Whew, it's been a hectic last few days. We immediately left Los Angeles, and the LAPC, to head to Las Vegas and the NBC HeadsUp Championship. Before I get started on that though, I have to congratulate Phil on finally taking down a WPT. It was nice to see the big guy get off the schnide...

As I was saying, we shot over to Vegas and started recording a few of the radio shows from there. Ali has been doing triple duty since he took on hosting duties for us, as he has been doing Poker After Dark commentating as well as helming much of the HeadsUp stuff. Despite all of this, he has slipped into PokerRoad Radio seamlessly. It seems to fit him like a glove and it's hard for me to imagine the show being hosted by anyone else at this point. I am stoked and things are going well...

At any rate, we had Orel Hershiser on the first show, and he was nothing but a class act and a real cool guy. He kept commenting on how much he liked Gavin, who also gave him some poker lessons prior, because of the fact that Gav treats him like a normal guy. That stuck with me as I can't imagine what it would be like to have everyone around you basically kiss your ass and tell you want to hear continually. That was what I took from the comment anyway...

Orel got off to a nice run and eventually cashed in the event for $75,000. Congrats there, my man...

After recording the first two shows in Vegas, I decided to hop a plane and head back to LA last night just in time for the WPT Invitational, which is always a blast. Theo Tran, Amnon Filippi, and I hopped on a Southwest flight and just made it in time for the shuffle up and deal. I got off to a nice start, both in chips as well as alcoholic beverages, but was not able to maintain in either respect as I flopped a set and had it beat, as well got a little more drunk than I had planned to. Still, it was a good time as always. Poker News

I ran into many a player in a much more relaxing tournament atmosphere, but it probably showed in my play as I was playing a few too many hands. Every table I was moved to had friends there though! I started off with Mimi, Theo, Amnon, Jack McClelland, and Doug Dalton, as well as a few actors, one of whom was one of the original pirates in "Pirates of the Caribbean". I was then moved to an even wackier table, with Kristy Gazes (one of my absolute favorites), Chad Brown, and Roy Winston (who saw fit to put a bounty on my head). For the record Roy, you owe Loi Phan that bounty...

Finally, on my final table I met a whole new host of people. Among them was Bill Macy, an actor from "The Jerk" (!), who played amazingly well for an older guy. He was a riot, as he kept tapping me on the shoulder and telling me that every other hand reminded him of a song. He would then proceed to sing the song out loud! It was great.

We also had Marlon Shirley at our table. Marlon was a great guy and has an amazing story. He owns several world records in track, as well as holding the moniker "World's Fastest Amputee". Marlon lost one of his legs, around the lower calf area, when he was a boy, but very clearly didn't let that stop him. You can't help but get fired up when you see other people just get after it in life. It inspires all others around them to do the same. I had a great time with him the latter part of the night, as he continually cracked me up with stories.

The WPT Invitational really is a special tournament and always makes for a super fun night where you end up meeting a ton of new people who just love online poker and love playing the game. That is refreshing after we spend our whole lives fighting tooth and nail on the felt. That's right...it CAN be fun!

Just hanging out today now, playing the Sundays and trying to relax. Bay 101 is coming up next week and it's one of my favorite events of the year, as it's in my old backyard, in the Bay Area. I finished 30th there two years ago, followed by 7th last year, so one would logically deduce...well, we'll see...

Catch you guys soon...

peace,
J