Ullo John, Gotta new table?

Sky are continuing to shake up the schedules. Nowadays the Thursday Open starts an hour earlier (at 8) - and I did remember this week! - and last night was the first in a new series of WSOP satellites. I was a bit dubious at first - I'm not a big fan of satellites, but it's great value: £17 buyin with 50 guaranteed entries to the final in a couple of months' time. Whether I'd be allowed to go to Vegas for two weeks is another matter...

One of tonight's studio guests is John Tabatabai, something of a hero since his second place at the WSOPE. I was following the final table on the Web - I can't remember who was running it, but there was a brilliant live blog. And John has to count himself very unlucky not to have won. Annette Obrestad, the much-hyped Nordic teen sensation, got extremely lucky at least three times in the last hour, including right at the end.

I've survived longer than John tonight - he was all-in with pocket tens and the caller caught the ace. But it's great that he and Luke Trotman and other players come on the show.