The World Series of Poker charity media event seated about 150 members of the working press in a No-Limit Hold’em tournament playing for a $10,000 donation to your favorite charity. The event was preceded by a press conference run by WSOP tournament media director, Nolan Dalla, and attended by Las Vegas Mayor, Oscar Goodman, and 2003 WSOP Champion, Chris Moneymaker. A question and answer period following the formal introductions revealed no new information other than Chris Moneymaker is not really a book person and has never read a poker themed book. Although a number of questions were related to on-line poker they were mostly met with “no comment.” Guess the unofficial poker fiefdom spokespersons would rather not comment on one, television being the other, of the two primary reasons that the game has finally achieved legitimacy, phenomenal popularity and instant household celebrities. I have been closely associated with the Las Vegas poker industry so long that I can remember playing with Chan in the $1-3, 6-card stud game at the Circus Circus poker room; so I am qualified to speak about the current rapid rise in the popularity of poker. I am aware that online gambling is not legal within the US but the online poker clubs are not located within the US so when I decide to play in the virtual online world my avatar then exists at the poker table in the country of casino origin. Right? So, come on people, let’s give credit where credit is due. If not for online casinos and television the World Series of Poker would continue to be played in a tent under the valet parking veranda by a group of old dudes that no one outside the industry knows.
My time at the table did not last long enough for me to order a drink. I only played one hand, in the big blind I had K-10 suited and the river brought three more clubs, J-9-3, to give me the flush. I bet $200 of my remaining $950 stack and was called and raised $500. Deciding that I might as well go with it I raised all in, the first caller folded and the raiser called and showed an A-9o for a pair of nines. Of course the ace was a club and the river brought the fourth club so my king high lost to an ace high. Guess I just got out played. LasVegasVegas.com was represented by three of us at different tables. The other two lucked out and one sat next to Penn of “Penn and Teller” while the other was seated beside Clint Holmes. Talk about luck of the draw. I, on the other hand, sat next to a media sort that wanted to know how they could change the blind limits without changing the denomination of the chips. Huh? I assumed that she must be there to cover the fashion angle of the WSOP and not to report the play by play. Of note, when I left she was the chip leader after having just pulled in a huge pot with the comment, “If you have all red cards it’s a flush?” I should note that we did have an Elvis impersonator at our table but he went out the first hand.
I wandered around the WSOP taking in all the sights and sounds of the day. The lines to register for the final $10,000 event were over a hundred yards long. The masses of people were so heavy that one of the Super Satellites was cancelled due to crowd control concerns. The cutoff was staked at 2600 entrants. This would be a prize pool of $26,000,000 with the winner receiving $5,000,000. The top four spots would pay at least one million in prize money. This year of the 35th World Series of Poker is certainly breaking all the records. The first 32 events have had a record 10,462 players vying for the $20+ million already paid out. Everything about the WSOP this year is just awesome, the crowds, the enormous piles of money, the household name players, the television crews, the noise and the excitement. Of course, I can’t leave out the legends of the game. As I walked through the room I spotted Amarillo Slim Preston playing in the Super Satellite and remembered that it was this colorful Texan that brought the world’s attention to high-limit tournament play after he won the 3rd WSOP main event in 1972. Amarillo hit the talk show circuit with his poker exploits and natural story telling ability and entertained and educated us about America’s favorite pastime, Poker. This early PR set the WSOP on a growth curve that appears to have No-Limit. Due to people like Amarillo Slim, Puggy Pearson, ‘Treetop’ Jack Strauss, Stu ‘the Kid’ Ungar, ‘Dolly’ Doyle Brunson, Johnny Chan, Bobby Baldwin, Jack Keller, Phil Hellmuth Jr, Dr. Chris Ferguson, Scotty Nguyen, ‘Sailor’ Roberts, Johnny Moss, Huck Seed, Berry Johnston, Bill Smith and the first player to win his seat in a satellite and then win the event, Tom McEvoy. Thank you Amarillo and thanks to all the poker greats that have made this event the spectacle we are enjoying today. I will continue to prowl this year’s main event and post up all the action complete with photos.

See the Extended Entry for Mary's take on the event.