I played Day 1c of the Main Event this year and was surprised at how tough my table was. There honestly weren't any fish at all, and there was a super aggro Finnish player two seats to my left which severely limited my options. Even though I busted in the final level of the first day, I honestly think I played very well overall with two exceptions that I've discussed & fully analyzed with others since; what can I say, it just wasn't my day.

My friend Justin made it to Day 4 but busted about 150 spots from the money due to some really unfortunate -- but very +EV -- situations. I think this was his first live tournament ever, so I'm glad he found out sooner rather than later how much it truly sucks to play for 4 days and not cash. Especially in the Main Event. But major props to my buddy Nate Meyvis for going deep and getting it in super good before busting yesterday. One day it'll be Meyvis' turn, and it honestly couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Anyway, I decided to put some side action in a last longer bet with a friend. My 5 horses are: Michael Mizrachi, William Thorson, Matt Affleck, Bryn Kenney, and Joseph Cheong; I'm up against John Racener, Theo Jorgensen, Alex Kostritsyn, Scott Clements, and Michal Wywrot. Thorson's my wild card -- he'll either win the tourney or lose a huge pot pretty soon...hopefully the former.

No more than 60 seconds after we finalized our picks tonight, Clements lost a big pot with AA for half his stack. I was on top of the world until Theo doubled up one hand later to take the chip lead, sending me back into :(

Time for my guys to make a push -- go! go! go!