Re-acclimating to Vegas after several weeks away is strange enough. Imagine my surprise when I walked into the Amazon Room and discovered that poker author Michael Craig had made his second final table of the Series! That’s two more than Johnny Chan, Michael Mizrachi, Jen Harman, and Gus Hansen have made, to name but a few who have failed to advance to the final day this year.
I am tempted to compare this feat with Dan Harrington making the final table of the main event two years in a row, but I would be doing so with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek. It’s more comparable to Jim McManus making the final table of the main event in 2001. The headline is nearly the same: Writer Becomes the Story. Poker writers are supposed to be dead money. It seems those days have passed. If this trend keeps up, the Media event, which starts on Thursday and has historically been more Laugh Olympics than serious poker tournament, will turn into a title as coveted as the $50,000 H.O.R.S.E. event.
Having read about Michael’s travails when trying to interview Phil Hellmuth for Bluff magazine (a difficult experience I have also been forced to endure), I had to laugh when I observed Hellmuth stroll by Michael’s table minutes after getting knocked out of the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em with Re-Buys event and look at Michael and say, “You made another one of these?” For the record these two men have now made the same number of final tables at this year’s World Series although Hellmuth remains slightly ahead in total number of bracelets won.
I also got a chuckle out of the fact that Michael seems to be following the tradition started by Barry Greenstein, who gives a copy of his book Ace on the River to whoever knocks him out. Michael arrived at the final table armed with not one but two copies of his book The Full Tilt Poker Strategy Guide. He has been crediting much of his success at the tables this year with the time he spent with various Full Tilt players writing this book. That’s as good of an endorsement as I have ever heard and I’m going to run out and get a copy as soon as I can.
At the start of the day Michael sat squarely in the middle of the pack with 161k. At last glance there had been at least one player knocked out, which means Michael can do no worse than tie his best finish, seventh, at a World Series final table. Already guaranteed at least $15,943, he has to be feeling pretty darn good at this point. Nice work, Michael.
