After the final table, I got home at 3am. I had just been invited to play in NBC Head’s Up. My first match began at 1pm—Eli Elezra. I slept as long as possible and then sat down to play. The funny thing is, I had some trouble buying in to the tourney. I showed up with $20,000 in cash and one of the tournament directors thought I was some random guy off the street trying to buy in. When I told her I was here to play, she laughed and sarcastically asked who I was. When I told her, she apologized for not recognizing me and said she felt dumb. It’s all good. I thought it was funny.

 

This tournament is awesome. It’s bracket-style, and I know people in the audience are betting for and against me. My agent has me going deep, so I guess that’s a nice vote of confidence. I’m hoping to make my believers money and make the people betting against me, wish they hadn’t.

The match with Eli went pretty well. I got an early lead on him when he slowplayed KK and I hit trip nines. He did a good job battling back by winning multiple small pots, but ultimately, I ended up getting the money in as a large favorite. It’s a good thing these are short matches because going head to head with Eli for even one hour took everything I had.  After the match, I enjoyed an awesome fillet at Steak 9 and finally got the rest I’ve been craving.