My Aruba Trip...

[Talking Poker]

The ATVing was AWESOME... well worth the $75 (best deal in town). We went al over the island, saw most of the key attractions, and it was FUN. I really enjoyed it. Bumped into the Arieh's in the ocean afterwards and thanked the for the suggestion. Yes, that means Josh is out, as are about a gazillion other big name pros today. Check the UB blog or CardPlayer for updates.

Right now, the guy I am most worried about is Mizrachi, who had 40k chips at the break. I love Phil Ivey, but I'm not going to lie to you - I'm glad to see him out.

Also saw Devil Fish doing a photoshoot with two beautiful girls at the beach today. We chatted with him for a few minutes afterwards - he's taking them to dinner tomorrow night. He can't tonight, because he's going on a cruise with a handful of beautiful blondse. Considering this place is 99.5% unavailable women (poker players' arm candy), I'm impressed.

Anyway, nice guy, that Devil Fish... time for dinner.

[Spidey44]

Great updates TP...good luck the rest of the way.

[omahilo]

Michael "The Grinder" Mizrachi ($124,600) and Cliff "Johnny Bax" Josephy ($104,100).

Can anyone say watch out lol.

GL tommorrow TP and dont draw The Grinders table.

[Tony Cheval]

Damn, wishing I had the money to buy a share more and more.

[Talking Poker]

Believe me, I know. He is literally the ONE player I have no desire to play with. I'm not "afraid" of most of the well known pros, but I don't want the Machine at my table unless it's the FINAL table. Fortunately, I did NOT draw his table (I'm at Table 5, Seat 1), and if they break them down tomorrow the way they have been, I won't be playing with him any time soon. I bumped into him not long after the end of the day today, and when he told me how many chips he had, I couldn't believe it. I pity the people at this table.

Erick Lindgren was down to under 1500 chips (give or take) when I saw him push in and pick up the blinds a few hours ago. Saw him at the bar tonight and was pleased to learn he's up to 16k. I like Edog.

Anyway.... the chip counts and seat assignments have been posted:


Looking around my table, I see that I'm second in chips and there are no names that scare me. I do indeed have a game plan, but I'm not going to say what it is just yet (you never know who's watching - seriously). Here's hoping I'm still alive this time tomorrow...

[omahilo]

You got a nice draw it looks like... I have a good feeling about tommorrow.

GL again.

PS: I feel sorry for anyone who drew The Grinder's table lol.

[Talking Poker]

I like that you have a good feeling.

They posted the official payouts too. I don't have them in front of me and don't feel like digging for a link, but there is very little difference between 125th place (5500) and 11th place (12,000). Then the money gets crazy - 20k for 10th, 30k for 9th, 40k for 8th, 60k for 7th, 100k for 6th..... and so on... up to a cool million bucks for first.

I've met a lot of great people this week and actually have some that will be rooting for me. Here's hoping I can give us all a reason to celebrate.

BTW... talked with P0ker H0 at length tonight about all sorts of stuff - this tourney in particular and how it played out last year (he finished 11th), winning MTTs online, poker and taxes, and so on and so forth. I can't say enough how great of a guy I think he is. No wonder everyone likes him so much.

I also played some more casino games for fun (I refused to play a hand of poker today), including craps with the Brenes brothers (who bet less than I do, oddly enough)... When all was said and done, I think I was around even.

[Talking Poker]

Here they are:

1st: $1,000,000
2nd: $440,450
3rd: $300,000
4th: $200,000
5th: $150,000
6th: $100,000
7th: $60,000
8th: $40,000
9th: $30,000
10th: $20,000
11th-20th: $12,000
21st-30th: $10,000
31st-40th: $8,000
41st-100th: $6,000
101st-125th: $5,500

I'm going for the bold as soon as I 125th.... and probably sooner.

[PShabi]

The casinos love hearing you say that last line, lol.

"I think I was around even."

There's a sucker born every minute and I think the aruban air along with all of the high rollers down there is getting to TP. He'll probably final table this tourney and a month later will be asking for stakes because of the "craps' table.

Oh man.