I played in the Dream Team event at the Rio today. This event has a really cool format. Teams of three register for $560 per person. The prize pool is split 50% individually and 50% based on team performance. I was on a team with two nice young ladies, Brianna Bramer and Suzie Matzura.

The tournament had 366 players, many of which were recognizable names in the poker community. I had Justin Bonomo, Jimmy ‘gobboboy’ Fricke, and Jerry Yang at my starting table. Justin and I played $100 per question ‘What Lodden Thinks‘ using Jimmy and Jerry as our Huckleberries. We came up with some pretty cool questions such as “how many humans does Jimmy think will populate the earth in the year 2040,” and, “how many people in this year’s Main Event does Jerry think identify as being a born-again Christian?” All told, Justin took two bets off of me before he busted out of the tournament leaving me actionless.

At first break, myself and Suzie were on a paltry 4,000 chips (from 10k starting) while Brianna sat on a tournament-leading 43,000. In the fourth level, Suzie got Ace-Queen all-in against Ace-Jack which unfortunately didn’t hold up. At second break, Brianna and I each sat with 19k after I doubled up with pocket Deuces against Jimmy’s King-Deuce and again with pocket Aces against Jack-Nine of diamonds after having to sweat a sick flop of Queen-Eight-Six, two diamonds.

Brianna caught some unfortunate luck and I found myself as the last remaining member of Team Bulletproof at a table with Tom McEvoy and Pauly from Tao of Poker.

I re-raised all-in for 8 big-blinds against an aggressive young guy. My Ace-Jack was no match for his Ace-Queen.

Despite losing money, this was a really fun event that I enjoyed quite a great deal. The whole tournament had a festive atmosphere to it that one might expect to see in a charity event. Alex Outhred, the actor/poker player who busted me out of the Main Event last year, although Michael Carroll did most of the dirty work, was the emcee for the tournament. He is fantastically gifted in that role and made the experience a great deal more enjoyable.

Tonight is my last night in Vegas. I feel like I’ve been here a very long time. I’ve stayed in four different hotels and spent time with quite a few different people in varying settings. Part of me can’t wait to go home but another very significant part of me never wants the WSOP festivities to end. As they say, there’s always next year.