Single Table Satellites, or How I learned to stop worrying and love winning a ton of money.

As the first day of the Main Event approached I decided to try to win my way in by playing single table satellites. The buy ins for these range from $225 to $1030, with the winner getting tournament chips that are good toward events. What often happens as the end of these approach is the players deciding to split the prize pool so as not to come away empty handed. I took my shot and came up with enough that I felt comfortable buying in to the Championship event. At some point during the day I realized that I really can play with this crowd.

Yes, I will be playing in the largest poker tournament in history on Monday. The total prize pool is expected to approach $90,000,000.

Ran into Doctor Pauly shortly after he busted from the Celebrity/Media event.

Celebrities spotted today: Penn Jillette, Billy Burke, Dick and Vince Van Patton, Cindy Margolis, the lovely and incredibly nice Shannon Elizabeth (who caused me to lose money after placing a last longer bet, with my opponent taking Cindy -- Shannon apologized to me after busting out) and porn icon Ron Jeremy.

Poker pros I spoke to: I thanked Phil Gordon for his pre-tourney advice and he asked how it turned out. He seemed genuinely excited for me when I told him how deep I had gone. When I ran into Joe Hachem before the start of day two and thanked him for his advice he asked how I did and when I told him I was still in he also seemed very thrilled, calling for a high five. Johnny Chan, Kenna James also.