Clearly losing its luster.
I about lost my dinner when I read that Montel Williams was actually leading for a time at the 2007 World Series of Poker Main Event currently going on in Las Vegas. But, I was able to keep it down after hearing the field had ’shrunk’ to 6,358 players this year from a record 8,773 last year - as if that’s some consolation - making my turkey sausage dinner a bit more palatable.
(gulp, swallow, gag…)
Yeah, no consolation. Come on, Montel Williams?!
With Greg Raymer, Phil Helmuth, Doyle Brunson, and everyone’s perennial winner Phil Ivey tossed in the first three days of the tourney, I guess the randomness of this ‘professional’ tournament with 6k+ players will continue to outweigh the slickness of the real pros.
Here’s a summary from ESPN on this year’s tourney thus far:
Top prize at the 2007 World Series of Poker will be $8.25 million….from a total payout of $59.8 million….
The totals are short of last year’s record 8,773 participants and $12 million top prize. But it comes nine months after President Bush signed a law cracking down on Internet gambling, which is blamed for shrinking the number of entrants who would have qualified in online tournaments….
Talk show host Montel Williams even held the chip lead for several hours on Saturday, at one point amassing 150,000 in chips after starting with 20,000.
But a few spectacularly bad calls later and he was back in the pack, ending the day almost back where he began with 20,900.
Several celebrities have already made it through their first day, including “Spiderman” actor Tobey Maguire and “Everybody Loves Raymond” comedian Brad Garrett. However, former major league slugger Jose Canseco was knocked out in just a few hours.
Survivors from the four opening days will play in two rounds Tuesday and Wednesday before the marathon march to the final table gets under way.
Nine players will sit down at the final table on July 17 to determine a winner. [SOURCE]
