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World Series Of Poker 2005 Editor's Reports |
LAS VEGAS June 2, 2005 July 15, 2005 |
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T minus 7 - four tournaments in one day
So seven days to go before the big
one kicks the ball into play (the $10,000 Championship Event). Imagine, if you
will, a Saturn 5 rocket slowly inching its merry way along the concrete on pad
39A of the Kennedy Space Center. The paint crew got blind drunk all last week
and are having to finish the lettering on the side of the rocket as it trundles
along. Before their alcoholic sabatical they had managed to finish the word
"Apollo" on the side of the rocket and with shakey hands and big paint brushes
they are now putting the final touches to the numeral "1". Radio communications
with Mission Control are on the blink and what they should paint next, if
anything, has yet to be ascertained.
To those who are old enough you may
already have figured where this is going. To others I will explain. Apollo 1
was tragically brought to an end before it began as a fire in the cockpit
killed three astronauts. Apollo 13 came to a premature end (without death) as
part of the Command Module was blown off and Apollo 11 was a blinding success
as Neil A. Armstrong and Edwin E. (Buzz) Aldrin stepped onto the moon on 20
July 1969.
That was almost exactly 36 years ago to the day of the end
of the this years' Championship Event and coincidentally this will be the 36th
Championship Event! So here we wait with some anticipation to see if Mission
Control can buy some batteries for their radio and get the painters to produce
another "1".
Hopefully this ( two 36s) is an omen of good portent for
the this years main event is going to be something of a juggernaut that, once
electro-shocked into life, may just roll on a couple of days past the predicted
deadline. If you are coming to play the $10,000 event this year, plan for a
couple of days holiday after the 15th July, you might just need it. However, if
you do need the extra days you are likely to be able to afford it with the
money you are about to collect.
The World Series is taking place this year in the
Convention Center of the Rio Suites Hotel, Las Vegas, half a mile from the
middle of the Strip and the heart of the city. The last two days of the
Championship Event will be held back at Binions in downtown Vegas where it all
began 35 years ago. There are a lot more people here than in any other year and
this large space is only just managing to cope with the demanding schedule
placed upon the players and the organisers.
Today is an example of 'the
best laid schemes o' mice an men' often go wrong. Event #32 has started ($5K
Omaha hi-low split) as event #31 (No-limit Hold'em-Short handed 6/table) plays
on from the last 30 players with a frighteningly strong field including
Brunson, Scotty, Hennigan, Flack, Juanda, Men "The Master", Jesus (not of
Nazareth) Ferguson, John Duthie and Kirill Gerasimov. Next to them the last
three tables of event #30 were playing their way down to a finish and the final
table of the 1072 player strong event #29 (No-limit Hold'em). Meanwhile
persistent cash players were refusing to let mere tournaments get in their way
as they battled to stay put at the front of the enormous venue hall.
Yet
through this avalanche of players and journalists and cocktail waitresses (and
waiters) there remains the desire to succeed and produce winners and losers in
the traditional unfortunate ratio. Tournaments get finished and players play
cash through the night. Others disappear to the Palms to play another
tournament and still more venture to the crazy cash games at the Bellagio. But
the one thing that is reviving faith in poker, and despite the enormous fields,
is the abillity of the great players to come through and win and we have just
witnessed Phil Ivey, Johnny Chan, T.J. Cloutier and Barry Greenstein pick up
gold bracelets. It bodes well for the main event.
Most people however
pay 10 bucks for 15 bottles of beer until they fall off their chair and are
wheeled up to their suites, or in my case, put into a taxi to a less expensive
hotel on the strip.
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Move on to tomorrows report
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