Monte Carlo Grand Final Day 2 begins

As I walked up the stairs to this ballroom, players were rushing in and out, changing their clothes, and wiping sweat from their brow. Just a few minutes into the day and already there is stuff about which to talk.

Young American Justin Bonomo, already on the shortstack, had the displeasure of drawing the big blind on the first hand today. He pushed in the rest of his chips and his time was done. It also appears that Russian Tennis Star Yevgeni Kafelnikov has departed early in the day.

The TV producers have picked a fine and diverse featured table. Gus "The Great Dane" Hansen, the radiant Cecilia Nordenstam, and "Friends of Bloggers" Patrick "Curzdog" Curzio and Scott Bush are four of the eight at the table. Mads Andersen, Luis Jaikel, Kirill Garasimov, and Martin Vallo round out the list.

The main room is dim for TV purposes and both rooms are hot. Suddenly I find myself glad I wore a short-sleeved, stinky shirt this afternoon.