Jennifer Newell

I just returned from a day at the Bicycle Casino here in L.A. where two events took place today.

The media tournament is an annual event in which members of the media as well as past Legends winners. Obviously, I played as a member of the media. I did relatively well at my first table, grabbing a few pots when the opportunities arose. Then, I got moved to another table. This was unfortunate. I wasn't getting many playable cards, and I had a guy to my left who came over the top of me every time I attempted a move. Finally, with blinds at 100/200, I looked down at pocket 7's. With no bets in front of me, I moved all-in for my last 700. No callers allowed me to chip up a bit. The very next hand, the only person betting before me was Barbara Enright who made it 400 to go. I had a very pretty K-Q of spades, and I reraised all-in. Everyone else folded, and she called. With what? Pocket Aces. Of course. The flop gave her another Ace, and just to twist the knife a little, the turn brought one more, and I was beat by Barbara's quad Aces. Can't argue with those cards!

I watched bits and pieces of the remainder of the event. Big names like Miami John Cernuto, Joe Pelton, Dennis Waterman, and Scott Clements - to name a few - were eliminated, as was Barbara Enright when someone else's pocket Aces came back to bite her. Sorry, B, you didn't deserve that! In the end, the last pro standing was James Hoeppner who won a seat into the $10k buy-in Legends main event that begins on Saturday. The last two players were members of the media - Kasey Thompson who owns All In magazine finally beat Brian Hepinstall of PokerPages to win the $2500 cash prize and $2500 donated to the Lakers youth charity. Kasey ended up giving $500 to Brian then donating the other $2000 to his own personal charity. Nice work, guys!

The Jerry Buss/Frank Mariani Charity Poker Open began at 5:30 with a cocktail and buffet reception, which was just yummy all the way around. Several ex-Lakers showed up to sign autographs and support the cause, and a number of pros joined the crowd, i.e. Amir Vahedi, Marsha Waggoner, Jared Hamby, Men the Master, and David "Dragon" Pham. The turnout was great with 155 players ponying up the $1000 to enter the tournament that started at 7pm. I left before it was over, but Marsha Waggoner was one of the chip leaders when I departed. Go Marsha!

An interesting note: One of the players at the Buss/Mariani event was... wait for it... Vinnie Vinh. He was sitting in his chair and everything. I chatted with him, and after comments from him like, "You're pretty," I may have secured an interview with him for the weekend. I've got his phone number, so we'll see how far that gets me. C'mon, Vinnie, talk to me!

I was glad to have met some new people today, enjoyed a long conversation with Katie Lindsay, had lots of drinky/chatty time with Miri, and enjoyed the buffet with Miami John, Dennis Waterman, Tuna Lund, and Kasey Thompson. After the second drink from the open bar, I think I winked and pointed at Johnny Chan - only embarrassing moment of the evening, but he just laughed. Ahhh, good times.

I'll be down at the Legends main event for Day 1A and 1B this weekend, so I'll blog about what I see/hear/smell when I return to my trusty computer each night.