Eric and I played in the first round of the limit holdem shootout. What a nice, funny guy in addition to being a great player.

I beat him at the first table, but before I did, we agreed to save 10 percent. After beating him, I failed to get his phone number in order to contact him to arrange for payment after I won the tournament. Oops. I didn’t win.

I should have paid him his $435 before he left and figured that he would come watch me if I made the final table. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t make the final table, but I ran into Greg Mueller heads up. He’s soooo lucky.

Anyway, I owe Eric some money and want to pay him. Please help! I don’t want to be lumped in with all the other nonpaying “pieces” that I have encountered during the WSOP — and I certainly don’t want to to be included in Pokerati’s gallery of villains.

Anybody know how to get in touch with him? Seriously. I just want to pay him.

Meanwhile, our buddy Tom, the high-stakes pro who coulda made more money at Bellagio as a volunteer blogger than he did as a poker player during his 5-diamond extended weekend, is apparently all the rage in Bulgaria. Pic #1 of 100 … pretty impressive:

(Thanks, Shamus, for the link.)

All things considered, it seems only appropriate that the winner of the Pokerati Invitational was a guy who came to town to promote his new poker-related book. (Get it? Pokerati … literati … we love the confluence of poker and words.)

So big ups to Tom Schneider, semi-accomplished poker pro, author of Oops, I Won Too Much Money — and now defending PI Champion/King.

Tom will be speaking tonight at Chamberlain’s Steak and Chop House as part of the Addison Author Lecture Series.

UPDATE: Full results here.