union guy and always with that hat on.
I miss you Dad!!!!!!!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Auburn, Alabama Comes In At #500



Auburn, Alabama is not only famous for being a college town, it is now famous for being the 500th city/country to read my blog. It was only 9 days ago when Otrokovice in the Czech Republic was heralded for being #400 and so quickly we're on to #500. It took 27 days to get from #300 to #400 and yet only 9 days to get from #400 to #500. It's either because my blog is becoming just so popular all of a sudden or else everyone was so interested in my World Series of Poker coverage. I think my girlfriend JoAnn will say that it was clearly her birthday blog entry that pushed it over the edge so quickly.

I don't know much about Auburn, Alabama other than that it is the home of Auburn University. I remember Michael going to a Penn State Bowl Game in Florida a few years ago and they were playing Auburn. His comment, other than the obvious sports' related ones, was that the girls from Auburn were all dressed up in skirts and dresses. Not surprising I thought for those Southern belles. Shortly thereafter, I sold a house to a couple where the wife went to Auburn and the husband went to Penn State and they had met at this same game. I guess she was wearing a nice dress when he met her.

Auburn, Alabama not only has its own flag but it's own city seal. It also has a great nickname, "The Lovliest Village on the Plains". It's also the largest city in eastern Alabama with a population of 54,348.

The history of Auburn University is quite interesting. In 1856, the state legislature chartered a Methodist college, the East Alabama Male College in Auburn. This college, now Auburn University, opened its doors in 1859, offering a classical and liberal education. With the advent of the Civil War in 1861, Auburn quickly emptied. All of the schools closed, and most businesses shuttered. East Alabama Male College was turned over to the state in 1872 and was renamed Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical College with a new mission as a land grant college. In 1892, the college became the first four-year college in Alabama to admit women. SIAA Conference championships won by the Auburn college's football team brought attention and support to Auburn, and helped fill the city's coffers. Fortunes were quickly reversed with the collapse of cotton prices in the early 1920s and the subsequent Great Depression a decade later. Due to these events, the state government became unable to fund the college. Money began to flow into Auburn again with America's entry into World War II. Auburn's campus was turned into a training ground for technical specialists in the armed forces. After the war, Auburn was flooded by soldiers returning to school on the G.I. Bill. Primarily due to this influx of students, Auburn began a period of growth that lasted through the 1950s and 1960s.

While Auburn doesn't have any professional sports teams, when the university has home football games in the fall, the city often sees over 100,000 visitors. There's nothing like a college town and I've heard this from many people I know who do live in college towns. Since Michael went to Penn State, I've experienced the life of a "college town" each time I visited him at State College. It's certainly a lot of fun especially during the football season.

So thanks Auburn for stopping in. Hope you enjoyed what you read and I wish you a great football season in 2008 and perhaps another bowl game in 2009.

Saturday, July 12, 2008

And Then There Were None


With twenty minutes left to go in Day 4, Smokey was eliminated dashing all of my hopes for one of Michael's friends to win big at the main event. He was eliminated in 199th place. Since there were 6,844 players who started, this in and of itself is a great feat. He was awarded $38, 600 for his efforts.

David Rheem Eliminates Steve Billirakis

After David "Chino" Rheem raised to 30,000 Steve Billirakis moved in from the big blind for his last 260,000. Rheem called and his QQ were well ahead of Billirakis' 88. The flop came 9J3 and the 7 gave Rheem a flush draw and Billirakis a gutshot, but the 2 came on the river and Billirakis was eliminated. Rheem is now all the way up to
two million in chips.

So ends my WSOP coverage for 2008. What's up ahead. Michael and his friends go to Europe in September where they will be playing in the European events in Barcelona, Amsterdam, London and Ireland just to name a few. Now it's time for them all to come home and come to the shore to visit me. The welcome mat is waiting for them.....and that means you Smokey!!!!

Friday, July 11, 2008

On To Day Four



Well, it's been a grueling Main Event for Michael and his friends. Of the thirteen who started, only one is left....and it's not Michael. Steve Billirakis, aka MrSmokey1, is the only one still playing and the only one to cash (almost 6,000 players had to be eliminated before you could finally make any money in this event). I know many of you were eagerly waiting to read my blog this morning for an update but, unfortunately, I had to be in work so early and didn't get a chance to type this before I left the house.

When I call him Smokey, that's because it's the name he uses when he plays poker online. He's very famous there and all you have to do is mention his name and any poker player knows who he is. And I'm sure, anyone who's playing at his table, probably isn't very happy that he's there. I was very excited when I met him this summer. We spoke for awhile and he was very patient answering all my questions about poker. While we were speaking (which was at the Rio during another tournament), there were so many other players coming up to him and introducing themselves to him like he was their hero. And I'm sure he is. But to me, he's just Smokey...Michael's friend.

When I was there at the Rio talking to him, I was also with Liz and Bryan and my two friends Pat and MaryAnn (who had been in Vegas at the same time as us visiting with some friends). They were waiting for me to finish talking and I finally went up to them and said, "That was Smokey" and I made a big deal out of it. MaryAnn looked at me and said, "Who the "f" is Smokey?" Sorry for using that curse word here Aunt Margie. Well, after she said that, I immediately brought her over and introduced her to him. MaryAnn is also one of the hottest looking friends I have so I'm sure he wasn't disappointed meeting her. She was definitely better looking than any of the poker players he was meeting. After this, "Who the "f" is Smokey" became kind of a tagline for our trip. We just kept saying it over and over because we all thought it was so funny. Except that MaryAnn kept calling him Stoney and still does.

So we all got home and MaryAnn is still talking about "Stoney". The other day she said to me, "Tell Stoney I want him to teach me everything there is to know about poker. And then next summer, I can play in the main event and no one will know who I am and I'll do well because Stoney taught me everything he knows. And oh, by the way, I want him to stake me too." For those of you who don't know what that means, it means she wants him to pay for her entry into the tournament as well. I told her for that, she will have to start calling him Smokey.

A WSOP bracelet is nothing new to Smokey because he already won one last year when he won the 1st event of the 2007 WSOP. That was a very exciting time for all of us. When one of Michael's friends does well, it's just like he's doing well.....that's how happy I am for them. Here's a picture of Smokey winning his bracelet last summer and celebrating with all of his friends with all of the money he won (which was more than half a million dollars).....Michael's sitting to his left.

So it's all on you now Smokey. Take it home for all of us. But, even if you don't, I'm proud of all you've done in poker and happy that you've been such a great friend to Michael. Good Luck Steve aka Smokey aka Stoney!!

EDIT: As I'm following tonight on http://www.pokernews.com/, he seems to be doing well. They have him at 500,000+ chips. Here's two write ups on him so far...

Steve Billirakis Eliminates Peter Biebel
Peter Biebel moved all in for 123,000 in late position and Steve Billirakis made the call from the cutoff. His 55 pipped Biebel's 44 , and when the board ran out K3AQK, Biebel was eliminated.

Marco Busto
Marco Marcon found the last of his chips committed preflop holding 77 to be in a race with the A 10 of Steve Billirakis. The board fell 9A982 to give Billirakis a pair of aces to send Marcon to the payout desk.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

On To Day 3


No, I wasn't visiting Coney Island to go on their roller coaster. I just thought this would be the perfect picture to describe Michael's day yesterday in the World Series of Poker main event Day 2b. I don't even think Rocky would have been able to fight his way through the day he had and still remain standing. It was a day of ups and down and ups and downs and then mostly downs. At one point he was down to 35,000 chips, from his starting amount of 123,000, but in the last hour was able to double up and survive.

They started playing yesterday at noon and finished at 1AM. Since there's a three hour time difference, that means I was up until 4AM following him. He would text message me often during the tournament with his chip counts, some of which got me excited and many of which didn't. But I was happy when I got the final call at 4:22AM. I have a special ringtone on my phone for when Michael calls and it's Daughtry's song, "It's Not Over", which was so appropriate last night as it rang out with those words.

So it's not over for Michael and it's not over for five other of his friends. I had written about all of those, who were still in the hunt, a few days ago. Of the eleven I wrote about, only five of them have survived to go on to Day 3. Just to give you an idea of the scope of this tournament, 6,844 people started and there are now 1,308 left, so approximately 5,500 players have made their exit. Another 642 will have to be eliminated until the payoffs begin.

Here's who's still left and who I'll be rooting for:

Brandon Schaefer ---- 228,300 chips
Steve Billirakis ---- 157,400 chips
Michael Martin ---- 70,700 chips
Ben Sprengers ---- 61,200 chips
Noah Boeken ---- 61,100 chips
Ryan Daut ----- not sure of his chip count

Here's a picture of what a 500,000 stack of chips looks like. I hope that at the end of Day 3, they're all sitting behind something like this. Good luck boys!!!!

Coronado, CA, I Crown Thee #1500


Last night I was up very late, following my boys who were still playing in the World Series of Poker. It's a good thing I was up late or else I would have missed the 1,500th person to view my blog. I recently wrote about the 400th country/city to view it but this is where the actual 1500th person came from....Coronado, California....hence the crown. It's a nice play on words there and perfect for this blog and this little "coronation" ceremony I'm having.

When I saw the number on my counter was approaching 1500, I thought for sure it would probably be someone either from Europe or the West Coast because of the time difference. Little did I know, when I wrote about my girlfriend JoAnn yesterday, that people would come out of the woodwork reading my blog about her and that's obviously why I got so many visitors yesterday. And JoAnn actually has friends who leave comments (unlike myself) because a few of them did so and I enjoyed reading them. And then JoAnn's daughter Laura linked my blog to her blog http://laurakurz.typepad.com/ (one of the most enjoyable blogs I've ever read) and all of Laura's friends are finding their way here to read about her mother. Well, no matter how they find their way here, I welcome them.

Now back to Coronado. It is a city in San Diego County, so right away I know it's in a beautiful place. The population is about 24,000. Coronado is Spanish for "the crowned one" and thusly it is nicknamed The Crown City. Coronado is a peninsula connected to the mainland by a many miles long strip of land called the Silver Strand. The Navy still operates the Naval Air Station North Island on Coronado and it's well-known as the training area for Navy Seals. In 1969, The San Diego-Coronado Bridge was opened allowing much faster transit between the cities. Here's a great picture of that bridge.

Coronado is also home to the famous Hotel del Coronado, built in 1888 and long considered one of the world's top resorts. It is listed as a National Historic Landmark and appeared in films such as Some Like It Hot and The Stunt Man, and was the setting of the Dashboard Confessional song Stolen.

So that is your history/geography lesson for today. I don't think I'd quite enjoy my blog, as much as I do, if I didn't have the counter located on the upper right. It just makes it so much fun to see all the daily visitors. I'd like to thank JoAnn and Laura for bringing in those new viewers from places near and far. I'll be back again to announce the 2,000th visitor whenever that happens.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

An Unexpected Friendship



I guess it was about ten years ago when I became Internet savvy. At the time, I only knew how to navigate AOL and found my way to some "book boards." This was a place where people (mostly women), who read a lot of books, congregated and talked about the books they were reading. These book boards not only introduced me to many new authors but also introduced me to some friends.....cyber friends as they're called because you talk to them online but have never met them. Such was the case with my friend JoAnn. We spoke for years about books and then about families and then about basically anything we could think of. This was all done online.

It was probably after five years of doing this that we did have our first phone conversation which was followed shortly thereafter by a personal meeting. At this time, she was no longer my cyber friend. She had graduated to full fledged friend. I liked her right from the start. My first attraction to her was that she was smart -- really smart. There wasn't anything I wanted to talk about that she wasn't fluent in. And she was a perfectionist. Boy do I love a perfectionist. But the thing that made her my BCFF, Best Cyber Friend Forever, was that she was also a great mother.

In my lifetime, I've met plenty of good mothers and every once in awhile, I'll come upon a great mother. I know I've talked in the past about the people in my life who are truly my friends and I've even numbered them as being eight.....JoAnn is one of the eight. And she's the unexpected one. I thought I had already met all the best friends I was going to have in this lifetime and then she came along. I don't think there's a day that goes by that we don't speak online. But when I go back now and look at my best friends, this is a quality that, those of them who have children, have. They're all great mothers. So it's obviously something I'm drawn to. This is JoAnn at her daughter's wedding. Being the perfectionist she is, you can just imagine the planning that went into this affair.

I recently asked her daughter Laura about her mother's work experience because I didn't want to get any of my facts wrong in this blog. I knew she had been an editor but Laura explained that, in addition to that, she was a Mom.....and the best kind of Mom there was. A Mom who never made her do anything she wasn't comfortable doing, one who supported her and encouraged her at what she was good at, and most of all a Mom who was just there for her. In other words, a Mom who was also her best friend. And now she's one of my best friends and I feel honored. Last year the whole family went to Ireland and this is a picture of all of them. In addition to thinking we also have the best kids in the world, we also agree that we both got the best sons-in-law that ever lived.

I can just laugh out loud sometimes when I think of JoAnn and think of me asking her a simple question.....like what kind of lamps do you think look best in a baby's room? Before you know it, I have an email with five different links to five different sites selling lamps. She's a fun friend as well because we're both politically inclined the same way and I can say things to her that I wouldn't say to the everyday Susie. She's great like that. It's been over a decade that we've been members of these book boards and when you have a lot of strong minded women talking to each other on a daily basis, the talk sometimes gets heated. In this regard, JoAnn has been my most loyal friend, never faltering in our friendship. She has always been there for me no matter what.

As I'm typing this, I just got an instant message from JoAnn. This is exactly how it went and is so typical of our chats:

QuAppelle (JoAnn) (9:55:54 PM): is pinot grigio a white wine?
HRDCOVERS (Me) (9:56:00 PM): yes
HRDCOVERS (Me) (9:56:20 PM): you mean there's something in this world you don't know
QuAppelle (JoAnn) (9:56:41 PM): I saw you were online and knew you would know, so I did not have to look it up
QuAppelle(JoAnn) (9:56:47 PM): LOL
HRDCOVERS (Me) (9:56:48 PM): lol
QuAppelle (JoAnn) (9:57:00 PM): what is the red wine that sarts with pinot
QuAppelle (JoAnn) (9:57:04 PM): pinot noir?
HRDCOVERS (Me) (9:57:58 PM): yes that's a red wine

She just cracks me up.....every single day. And JoAnn holds one other very important distinction in our friendship. She comments on my blog more than anyone else I know. I so appreciate reading her comments. And she knows I appreciate it and she continues to do it because she knows how happy it makes me. Granted, every once in awhile she will disagree with what I write and she will be the first person to tell me. That, my dear, is the sign of a "great" friendship. So what that she doesn't like books written by Indian authors and refuses to watch Big Brother, she seems to like everything else I do.

I know all about her likes and dislikes, her grandson Charmer (a golden retriever) and her beloved cat Isaac. She sends me pictures of both all the time. Little does she know that I'll shortly be returning the favor when my grandson arrives next month. So I got to thinking that perhaps all of my best friends were animal lovers as well and, now that I think of it, they all are. I just have to post pictures of this cat and dog for you all to see. Afterall, I think I have at least fifty of each animal on file so I might just as well share them with you. And then this one of both Isaac and Charmer is just hysterical. Charmer definitely just puts up with Isaac and probably can't wait to have his house back again counting the minutes until Isaac leaves.

So on this very special day, my dear friend JoAnn, I have a present for you. We will meet for lunch at Maggiano's on Wednesday, October 22nd. You wanted a firm date for our next meeting and there it is. It will be your special belated birthday celebration with your very best cyber friend. This happy birthday greeting reminded me of you because it looks like the word Birthday is partially in the water, right near your beach house. So start counting off the days. You'll see me in 105. Happy Birthday!!!!!!

Monday, July 7, 2008

On to Day2


This is where it's all happening.....at The Rio Hotel in Las Vegas. I'm very excited because nine players in Michael's group of friends have made it through to Day2. With 6844 people starting on Day 1 of the Main Event, 3638 have made it through to Day 2. 1251 will show up to play on Day 2a on Tuesday and 2388 will show up to play on Day 2b on Wednesday. Whoever survives these two days will all return to play on Day 3 on Thursday.

I'd like to give them all a shout out here so you know who to root for if you're following this event.

Brandon Schaefer, from Seattle Washington, who goes into Day 2 with 62,975 chips. The smile you see on his face in this picture is the way he always is. He's just a happy guy who loves life. He's very well traveled and especially loves baseball. When I first met him, he had just finished a quest trying to see a baseball game in every state where a major league team plays. I knew when I first met Brandon that I would like him because when he made the final table in Monte Carlo in 2005, he had his mother there rooting him on. He came in 2nd place in that tournament which was only a month after he won the French Open in Deauville. Brandon was also with Michael when Michael was at both final tables in Amsterdam and Monte Carlo. He stayed in the audience for hours on end so Michael would have his very own cheering squad. I so appreciated him doing this.



Steve Billirakis, aka MrSmokey1, comes into Day 2 with 70,775 chips. Steve has the distinction of being the youngest player to ever win an American WSOP. In 2007, just eleven days after turning 21, he won the 1st event of the World Series of Poker. At the time, I hadn't met him in person yet but, during his post interview, after winning more than half a million dollars, he said he wanted to help his grandmother and mother with the money. How could I not be crazy about him right then and there? I met him in person for the first time this summer and he was everything I thought he would be.


Chris Lee, aka Genius28, goes into Day 2 with 18,000 chips. Chris lives in Maryland and went to Duke University. He's one of Michael's closest friends so I've seen a lot of him. He spent a considerable amount of time with us last summer at the shore so I really got to know him well. He is also one of Belle's favorite players. He and Michael lived in Omaha together a good part of this year. Chris just turned 21 in February so this is the first time he's eligible to play in the main event. Chris is one of the best online poker players in the world and is known to play many of the pros heads up online. While he's probably feared as a poker player, he's one of the sweetest and cutest guys I've ever met. He's probably going to kill me for saying this.



Nick Van Newkirk enters Day 2 with 69,025 chips. He's a graduate of the University of Nebraska and Michael also lived in Omaha with him this past year. Nick was also the person Michael went to Brazil with for Carnival. This is another guy I know pretty well as he was also at our house at the shore last summer. Nick went deep in the 5K six handed event last year. He is also a big cash game player online. Last summer when we were at the shore, we all went to the Borgata and I got to play in a cash game with Nick at the same table. After that experience, I don't think I'd want him at my table during a tournament because he's very unpredictable and that's probably why he wins a lot.



Steve Buchanan comes into Day 2 with 43,225 in chips. Steve is from California and this is the second year that Michael has lived with him in Vegas for the summer. Last year it was very exciting as they were both playing in the 1st event of the WSOP, (the event Smokey won) and Michael came in 12th place and Steve came in 11th place. We were all hoping they would make the final table so that three friends would have been on TV together. I did get a chance to meet Steve this summer when we had dinner with the whole group at Maggianos. He's a great kid and his parents should be very proud of him.



Ryan Daut enters Day 2 with 23,750 in chips. Ryan is a mathematical genius having attended Penn State's Ph. D program. He is best known for having won the 2007 World Poker Tourn event in the Bahamas for 1.5 million dollars. Ryan is from New Jersey and has traveled a lot with Michael to various events. When Michael was playing in Amsterdam, Ryan and I followed him together online and, by the time the day was done, we were both speaking to each other in fluent Dutch. I spoke to him many times online and on the phone before I finally met him in person this summer. What a great guy! I knew I would like him immediately. Kathy Daut, his mother, can be proud.



Ben Sprengers enters Day 2 with 52,375 chips. Ben is the only one of Michael's poker friends I have yet to meet. When we all had dinner this past summer in Vegas, he was playing in an event so couldn't join us. Ben had a very successful summer coming in third place in the 5K No Limit event and winning almost $300,000 for his efforts. He and Michael spent a lot of time in Europe together this spring playing in different tournaments so I've heard all good things about him.



Clint Brotherton begins Day 2 with 25,900 chips. Better known as Beatiful Man online, he and Michael became friends when they played in Monte Carlo together in 2007. In 2006, Clint came in 66th place in the main event winning $90,000. I feel like I know Clint but, as I'm typing this, I realize I've never met him. He's a top online player and I've watched him play many times. I always thought his online name was Beautiful Man but then realized there was no "u" in his name and it was actually Beatiful Man. I think that's probably a better online name for a guy than what I had originally thought it was.


Michael Martin begins Day 2 with 123,025 in chips. Now this is a player I happen to know a lot about. Having graduated from Penn State in December 2006, Michael has been playing professionally for a year and a half having amassed 1.3 million dollars during that time playing in live tournaments. His most recent accomplishment was coming in 5th place in the Grand Finale of the EPT in Monte Carlo. Michael spent a considerable part of the past year traveling mostly around Europe. He also spent some time in Brazil when he was there for Carnival. We do get to see him when he stops home between tournaments, but never for more than two weeks at a time because he gets itchy to get on the road again. He has definitely made us very proud of him both as a poker player and a son.

Then there are two other players who aren't in Michael's house this summer but two people of which he speaks very highly and are very definitely his friends.


Noah Boeken, professional poker player and hearthrob of Amsterdam. Just by this picture, I think you can see that my statement is justified. This is who Michael is usually spending time with when he's in Amsterdam. Noah is a team PokerStars pro and is very well respected in the poker community. I was so disappointed that I didn't get to meet him this summer. He comes into Day 2 with 30,775 chips.




Trond Eidsvig is another European player who is from Norway. When Michael was at the final table at the Master Classics of Poker in Amsterdam, Trond was there with him and he and Michael ended up going heads up for the win. Trond was victorious and he and Michael became good friends after that. This is another very well respected poker player both in Europe and when he plays in the states. He begins Day 2 with 26,525 chips.

So now you know who I'll be rooting for in the next few days. May they all make it on to Day 3 on Thursday!!!! As much as the money would be nice with first place paying over nine million dollars, this is what they're all really playing for.....the bracelet. This is what says you've made it. I hope when all is said and done, one of the above will be wearing it home.


#400 Makes an Appearance



Today my blog reached 400 different countries/cities to have made a visit. I still wonder how they find their way here because, in most cases, it's just a onetime visit and that's it. There's an arrow at the top of all of the Google blogs where you can click on the next Google blog and I think that's how I get all the hits from the strangest places. In most cases, they're places I've never even heard of.

Which brings me to #400.....are you ready for this? Someone from Otrokovice in the Czech Republic read my blog today. I hope they found it interesting and hope they stop back again. The picture above is the coat of arms for this town. Otrokovice is located in a hilly country town centrally located in a region called Morava and has a river with the same name running through it. The approximate population is about 20,000. There is a large shoe factory there founded by Tomas Bata which provides work for many of the people living there. Here's a picture of a statue dedicated to him.

This is one thing I love about the counter I have on my blog. Every time I get a hit from a foreign place, I go to Wikipedia and learn more about that country. I especially love seeing all the different flags on my counter as well. Even though the majority of the flags are from the United States, there's a great number from a lot of far away places. Second to the United States are hits from Canada. I think the Canadians like my blog, eh. (That sentence was just my way of slipping in the word, eh, very commonly used in Canada).

It's getting harder and harder to catch the exact moment that #300 or #400 hits because there have been so many visitors lately but I'll keep on trying to update all of my loyal readers on this very exciting moment in time. Stop back to see where #500 will come from.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Day 1 Recap


For all of my blog readers, who aren't really interested in the poker content I sometimes write about, (Joann), you are about to be inundated these next few days as the Main Event of the World Series of Poker has begun. As previously mentioned, Michael played yesterday on Day 1c. Play lasted for ten plus hours and he made it through Day 1 and on to Day 2 which begins on Wednesday. The day ended in Vegas at 1AM which was 4AM my time. I stayed up until then following all of the action on http://www.pokernews.com/. I'd like to thank Pokernews for this great picture. There were 1928 players who started and when they had finished, they were down to 1026. Of the remaining one thousand plus players, Michael is in 14th place with 123,025 chips which is quite an accomplishment.

Since Day 1 was divided into four separate days, all of the remaining players from each day will move on to Day 2a and 2b. At that point, there should be about 3000 players out of a field of approximately 6500. So he still has a lot of work to do but it's certainly nice going into Day 2 as one of the chipleaders.

I wasn't sure if he'd get any mention on Pokernews because of the huge number of players but there were two different cases where he was mentioned....

Dmitri Nobles Eliminated

Let no man say that Dmitri Nobles doesn't like to move his chips. With an Ad 10d 2h 5c Qh board showing, all the money was in the middle with Nobles holding top pair with Ac Kd. But Michael Martin flopped a set with 10h 10c and grabbed up all of Nobles' chips. Dmitri is out of the Main Event and Martin is now sitting with one of the biggest stacks in the tournament with 103,000.

(I'd like to add here that 10 10 is one of Michael's favorite hands so it was nice to see him take down a huge pot with it)

Top Chip Stacks
The top chipped players as the final Day 1c levels begin:

Michael Martin 98,800
Brian Rast 94,500
Brad Booth 90,000
Diogo Borges 84,000
Igor Ioffe 78,000

Martin Dartin' Up Leaderboard
Michael Martin just eliminated an opponent when his 4d 4s cracked the shorter-stacked player's Ad Ac. Martin flopped a four, and they got it all in the middle thereafter. Martin has tripped up to 105,000.

This is from http://www.pokerlistings.com/ recap of Day 1C and it says it all....

"There's also a huge number of big time pros who managed to weave their way through the mind field that is a Main Event Day 1, including David Baker, Arnaud Mattern, David Singer, "Yukon" Brad Booth , and EPT Grand Final final tablist Michael Martin, who all have over $100k."

So I get three days of rest before play begins again for him on Wednesday. A number of his friends are playing today and, hopefully, they too will make it through to Day 2 and then I can update you on all of their progress. As they say in poker, I hope they all go "deep."

Saturday, July 5, 2008

And So It Begins



If you're a poker player, during the month of July, all roads lead to the Rio Hotel where the World Series of Poker main event is held. For years it took place at Binions but, when Harrah's bought the world series, all of the venues were changed to hotels owned by them. It begins with great fanfare. This year they had Wayne Newton along with the UNLV marching band to kick off the event. With more than 6,000 entrants, it's quite a spectacle.

Now that poker has become so popular, they have to divide Day 1 into four different days, 1a, 1b, 1c and 1d. Then Day 2 will be divided into two days. By the time they get to Day 3, they have narrowed the field considerably so that everyone left can play on the same day. This will go on until Day 7 when there are only nine players left and these nine make up the final table. This year they're trying something different. Once they get down to the final nine, they will wait four months before meeting again to finish it off. I know it sounds crazy but it is something they are trying this year in order to get more TV exposure and so that they can film it live. Imagine making the final table and having to wait this long to see if you're going to win. I would think there will be a lot of coaching going on during this period. It should be interesting.

Today is the day that Michael is scheduled to play so you know what I'll be doing all day.....following him on Pokernews.com. There will probably be about 2,000 people playing today and I'm not sure if he'll even get a mention on their site but I just love following it anyway because I know so many of the players involved. This will be Michael's third foray into the main event. In his first year, 2006, he came in 242nd place out of almost 9,000 players and cashed for about $42,000. Last year, he got knocked out shortly before the payoffs began. With the success he's had in the last year, I'm looking foward to some big things from him today. This is a $10,000 buyin but he already won a seat online so his buyin has already been taken care of. It's always great to win these seats and know you're playing for free.

This year, Michael is renting a house in Vegas with eight other players, most of whom will be playing today as well. I want to wish them all good luck. I'd like to see a final table with all of them sitting there. Now go get'em.