First off big congrates to PJ Kelly in winning his first WSOP braclet in the $1500 PLHE event, a top result for one of pokers goods guys. Once you realise that JP is the first englishman to win a braclet in TWO years you start to understand just how difficult it is to win one of these things and thus why we all go chasing the dream every year, not many people win poker events, alot less win WSOP events! So back to my atempts to land the holy grail, this time in the $1500 FLHE event. The event drew 660 runners. After the first two levels im pretty sure i was one of the chips leaders as i had close to 9,000 chips that considering the blinds played where 25/50 and 50/75 (remember its FL). The stack grew so quickly basically because i hit cards and my opponents didnt understand one of the basics of any poker, that is to fold when your beat! Even though i had a great stack so early on ive got to admit that i know im just not playing as good as i can. A big part of it is the jet-lag, i know i keep going on about it but this year i seem to be really struggling getting into Vegas time. The other thing is as many of you probably already know, Vegas is far from my favourite place on earth and the Rio is at the top of my list of places to avoid, so having to spend so much time here does start to eat away at you (well eat away at me). So back to the game, once the blinds reached 100/200 with bets of 200/400 the game starts for real, me with my big stack having an obvious big advantage over the rest of my table- that was until the following hand. Now the hand kind of shows all whats good, bad and ugly about fixed limit in one here! A serial limping calling station limps under the gun for 100, im next to act with AA and bet it to 200. Fella at the end of the table (WSOP main event final tabliest, bald head looks like a young kojack, and i dont mean skaile) three bets to 300, for me he can only have KK or a very unlikely AA here as this is the first three bet pre flop hes made since we started, everyone folds apart from of course the station who instant calls, i four bet to 400, kojack caps 500, station instant calls. The flop comes 5, 2, 10 rainbow. Station check, i bet, kojack raises, station calls, i three bet, kojack four bets, station calls! Now again pre flop i was 99% sure where i was at with kojack and i still am, as for station well i had no idea, the man was in the VERY spcial club, id seen him play several hands like this then fold on the river, chasing dreams was his game. So to the turn where a 8 falls, station checks and now i decided to check and kojack bets, station you guessed it calls and i now raise, im pretty sure im in front of kojack and i also thing even station will take this move as a real show of strength, and of course im very likely to still be infront..............so kojack calls and station calls! The river is a 7 and we all check, kojack turns over KK and station turns over 75 soooooooooooted and then says, i thought you had a set!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jes youve just got to love um! Now this hand is not a badbeat story at no stage did i get upset by the stations play, that was his game and as far as FL goes he is the ideal player to play against. Then theres my play and kojacks play, in FL all you can try to do is get very strong starting hands played heads up, we capped pre flop and flop trying to get that situation and we pulled along the joey at a very good price in the process, and then on the river we saved a bet each, in truth we played it as good as we could and the station played it as bad as he could (dont forget he put me on a set on the turn and still called with his pocket pair with a 7 kicker!!!)..............and thats why this game is bloody painful! A few hands later i was moved to a table with a few flair players, any ace was for sure the nuts that wasnt to be layed down. Against this type of table theres only so much you can do and the option is just tighen up and play good hands against them. With the dinner break arriving i had fallen to 3,500 chips. The idea of hanging around the Rio for an hour and half to come back and play such a tiny stack wasnt something i wanted to do- i was looking for a spot to gamble. On the button i was dealt Ah3h and one of the super loose, super aggressive, super stars raises to 600 im the only caller. The flop is 3s 2h 7h. He bets 600 and i raise, he calls. Turn 3c, he bets and i raise he then checks my stack, tells me hes knows im winning (the fella was such a good player............not!!!) and raises me basically allowing me to get it all in which we do. So we flip our cards over and im expecting to see 1010 or the like....................and he turns over A8! And that was the standard of player we are dealing with here! Special!!!!!! At the dinner break after 6 hours and 6 levels the field had been reduced to 300 players!!!!!!! 6 hours into a a 3 day event and weve lost half the field! On my return i drop a few bets with mid pairs that hit flops with 3 over cards and the stack drops to 4,000 eith blinds running at 200/400 with bets of 400/800. Then i play my biggest pot of the night and my last. On my left i have the three over aggressive loons, loon one bets 800, loon two is all in for 1000 and loon three four bets to 1200. Now i have a no brainer play, ive got the possibilty of a big pot with a hand that will play very good against the combined range of club loon. I call. Flop is a dream A Q 2 rainbow. Loon one bets 400, loon three raises 800 i make it 1200, and eventually we get it capped. On the Turn i get my money all in and the pot is a very tastey 13,000 which would put me above average chips. The river was a 10. loon one just folds the river?! loon two short stackes had KQ, and loon three who capped it flop and was the raising player on the turn had 1010!!!!!!!! Now that is a badbeat story!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And thus my second attempt at winning a braclet in 2009 comes to a painful end. Next stop is the $2000 NLHE event on Monday, until then i plan to eat, sleep and grind the cash and stay away from that house of depression the Rio !