Because I dove straight into the action right when I got here yesterday, I have yet to take a step back and examine this scene from an unattached (as much as that’s possible) perspective. With my small bankroll currently quite a bit smaller, I believe now is the time to take a step back and muse.
First, I have nothing bad to say about Harrah’s, the new cards, the lines to register for events, or any other controversy that (for some) tarnished the first week of the Series. All that seems to have been cleaned up, and the ship appears to be maintaining an even keel. I will even go so far as to praise Harrah’s for the Amazon Room’s new look. At the end of the 2006 WSOP I wrote an article for All In magazine that criticized the new patrons of the tournament for not having provided a spiffy enough homage to past champions. The best they could do last year was a single large sheet of plastic hanging from the rafters. This year there are twenty-foot-tall banners exhibiting photos of every past champ hanging from the ceiling all around the perimeter of the room. One of these banners bears a giant question mark—meaning: insert the face and name of the 2007 champ here. It’s an extremely impressive display, almost museum-worthy.
Second, I am already sick of watching and playing Texas hold’em. One of my favorite moments of the Series so far came while I was watching the $5,000 Pot-Limit Omaha with ReBuys final table yesterday. After watching the action for fifteen minutes of so, a woman sitting directly behind got confused when the action finally progressed all the way to the river and two players’ hands were shown. They each had four cards! “Is this Texas hold’em?” she asked. When someone told her she was watching Omaha, you could have stuck an entire fist in her mouth. She couldn’t have been more confused if someone told her they were playing Go Fish. She vacated the final table area immediately afterwards.
There seems to be a lot more media coverage this year—who are all these people camped out in the media room?—but only a small percentage of them have the means to follow the action up close and personal, so what is everyone doing here? In the absence of real information wild rumors have been swirling around the tournament floor. Does anyone know where Vinny Vinh is? The chip leader at one point during the $1,000 No-Limit Hold’em with ReBuys event, Vinny suddenly disappeared. With his large stack slowly getting blinded off, he ended up finishing 20th, but if any of the rumors surrounding his absence are true there will be no celebrating for Vinny. One scenario has him being extremely ill—supposedly he looked terrible when he was last spotted. An offshoot rumor of that one has him laid up in a hospital room, cancer being the cause. But in an inverse of logic the most outlandish scenario is the one being most widely embraced. Vinny got whacked by some people he owed a lot of money to! That’s right. The consensus in the Amazon Room right now is that Vinny Vinh is dead. Ask anyone.
With the lounges sponsored by the various online poker rooms not here this year, getting access to the top pros seems harder than ever. I will catch a glimpse of a player I want to talk to from across the room and while heading in that direction said player will suddenly vanish. They’re like ghosts. Here comes Phil Ivey drifting down the hallway and then—poof—he steps through a concrete wall and is gone. Evidently the place to catch up with them is the VIP Lounge. The only catch is that a $1,000 donation is required for entry. Not sure Poker Wire would be very happy if I billed them for that… but it’s worth a try.
