Wise Hand Poker

There was much debate by so many Poker Players on Harrah's and ESPN delaying the FT 117 days. Talking to a lot of the players this weekend in Vegas I found the majority loved the wait and it was evident by the huge crowd at the RIO,it created a lot of interest by the fans.

I thought it was the most exciting Final Table since Moneymaker's. The player's had an extra 117 days of fame, more so than they would of if they had played back in July. They also made a little extra money and as I have said before, this is now a once in a lifetime dream to be at the FT of the WSOP main Event.

To go through a field of 6800 plus people is an amazing accomplishment and we saw the past FT players have not been able to generate anything in the ME, except Greg Raymer, who went very deep the year after his win.

Since I was there and saw the action unfold it was really hard for me to see the edited version on ESPN. I thought there should have been several other hands shown, but I understand time restraints were an issue.

I wonder if ESPN gave any consideration to a three hour show? To show only 5 minutes of the heads up match between Ivan and peter is very unfair. They played over a 100 hands and I listened to some of it on the Radio with Craig Marquis, Lacy Jones and Neck Gerber and was hoping to see a few of those hands.

ESPN did the same thing with Jerry and Tuan last year. At least ESPN showed some of the crowd screaming and yelling and I even am shown on the bust out hand of Chino when they pan the crowd.

They should have shown Kelly's very first hand when he had AA to start the show too!

Overall though it was a great 2008 WSOP. I know Kelly was a long shot and I was so very proud of his patience and it truly is an honor to know him. The fallen heroes patch was shown all night.

Chino also made a sick read on Dennis Phillips when he had JJ and Dennis went all in with QQ, Chino says," I hope you have 10-10 and not QQ" An amazing read. If Chino wins his hand against Eastgate with the AK vs AQ there could have been a whole different outcome to the FT. Amazing how one hand changes the whole event. Chino played great for being card dead. He made good reads and one hand they did not show he had raised under the gun with A-10, but Sarhuto re-raised him in the BB and Chino folded. I wish I could of seen Sarhuto's hole cards there.

Chino was disappointed on his finish because he is a competitor. I believe he has nothing to be ashamed about. He was the perfect gentleman at the table, you could see his talent in his play and if you looked at his eyes through those glasses he was watching the other players even when he was not in a hand.

Thank you Chino again, for wearing the fallen heroes patch. I had several deputies and there families over my house for a BBQ and to watch the ME last night and everyone was impressed with Kelly and Chino. You two have some new fans for life.

We all know you have to have some luck and quality cards to win a tournament, but you need good play also. Ivan played very aggressive and had no fear of going broke. Peter caught some great cards and also played very well,overall I give the telecast a B+ only because I was there for the first day and I know there could have been more shown.

Thanks ESPN, if not for you all exploiting Poker as you do, there would not be as much interest in the Poker Community. Lon and Norm thank you for an excellent narration of last nights ME.

Also this has nothing to do with Poker, but I found it to be a very touching story and it needs to be read to remind us all how LUCKY we truly are..

An 11-year-old boy's dying wish to feed the homeless is becoming a national movement. Brenden Foster isn't afraid to die. He says he just wants to make a difference, before his time comes. CBS 2's Pat Harvey has his story.

"You doing O.K. baby? Tired? You sleepy?"

Groggy and medicated, Wendy foster's little boy is having rough day.

Doctors gave 11-year-old Brenden Foster two weeks to live. His two weeks were up days ago.

"I'm thinking I hope I'm awake when he decides to pass, because I want to make sure I'm holding him."

Brenden has survived his leukemia long enough to see his dying wish come true. People are calling and emailing, all of them are inspired by his story.

"When I saw how brave and special Brenden is, especially in his darkest hour, I was reminded what bravery really is."

"I think that is great. You think that's great?"

All over the country…

"He made my dream come true. In my lifetime I wanted to change the world and my son did that."

Brenden can barely keep his eyes open as he watches Seattle's homeless being fed over the weekend.

"I don't need to worry until the time is come. So I don't have to think about it if I'm still alive now."

Brenden Foster is in his final days.

"I should be gone in a week or so."

Brenden was a normal kid, dreaming of becoming a marine photographer. Then, last year he was diagnosed with leukemia.

As he faces death, he is thinking of others. This homeless camp captured Brenden's heart.

"Well, I was getting back from one of my appointments and I saw this big thing full of homeless people and then I thought. I should just get them something."

But Brenden is too sick to leave his bed, so volunteers who heard about his story are gathering to feed the homeless in his honor.

"We're making two hundred sandwiches, half ham and cheese, half peanut butter and jelly. He said he didn't want to do all peanut butter and jelly because what if someone was allergic to peanut butter."

"They're probably starving, so they're my friends."

Brenden is surrounding by love, as he shows what real love is all about. He has another wish for everyone -- to follow their dreams.

"Mine already came true."

He's relapsed for the last time. No more chemo. Just pain medication to keep him comfortable.
"It's devastating. But I find great peace in knowing we've had our time together. And that we will see each other again."

"I had a great time and until my time is come. I'm going to keep having a good time."

(© MMVIII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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Take Care.............Be Safe................

I have so much to tell you all about the past few days so I will try not to ramble on.

First I played in the Friday Night Tournament at Commerce Casino's Heavenly Holdem event. We started with 2000 in chips and by level 4 I had 15,300 chips. There were over 300 people entered and I was playing very good and made some incredible reads. I lost half of my chips with AQ hearts to KcJs I flopped an Ace and runner runner club put 4 clubs on the board. I then hit a set of ten's and my opponent went all in..I called and he tabled AK on a flop of J-10-5 of course the turn was a Q and I left about 80th.

Ok now the fun stuff!!!!!! I mailed Nam Le some fallenheroesla.org patches and a fallen heroes coin to the Bellagio Tuesday Night.

David Rheem who is at the Final table of the WSOP agreed to wear the patch. This was huge, first Kelly Kim and now Chino..truly remarkable and I have to thank again...Nam Le, J.C. Tran and Quin Do for putting the patch on for the whole world to see. Several other players started wearing them, Theo Tran and Chris Bell how I will ever be able to thank these guys is beyond me.

Nam calls me at 9pm Friday Night and tells me he has not received the package so Saturday Morning I am on the phone to the Bellagio who said they would look and call me back. They never did and when I called a third time that day, the Business center was closed.

Since Kelly was wearing the patch and He had some extra one's I was going to call him and ask him to give Chino one. However at 7pm Saturday Night I decided to take a Vacation day and go to Vegas and support Kelly.

I sent a text to him and he replied with, I will get you a ticket and "Wow"

I called Nam and told him I would be there and I took off after getting a Room at the Imperial Palace.

I got into Vegas about 10:30 pm and went to the Hotel and went to bed. I had been up since 3:00am and was beat.

At seven in the morning I was up, showered and headed over to the Rio in pouring rain.

There was already a line of about 300-400 people waiting to get seats inside the Penn and Teller Theatre where the WSOP ME was being held.

Met Kelly as he was heading in and he was really happy I came to support him. If he only knew how excited I was to be there.

I also talked to Chino and he wanted several patches and He put them on both arms. Now the kicker was I brought about 100 patches and they were all gone by the time the FT started shortly after 11:00am.

So many pro's and fans asked me for them and I was MORE than happy to give them out.

The theatre holds about 2500 people and it was full and there were still 300-400 people waiting to get in. The FT was setup on the stage and was very hard to see because of some stands they put around the table for the V.I.P.'s. There were 2 huge big screens and several smaller TV's for all of us to view.

Kelly had about 200 supporters there and Dennis Phillips had close to 400. They were all wearing St. Louis Baseball hats and Pokerstars gave all of them white shirts with logo's to match, the same shirt Dennis was wearing.

There was so much electricity in the air. It was like being at a college football game. Signs, chants,whistles, horns an amazing crowd.

Kelly hung on and took 8th place which was a major accomplishment since he was short stacked. The hand that busted Craig Marquis was in itself tremendously exciting. Craig had 77 and Scott "Luckbox" Montgomery had AQ. Craig went all in and Scott called bringing EVERYONE to their feet.

The flop was 7-A-10, giving Craig a set of 7's. the Ace was in the window and there were cheers until the dealer spread the cards and everyone saw the 7.

The turn was a J and if a King hit the river Scott could win the hand.. It was a long shot, but when the dealer put a K on the river the place went wild and Kelly moved up the pay scale and "Luckbox" did it again.

Kelly had an exciting hand shortly thereafter. He was put all in by Ivan when Kelly was in the BB. Kelly did not even look at his cards and Ivan turned over K-10. Kelly was up hugging his friends and family and when he came back to the table with a huge smile he turned over his cards and saw he had KK..."Kelly Kim" the place erupted!!!! Kelly won the hand after some drama because the cards gave Ivan an open ended straight draw.

Kelly played great, but eventually he blinded down and went out 8th.

Chino went out 7th and I was on the floor right behind him with Nam, J.C., Theo, Greg Mueller the Mizarachi's and Karina Jett. Chino's AK was beat by Peter's AQ and all the dreams the past 117 days of being a champion and a multi millionaire were gone.

I headed home about 7:00 pm and had to get ready to go to work in the morning at 5:00am.

A great trip, Gary Wise was there and we talked for about 5 minutes and just meeting and talking to so many people was very exciting.

Congratulations to the NOV 9, it was a great show and Harrah's was successful in holding the event for 117 days, evident by the huge turnout.

I could talk about so much more, but I do not want to bore you all with my enthusiasm ...so Take care and Be Safe......