not as fast as I would have liked but still, a nice steady plod in the right direction. I had to go way the hell up Sahara to the mortgage broker’s office. Wonder how much diesel I blew on that trip. Then I headed to the Rio…I know…the WSOP is in town and Linda is staying away. I called Katie Lindsay, one of PokerWorks’ writers for lunch as promised…and BTW she’s got a new gig called Suited Connections. Take a look, she’s just getting started and she’s going to be BIG in the business.

While lunch was in the works, she was telling me that her buddy Chris Ferguson was still in the event and she might not make lunch because of sweating him but she was in the company of Jennifer, one of PokerWorks’ great writers, and it was soon a deal written in stone that someone was going to have lunch with me. Yummy! Food and company, and I was starved.

Pulling into the Rio parking lot made me wonder how a whole year had gone by. It was hot, the sun was out, there were cars everywhere, and the first person I saw as I approached the valet parking and taxi area was Chau Giang as he was pulling up to leave his car at valet. One Chau hug and I was on my way inside, passing Daniel Negreanu as he graciously gave someone an autograph and stood by while they took his picture with one of their group. Then it was on into the building and passing people that I knew and tons of them that I didn’t.

T.J. Cloutier was in a mobile chair, like the kind that Doyle zooms around in, not sure what happened there. And I didn’t stop to ask.

I hit the lady’s room and had a moment to visit with Kathy Liebert as she was at the sink/mirror area, as was Maria Ho. Interesting that both of them just did an interview with PokerWorks – one by Jennifer and one by Aaron.

I became one of the milling horde as I paged John Caldwell and found him for a brief visit. I knew Tony G. was coming in soon but someone had already gone to the airport to pick him up. He’s one of the people that I’m definitely looking forward to seeing. I love Tony G. I actually thought he might come in for the first event of the series.

After I met my writers and we went to the coffee shop, we stood in our section of ‘non VIP, wait to be seated’. Devilfish and his latest girlfriend appeared and stood behind us. We chatted for a moment – I get a kick out of him since I graduated from my initial shock value of dealing to him the first few times. We are now on ‘hi how you doin’ terminology and he remembers me from Aruba events and Bellagio. Katie was off interviewing Michael Binger and late meeting us so when the hostess asked, we told her to seat ‘the fish’ and his escort first – and he had a tournament to get back to. He thanked us and off they went.

We were seated not far from Devilfish and a couple of times he gave me the smiley nod thingey. No…I’m way too old for his tastes, believe me if you saw his lady friends, they could be my granddaughters. *No they couldn’t…slap…smack…stay away from her!!!*

Katie arrived, we had already ordered food and for some reason the service was really slipshod, no drinks for 15 minutes – as in like no one even came to take our drink order – we got drinks but had no silverware – Aaron ordered a salad he never got. When Katie arrived I had to almost break her arm to get her to take half of my sandwich, although she was hungry and in a hurry and really thought it looked great, it took some talking and she finally took it. Sheesh! I thought everyone knew me well enough by now to know that I don’t offer up my food out of politeness…just kidding! I do. But I really don’t eat the full portion they throw at you in restaurants.

As our meal and drinks came in in varying stages, a few minutes after Devilfish left, the waiter came by and told us that our meal had been taken care of by the gent in the booth. HEY! SWEET! thank you Devilfish.

After the meal was over, I did a tad bit more milling with the crowd and headed out across the valley to home. Damn it! I love my little home with its quiet peace and the only time that serenity is broken is when I get two outed in a poker tournament on PokerStars…