Day 3 Today

I tried to write this when I got in last night at 3am but I was so tired I fell asleep in bed and my laptop went dead...so I will try to do this now...even though it is 10:47 and I have to be back in the Amazon room at noon. I am a slave to the BLOG!!!!

Well, if you guys are following along, you knew by going to the updated chip counts that I survived. Yikes, you talk about a grind! I am now sitting on 34,400 chips. I guess you could say I went back from Day 1 and doubled up!!!! I have to call the day a disappointment though. In the first part of the day, I went in and played very carefully. I was trying to find a good place to get it in good in search of a double up. Well, after I got down to 11k I finally woke up with AA and a guy (the loosest guy at the table-a guy from Europe somewhere who looked like Spider Man) raising behind me. I re-popped, he put me all in with his QQ....and my Aces held. A while later, the 84 year old guy on my left, the oldest player to ever win a bracelet (Seniors Event a few years ago, and a very nice man) slid me a HUGE pot. In the SB I completed the blinds with K5. The flop came K-5-4. Nice. Check. Check. Check. Turn 7. I check again. Old guy bets 1500. Other player folds. I raise to 4000. He moves all in, and has me covered. Wow....I hated to see my Main Event end here but I had to think I was good. I called and he showed....um...J7. Wow. No 7 on the river and I chipped up to 50k. Then I went on a tear. 33, I flop a 3 and take an 8,000 pot. 10,10....I flop a set again...and win another 10k. 88...I flop 6-7-8 all diamonds...scarry...but I bet out big and the other player folds. Whew. I was up to around 80k at the dinner break and was starting to think I might make it out of the day with the 100k I had made as my goal and be in excellent shape to cash at the very least. Cashing right now is good for $21,000...which would be great at this point in the trip.

On dinner break I grabbed a steak with my buddy Frank Kassella, who took an awful beat. He had around 100k and flops Q-7-6 holding 77. Disguising his hand by not raising preflop was his opponent who held QQ.....oooof. So instead of enjoying dinner break with a couple hundred thousand chips...he had to eat with me and wish ME well. Sucked. Frank took me golfing on Monday at his country club...which was a beautiful course...filled with lakes and sand traps. Monkey lost a LOT of balls! And ached like a 90 year old the next day. I'm pathetic. We brought Andy Miller with us, who sat at my Day 1 table. It was kind of ironic...but I was looking up profiles on my Blackberry early in Day 2 trying to see if this guy "Iceman" had actually ever won anything...since he was at the table next to me repeatedly telling everyone how he was "one of the top players in the world!" As I was trying to find ANY good results for him, I saw that ANdy was the featured profile. Bizaare. Andy, as it turns out...was a really cool dude. Ive managed to meet some very cool guys on this poker trip. Even if I dont cash this thing today....I have had 9 cashes, 3 final tables...and met some great people. There is something to take from that...even if it means I go home down 15K or so!!!!!

As a side note...my housemate Rick Rudloff, who I bought 25% of his action on the Ceasers Main Event...went back for Day 2 yesterday as well. He played his typical tight, patient game...and went on a TEAR. He went card dead at the end...but among a field of over a 1000 players he finished 20th for another $5600 cash! Score $1400 for Monkey Boy! Rick has had an awesome trip...I am very proud of him! And he is incredibly humble too, which makes him even easier to root for.

On dinner break of Day 2 I decided after eating to run to the house and change socks, underwear and take 15 minutes in the pool and hot tub. Good decision. I returned and had only missed ONE hand. I had moved to another table. It would be my first of two moves in the hour. I went south. From dinner break to the end of the night I lost 45K of my chips. I think I might have misplayed two hands pretty bad. But I also threw two pretty sweet bluffs to take down pots...so I guess we could call it a push. The bottom line is that I just NEVER could get any cards late or hit a flop after raising and getting called. Raise! Call. Flop hits....other player leads out either HUGE or ALL IN. Dammit. FOLD. On my last table I had Jennifer Harman on my right. We hit it off right away. She is really cool. She even wanted to read this blog...and had it up on the phone reading it at the table. She told me I reminded her of Vince Vaughn...yeah I get that a lot. She was struggling all night with HER chipstack too. But she is like me...shes very patient...and willing to wait on a hand. It was funny, because she was wanting to ship it on the last hand...but the two players tanked on the last hand for about five minutes and we never got to see another hand. Everytime she was in a big hand the cameras would come swooping in...so I think there is a good chance that I may have snagged some nice ESPN face time!!!!! I know they had a lot of her and I chatting in between hands. Her and I kept getting 3-8 and 4-7....we kept thinking about going down to the blackjack tables...since we were running so hot with those hands!!!!!

IN all, the day was a real grind....mentally mostly. Brett Youngblutt (GANK) had wanted to challenge me to a drinking contest at the start of the day...but once again failed to keep up with the Monkey. I am single-handedly keeping Crown Royal in business on this trip! When we make the money its Red Snapper time....not there yet...so its Crown and Ginger Ale. Would be Coke...if you could GET A COKE at the RIO...which you cant! Pepsi......doh!!!!!

Giving out my email address might have been a mistake...as I am writing this I am getting peppered by Instant Messages! Hey at least its cool to know that people are reading it!!! I really do appreciate all the local support that I am getting from people back home. I am not going to lie...with you guys following along, and with the Rounder Magazine people following along, almost every big hand decision I make I take into account ALL the people who I feel like I am playing for. It helps. Its keeps me from making bad, emotion-driven decisions. I just really, really hope I go in there today (in 45 minutes....YIKES...gotta hurry) and get hit in the face with the deck! Get me up to 100k and I coast to the money then go into Monkey Ninja Mode and try to take this sucker down!!!!!!

I had a bunch to talk about but time is of the essence and I dont know yet what I am wearing today. Guess I will go with the RED poker stars jersey since I wore the white one yesterday. Dont know why...since PokerStars has NEVER approached me about any kind of a deal. Whatever! Wish me luck everyone...I am going to need it. In our house, me and Jena Delk (with 82K...tell you about a wild hand she played yesterday in a later blog!!!) are the only ones left. Claudia got whacked early on a cooler beat. A-8 vs 8-8 in a SB vs BB hand early. FLOP A-8-Q. Ooooof. Then Gabe locks up in a SB vs BB battle before dinner break, holding AK vs the BB's (a very aggressive player he had been battling it out with) QQ...they end up getting it all in preflop!!!!! Both players holding over 120K in chips. The Queens held and Gabe was on the rail...a huge disappointment to all of us. So its on me and Jena to produce. Alright I am outa here!!!!!!!!!! I will text you my updates as long as I last today!!!!

MONKEY