Busy Day

On Sunday, we found ourselves running hard and strong all day long. We started our day at Howard Lederer's house for a video shoot. The interviews and commentary is to be played at the Full Tilt hospitality suite during the WSOP. David Gray was already there when we arrived... so were Howard's three dogs. They quickly hit paydirt in the attention and petting arena. Before I new it, Natalie had perched herself on the chaise lounge in Howard's living room, with a 60 pound bassett hound lying on her feet and two pugs named Dixie and Goober lavishing her with kisses. David gave his interview without interruption. My interview did not go so well. I think everyone in Las Vegas decided to call during my filming session. Then Steve Brecher came over and one of the dogs did not like Steve, and was not afraid to let it be known. Finally, we got it done with about an hour to spare before our next photo and video shoot.

About 4pm, we headed to the Bellagio for a Poker Royalty shoot. They took video of me and photos of both Natalie and me. Wendy from Poker Royalty introduced me to a guy from Minnesota named Chuck. Chuck told me he was a big fan; and wanted to know what brand of hat I wore. When I told him Resitol, his eyes lit up like The Strip. The guy had a bit of a nervous demeanor before, but suddenly, he became really ancy. He then tells me that he knows a guy at Resistol who is a fan of mine, and who wanted me to wear thier hats. He gets on the phone and lands a hat deal - just like that! Of course, then I have to take a couple of photos with him. next is our photo session for Wendy's clothing line. Natalie changes clothes for Wendy and we get some photos for that. Since we are in the photo taking mood, the photo crew jumps in from the other side of the camera. After all of that, I'm pretty tired... But the day ain't over yet.

At 10pm, we head over to the Bellagio for the WPT pre-championship party and red carpet at Caramel. We had some drinks and some more pictures taken of us. About midnight, we headed for the door. I At the valet lounge, we ran into Daniel Negreanu and chatted a bit about his work at the Wynn. Finally, we made it home to get rested up for the Championship.

Bellagio PPT

I played the PPT and got knocked out by Steve Zolotow, aka "the Bald Eagle." I had pocket kings and he had pocket sixes. The flop came 6-7-9. I only had 2500 in the pot, but I pushed all in and he called. Needless to say, I got no help on the turn or river. It wasn't a total bust. Steve Lipscomb spoke to Natalie a couple of times before the tournament started. She got filmed sweating me in the tournament, and got interviewed after I busted out.

Now to get ready for Monday's action at the WPT Championship.

Lucky You

We found out what the name of the movie is : Lucky You. It is about a poker player who runs into his long-lost father at the WSOP. We woke up about 5am to start getting ready to make our 7am casting call. When we got there, we looked for Matt Savage. Natalie had made him a gift basket and wanted to give it to him. They sent us to base camp to drop off the basket and get us some breakfast. We ran into Eric Seidel there, and instead of getting to eat, we were told that our clothes were not what poker players wear. LOL! They made us try on other shirts. Mine did not fit, Eric hated his, Natalie just flat out refused to change. After we all managed to get out of wardrobe, we were escorted to hair and makeup. Natalie and I got finished fairly quickly, but the women in the trailer decided that Eric needed a haircut. The production crew said that we needed to wait on Eric, so we did. 10 - 15 minutes later, Eric came out. Still with no breakfast, we were escorted back to the set and sat at a poker table with Karina Jett and Chris Ferguson - pretending to start the WSOP for the movie cameras. After several takes, they moved me to another table, and we simulated the start of the WSOP a few more times. Then they told me that I could go home. I found Natalie and we went over to the Golden Nugget to finally get something to eat. I was disappointed that I did not get to meet Robert Duvall. He is one of my favorite actors. Oh well. It was an experience that not many people get and I am thankful for the opportunity.

Tournament of Champions

Natalie and I were figuring out our travel schedules and she was fooling around on the WSOP site. Lo and behold, she found out that I had made the TOC. That lifts a great burden off me. Maybe now I will be able to go back to the farm and relax for a little while sometime this month. needless to say, we are now still trying to figure out travel plans. We are probably not going to Lake Tahoe or New Orleans. That way I can get rested for the Bellagio Championship and the World Series.