I am sure everyone is wondering how things have been since I moved over to Ultimate Bet. To put it mildly things have been great and I am running ridiculously good right now. I recently took down a single table and ran deep again for my second cash in the nightly $10 dollar which usually has 650 or so entries. I finished 16th and 26th respectively and was bad beat out of both poker tournaments.

I also final tabled a smaller 57 entry tournament for a very nice cash and took down 5th place. Basically all of the reasons I gave you guys for my leaving PokerStars have been reinforced even more. My starting bankroll has more than doubled already and I only play tournaments and single tables. Again, the difference being that UB has smaller fields giving me much better percentages to make and take down final tables. The best is yet to come!

The 2010 WSOP schedule has been announced.There will be 57 bracelet events this time around which is the same as last year. The WSOP will run from May 27th through July 17th. In a twist on the past two years the Chip Reese memorial H.O.R.S.E. event will be the first event open to all comers. The H.O.R.S.E. event still has the lofty $50k buy-in but this time will be televised unlike last season. It has also been re-named to the “Players Championship.”

Otherwise, it looks pretty much the same as last year. Unfortunately there will be another delayed final table.

I went and played the Majestic Star Deep Stacks Challenge yesterday. Another great run in that I finished up 12th out of 50 when my two pair lost to a flush draw. We got all the chips in post flop and let fate do its thing. Although it was disappointing I felt like I played excellent poker yesterday and there were no spots where I left any  money on the table. I played as flawless as possible.

I have to tell you that these special tournaments they run have outstanding structure and 30 minute levels so you get plenty of time to really play poker. There is a lot of dead money in these things and it’s relatively easy to chip up early. Looking forward to the Winter Challenge Deep Stacks event next month.

After all of the so called hype going into the final table can Darvin Moon win it all? My guess is that he is at least going to finish in 3rd place unless he has some godforsaken meltdown. Moon currently has $59 million in chips or 1/3 of the chips in play. That is a lot of chips and would certainly allow him to wait for the premium hands without risking much. After listening and seeing several interviews he seems to be a bit taken aback by his new found stardom. Darvin is a good guy that simply wants to get back to cutting down trees. Strange but true. Most of us would be thrilled to be in a situation where we could retire and enjoy life but this guy wants to go back to work. Different strokes for different folks I suppose.

The only problem I have with Moon winning is that I do not believe he would be a very good ambassador for the game. That needs to be changed by Harrah’s in my opinion. All players that play in the main event should have to sign a promotional contract to get out and do prime time interviews and talk shows to promote the game after they win. That is a very small price to pay considering you just took down $8 million plus. Also, Moon isn’t much of a talker and has very little personality. Nothing wrong with that but it does not project well on TV. I suppose one could make the same argument about Phil Ivey. In any event I am glad that this thing is only a few days away. It seems like forever already with the delay.

I decided to jump back in this weekend and it sure paid off. My hands were holding up and I played excellent poker sans a bad beat at the Final Table. I took down 5th Place this time around in the $11 buy-in 180 player tournament. I still feel that I would have easily made it into the top three had I been able to avoid a little variance at the end.

I got off to a terrible start in this particular poker tournament and had to push with only $900 chips early but I managed to triple up when I did. Once I was back up to $3k in chips I went on a run and never looked back. I quickly moved up to $10k and then $15k with a straight and flopped nut Flush taking out two players in the process. Once we got down to the money I was able to maintain my stack and get to the “Promised Land” with around $13k. I quickly doubled up and got back in the hunt and things looked good at that point.

I watched the chips fly around for a hand or two until I picked up [A][K] and the short stack pushed. I insta-called and he turned over [Q][9]. The flop came down [9][9][X] taking half of my stack with it. I still had enough chips to wait on a hand though but it never happened and I went out in fifth place. Nice run and a nice cash but you are always working to win the whole thing. Back at it later on today.