I have risen from the ashes of personal and professional disappointment to heights I have never before reached. Behind a heap of good cards, fortunate table draws, rail support from the Masters Pi and J33*, a few ballsy moves that somehow worked, stockpiled positive karma, and one big uncharacteristic suckout to end the day, I was able to win two tables at the $1500 No Limit Hold em Shootout and advance to the final table Tuesday at 2 PM.
Right before the first round, Kirk Morrison came up to me and we talked about Speight's, whose brewery logo was on my shirt. It's probably my favorite shirt and I wear it all the time, always hoping someone will know what Speight's is and talk to me about it. After I finished off Jennifer Harman heads up to win the first table, the dealer told me she was a reader of my blog. My head was spinning and I got pulled over for administrative purposes; I really wish I had gotten her name and talked a little more. Those were two nice cherries on this Sundae of a Monday.
Joining me at the final table are:
Seat 1 - Donald Baruch
Seat 2 - Daniel Negreanu
Seat 3 - Jared Davis
Seat 4 - Thomas Fuller
Seat 5 - Fred Goldberg
Seat 6 - Brendan Lee
Seat 7 - Michael Wehner
Seat 8 - Doug Baughman
Seat 9 - Erick Lindgren
*Chris Viox and Jason Dewitt (who made this same final table last year)
Greg FBT Mueller wasted no time mixing it up in the $5,000 World Championship Mixed Holdem event final table, raising in early position. And that was before the cards were even dealt. 
