That’s the thing about Vegas. Everything can turn on a dime. Just when you feel that it’s all in your grasp. The day started out perfectly. Treadmill, yoga, spa, coffee, I was feeling like a million dollars as I sat down with Mad Marty and Padraig to watch the Chicago White Sox take on the Cubs and Croatia play Turkey. We were sweating both games and did a number of high fives when at the same instant Croatia were leading and the White Sox were closing out the Cubs. Two minutes later we’d been hit by double bombs and all done our nuts. Ah, Vegas. There’s always the Yankees to get me out of it.

Over to the Rio yesterday where I ran into Channing. He arrived in Vegas bursting to give the WSOP a serious lashing and has ended up being the CEO of a mid-cap company. Every CEO should reserve the right to fire every employee and disappear to L.A. for a vacation.

I sweated a high stakes PLO game for a while which was hugely enjoyable. David Williams was wearing a purple striped shirt and purple sneakers, which went well with the color of his face. Green. He rapid counted a stack of hundred dollar bills six times in fifteen minutes and got called on a pot-size $4400 bet on the turn with four way action the board reading A-J-T-A three diamonds and still bullets back. He didn’t bother betting the river and his opponent’s nine-five flush was good. If you got a guy calling bets like that with a board like that, either he’s got a massive problem or you do. Juha Helppi was in the game in the two seat. It’s one of only two times I’ve seen Juha with a smile that he couldn’t get off his face. The other time was when he knocked Hellmuth out of the Premier League final. If Juha Helppi is smiling, you can bet it’s the game of the year.

I also ran into the Cowboy Kenna James, who was nice enough to give me a copy of his new hit single “Dream” which he both wrote and recorded. It’s safe to say I haven’t been this excited to fire up a CD player since I got the advance copy of Marcel Luske’s “Poker Poker Poker”. We could be on the verge of the first big poker superband. Luske on lead vocals, Kenna James singing harmony, with Devilfish on piano and guitar. Can Skalie still play drums?