Still no bracelet though I did manage to congratulate John Gale on his, let me tell you he is one of the nicest guys in Poker and this should prove beyond any doubt that he deserves to be taken seriously at the table. Theo was on Dan Harringtons table so I also got to thank the great man for his books - I am reading 3 now and it is better than the first two!

Although Theo went out in 89th he played outstandingly well and just could not catch the breaks when he needed them. The pivotal hand was AK he raised out from third position 6000 (blinds 600/1200) utg who had limped dwelt up then called. The flop came K 10 4 rainbow and first to act checked to him. Now let me tell you that Theo was not playing to finish high up in the money he was playing to win and had built an excellent table image, mostly people were staying out of his way. Having put UTG on a mid or low pair he wanted to slow play for maximum value, when UTG bet out 8000 on a blank Theo min raised it to 16000 confident that he was still well ahead once again the dwell up and a call. The river was an ace that gave him 2 pair but before he UTG pushed all in a call would have crippled him if he lost. What would you do?

Great players can get away from this sort of hand, I am damn sure he was right to fold - it felt to me from the outset that UTG was on QJ and later on one of the railbirds claimed to have seen them. The next big hand was AK again and this time he played it the only way he could have done and pushed all in over the top of a raise only to be called by 7s Anna Kournikova we call it that for a reason.

This was Theo's first event in the WSOP and he made 89th out of 2050 which any of us could be rightly proud of but in common with other real players he was down about it feeling that the title was there to be won and it was. He not only took a pot off Dan Harrington with AQ that he played just right but on several occaisions Action Dan tapped the table as a sign of respect. Jealous I am, green really isnt my colour either. You will be seeing more of the New Yorker they call the "Phenom" and just like Gale when he finally wins a big one - it couldnt happen to a nicer guy