01/07/2006: "Matthew still alive on Day 1B"

I just received a call from our man in the islands. He has been on a rollercoaster, with good news and bad news alternating throughout the day. He started with 10,000 chips at the outset and has fallen as low as 4,000 chips and has held as many as 15,000 at some points in the day. He currently sits with 7,100 chips in his hands. He'd obviously love to have more, but this is still a perfectly fine position if he can catch a big hand or two this evening.

Matthew thinks that he has drawn a poor table. There is a World Series of Poker bracelet winner at his table and a guy who has been pretty lucky and accumulated 45,000 chips. The guy with a lot of chips is playing quite aggressively and is making things uncomfortable for anyone who wants to play with him. With good luck, Matt might get moved to a new table or find a nice hand to double his chips.

He seems to be in good spirits and focused on the task at hand. He bought a calling card so that he could call me despite his malfunctioning mobile, so we may have more updates tonight. Stay tuned!