Because I played (unsuccessfully) the LHE Shoot-Out last night and I’m playing the $1,500 NLHE in 45 minutes, I have to delay or consolidate today’s edition of the Daily Tilt. 91 of 95 starters are still in the $50,000 HORSE and there were no bracelets awarded to Full Tilt pros or huge cashes that significantly alter the Full Tilt money list. In my mind, the only really significant thing that happened was Andy Bloch telling me that I’m now in the All-Time Top Ten WSOP Money Winners in Razz.

So I owe it to myself – and, who knows, maybe all of you readers – to play my rush. So I’ll be in the NLHE today and the SEOB tomorrow. But I should get some time to catch up in between, at least with the Daily Tilt. And I have plenty of stuff written that just needs to be edited so I can post it. And lots more great notes. Oh, and that Main Event thing coming.

Thursday was a day for me personally to draw a breath and, for the most part, Full Tilt and the World Series of Poker did the same. So get ready for the roller-coaster ride to the finish: $50,000 HORSE, a flurry of events in the last week before the Main Event as everyone scrambles to make or break their Series, and then The Big One.

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I finished second in the Razz yesterday. A bunch of other Full Tilt pros did stuff in other events … I guess.

Seriously, here are all the Daily Tilt updates. Other than probably playing a few more events and picking up a check occasionally, I’m not gonna go changin’ just because of a good Razz tournament finish.

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SOME DUDE WINS HIS THIRD BRACELET

I finished runner-up in the $2,500 Razz event at the World Series of Poker today. It was an exciting, thrilling, electrifying experience. Late Tuesday, I lost a couple big pots and, with 21 players to go, I was 19th or 20th in chips. It’s not possible to rebound from that, especially in limit poker, without breaks, but I was at the very top of my game, even thrilled when I had half the chip average with 13 to go at the end of Day 2.

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Miami John Cernuto was taken from the Brasilia Room on a stretcher at 5:45 PM during Day 2 of the Razz. According to a release from WSOP Media Director Nolan Dalla, “Late this evening, Cernuto called the WSOP Media Relations Team. He wishes to inform the poker community that he is now feeling much better, but will remain hospitalized for at least another day or two, while tests are conducted. He also wishes to make it clear he did not suffer a heart attack, as was initially rumored.”

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It’s 4 AM and I just got home after playing Day 2 of the $2,500 Razz. I made it into the money and broke my long cashless streak at the WSOP, stretching back to early in the 2008 Series, after I cashed in the $5,000 Mixed Hold ‘Em. I lost nearly all my chips on one disastrous hand after we got into the money, but rebounded to end the day with 102,000. There are 13 players left and I have roughly half the chip average.

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Less than two hours ago, at 5:25 PM, I just pulled in a big razz pot at table 161. As I was starting to stack and count the chips, someone yelled, “Man down on the floor!” Someone else, “There’s a player down!” “Oh my god. He’s out!”

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Vitaly Lunkin came achingly close to winning his second bracelet of the Series, finishing runner-up to Matt Graham in the $10,000 PLO World Championship in a contest that didn’t end until past 4:30 AM. Today, Jon Turner takes the chip lead into Day 3 of the $2,500 Mixed Event.

DADDY’S GOT CHIPS

After a frustrating bust-out in the Senior event, I decided to enter the “junior” event, the $2,500 Razz. Day 1 went extremely well and I’m entering Day 2 with 31,900 in chips, 22nd place.

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Today is Turn Back the Clock Day at the World Series of Poker. The Seniors NLHE starts at Noon and, in some kind of cruel joke, they scheduled Razz at 5 PM.

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It had been a year since I visited Roland de Wolfe when I saw him playing Chinese Poker with Phil Ivey at what was supposed to be my work table at a London television studio. The general buzz was that Roland had lost a bundle to Ivey so I kept quiet and let them play. Over dinner at a local dim sum restaurant, someone asked how much Phil had won from him, “A lot,” Roland said with kind of a stunned smile, his eyes a little glazed.

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