"He looks like a little weasel!"

When I arrived at Bay 101 the action had already started. My dad came with me for the first couple of hours so I was showing him around, trying to figure out which "star" was at which table. I soon ran into the Poker Shrink and got some information. Shannon Elizabeth was a no show, much to my dad's dismay, but Liz Lieu had been asked to take her place as a "star". I'll let the guys decide if that is an upgrade or not. Also a no show was James Woods although his name was still on the schedule for today. Hellmuth had yet to arrive but that didn't surprise me. I should have asked the Shrink what the over/under was on his arrival.

My dad really doesn't know what any of the pros look like with one exception. He watched Rob and Amber's Vegas reality show so he had seen Daniel Negraneau a few times. Daniel was wearing an Owen Nolan Sharks Jersey and, when I pointed him out, my dad came up with the brilliant line that is the title of this post. Score one for dad.

Dad and I ate lunch in the Deli and, shortly after the first break I had to take him back to work. When I returned to Bay 101 about 20 minutes later, Hellmuth was still not there. I managed to find a nice place to stand and had a great view of a table that featured Kenna James, Doug Le, and Tuan Le. Tuan went all-in a couple of times and managed to double up each time. Then, about 3 hours and 13 minutes after the star, Phil Hellmuth showed up. He was at the table just to the right of the one I was watching. You would think that, since he was so late, he would be interested in doubling up soon, instead he wandered around and chatted it up with some of the other pros.

Last year, about 4 hours into the tournament they had already lost about 8 shooting stars. This year, the first didn't get knocked out until after Phil arrived. That lucky star was none other than Kathy Liebert. Shortly after Hoyt Corkins, Vanessa Ruosso, and Eli Elizra were knocked out. At that point the second break was upon us and I decided to head home. Still in when I left were: Tuan Le, Kenna James, David Williams, Gavin Smith, Cyndy Violette, J.C. Tran, Liz Lieu, Daniel Negraneau, Scotty Nguyen, Chad Brown, Freddy Deeb, Josh Arieh, Allen Cunningham, Hellmuth, John Hennigan, Nam Le, Tom McEvoy, and Robert Williamson.

I'll be back tomorrow for day two.

EDIT: I was just checking out Cardplayer to see who was knocked out since I left and noticed that Kathy Liebert is still listed on the leaderboard. I repeat....She was the first "Star" knocked out, she is no longer in the tournament despite what Cardplayer is saying. I had way less access than they do and I knew she was out, get with it Cardplayer!

I also just went back and read through some of Cardplayer's coverage, not only do they not have Kathy Liebert listed as being out but they have John Hennigan listed as being the first "star" knocked out. I can assure you that when I left at 3:45pm he was still playing, I had a good view of the back of his head.