Scott Diamond

Yesterday i decided to play the $225.00 Nl event at the Bike. It started at 4:15pm and since i was off at 3:00pm I headed over there. they have had some big crowds lately,but only 107 people entered and from what I heard registration closed before 5 pm on a Friday here in LA, when traffic is at its worst. Apparently about 25 people were turned away during the first level of play.

We received 4,000 in starting chips with 30 minute levels and I again played well. Late when blinds were 800-400 and 30 or so people left I has Ah-Ks on the button with a raise in front of me by a very aggressive player who was all decked out in Full Tilt gear. The player to my left re-raised him and I went all in for 8400 chips into a pot of 5,000. Aggressive guy folds and the other guy calls and of course shows AA. I could not put him on this hand because he had AA 5 times already today. The flop was very nice Kh-8h-4h but it bricked out and I was left with 600 chips. My very next hand I have 10-9 and go all in with 5 callers. Flop 7-8-J Nice!
I am up to 5000 again and cannot hang on as I bust 20th and 18 get paid.

I do not play to make the money, I play to win and I only had QQ-JJ and 44 pocket pairs all day. So I played very well,but just couldn't get anything going and no cards to make any moves with.

No bad beats, pretty solid players last night and I may play the $120.00 NL today. The field may be small again but I want to go to Vegas Monday Night without any rust and if I can make some extra money by winning a small event, it would be a great confidence boost.

My friend Jim Pittman is in Vegas right now and he won a $225.00 satellite and is playing the $1500.00 NL buy in event today. Jim told me there are a lot of Local players in Vegas and this could be the reason for a small turnout.

The Bike changed the name of this years event from the "Mini Series" to the 20/30 event making it a mini deep stack tournament with low buy ins, but it did not attract the throng of players as their last deep stack event did.

I saw the 10k Pot Limit event had just over 300 people registered. I thought there would be more and I am not sure how many entered this event last year, but I know it was a 5k event in 2007.

Hope this is not an indication to the crowds this year. Todays event will tell as it has 2 start days and last year there were over 2900 people and I heard that Jeffrey Pollack when starting todays event at the Rio told the crowd, "Welcome to the 4th largest NL event ever" Good Luck Jim and see all of you in a few..

Be Safe...Take care..

Just wanted all of you who plan on playing and are reporting from this years WSOP a whole bunch of GOOD LUCK and have fun.

To the tournament reporters, I hope you all get planty of sleep and let me thank you in advance for the work you will be doing the next month and a half. Without you, us Poker enthusiasts would not be able to follow the Series and see how are favorite players are doing. Thank YOU!!!!

Monday night cannot come fast enough for me. Hope to see all of you Tuesday morning.

Take care...Be Safe...

Today is my day off and I have been surfing all the Poker Web sites and reading numerous blogs about the upcoming WSOP and other Poker news.

It's a beautiful day here in Southern California and I promised my girls I would take them to their favorite place...Costco's. Thank goodness it's not Neiman Marcus,,,,yet..

I am going to wash and wax my truck and get the oil changed because on Monday Night , my work partner Craig and I will be driving to Vegas for a few days. I will be staying at the Orleans because Craig wants to play there evening tournaments there, as I will be at the Rio hitting the satellites.

I read Daniels blog today and he told us all how the Rio is set up for this years WSOP and I could here the excitement in his words.

He went inside the empty Amazon Room and took in the moment of peace and quiet before the storm on Saturday.

I could only imagine what was running through Daniels head as he looked around the empty room with all the banners and decorations for this year. Daniel didn't give us a hint what the decor was, but I bet it will be top notch.

I am so bored I am playing on Pokerstars.net today. I started with 400.00 in play money and I am already up to 27,000...Darn it..why isn't this real!!!!!

I received a comment on one of my blogs this week and they gave me some credit for the information I post,but they called me a jerk.

I have only been in the Poker community for 2 years and I have had the opportunity to meet some of the better known players. I try and e-mail them and stay in touch and a few of them are gracious enough to write back periodically and I would like to thank those of you who do. Some have totally ignored my e-mails, I guess they think since I am just a amateur player and a nice guy they are above me.

I am ok with that, I have and never will have an Ego, if it is because I am a Cop and they do not like Law Enforcemant, I understand. But I will tell you, Do not mistake my kindness for weakness, ask anyone who knows me in the Law Enforcement Community.

Poker has given me the opportunity to meet so many fantastic people. For years my only friends were cops and fireman and it is truly remarkable the friendships I have forged from playing Poker.

I will continue to be a people person and if some think I am a jerk because I like to meet and talk to people, I am sorry if I bothered you.

Life is way to short to walk around with a chip on your shoulder and think your better than another. I have seen so much death and destruction in my 22 years as a Cop it is such a pleasure to be able to get away from it 3 days a week.

The new Memorial Poker Classic Shirts for Fallen Heroes are done and they are fantastic looking.

They are long sleeve white shirts with the Fallen Heroes challenge coin in color on the back and I will be bringing them to give to some of the players as well as all the WSOP reporters this year.

So I am off to Costco's with the twins and I am counting the hours before i leave. I still have to work the weekend and I just might play a 200.00 tourney at the Bike Friday Night. As you know I do not like playing on a night before work, however this tourney starts at 415pm.

I am bringing my camera and will be taking a variety of pictures this coming month and will be posting them here at wisehand.

Until Tuesday,,,take Care ...Be Safe

I wrote this article last year on Memorial day and I find it fitting to share it with you again. My son in law returned safe from Iraq last month and we are all very thankful for it. However there are almost 5,000 others who have not.

A loss of a brother,sister,mother or father,cousin nephew or best friend is the hardest thing for me to deal with in life. It is not easy for anyone to lose someone but when we do there are others to help us through the tough time.

I started my Charity Poker Tournament after losing so many friends in Law Enforcement to not only help the families but to make others aware Fireman and Cops are here to help and we sometimes sacrifice our lives for you as the men and women of our military are right now.

Thank you to everyone who does something to make this world a better place to live.

Since the poker explosion in 2003, which in part owes thanks to ESPN's coverage of the 2003 World Series of Poker (WSOP) and amateur player Chris Moneymaker's remarkable win, poker players have adopted dreams of becoming not only millionaires, but world famous celebrities.

We have all witnessed the fame and fortunes so many poker players have received over the past few years. The World Poker Tour has made several unknown individuals household names, as have Internet poker sites. So many of today's players were still in junior high or high school when they started watching poker on television, well before they were legally old enough to gamble.

Some of the most famous players had their dreams planted in their minds either by reading about the game of poker, or seeing something on television which gave them the lust for victory. Most of the time, it takes hard work and dedication to make your dream become a reality, but we have seen several people make millions playing poker, winning a huge tournament only to return to being just an average player.

I was listening to a very successful poker player, Gavin Smith, on his radio show from the Mirage Poker Classic a few weeks ago. He and his co-host, Joe Sebok, were discussing the amount of poker players who probably still have money in the bank from playing poker on the tournament circuit, those who are actually successful at their trade. Their final estimate was around 200 people. I found this to be very interesting!

I started to think of how many people have been playing the tournament trail recently, and could this just be some kind of fad that will diminish soon? We all have dreams of being at the final table on television in a major event at the WSOP. We all see the rich and famous going weekly to these extravagant parties, driving fancy cars and eating at the best restaurants. But what price do these people have to pay for their new found fame and fortune?

Several of the poker players I talk with tell me of multiple times of not knowing where their next meal might come from, or where their life is heading. Watching ESPN the other night, they were talking about how Howard Lederer in his early days of playing poker back in New York he would sleep on a park bench in Greenwich Village at night. I never slept on a park bench, but when I was younger and had just moved to California I lost my job and had to spend the cool wintry nights in the back seat of my car for awhile.

I guess if I were twenty-one years old and living at home I would spend all my allowance and hard earned money bluffing on the Internet trying to gain fame and fortune. I would probably even get together with my buddies and bring my roll of hundreds and play Monopoly for $10k a game.

Dreams are what the world is made of. They're what we are made of. Or are they?

As I sit here and write this, my daughter's 24 year-old boyfriend, who did one tour in Afghanistan, is already being sent back to Iraq in a few weeks. What about his dreams? What about the dreams of 3,500 U.S.A. military men who have lost their lives fighting to protect a country from dictatorship?

Poker is a game, and some say life is a game. Both are very, very tough at times. So, if you're to be one of the lucky ones who wins a bracelet or two, remember all those other dreamers who are not able to be here with us today. Remember your tough times and try and continue to be the person your family would be proud of. We tend to forget those who have fought to protect this country from our enemies. Memorial Day gives us a time to reflect back and thank those heroes who never had the opportunity to fulfill their dreams of coming back home to the loved one who so patiently waited for them, and to start a family or raise the one's they already had.

I have a dream. Do you? You should, and if you don't, start working on one today. It could be as small as dreaming for a new outfit, to as big as winning the lottery. It can be as small as hoping you and your sibling will be able to get along, to as big as everyone in the world getting along. No more poverty, no more racism, no murders. No more wars.

But since most of you reading this are poker players, start dreaming of winning the Main Event and becoming the poker ambassador for the next year, living with the title of World Champ for the rest of your life. But do not forget those who allow us the freedom to live out our dreams, the men and women who have given their lives to keep America the Home of the Brave and the Land of the FREE.