On to the Next Event

LAS VEGAS -- Larry busted out in 1,483rd place. Out of more than 22,000 players, that's pretty good. He moneyed, and he played well. It was a crazy but fun day. The remaining players will play until probably close to 3 a.m.

Tomorrow starting at noon, Larry will play in a Pot Limit Hold 'Em tournament. That one will go three days. I hope he goes the distance.

Larry waiting to play on Day 2

WSOP Colossus Day 2

LAS VEGAS -- Play starts at 5 p.m. Folks are eating in what's left of the Poker Kitchen (there are a few tables for eaters while the rest of the place has been given over to poker tables).

Some numbers:  3,448 players will start Day 2. Larry is in place 1,942 with 24,200 chips. He's at table 177, seat 3 in the Pavilion Room. The total number of entrants hasn't been figured out yet. Some people registered ahead of time for more than one "flight" -- for this event there were four flights, A, B, C and D. Larry registered for A and C, but because he lasted through the A flight, he will get a refund for flight C. It makes it complicated to know exactly how many paid entrants there were, but it's somewhere above 22,000.

Heading into the Rio for Day 2

On the roof of our hotel with Hannah last night. Blue sky at night, poker player's delight?

On to Day Two

LAS VEGAS -- Larry made it through Day 1 with 24,200 chips. They think the average is about 32,000 which means they lost about 85% of the entrants for today. (Larry did the math portion of this blog.) Players were busting out so fast that they were shifting dozens of people at a time to other tables to fill in. Larry changed tables at least 4 times. (We lost count, so it might have been 5 times.) When players start on Day 2, they will already be very close to the money bubble.

Exhausted. We get the day off tomorrow and then Day 2 starts at 5 p.m. on Sunday and will run until sometime in the middle of the night. Yawn.

Poker in the Kitchen

LAS VEGAS -- So far, so good. Play started at 10 a.m. for the $565 buy-in that they are calling the Collosus. They will have more than 20,000 buy-ins, but it will probably take days to figure out all of the numbers. I generally sit at a table in the "Poker Kitchen" to blog, but those tables have been replaced by poker tables. They can't afford to waste that space. I don't know where people will eat. The food is still available, but nowhere to sit.

Play started with a measly 5,000 chips. At the end of level 1, Larry had 6,500. People are busting out fast because they can buy in to the other three Day 1 flights. Go big or go home seems to be the theme, at least in this first flight.

Larry is ready to play

When Larry started playing, I got breakfast. The blackish looking thing is a crunchy piece of potato.

 

It's Time Again for the WSOP in Las Vegas!

PITTSBURGH -- We're leaving on Thursday for this year's WSOP lunacy in Las Vegas. What's new? The Colossus, with a $565 buy-in (as opposed to the Main Event's $10,000 buy-in) and a guaranteed prize pool of at least $5 million. Records will be set, but it's hard to know exactly which ones.

The most entrants ever in a live poker event? Predictions are of more than 20,000 players over the four Day 1 starts, so that's possible.

The most toilet flushes in a 2-day span? Potentially the most people (men) ever using the parking lot as a port-a-potty because a whole fleet of port-a-potties won't be enough.

I'll be posting photos (but probably not from the parking lot). Stay tuned.

More details here:

http://www.wsop.com/2015/Colossus-Important-Details.pdf

They're All 'Bout the Class, 'Bout the Class, No Trouble

NATIONAL HARBOR, MARYLAND -- Okay, the song is actually "All 'bout that bass, 'bout that bass, no treble," but my reference is to the English teachers and educators at the annual National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE) convention this past weekend at the Gaylord Convention Center near Washington, D.C. I attended as an author, and I got to listen in on conversations that went something like this:

"This material could work with my high school Shakespeare project." "My kids would love these books and learn about writing at the same time." "Books about real history that aren't boring. Who knew?"

My admiration for these dedicated teachers is huge. All business, all the time. These folks made sure to get their money's worth from the convention. And that's where the "no trouble" comes in. Because, in fact, there is trouble:

Not only do some of these teachers/principals/professors/education specialists have to pay their own way to this convention, but some of the teachers have to PAY THE SALARY OF SUBSTITUTE TEACHERS OUT OF THEIR OWN POCKETS in order to come to the convention. What? There's something wrong with that.

But everyone attends the NCTE to learn, and maybe to buy their year's worth of books for their students. Some carry only cash, and when it runs out, that's it. Some bring an extra empty suitcase to fill with books. And wow, were there books. All the big children's publishers, and educational publishers. Lots of "big" authors signed their books (and some of us small authors, too). Christopher Paul Curtis (THE MADMAN OF PINEY WOODS,  among many others), Tim Federle (BETTER NATE THAN EVER and FIVE, SIX, SEVEN NATE), Jon Klassan (THIS IS NOT MY HAT), Brian Floca (LOCOMOTIVE), Jane Yolen (loads of her books), and Jacqueline Woodson, new winner of the National Book Award for BROWN GIRL DREAMING (I didn't even attempt to get in that line).

Signing at the Charlebridge booth.

Meg and Stephanie with Charlesbridge

I participated in a panel of five women authors (just all happened to be women) whose books were some of the NCTE 's 30 Notable Children's Books in the Language Arts for 2014. The committee (sponsored by the Children's Literature Assembly) read over 600 books before choosing the final 30! I'm honored that PRISONER 88 made the cut.

The other panelists:  Kathi Appelt (THE TRUE BLUE SCOUTS OF SUGAR MAN SWAMP), Nancy Cavanaugh (THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET), Andrea Davis Pinkney (MARTIN & MAHALIA) and Karen Harrington (SURE SIGNS OF CRAZY).  For the complete list:  http://www.childrensliteratureassembly.org/notables.html

My friend Naomi Shihab Nye spoke at a luncheon. She is a writer, poet, educator and lovely person who has lived in both Ferguson, Missouri AND in Palestine. Please read her piece here http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/08/28/on-growing-up-in-ferguson-and-gaza/

Follow the Yellow Book Road!

SAN DIEGO -- Not the yellow BRICK road, the Yellow Book Road. A terrific children's bookstore in San Diego.

http://www.yellowbookroad.com/

Owners Ann and David Diener (and Susan Santillan, co-worker and author of GRANDMA'S PEAR TREE) welcomed me with open arms to talk about PRISONER 88.

And then a flood of 6th grade students from High Tech Middle Media Arts poured in. Here they are, with their fearless leader, Mr. Baughman (back left)! They've been studying historical fiction. They just finished BUD, NOT BUDDY, one of my all-time favorite books.

We were also joined by a Balboa Park park ranger who is interested in historical fiction and reads with his son's class every week.

What great questions! Thank you to everyone who attended!