Evolution of poker rambling on the WSoP
I’ll start by throwing out my thoughts on the WSoP. This event is the perfect micronism of what’s happening to poker on the macro level. Internet poker players are doing well in live tournaments for several reasons.
First, quantity, if you throw enough ammo at the target, then no matter how bad a shot you are; odds are at least one is going to hit, Moneymaker's 2003 WSoP win is a good example.
Second, some of the Internet players are very high caliber players with a “students of the game” philosophy. Reading everything in sight, posting on RGP (rec.gaming.poker) and popular poker message boards. Fossilman is this type of player with hundreds of posts on RPG and almost 2000 posts on the popular twoplustwo forums.
Third, some of the advantages in and of live poker are drastically dampened in tournament play because of the limited time player are in contact with each-other. I am referring to tells, of course; and unless the player is horrendously bad and obvious (which I admit more then a few are), tells won’t be a major factor of the game.
With a third of the entries coming from on-line for the 2567 seats the influx of players that have never touched casino felt, stared down an opponent in live action or had a slew of tasty alcoholic beverages delivered by a scantly clad cocktail waitress. Several times I heard players at the World Series of Poker ask “How much?” the answer, “Whatever you want to pay.” In Vegas the drinks are on the house, and this house was packed!
Too little space to accomadate the massive event was the biggest single problem, the Fire Marshall was on the scene the first day of the WSoP and had planned to shut the event down but, “I couldn’t get inside the building”. The next day he did get inside and imposed his will, severly limited access for the remainder of the main event, even for media types. Nothing beats seeing a holier then thou representative from a big media company being evicted from the scene, perhaps next time these last minute leeches will be a little more polite and have the wisdom to show courtesy rather then contempt for the overworked event staff. Remember that by the time the final event is played most of these people have been working more than thirty days straight. (Continuing courtesy throughout the event is the coin that bought our last minute shots).
If Raymer decides to play the tournament circuit I think his name will pop up on money lists far more often than last year's Moneymaker. Other signs the geeks are taking over? One of the finalist is a Magic: The Gathering tournament champion (and continues playing Magic). Four players, including first and second place, came in from Internet Casino Tournaments. I don’t think the current generation of champions will be out-matched by the Internet champs; however, I am sure some of the new breed will join their ranks as masters of poker. I also don’t believe the internet players (even the great tournament players) would do well in a long term ring game with the great tradiditonal players. Dolly Brunson and Chip Reese can eat even great tournament players alive.
As I mentioned at the start, poker is evolving, the great players of yesterday are slowly fading away, the current generation of champions are, by and large, active in the on-line community and the on-line community will give rise to many of tomorrow's tournament champions. Ten years down the road I foresee true VR rooms, millions of players, with great players being churned out by the hundreds and a steady stream of dead-money fish churned out by the millions.
The future of the poker industry has never been brighter. Television has raised the game from the smokey back rooms frequented by unsavory characters to prime time family entertainment with emerging young stars becoming household names hounded by autograph seekers. The TV money is making today's Tournamanet Poker a legitimate spectator sport with prize money that was unimaginable a few short years ago. We will end with a famous quote from the most influential individual and Godfather of tournament poker, Benny Binion. When asked what makes a great poker player he replied with one word, "Money!"



The final hand at the final table of the final event of the World Series of Poker was won by Greg “Fossil Man” Raymer this evening at the Horseshoe in downtown Las Vegas. The 2004 “Mother of all Poker Tournaments,” the World Series of Poker, is now history. The champion receives the platinum bracelet and $5 million in cash after his pocket eights bested David William’s A-4. The board brought three deuces giving Raymer deuces full of eights while William had deuces full of fours when a four paired one of his hole cards. David received $3.5 million for second place.
Greg said the glasses not only hid his eyes but made it difficult for the other players to stare him down since looking at a man with reptillian eyes is really disconcerting.
this year’s championship event was Rose Richie’s 98th place finish. Rose is a 48 year old amateur Internet player from St. Petersburg, Florida and won her seat plus travel expenses in an online tournament at the Royal Vegas Casino. Rose is a breast cancer survivor and has lupus, a chronic disease that causes severe pain. She collected $20,000 for her top one hundred finish. This was the last WSOP to be held in it’s entirety at the historic Horseshoe Casino in downtown Las Vegas. Current plans call for the 2005 WSOP to be played at the Rio here in Las Vegas with only the final table of the championship event taking place at the downtown Horseshoe. I had a great deal of fun documenting this year’s World Series of Poker and want to thank Nolan Dalla, Matt Savage, Jim Miller, Mike Page, the security team, especially the media accommodating players and all of the helpful WSOP employees from Harrah’s Entertainment. We are already planning our coverage of next year’s event including some innovative, never before used technology. See all of you next May at the 2005 WSOP. Until then we will continue offering daily poker info, las Vegas poker room reviews, Las Vegas stories and whatever else comes to mind.
Well the big topic in the world of poker blogs this week is Ace-Queen off suit. Pauly has an excellent post on his experience with this trouble hand at
Josh Arieh, out in third.












Al Krux went all-in against Greg "the Fossilman" Raymer. Fossilman's Ace-Queen held up against Krux's Ace-9, with the board showing Ace-King-5-7-3.
Marcel Luske who went all-in for 900,000 with pocket 4s, former World Series of Poker champion Harrington called with a A-J. The board came up Queen-8-6 4th street brought a Jack and the River an 8. Harringtons paired Jacks and takes out Marcel in the 10th spot. He leaves with a mere $373,000.
Inconceivable! Inconceivable!