EPT Grand Final MC - Day 1 at Dinner Break

As I type this I'm on my 90 minute dinner break during Day1B of the EPT Grand Final. Our trip over was relatively uneventful and smooth, though any 15+ hour trip does take its toll regardless. When we arrived at our hotel in a daze of jet lag I struggled to make small talk with Joe Hachem on the elevator ride to the room. He seemed like a good guy.

Anyway, we played 6 levels before dinner today, with 3 more to kick off shortly. My table (which has remained unbroken thus far) has been very soft, though unfortunately a couple of the weakest players have now gone busto. I was expecting a softer field than the PCA, but I can say quite decisively that of my WSOP ME table and three PCA tables at which I was seated, all had a significantly higher average quality of player.

The most famous face at my table would have to be Sandra Naujoks. Being seated right across from her has its drawbacks, as you might imagine a lot of press photographers tend to focus on her. I actually played three pretty signifncant pots with her over the course of the day. The one major mistake I feel I've made thus far came against her, making a poor river call. It was a rough spot, as her line made no sense but for one single hand (which flopped a straight). It was definitely a fold as she's probably not good enough to be barreling air there in which case her range is exactly that hand.

I feel like I've been rather card dead over all thus far. No AA/KK, three QQ (won all 3 pots), two JJ (had to c/f a KTx flop 5 ways after opening UTG, other one was the bad river call), one AK, one AQs, two AJ. I've won all but one hand at showdown, and played fairly well postflop I think. I've only had the opportunity to run 2 bluffs, but as you would thnk my imagine is very solid due to picking up very very few medium strength hands preflop (almost no mid pairs/suited connectors etc). First bluff was double barreling air on a 996Q board vs a competent player. Second one I don't really like, but took a b/c/b line vs a fish who folded river - I think I should have just given up or three barreled, but hey it worked. The card deadness combined with winning all but one showdown has put me at a marginally above average stack of ~43k and change at this point. We started with 30k chips, and I believe the blinds will be 250/500 with a 50 ante when I return. Hopefully I can run good for 3 levels and have 80-100bbs+ to start Day 2.