Yesterday was as  tough as it was last year - the day after day 1. Tired, sleepy, worn. All I could think of was getting nutrition, carbs, vitamins, minerals for my brain and body - to reload. I slept until 11 a.m., then went for a trip to the strip, had lunch at "Sensi", fantastic shrimp risotto with a glass of wine, followed by espresso and armagnac in the cigar bar, completely blank in the brain and just hanging.

The pleasant difference was that I had no pains or twisted neck, this time I came prepared for the lousy chairs and long hours. At Brookstone I had invested in a weird looking "donut" cushion and it worked great, elevating me a bit and giving me support throughout the session.

At night I again went to sleep early, the bed is great so nevermind the less-than-spectacular hotel, it is still a killer deal, wireless internet, close to the Rio.



The Main Event is now on its third day 1. We were 1,287 players Friday, there were 1,545 yesterday and today looks to be a little bigger than that, so the total this year will probably end up close to 6,000 players.

Judging by the amount of on-line qualifiers most oberservers thought we would get closer to last year's 8,773 but here is he catch: Pokerstars qualifiers got their $12,000 WSOP packages credited as cash to their account, so they could choose between going or cashing, and surely a lot of them have chosen the cash.

If the UIGEA does not get lifted and/or Harrah's will not force the poker sites to make the players actually play the tournament in the future, we might have seen the biggest event ever last year.

Today I signed up at a much recommended $200 tournament at Caesar's. Good structure with 40 minute levels, but I didn't realize the juice was a whopping 17.5% (!!!) until I had already signed up. Luckily only the winners get screwed and I lost quickly so who cares! I will definitely go back to the Wynn next time I want to play one of these tournaments, the structure is better, levels longer, the rake 9% and the chairs comfier.

I checked out my table for Tuesday - on www.pokerpages.com you can see the seating for day 2 plus your opponents' chip counts. Bad news is that the big stack at the table is to my immediate left, good news is that he only has 107,000, and the rest of the table has either the same or fewer chips than me, so I am happy and confident of my chances to advance to day 3 and get closer to the money.

Tomorrow I might go on a trip to Lake Mead and get some sun, or just hang out at the pool, go to the gym, do some shopping and read in my newly acquired poker books.