Event #2 of the WSOPE, £5,250 Pot-Limit Omaha, has concluded with 2009 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro earning his 5th career bracelet, defeating Joe Serock heads-up, earning £159,154 in the win. Serock collects £98,262 for the runner-up finish. Willie Tann and Chris Bjorin, final tablists in event #1, finished 3rd and 9th respectively. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report, will be available shortly at www.wsop.com.

Day 1b of the £1,075 NL Holdem event drew a field of 195 players, with 27 returning Monday afternoon after 9 levels of play. The day 1b chip leader is Wesley Pantling, brother of Andrew Pantling, who finished 2nd to Phil Laak in Event #1 earlier this week. Other notables returning: Andrew Licthenberger – 42,400, EPT Vilamoura winner Toby Lewis – 35,300 and Scott Fischman – 23,200. Full chip counts at WSOP.com.

Elsewhere …

WPT Borgata Poker Open – Atlantic City :: 311 players registered for day 1a of the $3,300 + 200, $2,000,000 Guaranteed event, check out the updates over at WorldPokerTour.com.

PokerStars APPT Auckland – Final table action has just begun, PokerNews and the PokerStars blog are covering that action. The “godfather of New Zealand hip-hop”, Danny ‘Brotha D’ Leaoasavaii holds the chip lead.

Commerce Holdem Series – Final table of 2,085 NL Main Event – live streaming available here.

A review of Monday afternoon’s action:

Ivey, Juanda, Lisandro among final ten in 3k HORSE

Ten players remain in the $3,000 HORSE event, with Ryan Hughes (860,000) leading the field on dinner break. Other notables returning include Bill Chen (700,000), John Juanda (670,000), David “Not Bakes” Baker (450,000), Jeff Lisandro (445,000), Chad Brown (395,000) and Phil Ivey (180,000). Play resumes shortly, see who wins a bracelet at PokerNews.

Mahmood v Schmjekal at it again in 10k HU

Match #2 in the $10,000 No-Limit Heads-Up Championship final is underway, Mahmood only needs to win once more while Schmjekal needs to win two straight to earn a bracelet. PokerNews will be there for the long haul, hoping for a swift conclusion.

Frye cooking the field at 1k NL Day 2

Around 150 players remain on day 2 of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem with Jeff Frye leading the field with 280,000 in chips as they return from dinner break. Other notables: Ryan D’Angelo (175,000), Scott Montgomery (140,000), Leo Margets (122,000) and Svetlana Gromenkova (73,000). See who’s cashed so far and get updates at wsop.com.

Jetten blasts into 10k Pot-Limit Holdem lead

62 players remain during day 2 of the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem Championship with Peter Jetten (605,000) holding the lead, with 27 players making the money which will be reached sometime this evening. Other notables: Tom Marchese (318,000), Jason Lester (290,000), Allen Kessler (245,000), Vitaly Lunkin (215,000), Burt Boutin (142,000) and Amnon Filippi (98,000). PokerNews will be go deep into the night providing updates and chip counts for people to track their favorites.

Shootout draws plenty of shooters

The $1,500 No-Limit Holdem Shootout drew a field of 1400 players, with the 140 ten-handed tables playing to a winner for round 1. The 140 winners return Tuesday afternoon, among the winners so far include Michael Binger, Adam Levy, Isabelle Mercier, Bryan Devonshire, Robert Mizrachi, Annette Obrestad, Rob Perelman, Chau Giang, JC Tran and Victor Ramdin. To see who else moves on this evening, check out wsop.com.

Razz draws hundreds to get frustrated

The 5pm tournament on Monday was the $2,500 Razz, which drew a field of 365 entrants starting with 7,500 in chips. Among the early chip leaders: Frank Kassela (14,300), Team Pokerati/Loudmouth Poker pro Tom Schneider (11,200), Dutch Boyd (10,600), and Lacey Jones (8,000). Eight hours of play are on the agenda, and PokerNews will be there to cover the excitement, if it can be found.

Recapping Sunday night’s WSOP action:

Angle corners Seniors’ bracelet

78-year old Harold Angle of Sun City Center, Florida defeated Michael Minetti heads-up to win the $1,000 Seniors’ No-Limit Holdem Championship and add $487,994 to his bank account. Minetti earned $301,389 for the runner-up finish. As Dan noted in the post below, Tom Schneider finished 14th in his WSOP Seniors’ debut. The full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report is available at wsop.com.

Mahmood leads 10k Heads-Up final 1-0

The finals of the $10,000 No-Limit Holdem Heads-Up Championship was expected to have finished earlier today, but the first match in the best-of-three final between Ayaz Mahmood and Ernst Schmejkal took over six hours to complete, with Mahmood eventually winning. Play will resume at 7pm tonight as they play to a finish, hopefully.

Juanda leads stacked 3k HORSE

25 players remain on day 3 of the $3,000 HORSE, with John Juanda (393,000) leading the way when play resumes at 3pm. The stacked field includes David “Not Bakes” Baker (373,000), Phil Ivey (205,000), Jeff Lisandro (193,000), Dan Heimiller (180,000), Bill Chen (158,000), David Benyamine (137,000), Chad Brown (108,000), Scott Seiver (105,000) and David Singer (93,000). The full list of chip counts are available at PokerNews.

Marchese leads 10k PL Holdem Day 2

A field of 268 players started Sunday afternoon in the $10,000 Pot-Limit Holdem Championship, after ten hours of play, Thomas Marchese emerged as the leader with 334,600 in chips when play resumes at 3pm today. Some of the notables returning include Dani Stern (200,500), John Duthie (171,400), Noah Boeken (136,400), Blair Rodman (92,900), Mike Matusow (77,300) and Shannon Shorr (72,700). The top 27 players get paid, with the winner pocketing $617,214. The full list of chip counts are available at PokerNews.

D’angelo leads 1k NL day 1b field

Day 1b of the $1,000 No-Limit Holdem tournament drew a field of 1,119 players, with 165 of them joining the 268 day 1a players when play resumes at 2:30pm. The top 324 players make the money, with the winner picking up $481,760 at the cashier. The full list of chip counts for both days is available at wsop.com.

Monday’s tournaments

Two tournaments on the schedule today, first is the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem Shootout at 12pm. This has a listed cap of 2,000 players, which appears to be a strange number to use for a shootout. If more than 1000 players are registered, 20 additional tables will be added, with some tables being 9-handed. The winners from round 1 will make the money and return on Tuesday, with the winners of those tables playing on Wednesday to determine a winner. With a 1,000 player cap last year, Jeffrey Carris won this event last year, good for $313,673. The 5pm tournament is the $2,500 Razz, won by Jeff Lisandro in a field of 315 for $188,390.

Recapping Thursday’s action with two bracelet winners:

Keikoan grinds out 10k limit title

After almost five hours of heads-up play, Matt Keikoan defeated Daniel Idema in the $10,000 Limit Holdem World Championship. Keikoan earns $425,969 and his second WSOP gold bracelet, while Idema will have to be consoled with earning $263,244 for the runner-up finish. Full results and Nolan Dalla’s tournament report are available at wsop.com.

Proulx powers his way to PLO bracelet

Miguel Proulx dispatched Loren Klein in heads-up play to win the $2,500 Pot-Limit Omaha bracelet along with $315,311 early Friday morning. Klein pockets $195,147 for falling just short of the bracelet. Dalla’s report and full results at wsop.com.

Gonzales leads 1500 NL field for day 3

Day three of the $1,500 No-Limit Holdem has Christopher Gonzales leading the field with 1,315,000 in chips as 21 players remain when play resumes at 3pm to play down to a winner. Other notables: Neil Channing (461,000), Jean Gaspard (413,000), and David Sands (346,000). Chip counts for the remaining field is online at PokerNews.

Puchkov leads HORSE field on final day

The final day of the $1,500 HORSE will have Konstantin Puchkov (465,000) leading the final 24 players when play resumes at 3pm. Others looking to make their way to the top include Robert Mizrachi (238,000), Allen Kessler (229,500), Cliff Josephy (165,500), Chip Jett (120,000) and defending champion James Van Alstyne (111,500). The full field is now online at PokerNews.

Harder holding 5k 6-max lead for day 2

Day two of the $5,000 No-Limit Holdem 6-max event has 116 players remaining when play resumes at 2:30 this afternoon with Christian Harder the chip leader with 258,700. Other big names returning to win the $667,433 top prize include David “Devilfish” Ulliot (176,000), Phil Ivey (148,300), Isaac Haxton (123,100), Chad Brown (101,400), and Todd Terry (99,500). The full list of chip counts can be found here.

Smith boosted into PLO/PLH lead

Justin “Boosted J” Smith (130,000 in chips) leads the day 2 field of 126 survivors in the $2,500 Pot-Limit Holdem/Pot-Limit Omaha event when action resumes at 3pm. The tournament drew 428 entrants, with the top 45 making the money, with $260,517 going to the winner. Other notables returning include Victor Ramdin (54,750), Ashton Griffin (44,000), Jeff Lisandro (40,200),

Friday’s tournaments

Two tournaments on Friday’s agenda, with the 12pm event the $1,000 Seniors’ No-Limit Holdem Championship, with players who are 50 years old and over eligible to participate. Last year’s winner was Michael Davis who defeated a field of 2,707 entrants, good for $3437,358. The 5pm tournament is the $10,000 Heads-Up No-Limit Holdem Championship, guaranteed to attract a sold-out field of 256. Last year Leo Wolpert was the winner, earning $625,682.

The first three levels of the Main Event have seen over 900 players already hit the rail, leaving around 1,100 players returning from dinner break. The unofficial chip leaders are Brian Hanson and James Akenhead with 625,000 in chips. Other notables with an above average stack (currently around 170,000): Owen Crowe (555,000), Bertrand Grospellier (520,000), Sorel Mizzi (445,000), David Benyamine (402,000), Phil Hellmuth (390,000), Phil Ivey (360,000), Lou Diamond Phillips (345,000), Mike Sexton (297,000), Dennis Phillips (240,000), Tom Schneider (230,000), 2009 WSOP Player of the Year Jeff Lisandro (211,000) and Jason Alexander (190,000).

Notables who hit the rail:

Erik Seidel, Raymond Rahme, Jimmy Fricke, Jean-Robert Bellande, Bill Edler, Darus Suharto, Ville Wahlbeck, “Miami John” Cernuto, Bryan Micon, Roland de Wolfe and Sam Farha.

More stuff from Pokerati later this evening as the money bubble may be reached tonight, depending on how fast the eliminations go after dinner.

It’s been a mixed week for European players at the WSOP. Things got off to a flying start in the $1,500 No Limit Hold’em tournament and the $3,000 No Limit Hold’em Triple Chance event. German players Joh Carsten ($1,500 NLHE) and Jörg Peisert ($3,000 NLHE Triple Chance) both took bracelets back to Germany with Deutschland über alles ringing in their ears. Carsten banked a $664,426 win whilst Peisert took a shade over $500,000 for his efforts.

The following events saw the Europeans go back into their shells somewhat. The $1,500 Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo saw Jack Rosenfeldt finish the event as the highest European player in 11thplace. Rosenfeldt banked a little over $9,000 for his efforts. England’s Steve Jelinek was down in 19th in an event dominated by Americans.

The case was much the same as the next few side events concluded. Americans dominated while the Europeans picked up the scraps. The $1,500 No Limit Hold’em event saw France’s David Jaoui as the highest European player in 8th place for $87,855, as 2817 players made eventual winner Tony Veckey, from Illinois, $673,276 richer.

More…

The final Day 1, as Dan noted is already over 2,500 entrants with players now being registered into Buzio’s. The first three days had players seated at nine-handed tables, but is it possible they’ll have to start today ten-handed to accommodate as many players as possible? There’s still six hours to find out the answer to that question.

Back to Day 1c, 1,106 players will return Wednesday afternoon to join the Day 1d survivors for Day 2b, playing 4 two-hour levels. The day 1c chip leader is Joseph Cada, with 187,225 in chips. Other notables with chips: Jeff Lisandro (146,950), Tuan Le (110,000), Justin Bonomo (103,425), Alex Bolotin (92,500), Pat Poels (87,200), Adam Junglen (80,475), Terrence Chan (67,075), Dennis Phillips (63,325) and Dan Shak (55,200). To see the complete list of chip counts, click on this link.

To see how they squeeze in all those players, check out Pokerati during the day, and be sure to follow the updates from www.wsop.com, Pauly, and Pokerati during the day.

The Day 1c field has returned from its dinner break a few minutes ago, with two more levels to play today. The difference between this field and the first two Day 1’s is that the field as well as tomorrow’s field will play 5 two-hour levels. When Day 2a commences Tuesday, they’ll also play 5 two-hour levels, while the Day 2b field will play 4 levels. A field of 1,697 were registered today, and there’s a possibility that Monday’s Day 1d field could be sold out. If not, it will certainly be the largest Day 1 field with well about 2,300 already registered.

Notable names already eliminated: Annie Duke, Daniel Negreanu, Evelyn Ng, John Caldwell, Lacey Jones, Chino Rheem, and Jamie Gold. The unofficial leader at this time is Jeff Lisandro, looking for his 4th bracelet this year, leading the field with 132,000 in chips. Other notables with stacks include Hevad Khan (94,000), Joe Hachem (88,000), David Singer (78,000), Justin Bonomo (56,800), Brett “gank” Jungblut (51,000), Scotty Nguyen (49,000), and Dan Harrington (47,500). Other chip counts and live updates can be found at the wsop.com site here.

More updates later this evening from Team Pokerati, and another update from me in the morning recapping who’s left at the end of the night.

Recapping the still ongoing action from Tuesday night:

$50k HORSE Final Table, It Keeps Going, and Going, and Going…

It’s 9:15am PT, but the final table of the $50,000 HORSE is still going with David Bach and John Hanson playing heads-up with Bach holding a slim chip lead. Erik Sagstrom finished in 3rd, Vitaly Lunkin was eliminated in 4th, Huck Seed finished in 5th and Ville Wahlbeck finished in 6th place. Unless Wahlbeck makes a deep run in the Main Event, Jeff Lisandro appears to have locked up the WSOP Player of the Year with Wahlbeck a close second. For those of you who have followed the nearly 17-hour final table from beginning to end, God bless you.

“Whackjob Surprise” Goes Deep in $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw

Nine players remain in the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball when play resumes at 2pm. Here’s how the remaining players will be seated:

Seat 1: Hertzel Zalewski – 111000
Seat 2: Nam Le – 95000
Seat 3: Masayoshi Tanaka – 345000
Seat 5: Brad Libson – 146000

Seat 1: Kris Lord – 87000
Seat 2: Julie Schneider – 163000
Seat 3: John Juanda – 182000
Seat 4: Blair Rodman – 358000
Seat 6: Abe Mosseri – 447000

The reason for the title of this section is that it was a comment made regarding Julie Schneider by Daniel Negreanu on his Twitter. He would later add the following upon finding out she read his Twitter: “Apparently the lady reads my twitter. Oops lol. Oh well, when I sat down I swore she was a little off or slow. My bad!”. Negreanu eventually finished in 16th.

Halpern Lawyers Up in Stud 8

New Orleans attorney David Halpern defeated William Kohler heads-up to take down the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Better picking up his first WSOP bracelet along with $159,048.

Piesert Gets Bracelet for Dessert

The country of Germany gets its second WSOP bracelet winner with Jorg Piesert taking down the $3,000 Triple Chance NL Holdem title along with $506,800, defeating Jason DeWitt in heads-up play. After going 50 events without a win, Germany wins on consecutive days, following Carsten Joh’s win in the $1,500 NL event Monday night.

Final Day of Final $1,500 NL

Sergey Konkin, who may also be Sergey Pomerantsev as Konkin’s name didn’t appear on the Day 1 chip counts, is the chip leader (1,400,000) with 28 players remaining in the $1,500 NL Holdem Spectacular when play resumes at 1pm. The most notable name of the remaining 28 is Vivek Rajkumar at just 216,000.

$5,000 NL 6-max

Day 2 of the $5,000 NL Holdem 6-max event begins at 2pm with 160 players remaining, with 90 players making the money. Rory Mathews leads with 369,800 in chips. Others with chips: Faraz Jaka (294,500) , Davidi Kitai (166,300), Justin Bonomo (138,600), Raymond Davis (131,400), Shaun Deeb (114,800), Yevgeniy Timoshenko (107,100), Phil Hellmuth (101,200) and Kenna James (85,500).

More stuff from Pokerati during the day, and follow the live updates this morning for the HORSE event, as long as it’s still ongoing at www.wsop.com

Recapping Sunday night’s action:

Bracelet Winners go 1-2-4 in Limit Shootout

Greg Mueller becomes the fourth double bracelet winner at this year’s WSOP, taking down the $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout, good for $194,854 as he denied Marc Naalden his second bracelet this year. The only year where more players have won more at least two bracelets was 2003 (Ivey, Juanda, Men Nguyen, Ferguson, Chan and Flack) . Millie Shiu finished in 3rd, tied for the highest placing woman in an open WSOP event this year(Ming Reslock in the $1,500 Omaha-8 and Laurence Grondin in the $2,000 NL Holdem). David Williams finished in thirdfourth..

Lunkin Looking to Make it Five in $50k HORSE

Vitaly Lunkin, winner of the first open bracelet ($40,000 NL Holdem) leads the remaining 19 players in the $50,000 HORSE event going into day 4. Three players will make zero on their investment, as they play down to the final table today starting around 2pm. Here’s how the remaining players will be seated:

(Table 58)
Seat 1: Erik Sagstrom – 1315000
Seat 2: Erik Seidel – 464000
Seat 3: Steve Billirakis – 576000
Seat 5: David Chiu – 397000
Seat 6: Mike Wattel – 779000
Seat 7: Chau Giang – 616000

(Table 60)
Seat 1: Huck Seed – 672000
Seat 2: Ray Dehkharghani – 262000
Seat 4: Brett Richey – 671000
Seat 6: Todd Brunson – 145000
Seat 7: Vitaly Lunkin – 1527000
Seat 8: Frank Kassela – 499000

(Table 62)
Seat 1: Tony G – 642000
Seat 2: David Bach – 1265000
Seat 3: John Hanson – 815000
Seat 5: Ville Wahlbeck – 842000
Seat 6: John Kabbaj – 678000
Seat 7: Freddy Deeb – 1300000
Seat 8: Gus Hansen – 801000

Durand Looking for Durability in $1,500 NL Holdem

Day 3 of the $1,500 NL Holdem starts with 30 players remaining, with Thibaut Durand (1,650,000) holding the chip lead when play resumes around 1pm PT. Owen Crowe (1,025,000), Josh Schlein (875,000), and Alex Jacob (274,000) are the most recognizable names remaining. When the final table is eventually reached, bluffmagazine.com and wsop.pkr.com will stream all the action.

Australians go 1-2 in Triple Chance

Day 1 of the $3,000 Triple Chance NL Holdem ended with 149 players remaining and it’s two Australians who hold the top spots when play resumes around 2pm today. Tim Horan is the chip leader (149,000), followed by Harris Pavlou (137,300). Notables returning on day 2 include Jeff Lisandro, Antonio Esfandiari, Shane Schleger, Nick Binger, Mike Caro, Noah Schwartz and Praz Bansi.

Prescott Gives Field Allie Can Handle in Stud 8

Day 2 of the $1,500 Stud Hi/Lo 8 or Betterevent resumes around 2pm with 146 players remaining, with Allie Prescott leading the field with 52,500 in chips. Notables returning include Jim Geary, Annie Duke, Marcel Luske, Daniel Negreanu, Barry Greenstein, Jon Turner, Matt Savage and Norman Chad.

Monday’s Tournaments

The 12pm $1,500 NL Holdem Donkament is already sold out, although there’s always the slim chance they’ll open a few more seats during the day. This is the seventh event of the $1,500 NL Holdem of this year’s WSOP, so it’s a “new” event, not having a winner last year. The 5pm (if it starts on time) event is the $2,500 2-7 Triple Draw Lowball event, won last year by John Phan for just over $150,000 in a field of 238. The WSOP Staff Guide projects a field of 262 entries.

Today and tomorrow will both be extremely busy with six tournaments going on at the same time, so check out www.wsop.com for live updates, and Pokerati for other stuff during the day.

It really couldn’t be much more clear … this will probably be good evidence for poker as a game of skill:

· Multiple Gold Bracelet Winners at the 2009 WSOP:

Jeffrey Lisandro — 1st, 1st, 1st
Brock Parker — 1st, 1st
Phil Ivey — 1st, 1st
Greg “FBT” Mueller — 1st, 1st (+7th)

· Gold Bracelet Plus 2nd-Place Finishers at the 2009 WSOP:

Ville Wahlbeck — 1st, 2nd (+ 3rd)
James Van Alstyne — 1st, 2nd (+ 6th)
Pete “The Greek” Vilandos — 1st, 2nd
Angel Guillen — 1st, 2nd
Vitaly Lunkin — 1st, 2nd
Brandon Cantu –- 1st, 2nd
Marc Naalden — 1st, 2nd

· Multiple Top-Three Finishers at the 2009 WSOP:

Ville Wahlbeck — 1st, 2nd, 3rd
Eric Baldwin — 1st, 3rd
Steve Sung — 1st, 3rd
Scott Clements — 2nd, 3rd

For those who missed it live … here’s this week’s episode of The Poker Beat, where the topics of the day include Jeff Lisandro, the Lindgreanu / Greensandro bet, National Poker Week, and Miami John coverage.

on PokerRoad

The Poker Beat
Huff, Nemeth, Wise, Michalski, Stapleton
6/25/09

[audio:http://www.pokerroad.com/upload/radio/23/audio/TPB_06_25_09.mp3]

Iranian bracelet.

You just could tell … 2009 was sure to be a big year for Iran! Thought it was gonna be Farzad Rouhani who did it first at the WSOP — but he got Lisandro’d in a Stud event.

Bahador Ahmadi took down the $2,500 Mixed Hold’em event (limit and no-limit — first prize: $279k).

We’re probably not gonna get the conundrum-y bracelet ceremony I was hoping for … because though Ahmadi is Iranian, he currently calls Canada (BC) his home. But if he were to claim this victory for Iran — and the WSOP were to play the Iranian national anthem — do we stand? Do we turn our backs? And whom would we be speaking to by doing so — Ahmadinejad or supporters of Mousavi?

I suppose that’s kinda what they’re fighting about in the streets of Tehran …

UPDATE (from Cali Jen): They’ll be playing the Iranian national anthem tomorrow at 2:20 (or 2:50 – whatever they decide)

Recapping the Friday afternoon action…

Vallo Valuable in $50k HORSE

As the players return from the dinner break, Martin Vallo is the unofficial chip leader (245,000) in the $50k HORSE event with all 95 players who registered remaining. The players are now on level four, with three more levels of play scheduled before play ends for the day. Among the early leaders, Daniel Negreanu (200,000), Jeff Lisandro, (188,000), Patrik Antonius (175,000) and Todd Brunson (168,000).

Letting Ylon’s Be Bygones

Ylon Schwartz is the current chip leader (2,000,000) with three players remaining in the $2,500 Mixed Holdem event as they return from their dinner break. John McGuiness (1,200,000) and Bahador Ahmadi (750,000) round out the field. Barry Greenstein finished in 5th before heading off to join the $50k HORSE field.

Cantu Crushing PLO8

With 36 players remaining in the $1,500 Pot-Limit Omaha 8 or Better event, Brandon Cantu (525,000) is the dominant chip leader, with Tommy Vedes (225,000) a distant second. Other notables remaining: Lee Watkinson (70,000), Noah Boeken (62,000), Phil Hellmuth (58,000), and Randy Holland (46,000).

Limited Field in Limit Holdem Shootout

The late afternoon tournament, $1,500 Limit Holdem Shootout drew a field of nearly 600, seated at 64 tables. The round one winners play at eight eight-handed tables, and those winners will return on Sunday to determine the winner. No table winners have been determined yet, but expect some notable winners included in the morning update.

Catch up with all the updates over at www.wsop.com and more stuff from Team Pokerati during the evening.

I’m posting this latest Nolan interview because it touches on some familiar laments we’ve heard around these parts before. Who woulda guessed there were others who wonder how the not-best players get some of the sweeter sponsorship deals:

QUESTION: What were your expectations coming into this year’s World Series of Poker?

LISANDRO: Before it all started this year, I was very disappointed. I could not get a sponsor. I made the usual rounds to find out if anyone needed a player. I could not get a response. I spoke about it with a few of my friends. Finally I said, you know what – never mind. I am going to blast them right out of the water. I think I have done a lot in poker. But I’ve always been a little bit short of doing something really great. So, there was this doubt and maybe an excuse that I had not done quite enough to deserve (being sponsored). This year, I asked around. There was no response. No one got back to me. I’m just going to go ahead and win three (gold bracelets). I said that to a few of my closest friends. And, now I have done it.

More…