The next day they had two $515 Supers , the first had 120 players so 12 seats , with 21 left blinds were 300 600 and a 100 ante , i played 33 too aggressively and walked into QQ , i still had chips but went out on my next BB , i hung around to see if my mistake had cost me a seat as they may get to 12 quickly but in fact they ended three levels later . After dinner i decided to play the evening Super , with 195 players there were 19 seats and cash , with over half the field gone i raised the blinds on the button with 99 ,the BB moved in and i called , he had AK and turned an A .

I had an early night and came back the next day for the Media event , as i write all year for Sporting Life i am able to get media accreditation at all the major events and as at the WSOP here they had a Media event for all those who write or talk about poker whether it be online , TV or radio .

This event was to be followed by a celebrity/media buffet prior to the evenings tournament , a $3100 No Limit which is an annual charity event to benefit the Lakers Youth Foundation hosted by Jerry Buss and Frank Mariani . The buffet was at 4.15 so the organisers obviously expected the Media event which started around 12.30 to be finished by then , in actual fact it went on until nearly 6pm .

There was a true mixture of players from total beginners through to pros like Susie Issacs , Vince Burgio , Jim McManus and myself . The atmosphere was one of fun and the structure was the same as used for the $515 Super satellites starting with 2000 chips . The event was held in the ballroom and up to 4pm there was a live on site broadcast being done by a local radio station .

The winner would get a $5000 donation in their name to the Lakers Youth Foundation , a further $5000 to donate to a charity of their choice as well as a seat worth $5150 in the WPT main event !

I had no intentions of doing anything other than enjoy myself , there were 49 players and i got an idea how the play was going to go when on an early hand with blinds 25 25 , two players on my table were all in with AA v TT , flop was Q 4 8 9 , of course the river was a J to make the straight , the reason i mention this hand is the guy with the TT who survived this early all in not only also knocked me out but went on to win , that's poker !

I blinded away to 1200 then two new players joined who clearly had never played , i decided to try to get lucky against them and played a range of hands preflop , one of them 78o gave me a set and i tripled up , now with blinds at 100 200 i could start stealing , i raised with J3o on the button , the BB who was chip leader called , flop was 6 8 9 with two diamonds , we both checked , turn was an A , he checked , i represented the A with an 800 bet , he called , river was the 5 of diamonds which hit any drawing hand he may have called with , when he checked i bet out 1300 and won the pot , this guy was a good player and went on to make the final .

With blinds 150 300 , i decided to use my stack of 6700 , i raised to 900 , into the same players BB , he reraised , i put down my AJ , he showed AK , the very next round i again raised his BB , this time 975 with ATs , he reraised all in , i laid it down , he showed AA ! Anyone who thinks these media events should be a doddle for a pro is wrong !

With 15 left i had 4100 , average was around 6500 , this dropped to 2500 then when the BB was all in , one player made it 1400 to go and i flat called , flop was 8 high and he put me in for my last 1100 , luckily he had been trying to get it heads up with the all in preflop and only had TJo , i won and then moved in a couple of times to pick up the blinds .

Soon we were down to 10 and they announced that the final would be 9 and would be televised " Live at the Bike " , this is an innovative idea the Bike has recently started , basically 4 nights a week Wednesday to Saturday between 7 to 10pm PST they televise a live cash game with a 5 minute delay using 14 cameras including under table and a commentary team , this can be viewed on the web at www.thebike.com . The games range from $500 No Limit to $400 $800 Limit and occasionally will be a shootout , our final was recorded using all the Live at the Bike resources for transmission later and also will appear on the UK's Poker Channel .

With one to go the FP limped in for 800 , i called with A8s , then one player went all in , round to the BB who also went all in and the FP who had both covered also went all in , i quickly passed and they turned thier hands up , BB had JJ , limper had KK , first all in had 99 , flop was 8 4 2 , turn J and we had a final .

Average stack was 11,000 , i had 9100 and with blinds 500 1000 and a 200 ante there were going to be lots of all ins , i managed to survive to the last 4 by selectively moving in and picking up the dead money , in fact as we entered the 1500 3000 level with a 500 ante i was second chip leader , one round later we had lost our 5th place finisher , i was in the BB with Q4o , the FP raised to 6000 , passed to me with 12,500 in the pot and 3000 to call i decided he had at best a medium pair or suited connectors and at 4-1 on my money i called , flop was T Q K , i felt sure he didn't have a K so moved in , he called , i was right , he didn't have a K , he had J9s and had flopped the straight lol . Within 5 hands it was all over , our first place winner was fittingly called Bradley Gold .

My thanks to the Bike for hosting this event , there was no entry fee and apart from the $15150 package for first place 2nd to 9th also got paid , i recieved $595 and had a great afternoon .

Today i am having a days rest ready for the main event , i have drawn day one so tomorrow i will sit down with 550 players in the $5000 WPT Championship event , all hoping to still be there on day two on Monday , i have had a perfect preperation , feel good about my game and look forward to playing , follow my progress as always here at Sporting Life , from LA for now , goodbye .