I know, I know ...

I guess I better get on here and explain why I'm now several days late on posting my promised update. Quite simply, work has been hell on greased roller skates this week. I can't remember the last time I've had a stretch like this: 10 hours Monday, 14 hours Tuesday, 10 hours Wednesday, 15 hours Thursday ... oh, and Friday isn't even here yet.

And it just doesn't look to get any better. Friday will also be a late day. Of course, there's that beautiful three-day weekend coming up, right? Hell, no. Sure, I'm getting three days off, but the mother-in-law is coming in so that she and my wife can paint the living room, which means moving furniture for me and some god-forsaken ugly surprise that is bound to rear its ugly head. They've had two of these mother-daughter home improvement weekends so far this year, and both times have flat out kicked my ass. First it was to paint the bathroom and lay down new tile. Simple, right? Not after they pulled up the old tile, which suddenly made my job "replace the entire fucking bathroom floor." Then it was time to paint the kitchen and laundry room, but somehow that turned into me replacing a storm door (hell has no greater torment) and finishing the painting once they got sick of it, on top of all the prerequisite moving refrigerators and shit. And now, on one of exactly two three-day weekends I get this year, it's time to do it all over again.

I've already told the wife that I am hoping to have a car wreck Friday night, preferably fatal, but I'll settle for anything that puts me in the hospital for the next six months or so.

On the positive side (read: the past), I've had some fantastic poker results lately. Not anything too spectacular for the old bankroll, but at least some improvement that has netted me a slow, steady gain and a buttload of new confidence in my game. But, alas, I only had enough energy to get on here and bitch about having to actually work. I'll have my war stories for whenever my servitude comes to a sufficient pause.

Until then, I'll just have to entertain you with Day 1 results from the WSOP Circuit N'awlins Main Event:

WSOP Circuit New Orleans - Main Event Day 1

No-Limit Hold’em
Buy-in: $10,000
Number of Entries: 259
Prize Pool: $2,460,500

Harrah’s New Orleans hosted the fifth stop on the 2005 World Series of Poker Circuit. The championship event attracted a record 259 entries competing for nearly $2.5 million in prize money. The chip leader after Day One is Nick Mao, from Long Beach, CA. Mao, with 90,075, has a sizable chip edge versus the rest of the field. Howard Lederer is in second place with 67,525.

Day Two will resume on Thursday, May 26th at 2 pm CST. Two former world champions, Doyle Brunson (1976, 1977) and Huck Seed (1996), remain in the event.

The final table of the championship event, comprised of nine players, will be played on Saturday, May 28th, starting at 2 pm CST.

END OF DAY ONE CHIP COUNTS (REMAINING PLAYERS):
Nick Mao, 90,075, Long Beach, CA
Howard Lederer, 67,525, Las Vegas, NV
Don Mullis, 57,675, Mooresville, NC
David Williams, 57,325, Las Vegas, NV
Woody Van Stratum, 56,975, Cookeville, TN
Matt Gardner, 55,725, Charleston, SC
Ryan Buckholtz, 51,425, San Diego, CA
Jason Tate, 51,150, Brentwood, TN
William Hobbs, 50,100, New Iberia, LA
Scott Clements, 49,525, Mt. Vernon, WA
Jonah Rogers, 48,600, Houston, TX
Thomas "Buzzer" Bihl, 46,500, Frankfurt, Germany
Barry Greenstein, 45,900, Rancho Palos Verdes, CA
Russell Rosenblum, 43,050, Bethesda, MD
Jush "Haas" McCallie, 42,175, San Marcos, TX
Craig Hueffner, 40,725, Franklin, WI
Matt Overstreet, 40,200 8-8 Oxford, MS
Eric Cloutier, 39,550, Mat-Laurier, Quebec
David Clayton, 38,200, Blackpool, England
Marvin Duarte, 37,650, Miami, FL
Marvin Davis, 36,650, Houma, LA
Patrick Connelly, 36,050, Lacombe, LA
Ted Lawson, 35,450, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Aldo de Luca, 34,450, Dutch Caribbean
Tracy Scala, 33,400, Boca Raton, FL
Robert Williamson III, 33,250, Dallas, TX
Vincent Napolitano, 31,000, Williston Park, NY
Roy Nelson, 30,700, Madisonville, LA
Rafael Perry, 30,050, Las Vegas, NV
Philip Crock, 30,025, Manchester, UK
Dennis G. Perry, 29,300, Williamstown, KY
Alex Balandin, 29,075, New City, NY
Antonio Esfandiari, 28,775, San Francisco, CA
Bob Kahan, 27,175, Tiburon, CA
Evelyn Ng, 26,900, Toronto, Ontario
Imre Leibold, 26,900, Tallinn, Estonia
Marlon Labbe, 26,450, Laffayette, LA
Matt Smith, 25,425, Tallahassee, FL
Joe Leibman, 25,250, Ft. Atkinson, WI
Johan Koops, 24,975, Groningen, Sweden
Jamus Jacobs, 24,900, Covington, LA
Harry Cullen, Jr., 23,900, Houston, TX
Walter Chambers, 23,875, Baton Rouge, LA
Erik Seidel, 23,825, Las Vegas, NV
Corey A. Bierria, 23,800, Atlanta, GA
Reno Williamson, 23,100, Moorseville, LA
Doyle Brunson, 22,900, Las Vegas, NV
Robert Willis, 22,900, Grenada, MS
Jeffrey Lipton, 22,425, Palos Verde, CA
Mike Graffeo, 22,075, Fort Mill, SC
Minh Ly, 22,075, Las Vegas, NV
Darrell Hardin, 22,025, Gastonia, NC
Dewey Tomko, 21,825, Winter Haven, FL
Payne Farrell, 21,575, Kenner, LA
Brian Green, 21,225, San Jose, Costa Rica
Jason Loverdi, 20,900, New Orleans, LA
Bob Shallow, 20,175, Gulf Shores, AL
Jeff Campbell, 19,875, Atlanta, GA
Brandon Adams, 18,725, New Orleans, LA
Herbie Montalbano, 18,625, New Orleans, LA
Mitchell Curole, 18,450, New Orleans, LA
Mark Cole, 18,225, Greensboro, NC
Dan Schmiech, 18,050, Houston, TX
Michael Loos, 17,500, Hopewell Junction, NY
Eliyahu Levy, 17,250, N. Miami, FL
Stephen Lazar, 16,775, New Orleans, LA
Bui Van Nguyen, 16,600, Harvey, LA
Doug Booth, 16,375, Bowling Green, KY
William Henrickle, 16,350, Kenner, LA
John Juanda, 16,250, Marina Del Rey, CA
Nick Rumore, 16,000, New Orleans, LA
Adam Cirnigliaro, 15,575, East Northport, NY
Thomas Pullen, 14,000, Sumrall, MS
Blake Buffington, 13,225, Arlington, TX
Michael Capener, 12,825, Phoenix, AZ
William P. Matthews, 12,475, Longview, TX
Cyril Gittens, 12,450, Miami, FL
Nathan Wade, 12,400, Knoxville, TN
Chuck Goldhammer, 12,300, Naples, FL
Mark Burkland, 12,225, Houston, TX
Larry Speck, 12,150, Bossier City, LA
Marc Horowitz, 11,875, New York, NY
Radar Nguyen, 11,825, Murphy, TX
Tony Cason, 11,800, Shreveport, LA
Mike Caro, 11,775, Shell Knob, MO
Jose Rosenkrantz, 11,175, San Jose, Costa Rica
Louis Bonnecaze, 10,850, Baton Rouge, LA
Niklas Nilsson, 10,700, Stockholm, Sweden
Jeff Purpera, 10,075, Denham Springs, LA
Sonny Perry, 9,775, Nashville, TN
Huckleberry Seed, 9,725, Las Vegas, NV
Ted Mullikin, 9,275, Gatlinburg, TN
Wayne J. Landry, 8,500, New Orleans, LA
Stephen Walker, 8,175, London, UK
Chau Giang, 8,050, Las Vegas, NV
Fred Berger, 7,850, Slidell, LA
Ross Romash, 7,550, Golden Beach, FL
Torrey Reily, 7,500, New Orleans, LA
Dan Hicks, 7,275, Tampa, FL
Ben Loesel, 7,200, Milwaukee, WI
Vince Palma, 6,425, Egg Harbor City, NJ
Richard Neal Hensarling, 6,375, Laffayette, LA
Brian Kaplan, 5,575, McHenry, IL
Sam Von Duhn, 5,225, Woodale, IL
Danny Haag, 4,900, Metairie, LA
Matt Keikoan, 4,125, Richmond, CA
Tony Sevnsom, 3,950, Houston, TX
Robert Black, 3,625, Slidell, LA
Tony Hellmann, 2,075, Louisville, KY

Report by Nolan Dalla – World Series of Poker Media Director
Harrah’s New Orleans Poker Room Manager – Rick Korte
World Series of Poker Tournament Director – John Grooms
World Series of Poker Circuit Director – Ken Lambert