The second most common question I've gotten this week is "What is the story about Richard Brodie getting barred by Harrah's and not being allowed to play in the Series?" (The most common is "Why did you turn down the offer of a spare bedroom at Clonie Gowen's and Shannon Elizabeth's house ... you idiot?" But I don't have a satisfactory answer for that one.)

I'm pleased to report, as Brodie has in his Lion Tales blog, that the misunderstanding has been resolved.

"I've been 68ed," he told me over the phone as I was pulling into the Rio this afternoon. My brain wasn't functioning properly or I'm just dumb but I temporarily forgot that "86" means "kicked out" so "68" means the opposite. I sort of gathered what he was getting at, but in my confusion, I thought he said "69ed". He cleared up the details, thankfully without explaining the difference between "86ed" and "69ed". You have to trust me that I actually understand the difference; I just wasn't thinking clearly.

So Richard Brodie's "wilderness years - er, weeks" are over. The misunderstanding with Harrah's has been cleared up. He is back in good standing at all Harrah's properties and he will be making his 2007 WSOP debut on Sunday. I suggested that let him say "shuffle up and deal" as a way of informing everyone of the resolution. He said, "Jeffrey Pollack might actually go for it." Brodie went on to tell me that Pollack did a great job standing up for him, and so did a number of top players.

He was beaming and effusive in his praise of Pollack - and remember, Brodie was the first person to really spread the word while last year's Main Event was going on about the extra chips, so Pollack did this DESPITE Richard's squeaky wheel status - and the breadth and depth of support he received from the poker community.