3 PM Oct 29 2012, Rio, 6th (11 entries)

Managed to play yet another tournament before leaving Las Vegas a couple days later. This was the day when the October Nine played. I planned to go watch, but didn't know what time it started, how long the line would be, etc. So I went down to the Rio at 1 PM. Turned out it didn't start until 5 PM, so I had some time to kill. Sat down to play a little in a cash game before entering the daily 3 PM tournament.

One memorable thing was, not only did the player to my right make quad fives on the very first hand of the tournament, he doubled up with them. I went out on a hand where I was ahead going into the river, and someone hit a gutshot straight or something like that to beat me. As always, it was disappointing to get knocked out, but the timing was good for watching the October Nine, as when I walked over there, what had earlier been a massive line waiting to get in was now no line at all. There were still a few seats left, so I got to walk straight in.

I stayed there until there were only three players left, right around midnight. The next day I stayed until 2 AM watching three players play for eight hours and having their chip stacks end up right where they had begun. It took another four hours for the best player at the table Greg Merson to finally take down the championship.