After my first two days of BARGE, I have made a solemn vow to never play single-draw limit lowball again.  I didn't mind the game at first...until I drew one holding A234 only to lose a pot to a fellow who drew three.  I finished in the top 15 in my first BARGE event and was out in the first 15 in the next.  It worked out in the end because played the evening no-limit tournament, hoping to live up to JDN's victory the night before.  I ended up in 5th place when my A5 couldn't outrun 106.  

Initially I was set to play the C in today's team CHORSE tourney.  Instead, Greg Pappas (friend of Gav's who made a stud final table that will be on ESPN soon) elected to play the Crazy Pineapple and I settled on Razz.  JDN represented us in Omaha, and three gentlemen you don't know played the other games (Warren, Jerry, and Bruce).  "Luck Factor Zero" would be squaring off against teams like "Shortbus," "The Math is Hard 5," and--a PokerWire favorite--"Team Moosecock" (the only thing that would make it better would be tacking on a "bro" at the end of their name).

Our team has a big reputation to live up to after taking 2nd last year and winning the year before (they were anchored by Greg Raymer, Jerrod Ankeman, and Gavin).

So.... seat 1, aka annoying guy, turns out to be champie douglas.  Not someone you would be afraid of but a good player none the less.  He raises to 2200 in middle position on my big blind of 800.  I call with AQ and the flop comes AT6 and i check.  first mistake.  Champie checks behind me as the turn is a blank.  I bet 5500 and he quickly calls.  The river is a J and i push all in.  I get a call.

It’s Day 1 of the Main Event.  Again.  For the third time in a row.  You know what the great thing about Day 1C is?  There’s another Day 1 tomorrow.  Argh.  The only thing worse than another Day 1 might be spending it with LA Mike.  Alas, I won’t be seeing much of LA Mike in a few days.

But never fear, poker fans!  LA Mike and Amanda Leatherman will be heading over to the Bellagio on Tuesday to capture all of the action from the Bellagio Cup III.  They will be bringing you—Gasp!—live updates and chip counts for the newest stop on the World Poker Tour.  Yes, it’s true, PokerWire will once again feature live updates and chip counts.

I’ll be staying behind here at the Rio along with Storms blogging from Day 2 of the WSOP.  Since I’ll only have access to the incredible poker genius of LA Mike for a limited time, I was able to sit down with him to get a few predictions about the remainder of the main event: