Oh, he’s come close. He’s cashed 14 times and made five final tables. But you can tell when talking to Gordon that that’s not good enough. The fact that his best friend, Rafe Furst, won a bracelet last year in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Hold’em event has only added to the pressure Gordon is surely putting on himself. After his wife Barb entered the $1,000 Ladies No-Limit Hold’em event, I overheard someone joking about the possibility that Gordon’s best buddy and wife would win a bracelet before he does. Ouch.

Having watched Gordon’s play over the years, I am of the opinion that it’s only a matter of time before he ends this dubious streak. When it comes to playing no-limit Texas hold’em, there are very few players on the world who are better than he is and about five million who are worse. While observing his play at the start of today’s $2,500 No-Limit Hold’em event, I was struck by a thought—this is Phil’s time.

He was in rhythm early on. On one hand he limped from early position with A-Q and got raised all in by a player in middle position. When the action got back around to Gordon, he didn’t hesitate to make the call. His read was dead-on; his opponent could only show A-J and would end up busting on the hand. “I wouldn’t have called with A-10,” Gordon said as he was stacking his chips.

A round later he raised from under the gun and got called by the small blind. The flop came 947. Gordon bet and got called. The turn was the 7. The small blind checked, Gordon bet, and the small blind raised. Gordon called. The 5 on the river was a blank. Gordon bet and his opponent called, paying off Gordon’s aces.

He could seem to do no wrong until the last hand before the break. He opened with a larger than usual raise and was called by an older gentleman. Gordon had 76 and the turn gave him a straight flush draw. Gordon raised his opponent all in, but the man had flopped a set of fives and wasn’t going anywhere. Gordon didn’t improve his hand, and the loss put a slight dent in his chip stack. The break couldn’t have come at a better time as it allowed him to shake off the loss and regroup.

I’ll be following his progress most of the day….

Annie Duke - We saw each other just briefly at Jennifer Harman's charity tournament and the unveiling of her picture in Caesars' poker room, but hadn't really visited since last year's World Series. Back when I was in L.A. every other week interviewing her brother or Chris Ferguson for the Full Tilt book, we would get together so often that Jo Anne would gaze dreamily at pictures of Joe Reitman on the Internet, just to know if I could carry on a fantasy fling, she could too.

Annie was thrilled and excited about the huge ad in USA TODAY for Ante Up for Africa, the tournament she and Don Cheadle are hosting the day before the Main Event. She didn't even notice that the special section devoted to poker had a caricature of her - a very nice one - and a bit saying her nicknames were "The Duke" and "Annie Legend."

I think Annie Duke would punch me if I called her Annie Legend, even for fun.

We made vague plans to get together. "Text me," she said, repeating the message of almost every other poker pro in the house. Professional poker players are high-high-high on the list of the most frequent and agile text messagers.

I was so happy to see Annie that I gave her four hugs, and got at least one in return. I wished her luck during the last one and she whispered in my ear, "I'm a little bit sick."

We all are, babe. That's part of the charm.

Phil Gordon - Phil got MARRIED since the last time I saw him. I'm predicting a big Series for Phil and I told him, in addition to anyone else who will listen. He, too, was thrilled by the ad in USA TODAY's special poker section devoted to his favorite cause, cancer cures. Like Annie, he had high praise for Harrah's efforts to promote his cause. Phil and I also discussed, as commentators on the game, how a lot of outside media would spin the inevitable decline in Main Event numbers into a "poker is dead" sound-bite and what we could do, while being responsible and impartial, to rain (or at least urinate) on their parade.

Pauly - I saw the King of Bloggers, the Mayor of the Tilted Kilt, in the media line. It was the first time in half a year and I was amazed at how Paul looked ... good. I mean, healthy, fit, clean. Not the poster boy for the Seven Deadly Sins that I had grown to love and fear. But he assured me, "It's the 'before' picture."

Johnny Chan walks by, carrying a gold shopping back. There's Liz Lieu, looking gorgeous, yet way too skinny for a healthy human being. Chris Ferguson arrives and is mobbed by poker fans.

Howard Lederer, I learned, is not here for the start of the Series. He is attending his 25-year high school reunion. I e-mail him that I insist he give me the details for this blog. "If you don't," I write, "I'm just going to make it up, and what are you going to do then?"

I finally get out of the Rio at about 1 PM. I had shown up at 9 AM just to sneak in and register. Half my ensemble is pajamas and I haven't bathed or shaved.

I stop by a sandwich shop on the way back and am drawn into a conversation of three people about the quality of food offered casino employees. "Bellagio is best," Jennifer tells me. Jennifer is smokin-hot; I don't catch the names of the two dudes she's with. "After that, Wynn is great. Caesars has good food but they make you eat it in a pit." What's bad? "I think the worst is Riviera. When I worked there, everyone said to stay away from the EDR [employee dining room], including people who served the food. Tropicana is no good, and New York New York? That place is terrible."