John Phan 197k
Scott Clements 196k
O Tassone 186k
O Dardon 178k
D Robinson 170k
Joe Tehan 147k
Ralph Perry 141k
Tom Hall 141k

No chance of the final six making it to the Clippers game. The game was slowed down by Iceman all afternoon but even after his departure everyone wanted to stay for the big day tomorrow. The best poker is played at this stage but it would be too expensive to film and edit , I suppose.

Just shy of midnight we have a result: Clippers 93 Lakers 91.
1) Greg Sowers        2.4m
2) Cornell Cimpan  1.7m
3) Binh Nguyen       1.9m
4) Chris Karagullian 4m
5) Pat Walsh             2.2m
6) Chris Ferguson   1.5m

Matt Heiligerthaler 123k, Luke Priour 113k, F Adli 112k, Jeff Madsen 110k, John Phan 101k, David Peters 99k, Mike Blocksidge 94k, Kia Mohajeri 86k, V Phan 75k, Sam Stein 75k, Dave Fox 74k + Matt Stout 71k. First place is $107593.

The tournament has begun which means the drinking has begun. John Phan has ordered a bottle of Cabernet and joining him in a glass of the red stuff are Luke Priour, Jeff Madsen and Ted Lawson.

Those not drinking , at least not at the table, are:
23) Taher Alishek
22) Kia Mohajeri
21) Vinny Pahuja
20) Justin Scott
19) Dan Stir

Each player receives $3525.

Sweating Ted are his wife Michelle, Tiffany Michelle and Liv Boeree.

Next batch of  eliminations:
18) Randy Sim
17) Joe Kuether
16) Lawrence Rosen

All players receive $3896

What odds a Madsen v Phan heads up complete with red wine? More eliminations:
15) Tom McCormick
14) Sam Stein
13) Ted Lawson

Each receives $4267

Jeff Madsen leads with approx 355k. John Phan follows with 175k., Luke Priour 170k, Matt H 150k. Now Tiffany has switched her allegiance to Madsen.

Todays $500 had 511 entries including Anna Wroblewski. At 6:10pm only 150 survived including Tony TNT Nasr + ParaG.

A quick walk down the steep stairs revealed very little action in the cash area. Maybe poker players are a romantic group after all. Not so Greg Mueller who has his cocktail waitress girlfriend watching him play Barry Greenstein at Chinese. Cyndy Violette must not have a date either.

7pm: Madsen (1010) eliminates David Fox (KK).Fox wins $4638. John Phan is on his third bottle. On table 35 David Peters eliminates Michael Blocksidge ($4638). Michael had been nursing 4ok in the hope of moving up the ladder.At table 34 Luke Priour, who is looking wasted after trying to match Phan in the drinking comp, eliminates Vu Phan (no relation). $4638. The final table is set.
1) Matt Heiligenthaler
2) Jeff Madsen
3) Fred Adli
4) Tyler Patterson
5) Luke Priour
6) John Phan
7) Lance Oliver
8 Matt Stout
9) David Peters

John Phan is out. Don’t drink and bluff is the lesson here. It is dinner time so Priour and Madsen have a chance to put add some food to their wine. Dinner time chip counts (and final update before my pilgramage back to the foothills)Photos will be added later. 78 left in todays tournament out of 511.

Jeff Madsen 470k, Fred Adli 350k, Tyler Patterson 300k, Luke Priour 110k, Matt Heiligenthaler 75k, Lance Oliver 75k, David Peters 70k + Matthew Stout 60k.

Another million dollar pool expected at Santa Anita tomorrow for the pick 6. Snow Day has been postponed until March.

End of play in the $500. Neil Ho 214k, Fabio Dagata 193k, Saif Ahmad 192k, Jeff Vanchiro 185k, Jesse Simonelli 182k, Elvis Huynh 133k, Josh VanDuyn 124k, Mike Digaetano 122k, Kasey Nam 118k, Aaron Kreskin 105k, Ben Tang 81k, Sang Pham 78k.

German pro Andreas Krause

Upstairs 332 ponied up $1k including a lot of new faces. One European joining the lone Brit, lovely Liv Boeree, was Andreas Klaus.

The HORSE continued from yesterday. First to leave the game was Lakers part owner Jerry Buss. Stephen Su has not even arrived as I write. The legendary LA traffic doesn’t seem as bad as the Vegas traffic in the mid afternoon.
24) Jerry Buss
23) Robert Daniel
22) Kevin Song
21) Joe Fernandez
20) Jason Mercier
19) Stephen Su
18) Stephen Ladowsky
17) Tim Kennedy
17-24 receive $2262

7pm: Chip counts unofficial
Ira Friedman 130k, Frankie O’Dell 130k, Tony Ma 125k, Miami John 115k, Ray Davis 100k, Cyndy Violette 90k, Soheil 80k.

An easier way to win a million than trying to FT the ME? Santa Anita has a double pick6 carryover on Friday. One $2 ticket could be all you need . It is free admission at the track also.

If you do win the pick 6 this could be yours. The viper was parked in valet at the Commerce.

Back to the Commerce. The Matt Savage HORSE tournament attracted a better than expected 212 entries. The event will probably not conclude until Midnight Thursday with the winner taking home  $55k a seat in the WPT Event and some tip money! I am not even going to predict a winner at this stage as pretty much everyone played.

This left downstairs lacking in names although I did chat with Alec Torelli back from his trip to Aus + NZ.

Todays $1k final threw up some fresh names including Spanish Full Tilt pro Raul Paez. The final was once again a slow affair, probably a tribute to Matt Savages structure. Andy Phan was the only elimination in the first two levels today.

7:00pm update
9) Andy Phan
8) Cheang Yoo
7) Sheldon Hayashi
6) John Racener

9) $4173, 8) $5796, 7) $7882 6) $10432

Chip counts:
Randy Ohel 225k, Estrella Baltazar 185k, Raz Mael 180k, Chou Nguyen 170k, Raul Paez 90k.

As you can see it is still a wide open final.

Spanish invader Raul Paez