In about 20 minutes, I'll sit down into event number five of the 2005 WCOOP, a NLHE event wth rebuys.

Rebuy events are crazy, and the first hour of this tournament should provide some very interesting live blogging fodder, as many players will have their phasers set to gamboooool!

11:55 AM: With just five minutes to go before we shuffle up and deal, 2028 players are registered, up almost a thousand since I first wrote this entry ten minutes ago.

11:59 AM: I have been seated in seat one of table 32. The player to my left, JETSETPOKER, has already bought an additional 2500 chips. Yeah, this is going to be crazy. Dr. Pauly just wished me luck. That was awesome.

Noon: Cards are in the air. I fold my first hand. The plan is to play ultra-tight until the rebuy period is over, and see what average is then.

12:03 PM: Small pocket pair in the BB, UTG min-raises, MP calls, I call. No set, no bet.

12:05 PM: Average is already 3241. We've played one orbit. Updates will move to extended, and will be less frequent than every two minutes. ;)

12:14 PM: Argh! I just flopped a straight, and couldn't get any action, even with a tiny bet on the turn. Current value of the nuts: T40.

12:17 PM: A4d on the button. Folded to me, so I raise. SB calls. Flop is A-3-5 with two spades. He checks, I bet, he calls. Turn is a brick, I bet 1/2 the pot, he calls. I figure I'm out-kicked and I'm done with this hand, until the board pairs fives on the river. We check it, and chop. He had A8o. Dr. Pauly says, "nice chop." It makes me ha-ha-happy that Doc is sweating me, even though he's also playing on table 211. Go Doc!

12:23 PM: Some statistics for you: 2146 players bought in, 2064 remain. The prize pool is currently $700,000, but that's certain to hit about a million once the rebuys are over.

12:29 PM: A funny thing just happened. Both of the blinds in the last hand were sitting out, and I guess the button didn't realize that, because he let it get folded all the way around, and the BB won the blinds without even being in his seat.

12:31 PM: UTG just made an obnoxious raise, so I had to fold Presto from the SB. Good thing, since the flop was all overcards.

12:34 PM: Just as THE HAMMER followed me around on Sunday, Dinner for Two (69) seems to be follwing me around today -- I've picked it up twice in four hands.

12:43 PM: Something I love about online poker: I can play cards with my dogs sleeping at my feet.

12:50 PM: In an unopened pot, I raised to 3X the BB from the Cutoff with KQs. The SB called. The flop came Q-A-x with two clubs. He checked, and I'm not about to go broke with second pair, so I checked behind him. The turn was another blank, and we checked it again. The river was little, and didn't put any straights or flushes on the board, so when he bet 120 into the 360 pot, I figured he didn't have the ace (since he didn't bet the flop or the turn) so I called him. He had 89o, and I took down the pot with my pair of queens. It felt good to have a correct read on my opponent.

12:55 PM: Whew! I thought about making a play at a flop of 5-7-8, but my spidey sense said to stay away . . . good thing, because my AT was up against A8 and 88. One hand later, I took down a small pot with a limp and a re-raise. Hooray for group one hands!

12:56 PM: Dr. Pauly just got busted when his JJ didn't hold up against AK. Sorry, Doc. :(

1:00 PM: JETSETPOKER is really pissing me off. I can't push him off a hand, and I can't tell if his bets are real or not. He's behind me, so I have to really slow down and carefully choose my spots from now on. At the first break, I'm down to 1740, because I couldn't call his all-in with TPTK. In retrospect, I probably should have made the call, because now I'm in double-up quickly mode. Average is 5349, and the rebuys and add-ons should start to go crazy now. Time, from Dark Side of the Moon just came on iTunes. It's an appropriate tune for the break.

1:14 PM: Two hands after the break, I got AQh UTG. I made a standard raise, hoping to get it all in on the flop, but couldn't get any action. A few hands later, I got QJo, and decided to make a move. JETSETPOKER and thenoble called, and the flop came 5-3-8. I pushed, and both players called. JETSETPOKER won with A3. I go home now in 1848th place.

1:48 PM: I thought I'd play a little heads-up, you know, for some fun . . . oh my fucking shit. I got all the money in with ATc, and I was called by 24o (?!). Of course, he caught a 4 on the flop. Tell me again why I play this goddamn game? Jesus Christ, I'd so rather be lucky than good.