The city is filling with poker players and it’s a bit out of hand. As the main event comes closer the town and it’s hotels are filled with poker players, virtually all of them here to play the main event next week. Last night i met up with a half a dozen South Africans, part of a group of at least 20 who are here to play the main event. These guys are hardcore. I stepped into their room at the Wynn and one was online at Full Tilt trying to win some $$$, while 2 more where playing heads up, on the bed, for $100 a pop. I’d call that hard core!

Here at the rio, the poker room was still half full at 11:30pm, with a ton of folks playing satellites and in the 2nd chance tournament. There are at least double the number of players that were here when i played earlier in the month. Poker fever has hit vegas. Hell, every cabbie in town is talking poker and is either a prospective player or just a big fan of poker on TV. On Wall Street, they often say “when your cabbie is talking about the top stocks to play, the bull market has peaked.” Well, i don’t think poker has peaked yet, in fact it seems that every day it’s getting bigger and with the anticipation of the largest WSOP main event in history (over 8000 players are being predicted by some), poker may grow even larger over the next year as men (and some women) from around the world watch this year’s WSOP games on TV.

I’ve bought into tomorrow’s Limit Shoot-out and am looking forward at making my 3rd WSOP tournament of the year, my best finish ever. In the meantime, i’m off to the strip for some craps, blackjack and the new Cirque “Beatles” show tonight. I’ll try to post again before the start and hopefully late last night, that i’ve won my table.

Till then, don’t play any crappy hands!