LAPC Day #1

Day one of the main event at the LA Poker Classic is finally over and although it was a close call, but somehow I survived. I had a reasonably tough table with David Benyamine on my left, followed by Annie Duke, as well as several other solid players. I couldn't win a hand all day long. No matter what I started with or flopped I kept losing. I did win a couple of pots without showdown, thank god. Finally with about 8,500 in chips left from my starting stack of 20,000 I doubled through David Benyamine. David raised 3 big blinds under the gun and was called by someone in late position, I looked down at AK suited and raised a full pot. David called and the flop came K Q 10 and with about 6,500 left and 6,000 in the pot I moved in. David had a set of tens and I suck out with a jack on the river, hey there are four of them after all. Anyway I eked up to about 28,000 by the end of the last level, and was just happy to still be there. I hope tomorrow goes a little better.

The field was 696 strong which is more than last year's and continues the strong showing here at the Commerce for the LAPC. The credit has to go to Matt Savage for his re-engineering of the events. It is a clear case of build it and they will come.

I had a good conversation with Annie Duke. It was the first time I spent anytime with Annie and she had just finished an advisory meeting on WSOP issues. We talked about the end of the re-buy events at this year's WSOP. She made a lot of good points about how some players manipulated the situation by coluding and flipping to get more chips in play, and although I liked those events, by the end she had me convinced it was the right thing to do.

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