And now for the weather report - its a wopping 115 degrees today and it’s expected to be 116 - 120 tomorrow? I don’t know how people live in this city with the heat! God bless air conditioning!

We ventured over to the Rio Hotel to check out the action at the WSOP! On arrival there was a nice touch of class (and I’m not talking about me this time!) with a 100 metre red carpet laid out, 3 giant fans blowing fresh cool air and a huge white canape over the entrance displaying “Welcome to the World Series of Poker!” (grand job, task one complete - we found the right place).

First thing that struck me was the lack of directional signage showing players and spectators to the main hall and given I have serious jet lag and this building is pretty large (to say the least), you’re bound to get lost (no female jokes thank you). Luckily I heard alot of noise down one corridor so decided to head down that direction. In the distance there were stalls selling merchandise, girls giving massages and two large, ceiling high, glass cases blowing millions of dollars around inside (wonder if I could jump inside and try grab a grand to help my bank roll? hmmm?) The most bizzare sight was this guy hooked up to what looked like some serious medical contraption up his noise and this girl giving him a massage???? Sounds bizzare eh? I soon found out these medical contraptions were oxygen tanks!! Madness, but sure we’re in Vegas

The first player we met was Mel Judah who was rushing back to sit down and play another tournament. Always the gentleman (!!) Mel stopped and chatted to the PPP team and showed us into the main hall. I must admit I anticipated the room to be much bigger in size. Don’t get me wrong its huge but I guess from all the hype, I had this visual in my head of not being able to see the end of the room because it’s THAT big! The place was practically full with alot of action going on from satellites to the main event, cash games and final tables.

We met another familiar face but yet a new face to this years Irish Open - the lovely Thor Hansen. Thor was in great form (and on form at the tables too!) although he himself who rarely has critisim to offer mentioned that the organisation of the tournament was not that great and the Irish Open was the best run poker tournament in the world! (and he said we can quote him on that one - Bless!!). After talking to Thor for a few more minutes (and paying him $50 for that quote! - joke) I see out of the corner of my eye this man with a large cowboy hat! Doyle Brunson. Everywhere he walks, players and spectators alike turn their heads and acknowledge Doyle with some serious respect and he graciously acknowledges it.

The WSOP wouldn’t be the same without the Irish contingent! Who else did we see or rather hear!! Padraig Parkinson and Scott Grey having some banter in the middle of an aisle bloking up the walkway! Both as usual were full of chat and jokes and entertained the other players (and ourselves) for a good while!

Other players we saw were Andy Black (who looked pretty tired but still full of energy!), Roland De Wolfe (also tired but hey, tanned!) and last but not least my mission man on the TV table Patrik Antonius - but I’ll not go into that right now, you’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to get the gossip! (or rather give me more time to get working on this mission!). Over and out.

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